Contract notice JO reference: 2011/S 90-145990
E UROPEAN U NION
Call for tenders: GA02/2011/EU
Publication: 23.05.2011
Please be informed that the External Translation Unit has posted a corrigendum to the following tender document: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/tenders/invitations.htm
1.
What is the procedure concerning the questions we have about this tender? Will there be a publication of all the answers on the questions on your website, or is every question answered individually?
The FAQ are regularly published on our website http://www.europarl.europa.eu/tenders/invitations.htm
.
The document is updated regularly and we strongly recommend the prospective tenderers to consult it.
2.
To whom should I send questions with regard to the call for tenders?
All the questions must be sent to: dgtrad.etutranslationtenders@europarl.europa.eu
no later than 21 June inclusive.
All admissible questions and replies will be regularly published in English on the European
Parliament website: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/tenders/invitations.htm
.
Last publication will take place on 27 June 2011.
3.
How many pages do you require the Language Service Provider to translate per month?
We cannot predict the precise volume of work. Please refer to point 2.6 of the Specifications.
4.
When is the expected date of publishing the results of the tender? When is the chosen contractor expected to sign the framework contract and to start receiving assignments?
When the procedure has been completed, all the participating tenderers will be informed about the results of the call for tenders simultaneously. In accordance with Article 35 of
Directive 2004/18/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 March 2004, the contract award notices for the call for tenders will also be published in the Official Journal
Supplement no later than 48 days after awarding the contracts. The entry into force of contracts is foreseen for 1 January 2012.
5.
Can my name appear in more then one offer if the offers are being made by different companies where I work only as a freelancer? In that sense, what would happen if I myself make an offer together with some other freelance translators? I presume then my name can not appear in any other offer of another company where I would work as a freelancer.
Your name can appear in as many offers as you wish.

6.
Are there any documents (based on the checklist provided in Annex 4) that can be provided as a joint description/proof on behalf of the whole group in case of a consortium or joint offer (e.g., Annex 1 (a), (c))? Is there any standard declaration form available on submitting a joint offer/consortium for purposes of the present tender?
For a consortium or group the annexes shall be completed for the each company separately.
The declaration form shall also be completed for each company separately.
7.
In case of a consortium between 2 companies, does the online registration form have to be signed by the legal representatives of both companies or by the legal representative of the company acting as consortium leader?
If the consortium is already constituted, only its legal representative has to sign the annexes.
If the consortium is not constituted yet, the legal representatives of each participating company has to sign the annexes.
In the event of an award, the consortium or group will be the sole contractor vis-à-vis the contracting authority and must be legally constituted prior to signature of the contract.
8.
With respect to Specifications point 25.2.g , is our understanding correct that the proportion of work intended to be subcontracted:
• is not limited and,
• should be indicated as a percentage?
There is no limitation regarding the proportion of the work intended to be subcontracted. If the tenderer has an intention to subcontract, he/she must declare it and also provide all the information and indications detailed in point 25.2.g of the Specifications, including the proportion of the work intended to be subcontracted.
9.
Can we limit the number of source languages we can translate from if we apply for the target language? If so, how does this affect the rating process?
In the call for tenders GA/2011/EU we require tenderers to be able to translate from English,
German and French. No limitations to source languages are allowed.
10.
Will any type of test translation be required after the bid as part of the selection process?
The tenders will be evaluated against the criteria detailed in points 25 and 26 of the
Specifications. There will be no translation tests.
11.
Am I right that the bid must contain the service fee for translation plus proofreading
(full revision) in a single sum, not separately?
The quality of the translation to be provided by the tenderer must be such as to require no further correction by the authorising authority (see point 11.4 concerning the quality requirements). For this service the authorising authority will pay a price per page.
Therefore, in accordance with point 26.2 of the Specifications, tenderers are invited to make a single price offer for translation assignments. The price must be expressed in euros. The price offer per standard page of 1500 characters (excluding spaces) must be presented as indicated (Annex 1 - Registration form). The price must be inclusive of all costs
(management, secretariat, salaries, social security, office expenses, insurance, communications, secondary obligations, etc.).
12.
Would the European Parliament confirm that by stating that "tenders must be sent by registered mail, dispatched not later than 30 June 2011", this means that the offers do not necessarily have to arrive physically at the European Parliament on 20 June 2011, but only sent at the latest on this date?

