Sustainable Economic Development and ICT Sector - northern part of Cyprus

Public document to be completed by the Contracting Authority

SERVICE PROCUREMENT NOTICE

Sustainable Economic Development and ICT Sector Programme

Location – northern part of Cyprus

 

1.   Publication reference

EuropeAid/127043/C/SER/CY

2.   Procedure

Restricted

3.   Programme

Instrument of financial support to encourage the economic development of the Turkish Cypriot community

4.   Financing

Budget line: 22 02 07 03

5.   Contracting Authority

The European Community, represented by the European Commission, in order to support the economic development of the Turkish Cypriot community, in accordance with Council Regulation 389/2006 (OJ [2006] L 65/5)

 

CONTRACT SPECIFICATION

6.   Nature of contract

Fee-based

7.   Contract description

The purposes of this contract are as follows:

Lot 1 – Small and medium Sized Enterprises (SME): To contribute to the growth of private sector and to the diversification of the local economy, and to improve the quality of business services available to private sector by means of 

·       A more conducive environment for economic development measured by number and quality of business support services, number of privatized Public Enterprises, etc.;

·       An expanded private sector measured by increased number of firms, increased employment, increased productivity in supported firms and increased investment in firms

 

Lot 2 – Information and Communication Technologies (ICT): To increase take-off of ICT competences by the Turkish Cypriot community across all sectors of society by means of 

·       Increased take up of ICT technologies;

·       Establishment of more competitive and innovative ICT sector;

·       Increased synergy between SMEs in general and the ICT sector;

·       Convert the Turkish Cypriot’s into e-citizens.

8.   Number and titles of lots

NA

9.   Maximum budget

EUR 3.650.000

10.             Scope for additional services

The Contracting Authority may, at its own discretion, extend the project in duration and/or scope, up to a maximum not exceeding the value and duration of the initial contract, subject to availability of funding. Any extension of the contract would be subject to a satisfactory performance by the Consultant. The actual value and duration of the additional services, if any,  will be agreed by negotiated procedure, as per PRAG 3.2.3.1, Budget, point c).

 

CONDITIONS OF PARTICIPATION

11.             Eligibility

Participation is open to all legal persons of the EU Member States and the countries and territories of the regions covered and/or authorized by the specific instrument applicable to the programme under which the contract is financed, i.e. Council Regulation (EC) No 389/2006 of 27/02/2006 (OJ L 65 of 07/03/2006) (see also item 30 below). Participation is also open to international organizations. The participation of natural persons is governed by the specific instrument applicable to the programme under which the contract is financed.

Article 9(1) of Council Regulation (EC) N. 389/2006, first indent, reads that "Participation in the award of procurement or grant contracts financed under this regulation shall be opened to all natural or legal persons of Member states of the European Union".  

With regard to the abovementioned Article 9(1), first indent, the Council has noted that “the term natural or legal persons of Member States of the European Union’ includes those residing or established in the areas” of the Republic of Cyprus in which the Government of the Republic of Cyprus does not exercise effective control.  

The Commission has additionally stated that “The main objective of this financial instrument is to encourage the economic development of the Turkish Cypriot community. The Commission therefore understands the term 'all natural or legal persons of Member States of the European Union' in Article 9 paragraph 1 of the Regulation …. to include all genuinely existing domestic legal persons residing or established in the areas. This does not imply recognition of any public authority in the areas other than the Government of the Republic of Cyprus"

Participation is also open to international organisations.

12.             Application

All eligible natural and legal persons (as per item 11 above) or groupings of such persons (consortia) may apply.

A consortium may be a permanent, legally-established grouping or a grouping which has been constituted informally for a specific tender procedure.  All members of a consortium (ie, the leader and all other members) are jointly and severally liable to the Contracting Authority.

The participation of an ineligible natural or legal person (as per item 11) will result in the automatic exclusion of that person.  In particular, if that ineligible person belongs to a consortium, the whole consortium will be excluded.

13.             Number of applications

No more than one application can be submitted by a natural or legal person whatever the form of participation (as an individual legal entity or as leader or member of a consortium submitting an application).  In the event that a natural or legal person submits more than one application, all applications in which that person has participated will be excluded.

14.             Shortlist alliances prohibited

Any tenders received from tenderers comprising firms other than those mentioned in the short-listed application forms will be excluded from this restricted tender procedure. Short-listed candidates may not form alliances or subcontract to each other for the contract in question.

15.             Grounds for exclusion

As part of the application form, candidates must submit a signed declaration, included in the standard application form, to the effect that they are not in any of the exclusion situations listed in Section 2.3.3 of the Practical Guide to contract procedures for EC external actions.

16.             Sub-contracting

Sub-contracting will be allowed only up to 30 % of the contract value.

