KEY INFORMATION

Project Reference No(s):

EuropeAid/129100/D/SER/CI

Contacts:

EuropeAid Co-operation Office, European Commission
Phone: +32.02.299.11.11

IMPORTANT DATES:

Announced Date

December 24, 2009

Express Interest By

February 12, 2010

General Information

Opportunity Type:

Consulting

Country/Region:

Cote d Ivoire

Publication Date:

Jan 11, 2010

Project Amount:

EUR 1,600,000

Contract Award

Add Contract Award

Notice/Contract Number:

EuropeAid/129100/D/SER/CI

Project Summary

CI-Abidjan: EDF - technical assistance for the project to support judicial and prison system reform and modernisation

2009/S 248-354883

Place of performance - Côte d’Ivoire

(with suspension clause)

Service contract notice

1. Publication reference: EuropeAid/129100/D/SER/CI. 2. Procedure: Restricted. 3. Programme: EDF. 4. Financing: Financing agreement. 5. Contracting authority: The beneficiary, represented by the EDF Deputy National Authorising Officer in the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire.

Contract specifications

 

6. Type of contract: Unit-price contract.
7. Contract description: As part of the project to support judicial and prison system reform and modernisation, technical assistance shall be provided to lend support to the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights (MJDH) with formulating a sector-based policy and managing the project as a whole. The technical assistance team shall comprise 2 main experts, 1 specialist in the field of judicial and prison sector reform and 1 specialist in the field of administrative and financial management and awarding of contracts. The 2 main experts shall form part of the justice reform and modernisation project’s implementation unit set up by interministerial order. Experts shall also be called upon during the course of the project on an ad hoc basis. The experts shall be based in Abidjan at the sector-based policy implementation unit at the MJDH, but shall also be required to carry out monitoring assignments elsewhere in the country.
8. Number and titles of lots: 1 lot only.
9. Maximum budget: 1 600 000 EUR.
10. Additional services: Subject to the availability of funding, the contracting authority may decide, at its own discretion, to extend the term of the contract and/or its object up to a maximum amount not exceeding the initial contract value and duration. Any contract extension is subject to satisfactory performance by the contractor.

Conditions for participation

 

11. Eligibility: Participation in the contract is open to all natural persons and legal entities (either as individuals or as part of a grouping - consortium - of candidates) from the ACP States and European Union Member States, as well as international organisations, as authorised by the specific legal provisions applicable to the programme under which the contract is financed (see also point 30 below).
12. Application: Any eligible natural person or legal entity (as defined in point 11 above) or grouping of said parties (consortium) may apply.
A consortium can be a permanent grouping with legal status or an informal grouping created with a specific invitation to tender in mind. All the members of a consortium (i.e. lead company and all other members) shall be jointly and severally liable vis-à-vis the contracting authority.
Should an ineligible natural person or legal entity (as defined in point 11) take part, the application concerned will be automatically disqualified (in particular, the application from the whole consortium, if said party belongs to a consortium).
13. Number of applications: Natural persons or legal entities may submit 1 application only, irrespective of whether they take part as a sole legal entity, or as a lead company or member of a consortium submitting an application. Should a natural person or legal entity submit more than 1 application, all the applications involving said party will be disqualified.
14. Prohibition on alliances between shortlisted candidates: Tenders which include companies not mentioned on the application forms used to compile the shortlist will be disqualified from this restricted procedure. Candidates invited to tender may not form alliances or subcontract to each other for the contract in question.
15. Grounds for exclusion: Candidates must sign and enclose with their application the statement provided in the standard application form confirming that they are not in any of the situations described in section 2.3.3 of the Practical Guide to contract procedures for EC external actions.
In particular, candidates, applicants or tenderers will not be considered for contract award if, at the time of the procurement procedure for this contract, they are in a situation where interests conflict. More specifically, tenderers and their partners must not have, among their members/associates, anyone who is accountable to the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights in the Côte d’Ivoire and structures under the Ministry’s supervision. These structures shall be considered ineligible (conflict of interests, point 2.3.3 of the Practical Guide to contract procedures for EC external actions).
16. Subcontracting: Subcontracting is not permitted.
17. Number of candidates invited to tender: Between 4 and 8 candidates will be invited to submit a detailed tender for this contract, on the basis of the applications received. If the number of eligible candidates who comply with the selection criteria is less than the minimum of 4, the contracting authority may invite those candidates complying with the criteria to tender.

Provisional schedule for activities

 

18. Scheduled date for dispatch of invitations to tender: March 2010.
19. Provisional start date for the contract: June 2010.
20. Initial contract length, and possible extension: 36 months.

