EUROPEAN COMMISSION
HEALTH AND CONSUMERS DIRECTORATE-GENERAL
Directorate F – Food and Veterinary Office
F.7 – Operational and Administrative Services
SPECIFICATIONS ATTACHED TO THE INVITATION TO TENDER
Call for tender No F7/01/2013 Framework Contract for the provision of language
training services to the European Commission at its offices in Grange, Dunsany,
Co Meath, Ireland.
1.
Title of contract ..................................................................................................... 3
2.
Purpose and context of contract ............................................................................ 3
3.
Subject of contract ................................................................................................. 3
4.
Arrangements for performing the contract ............................................................ 4
5.
Participation in the tendering procedure ............................................................... 5
6.
Documentation for tenderers ................................................................................. 5
7.
Visits to premises or briefing ................................................................................ 6
8.
Variants ................................................................................................................. 6
9.
Volume of contract ................................................................................................ 6
10.
Price ....................................................................................................................... 6
11.
Terms of payment.................................................................................................. 7
12.
Reports and documents to be submitted ................................................................ 7
13.
Contractual terms and guarantees ......................................................................... 7
14.
Requirement as to the tender ................................................................................. 7
ADMINISTRATIVE PART ............................................................................................................... 8
15.
Exclusion criteria................................................................................................... 8
15.1.
Candidates or tenderers shall be excluded from participation in a procurement
procedure if: .......................................................................................................... 8
15.2.
Evidence ................................................................................................................ 9
15.3.
Contracts may not be awarded to candidates or tenderers who, during the
procurement procedure: ...................................................................................... 10
16.
Selection criteria .................................................................................................. 10
16.1.
Evidence of access to contracts (proof of eligibility) .......................................... 10
16.2.
Economic and financial capacity......................................................................... 10
16.3.
Technical and professional capacity ................................................................... 12
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16.4.
Tenders from consortiums of firms or groups of service providers, contractors or
suppliers .............................................................................................................. 13
TECHNICAL PART....................................................................................................................... 14
17.
Award criteria ...................................................................................................... 14
18.
Financial part ....................................................................................................... 14
Annexes: ................................................................................................................................... 14
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1. Title of contract
Framework Contract (FWC) for the provision of language training services to the
European Commission Offices in Grange (published in the Official Journal of the
European Communities under reference F7/01/2013).
2. Purpose and context of contract
The Contracting Authority is the Health and Consumers Directorate General of the
European Commission. The training services are to be supplied to the European
Commission offices in Grange, Dunsany, Co. Meath, Ireland, some 45 km north-west of
Dublin, approx. 8 km from Trim and 25 km from Navan. Grange is on a public transport
route serviced by Bus Eireann (for details of service refer to www.buseireann.ie). In
addition, the European Commission operates a limited pay-per-use shuttle bus service
with designated pick-up points between the south side of Dublin and Grange.
The present complement of staff is approximately 170 persons from the 27 Member States
of the Union, covering a range of administrative and technical activities.
Language skills are a vital aspect of European Commission operations and we now wish
to arrange for the provision of language training services for our personnel in the coming
years.
3. Subject of contract
This invitation to tender concerns the teaching of 4 official languages of the European
Union: English (EN), French (FR), German (DE) and Spanish (ES). Each language is to
be taught at a maximum of 7 different levels depending on the level of the participants.
Each level will be of 66 hours duration comprising weekly classes of 2 hours per class
from October to June, followed by 2 weeks of semi intensive courses (2 hours per day) in
August. Candidates are required to tender for all 4 languages mentioned above.
The eventual contractor will be asked, as necessary, to provide in addition to face to face
teaching, courses at the same levels partly based on distance learning (blended learning).
In this case it is envisaged that at each of the above levels, the course would consist of 66
hours, 33 hours face to face teaching and 33 hours online tuition. The precise modalities
for implementation may vary and will be developed by the eventual contractor in
conjunction with the staff of the Health and Consumers Directorate General in Grange.