17.             Number of candidates to be short-listed

On the basis of the applications received, between 4-8 candidates will be invited to submit detailed tenders for this contract. If the number of eligible candidates meeting the selection criteria is less than the minimum of 4, the Contracting Authority may invite the candidates who satisfy the criteria to submit a tender.

PROVISIONAL TIMETABLE

18.             Provisional date of invitation to tender

November 2008

19.             Provisional commencement date of the contract

February 2009

20.             Initial period of execution and possible extension of the contract

36 Months initial execution period, with a possible extension not exceeding the length of the initial execution period.

 

SELECTION AND AWARD CRITERIA

21.             Selection criteria

The following selection criteria will be applied to candidates. In the case of applications submitted by a consortium, these selection criteria will be applied to the consortium as a whole:

1)  Economic and financial capacity of candidate (based on item 3 of the application form)

The annual turnover of the candidate must exceed 1.000.000 EUR for each of the last 3 closed financial years (2005-2007, the candidate must specify the years in question in item 3 of the application form).

2)  Professional capacity of candidate (based on items 4 and 5 of the application form)

(a) at least 10 staff currently work for the candidate in fields related to this contract (i.e. Private Sector and ICT Development as described under point 7 above, ). This requirement applies to the 10 staff as a team;

(b) at least 5 staff working for the candidate in 2008 in fields related to this contract (i.e. Private Sector and ICT Development as described under point 7 above) are permanent. This requirement applies to the 5 staff as a team.

3)  Technical capacity of candidate (based on items 5 and 6 of the application form)

(a) The candidate has successfully (i.e. final report approved by the deadline for receipt of applications) been in the lead (i.e. has carried out at least 50% of the overall reference value) of at least 5 projects related to Private Sector Development and/or building capacities in ICT technologies, each with a minimum budget of 300.000 EUR. References presented for this criterion must have been completed between 01/01/2005 and the deadline for receipt of applications given at point 23 below.

(b) The candidate has successfully (i.e. final report approved by the deadline for receipt of applications) been in the lead (i.e. has carried out at least 50% of the overall reference value) of at least 1 project with a minimum budget of 500.000 EUR, in the field of Private Sector Development and/or building capacities in ICT technologies, in the EU Member States, ENPI[1] region, official candidate countries and/or Western Balkans. References presented for this criterion must have been completed between 01/01/2007 and the deadline for receipt of applications given at point 23 below.

An economic operator may, where appropriate and for a particular contract, rely on the capacities of other entities, regardless of the legal nature of the links which it has with them. It must in that case prove to the Contracting Authority that it will have at its disposal the resources necessary for performance of the contract, for example by producing an undertaking on the part of those entities to place those resources at its disposal. Such entities must respect the same rules of eligibility and notably that of nationality, as the economic operator.

If more than 8 eligible candidates meet the above selection criteria, the relative strengths and weaknesses of the applications of these candidates must be reexamined to identify the eight best applications for the tender procedure.  The only factors which will be taken into consideration during this re-examination, based on item 6 of the application form, are:

1)             The number of projects compliant with criterion 21.3) (a).

2)             The cumulative value of services carried out by the relevant legal entity under the qualifying projects as per 21.3) (a).

The two comparative criteria listed above will be applied in order of precedence, i.e. all the applicants meeting the selection criteria as per 21.1), 21.2) and 21.3) will first be assessed against the comparative criterion 1) and ranked accordingly. The comparative criterion 2) will only be applied if some applicants at the bottom edge of such list will score equally against comparative criterion 1), and will only concern such applicants.

22.             Award criteria

Best value for money.

 

 

APPLICATION

23.             Deadline for receipt of applications

30/11/2008 at 16:00 Central European Time

Any application received after this deadline will not be considered.

24.             Application format and details to be provided

Applications must be submitted using the standard application form (available from the following Internet address: http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/work/procedures/index_en.htm), whose format and instructions must be strictly observed.

Any additional documentation (brochure, letter, etc) sent with an application will not be taken into consideration.

25.             How applications may be submitted

Applications must be submitted in English exclusively to the Contracting Authority EITHER by registered mail (official postal service) OR hand delivered (including courier services) directly to the Contracting Authority in return for a signed and dated receipt to:

European Commission

DG Enlargement, Unit A3

Task Force for the Turkish Cypriot Community

Office CHAR 4/005

Central Mail Office

1, Avenue du Bourget

B-1140 Evere

Belgium

The Central Mail Office of the Commission at Av. du Bourget is available from Mondays to Thursdays from 09:00 h to 17:00 h and on Fridays from 09:00 h to 16:00 h (Brussels time).

The Contract title and the Publication reference (see item 1 above) must be clearly marked on the envelope containing the application and must always be mentioned in all subsequent correspondence with the Contracting Authority.

Applications submitted by any other means will not be considered.

26. Alteration or withdrawal of applications

Candidates may alter or withdraw their applications by written notification prior to the deadline for submission of tenders. No application may be altered after this deadline.