In the case of offers sent by either registered mail or by private courier (Art. 2.3(a) of the
Invitation to tender) 20 June 2011 is the deadline for dispatch, the postmark/deposit slip serving as proof. Note, however, that the deadline for delivery of the offers handed in directly
(Art. 2.2(b) of the Invitation to tender) is 20 June 2011, 16:00 Luxembourg local time.
13.
Point 2.5 of the Invitation specifies that "Tenders must be sent under double cover".
Do you mean that each of the three copies of documents has to be placed into one first envelope and then into a second envelope (which is therefore enclosed in the first one)?
14.
In reference to the Invitation to Tender it is stated that there must be three folders and the Price offer should be separate. Does this mean that there must be 3 price offers to go along with the other folders or just one copy of the Price offer separately?
The original and the copies can either be placed together in the same envelope, or, for practical reasons (e.g. the size of the original and the copies), placed into separate envelopes.
A second outer envelope is needed in all cases. All envelopes must be sealed and signed and/or stamped across seals. All envelopes must be addressed to the service indicated in Art.
2 of the Invitation to tender and marked as stated in the abovementioned article.
It is sufficient and recommended to provide only one original price offer. Please do not enclose any copies of the price offer.
15.
Do the pages of the whole tender have to be numbered or the only request is, as set in
Invitation letter: Tenders must be submitted in a folder, all pages being attached?
Numbering the pages of the tender is welcome but not obligatory.
16.
Point 25.2 of the Specifications - List of clients - how far back should we go? Is one year sufficient?
The list of clients is just one of the elements to evaluate the capacity to provide the services.
You do not need to be exhaustive. You can include, e.g. the most important and recent clients or the clients that you considered to be close to the participating institutions (concerning the type of services you were providing for them).
17.
In reference to the Invitation to Tender what is meant by “be drawn on the tenderer’s headed paper”?
By headed paper we mean paper bearing the company's logotype, which is normally used for official correspondence.
18.
According to Invitation to tender, tenders shall be signed without fail by the tenderer or his or her duly authorised representative. Does every page of the tender have to be signed?
You do not need to sign every page of the tender. Annexes 1, 2 and 3 must be signed in the places indicated. Please sign also any other document which you include in your offer if the signature seems clearly necessary.
19.
Should the tenderers include in their bidding offer the proof that they are not in one of the situations referred to in point 23 of the Specifications?
Only the successful tenderers who have succeeded in the first (selection) phase of the selection procedure will be asked to provide such proof at a later stage of the procedure. So there is no obligation to include such a proof in your initial bid.
20.
Who can certify copies of documents? Can the tenderer's legal representative do it?

Certified copy means attestation that this is a true copy of the original by an appropriate authority e.g. issuing authority, notary, etc. Certification by the tenderer's legal representative would amount to self-certification and is not acceptable.
21.
Small enterprises are not obliged to audit their financial statements. Therefore, they cannot fulfil requirement established in point 25.1 of the Specifications. Of course they can be voluntary audited, but this process takes months, so it is not possible to send it by the deadline.
In order to submit the statement of overall turnover in the field of translation the company does not have to provide the Contracting Authority with an audit report on its financial statements. A simple declaration from an independent body (for example a chartered accountant) is enough.
22.
In paragraph 25.2, point C you mention that you need us to include the recruitment tests translators are required to sit. Can you please be more specific as to what tests you need us to provide?
There is no need to send specific tests but rather a description of the recruitment procedure.
23.
Can you please confirm that no other CV than Annex 2 should be presented for all members involved for the completion of the projects concerned by this tender?
We confirm that Annex 2, duly dated and signed by both the staff member and the legal representative, is sufficient as a CV.
24.
Are copies of diplomas and certificates also to be included in the tenderer's proposal?
You are under no obligation to enclose diplomas or certificates.
25.
It seems that we would need more translators than indicated in our tender is it possible to use other translators as well if the Contracting Authority accepts them?
According to point 20 of the Specifications any change in the translators/revisers team declared in the tender must be approved by the Participating Institutions and evidence of the education and professional qualifications of those concerned must be provided. Annex 2 to these Specifications, duly completed and signed in original both by a translator and by the legal representative of the company, must be used in all cases.
26.
Are we allowed to include the person in our translation team, who is currently having a traineeship at the EU institution?
Neither the tenderer nor any member of the tenderer's staff may be an official or other agent currently employed by the European Union or a former official or other member of staff of the
European Union in receipt of a pension or a monthly allowance paid from the budget of the
European Union.
27.
The invitation to tender states that tenders must be drawn up on the tenderer's headed paper. Question: could you please clarify this point? Do we understand it correctly that only our presentation part (description of the bidder - written by ourselves) must be printed and submitted on the headed paper? Could you please confirm that all
Annexes (1a, 1b, 1c, 2, 3) do not need to be printed on the headed paper (since they are standardized forms)?
The pages of the bid provided by the tenderer himself must be printed on the tenderer's headed paper. The annexes and the supporting documents do not need to be on the tenderer's headed paper.

28.
Do we understand it correctly that we do not need to submit Annex III (legal entities form) and Annex IV (financial identification form) with all tender documents at this stage?
Tenderers will be asked to provide Annex III and Annex IV before signing the contract. There is no obligation to enclose the mentioned forms with the bid.
29.
Is it enough that the Annex 2 bears the signature of the translator and the legal representative or should the name and surname of the legal representative be written also in the box at the end of Annex 2?
Annex 2 must bear the signatures of the member of the translation staff involved and of the legal representative.
30.
Point 25.2 of the specification states that the “minimum level of qualification for a translator considered to be acceptable for the purpose of this call for tenders is successful completion of university level studies in any discipline.” Several of our experienced translators, who we would like to include as part of our translation team, have achieved the Diploma in Translation (DipTrans) from the Institute of Linguists or the Foreign and
Commonwealth Office language examinations which are considered as a postgraduate level equivalent qualification and degree level equivalent respecitively. Could you please confirm that these qualifications would be acceptable?
Any degree is acceptable if it corresponds to at least a bachelor degree of university level studies. The Diploma in Translation from the Institute of Linguists would appear to be a postgraduate qualification. It seems to be a level 7 diploma in accordance with the link attached http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/EducationAndLearning/QualificationsExplained/DG_10039017 and should therefore correspond to a postgraduate certificate/diploma. However, concerning the language examinations from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, we would need additional information concerning translators' qualifications.
31.
Could you please explain what exactly is meant by "terminological and documentary databases" (point 25.2)? What aspects will be most important in the assessment of this list?
The list of databases is one of the elements used to evaluate the capacity to provide the services. You can include any terminological sources and/or databases that you use in your work and which you consider to be relevant