In exceptional circumstances, the eventual contractor may also be asked to organise the
teaching of any one or more of the other 19 languages of the Union : Bulgarian (BG),
Czech (CS), Danish (DA), Dutch (NL), Estonian (ET), Finnish (FI), Greek (EL),
Hungarian (HU), Irish (GA), Italian (IT), Latvian (LV), Lithuanian (LT), Maltese (MT),
Polish (PL), Portuguese (PT), Romanian (RO) Slovak (SK), Slovene (SL) and Swedish
(SV) as well as any other languages which would become an official language during the
duration of this contract. However, it is not expected that any more than one of these
languages will need to be taught at a time.
The teaching of the four stipulated languages are to be available at the signature of the
contract. The teaching of any of the other 19 languages is to be provided within 3 months
of a request by the European Commission.
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If Blended Learning1 is required for any level of a language the European Commission
will give the eventual contractor 3 months' notice.
The service provider will be allowed access to the photocopying facilities on the premises
but shall nevertheless remain fully responsible for complying with any or all copyright
requirements. Teachers should provide their own learning aids, e.g. tape recorders and
laptops. The programme of the courses and the list of textbooks used are attached in
Annexes VIII to XI.
The framework contract for the provision of above services would have an initial duration
of 1 year, renewable for a maximum of three further 1-year periods to give a maximum
term of 4 years.
4. Arrangements for performing the contract
4.1.
Teaching the language courses
The content and teaching objectives of the courses for the services described at point 3
above will generally be set by the Contracting Authority. The Contractor will have to
comply with them scrupulously.
Most of the language training takes place in the classroom. However, the possibilities
offered by distance learning are of growing interest given current technological
developments, the demand from management and staff for shorter and better targeted
training, and the professional mobility of certain participants.
These partially remote courses will allow for different working patterns, personalisation of
training by the pupil, and adjustment of the volume of work needed to acquire skills
depending on the language being learned.
The hours of work the trainer/mentor needs to put into providing the course are to be
established jointly by the Contracting Authority and the Contractor once the course
content has been developed and adjusted. The hours of work established will vary
depending on the number of participants for a given course content. This number of hours
will be stated on the order form. The Contracting Authority reserves the right to verify the
hours of access by participants on any IT tools developed by the Contractor for training.
It is essential in this context that trainers should be familiar with ICT, especially eLearning platforms and interactive whiteboards.
4.2.
Cancellation of services by the Contracting Authority
The Contracting Authority reserves the right to cancel any course, class or placement test,
subject to two (2) working days' notice before the beginning of the course, class or test
subject to such notification, by e-mail for any reason whatsoever, and specifically:

if the number of students falls below the minimum envisaged at the start of the
course, the class or the test or

if logistical problems prevent the smooth running of the course, the class or the
test.
1
Blended Learning: i.e. a combination of face-to-face language teaching of a general nature for groups and
individuals and mentored distance learning via a shared workspace provided by the Contractor.
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In the case of a course, cancellation by e-mail will be confirmed by means of an
amendment to the initial order.
In such cases, no payment or compensation of any kind will be due.
The Contracting Authority reserve the right to cancel, after the beginning of the course in
question, any course or class, subject to two (2) working days' notice, by e-mail for any
reason whatsoever, and specifically:

if logistical problems prevent the smooth running of the course;

if the number of students falls below the minimum envisaged for three consecutive
classes;

if the number of students in several parallel courses (for the same language, at the
same level and of the same type) falls below the minimum permitted for three
consecutive classes, allowing classes to be merged into a single course.
In such cases, only the hours worked before the notice of cancellation will be paid.
In the case of a course, cancellation by e-mail will be confirmed by means of an
amendment to the initial order.
Any service cancelled less than two (2) working days before it is due shall be paid for; the
payment shall cover only the services planned for those two working days (corresponding
to the period of notice).
In such cases, no compensation of any kind will be due.
4.3.