Selection and award criteria

 

21. Selection criteria: The following selection criteria will be applied to candidates. Where applications are submitted by a consortium, the criteria will apply to the consortium as a whole.
1) Candidate’s economic and financial capacity (details to be given in section 3 of the application form); if the candidate is a public entity, equivalent information must be submitted:
(a) the candidate’s average annual turnover for the past 3 years must have been more than 500 000 EUR; and
(b) cash and cash equivalents at the beginning and end of the financial year must be in surplus, overall.
2) Candidate’s professional capacity (details to be given in sections 4 and 5 of the application form):
(a) at least 3 of the candidate’s employees must be currently working in fields connected with this contract (legal field, judicial/prison field).
3) Candidate’s technical capacity (details to be given in sections 5 and 6 of the application form):
(a) the candidate has obtained good results, during the past 3 years, for at least 1 long-term institutional support project in fields connected with this contract;
(b) the candidate has carried out, during the past 3 years, at least 3 assignments/studies, which can be short or medium-term, in the judicial reform and/or prison reform fields.
An economic operator may, if necessary and for a specific contract, make use of the capacities of other bodies irrespective of the legal nature of the connection between himself and said bodies. In such an event, he must provide the contracting authority with proof that he will have the resources needed to carry out the contract by, for example, producing a written commitment by said bodies to make such resources available. These bodies, e.g. the economic operator’s parent company, must observe the same eligibility rules, notably regarding nationality, as the economic operator in question.
If more than 8 applications prove to be eligible, i.e. meet all the selection criteria, then the strengths and weaknesses of these candidates’ applications will need to be re-examined to determine which 8 applications for the invitation to tender are the most suitable. Only the following factor will be considered in the re-examination:
1) number and quality of projects and studies carried out during the past 3 years specifically in support of judicial reform and/or prison reform processes in developing or middle-income countries.
22. Award criterion: Economically most advantageous tender.

Application submission procedures

 

23. Final date for receipt of applications: 1.2.2010 (16:00), GMT.
Applications received after this deadline will be rejected.
24. Application submission procedures and information to be supplied:

The standard application form must be used for applications. This form is available from the following web address: http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/work/procedures/implementation/services/index_fr.htm The clauses and format of this form must be strictly adhered to.

Additional documentation (brochure, letter, etc.) enclosed with the application will not be considered.
25. Procedures for dispatch of applications: Applications must be sent to the contracting authority, and no other:
- either by registered post (official postal service), to the following address:

EDF Deputy National Authorising Officer, CI/EU Cooperation Coordination Unit, avenue Marchand, Jeceda Building, 01 BP V 306, Abidjan 01, CÔTE D’IVOIRE. Tel.  +225 20303300. Fax  +225 20303308,

- or by bearer (express courier services in particular), delivered straight to the contracting authority, in return for a signed and dated acknowledgement of receipt, at the following address:
EDF Deputy National Authorising Officer, CI/EU Cooperation Coordination Unit, avenue Marchand, Jeceda Building, 01 BP V 306, Abidjan 01, CÔTE D’IVOIRE. Tel. +225 20303300. Fax +225 20303308.
The contract title and the contract notice number (see point 1 above) must be clearly marked on the envelope containing the application and must be quoted in all subsequent correspondence with the contracting authority.
Applications submitted in any other way will not be considered.
26. Amendments to or withdrawal of tenders: Candidates may amend or withdraw their application by giving notice thereof in writing before the final date for submission of tenders. Tenders cannot be amended once this deadline has passed.
Notice of amendment or withdrawal must be drawn up and sent as per the instructions given in point 25. The word ‘Modification’ (amendment) or ‘Retrait’ (withdrawal), as applicable, must be written on the outside envelope (and on the inner envelope, if used).
27. Working language: All correspondence concerning this invitation to tender procedure and contract must be in French.
28. Additional information: This contract notice is published with a suspension clause. Without exception, the award or notification of the contract will not be made if the corresponding financing agreement has not been signed by all parties concerned. In this case, the invitation to tender procedure will have to be cancelled.
Where applicable, all references to the (European) Community/Communities should be read as making reference to the European Union.
29. Date of publication of the corresponding contract forecast: 24.9.2009.
30. Legal basis: ACP-EC Partnership Agreement signed in Cotonou on 23.6.2000, as amended on 25.6.2005 and in 2008 (Annex IV).

The above is a complete copy of the original procurement notice.

 

UPDATED, 2 February 2010: The deadline for receiving applications has been moved from 1 February to 12 February 2010.

 

Project Information

Links:

Procurement Notice Page

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