Penalty clauses
If the designated trainer or consultant or their replacement as authorised by the
Contracting Authority is absent or arrives 30 minutes or more after the starting time of the
service stated on the order form, the Contractor shall automatically be liable to pay the
Contracting Authority a penalty of 100% of the price of the service in respect of which the
absence or late arrival is noted, without prejudice to any liability that results or may result
from the Contract or to the right of the Contracting Authority to cancel. In addition, the
amount due for the service concerned may not be charged to the Contracting Authority.
The same penalties shall apply if the Contractor cancels a service.
5. Participation in the tendering procedure
Participation in tendering procedures is open on equal terms to all natural and legal
persons coming within the scope of the Treaties and to all natural and legal persons in a
third country which has a special agreement with the Communities in the field of public
procurement on the conditions laid down in that agreement.
Subcontracting is allowed. However, the contracting authority reserves the right to
validate the proposed subcontractor(s) and is entitled to demand that the selection and
exclusion criteria be applied not just to the tenderer but also to any subcontractors
proposed (whether in the tender or during performance of the contract).
6. Documentation for tenderers
All documentation relevant to this tender is to be found at the link below.
http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/health_consumer/funding/language_training_en.htm
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The programme of the courses and the list of textbooks used are attached in Annexes VIII
to XI.
7. Visits to premises or briefing
No visit to site is required.
8. Variants
Variants are not acceptable.
9. Volume of contract
The total value of the framework contract over its potential 4-year duration is estimated at
a maximum of EUR 400,000. This figure is given for information only, and is not binding
on the Contracting Authority.
10.
Price
The fixed price per hour (= 60 minutes of actual training) will be the same for all
languages and for hours of online tuition provided. It will also apply to any placement
testing which may be required to determine the linguistic level of participants.
The fixed price per hour must include any and all expenses incurred in the provision of the
service.
Prices must be quoted in Euro using, if necessary, the conversion rates published in the C
series of the Official Journal of the European Union on the day when the contract notice
was published.
Prices must be fixed amounts in Euro.
Prices shall be fixed and not subject to revision.
At the beginning of the second and every following year of the FWC, each price may be
revised upwards or downwards, if such revision is requested by one of the parties in
writing no later than three months before the anniversary of the date on which the FWC
was signed. The other party shall acknowledge receipt within 15 days of reception of the
request. The new prices shall be communicated as soon as the final index is available. The
Contracting Authority shall purchase on the basis of the prices in force on the date on
which order forms or specific contracts are signed by both parties. Such prices shall not be
subject to revision.
This revision shall be determined by the trend in the harmonised indices of consumer
prices MUICP published for the first time by the Eurostat monthly 'Data in Focus'
publication at http://www.ec.europa.eu/eurostat/.
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Revision shall be calculated in accordance with the following formula:
Ir
Pr = Po x (0.2+0.8 — )
Io
where:
Pr =
revised price;
Po =
price in the original tender;
Io =
index for the month corresponding to the final date for submission of tenders;
Ir =
index for the month in which the revised prices take effect.
11.
Terms of payment
Services may be invoiced on a monthly basis, providing that each invoice is accompanied
by a detailed description of services actually provided during the month in question, to be
cross-checked by the Contracting Authority. To this end, the contractor will make sure
that the course presence lists are duly signed by the participants, or by the teacher with the
mention "Absent" if the participant did not show.
12.
Reports and documents to be submitted
At the end of each academic cycle (end of August), the contractor will submit (for each
class) a report describing the work carried out under the contract during the given year. It
will contain a summary of each participant's progress as well as the results of their final
exam. An electronic version of these reports must be sent to the Contracting Authority at
the latest by mid-September.
13.
Contractual terms and guarantees
In drawing up his bid, the tenderer should bear in mind the provisions of the standard
contract attached to this invitation to tender (Annex VI).
Submission of a tender implies acceptance of all the terms specified in the present
specifications and in particular in the attached standard contract including the general
conditions applicable to contracts (Annex VI).
All documents presented by the tenderer become the property of the European
Commission and are deemed confidential.
The Commission will not reimburse expenses incurred in preparing and submitting offers.
14.
Requirement as to the tender
The tender must include:
(a)
an administrative part including all the information and documents required by the
Contracting Authority for the appraisal of tenders on the basis of the exclusion and
selection criteria set out under paragraphs 14 and 15 respectively of these
specifications;
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(b)
a technical part including all the information and documents required by the
Contracting Authority for the appraisal of tenders on the basis of the award criteria
set out under paragraph 16 of these specifications;
The tenderer should include in this part:
- description of a group lesson (2hours) taking into account the needs described in
paragraph 3;
- description of the means by which the support of frequently absent participants
will be ensured for the courses to be provided to the Contracting Authority;
- description of measures taken to ensure that teaching sessions will not be
interrupted due to unexpected unavailability of teachers (e.g. through illness).
- description of how blended learning will be provided (i.e. a mix of classroom
and online tutoring).
The above part will form the basis for the qualitative evaluation which will be scored
out of 100.
(c)
a financial part (original Annex V) setting out a price in accordance with paragraph 17
of these specifications.
The award will be made in respect of the tender offering the best quality/price ratio.
Formula: Score for tender X = (cheapest price / price of tender X) x total quality score
(out of 100) for all criteria of tender X.
Tenders must be placed inside two sealed envelopes. The inner envelope, addressed to
the department indicated in the invitation to tender, should be marked as follows: "Call
for tender No: F7/01/2013 Framework Contract for the provision of language training
services – not to be opened by the internal mail department". If self-adhesive envelopes
are used, they must be sealed with adhesive tape and the sender must sign across this
tape.
The inner envelope must also contain two sealed envelopes, one containing the technical
specifications and the other the financial bid (Annex V). Each of these envelopes must
clearly indicate the content ("Technical" and "Financial").
ADMINISTRATIVE PART
15.
Exclusion criteria
15.1. Candidates or tenderers shall be excluded from participation in a
procurement procedure if:
(a) they are bankrupt or being wound up, are having their affairs administered by the courts,
have entered into an arrangement with creditors, have suspended business activities, are
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(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
(f)
the subject of proceedings concerning those matters, or are in any analogous situation
arising from a similar procedure provided for in national legislation or regulations;
they have been convicted of an offence concerning their professional conduct by a
judgment which has the force of res judicata;
they have been guilty of grave professional misconduct proven by any means which the
contracting authority can justify;
they have not fulfilled obligations relating to the payment of social security contributions
or the payment of taxes in accordance with the legal provisions of the country in which
they are established or with those of the country of the Contracting Authority or those of
the country where the contract is to be performed;
they have been the subject of a judgment which has the force of res judicata for fraud,
corruption, involvement in a criminal organisation or any other illegal activity
detrimental to the Communities' financial interests;
they are currently subject to an administrative penalty referred to in Article 96(1) of the
Financial Regulation (The Contracting Authority may impose administrative or financial
penalties on the following: (a) candidates or tenderers in the cases referred to in point (b)
of point 15.3, (b) contractors who have been declared to be in serious breach of their
obligations under contracts covered by the budget. In all cases, however, the contracting
authority must first give the person concerned an opportunity to present his observations.)
Points (a) to (d) of the first subparagraph shall not apply in the case of purchase of
supplies on particularly advantageous terms from either a supplier which is definitively
winding up its business activities, or from the receivers or liquidators of a bankruptcy,
through an arrangement with creditors, or through a similar procedure under national law.
Candidates or tenderers must certify that they are not in one of the situations listed above
by completing and signing the form in Annex IV, “Certification with respect to the
Exclusion Criteria”.
The tenderer to whom the contract is to be awarded must also provide evidence that they
are not in any of the situations described in points (a), (b), (d) and (e) above within the
time limit stipulated by the contracting authority. This evidence must be in one of the
forms described in paragraph 15.2 below.
15.2. Evidence
a) The contracting authority shall accept as satisfactory evidence that the candidate or
tenderer to whom the contract is to be awarded is not in one of the situations described in
point (a), (b) or (e) of paragraph 15.1, a recent extract from the judicial record or, failing
that, an equivalent document recently issued by a judicial or administrative authority in
the country of origin or provenance showing that those requirements are satisfied.
b) The contracting authority shall accept, as satisfactory evidence that the candidate or
tenderer is not in the situation described in point (d) of paragraph 15.1, a recent certificate
issued by the competent authority of the State concerned. Where the document or
certificate referred to in paragraph 1 is not issued in the country concerned and for the
other cases of exclusion referred to in paragraph 15.1, it may be replaced by a sworn or,
failing that, a solemn statement made by the tenderer before a judicial or administrative
authority, a notary or a qualified professional body in his country of origin or provenance.
c) Depending on the national legislation of the country in which the candidate or tenderer is
established, the documents referred to in paragraph 15.2 shall relate to legal persons
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and/or natural persons including, where considered necessary by the contracting authority,
company directors or any person with powers of representation, decision-making or
control in relation to the candidate or tenderer.
15.3. Contracts may not be awarded to candidates or tenderers who,
during the procurement procedure:
(a)
are subject to a conflict of interest;
(b) are guilty of misrepresentation in supplying the information required by the Contracting
Authority as a condition of participation in the contract procedure or fail to supply this
information;
(c) find themselves in one of the situations of exclusion, referred to in paragraph 15.1, for
this procurement procedure.
Candidates or tenderers must certify that they are not in the situation in point (a) by
completing and signing the form in Annex IV, “Certification with respect to the Exclusion
Criteria”.
16.
Selection criteria
16.1. Evidence of access to contracts (proof of eligibility)
The tenderer indicates in which State it has its headquarters or domicile and presents the
supporting evidence normally acceptable under its own law (see Annex I).
Moreover, the tenderers are requested to:
-
indicate their VAT number (see Annex I);
indicate the name and position of the person authorised to sign the contract (see Annex
I);
indicate their account number and bank address (R.I.B. or standard form in Annex II);
for natural persons, the standard form in Annex III must also be completed and returned.
16.2. Economic and financial capacity
1. Proof of economic and financial capacity may be furnished by one or more of the
following documents:
(a) appropriate statements from banks or evidence of professional risk indemnity
insurance;
(b) the presentation of balance sheets (or extracts from balance sheets) and profit and loss
accounts for at least the last two years for which accounts have been closed, where
publication of the balance sheet is required under the company law of the country in
which the economic operator is established;
(c) a statement of overall turnover and turnover concerning the works, supplies or services
covered by the contract during the last three financial years.
2. For contracts with a value of 130,000 EUR or more, tenderers (and in case of a
consortium, the consortium leader and the consortium members) are also requested to
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fill in the 'simplified balance sheet' and the 'simplified profit and loss accounts'
enclosed in the 'Simplified Presentation' form in Annex VI for the last year for which
accounts have been closed. Alternatively, the tenderers may fill in only the fields
marked in bold and the ones marked in italics. All amounts must be expressed in Euro
using the conversion rate as per section 10 (Price) of these tender specifications.
3. On the basis of the data from the 'Simplified Presentation' form in Annex VII, a
number of values and ratios will be calculated in order to evaluate the economic and
financial capacity of the tenderers.
4. The following values will be calculated:
Value
Formula/source
Unfavourable if:
own funds
from the balance sheet
negative
own funds
paid-up capital
negative
working capital
permanent capital - fixed assets
negative
gross operating surplus
from the P&L accounts
negative
net result
from the P&L accounts
negative
self-financing capacity net result after tax + amortization –
(SFC)
capitalized production
negative
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5.
Following ratios are calculated:
Unfavourable
if
Ratio
Formula
general
liquidity
current assets/shortterm debts
below 1
between
and 1.25
financial
independence
own
funds/total
liabilities
below 0.20
own funds/medium &
long-term
debts
(MLT)
below 0.30
between 0.20
and 0.40
above 0.40
indebtedness
coverage
of
deposits
and
borrowed funds
by the SFC
SFC / MLT debts
profitability
Average if
Favourable if
1
Above 1.25
between 0.30
and 0.60
above 0.60
below 0.25
between 0.25
and 0.50
above 0.50
gross
operating
surplus / turnover
below 0.10
between 0.10
and 0.20
above 0.20
6. Each type of evaluation has a corresponding scoring (number of points) as follows:
Scoring
7.
Unfavourable value/ratio
Favourable value
Average ratio
0 points
1 point
1 point
Favourable ratio
2 points
In order to meet the financial capacity criterion, the tenderer must obtain a score of at
least 8 points (out of a total of 16 points), which corresponds to 50% of the maximum
number of points.
8 If, for some exceptional reason which the Contracting Authority considers justified,
the tenderer or candidate is unable to provide the references requested by the
Contracting Authority, he may prove his economic and financial capacity by any other
means which the Commission considers appropriate.
16.3. Technical and professional capacity
1. Technical and professional capacity of economic operators shall be evaluated and verified
in accordance with paragraph 2.
2. Evidence of the technical and professional capacity of economic operators may be
furnished on the basis of the following documents:
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a) the educational and professional qualifications of the service provider or contractor
and/or those of the firm's managerial staff and, in particular, those of the person or
persons responsible for providing the services or carrying out the works;
b) a list (with references) of the main services provided over the past 3 years in the field
covered by this contract with details of the dates they took place and details of their
public or private recipients, the number of teaching staff provided and languages
provided.
c) applicants must provide evidence (via detailed CVs) that they have access to at least 10
or more teachers with at least 3 years' experience in teaching their native language as a
foreign language to groups of linguistically diverse professionals.
d) Minimum levels of standards possibly required:
1. Candidates must have at least 3 years' experience of providing training services in a
range of languages to groups of linguistically diverse professionals.
2. Candidates must be in a position to simultaneously provide 10 or more teachers
who have more than 3 years' proven professional experience in teaching languages
as foreign languages to groups of linguistically diverse professionals.
3. Teachers must be native speakers of the language they are to teach.
16.4. Tenders from consortiums of firms or groups of service
providers, contractors or suppliers
Tenders from consortiums of firms or groups of service providers, contractors or
suppliers must specify the role, qualifications and experience of each member or group.
Proof of eligibility, Certification with respect to the Exclusion Criteria and documents
on exclusion and selection criteria must be supplied by each member of the consortiums
of firms or groups of service providers (or contractors or suppliers, depending on the
type of contract) submitting a single tender.
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TECHNICAL PART
17.
Award criteria
The contract will be awarded to the tenderer who submits the most economically
advantageous bid, as assessed on the basis of the following factors:
(a) Technical evaluation criteria in their order of importance as weighted by percentage:
N°
Qualitative Award criteria
pedagogical quality of a group lesson (2.0hours)
as proposed by the tenderer in response to the
described needs (see paragraph 3)
adequacy of the means by which the support of
frequently absent participants will be ensured for
the courses to be provided to the Contracting
Authority
adequacy of measures taken to ensure that
teaching sessions will not be interrupted due to
unexpected unavailability of teachers (e.g. through
illness).
pedagogical quality of a proposal for blended
learning as proposed by the tenderer in response to
the described needs (see paragraph 3)
1.
2.
3.
4.
Total points
Weighting
(max. points)
30
30
10
10
100
(b) Price.
FINANCIAL PART
18.
Financial part
Price must be presented in the standard format of Annex V.
Annexes:
I:
II:
III:
IV:
V:
VI:
VII:
VIII - XI:
Tender submission form
Financial identification form
Legal Entity Form
Certification with respect to the exclusion criteria
Price
Framework Service Contract
Viability Check
Course programmes and list of textbooks
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