Any such notification of alteration or withdrawal shall be prepared and submitted in accordance with Clause 25.  The outer envelope (and the relevant inner envelope) must be marked 'Alteration' or 'Withdrawal' as appropriate.

27.             Operational language

All written communications for this tender procedure and contract must be in English. 

28.             Additional information

1)      Filling in the standard Application Form

When filling in the standard Application Form, and in particular items 3, 4, 5 and 6 therein, candidates must provide all information necessary to allow the Short-list Panel to assess their compliance with the selection criteria under points 21.1), 21.2) and 21.3) above. Particularly, Candidates are strongly recommended to provide full project details in item 6 of the standard Application Form, sections “Detailed description of project” and “Type of services provided”. Here candidates are requested to provide a clear description of the overall project and, separately, list only those activities which have been carried out by the candidates themselves, excluding activities carried out e.g. by other members of a previously formed consortia who are not part of the application for this tender procedure. Completion dates of projects or of relevant projects components (see criterion 21.3) must be clearly stated.

2) Contract procedures and specific conditions

In accordance with Article 5 of Council Regulation (EC) No 389/2006, the contracting procedure is governed by Title IV of part 2 of the Financial Regulation. Detailed information on the applicable rules can be found in the "Practical Guide to contract procedures for EC external actions"  (http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/work/procedures/implementation/common_documents/practical_guide/new_prag_final_en.pdf#page=1).

However, the Tenderer/Consultant/Contractor should note the following: the Practical Guide refers to Financing Agreements that the Commission normally signs with a beneficiary third country. These financing agreements are often completed by framework agreements between the Commission and the beneficiary third country. Both agreements govern the basic rules, following which the financial assistance of the EU is implemented in the beneficiary third country, amongst others, rules on the establishment and right of residence, privileges and immunities, tax and customs arrangements and import and export of equipment and other supplies.

There is no such agreement that would cover the northern part of Cyprus, referred to in Protocol 10 of the Act of Accession 2003 as the "areas of the Republic of Cyprus in which the Government of the Republic of Cyprus does not exercise effective control" and hereafter referred to as "the areas".

However, the Contracting Authority understands that the prevailing situation in the areas is the following: the Tenderer/Consultant/Contractor will not be requested to pay custom duties, import taxes, fees and VAT or any other similar taxes on goods entering the areas for the contract financed by the EU ("the Contract") and will receive the necessary documents to that effect. All imported goods, which are not incorporated in or expended in connection with the Contract, should be exported on completion of the Contract. The Contracting Authority understands that the Tenderer/Consultant/Contractor will not be requested to pay VAT for the contract value and will receive the necessary documents to that effect.

The Contracting Authority will not be involved in the preparation or presentation of any documentation that the Tenderer/Consultant/Contractor may need in order to bring the goods to the place where they are supposed to be installed or used. The Consultant shall be deemed to have checked the locally applying  technical and administrative conditions before submitting the Tender. 

The Tenderer/Consultant/Contractor should take note that shipments to and from the areas via the areas of the Republic of Cyprus under effective control of the Government of the Republic of Cyprus are subject to the Green-Line Regulation (Council Regulation (EC) No 866/2004 of 29 April 2004 on a regime under Article 2 of Protocol 10 to the Act of Accession) which includes specific rules inter alia on VAT.            

(http://eur-lex.europa.eu/smartapi/cgi/sga_doc?smartapi!celexplus!prod!CELEXnumdoc&lg=en&numdoc=304R0866R(01)

The Contracting Authority understands that the prevailing situation in the areas is the following:

The Tenderer/Consultant/Contractor’s expatriate key staff will not be requested to pay personal income taxes in the areas in respect of such of their salaries and wages related to the contract. This exemption will not apply to local staff.

The Tenderer/Consultant/Contractor’s expatriate key staff (and members of their immediate families) will not be requested to pay customs duties, income duties, taxes and other fiscal charges having equivalent effect on personal and household effects imported for personal use provided that the personal and household effects are either re-exported or disposed of in the areas after the completion of the Contract.

 

2)      Supporting documents

The Contracting Authority reserves the right to request the following:

·         Profit and Loss Accounts/Income Statements, for each of the years for which the annual turnovers have to be presented. The Profit and Loss Accounts/Income Statements, drawn up in line with International Accounting Standards, must be provided with an English translation and conversion of amounts into euro. The Candidate should be ready to present Profit and Loss Accounts/Income Statements in the required form within 24 hours, upon request from the Contracting Authority during the examination of the Application Form. The Contracting Authority reserves the right to ask for surplus information which certifies the data presented in the forms.

·         Proofs on the actual number of relevant staff permanently hired for the time period for which the information shall be provided.

·         Proofs and/or additional information concerning scope, value, duration, etc. of projects listed in table 6 of the Application Form (e.g. copy of relevant contracts, client’s references/Final reports, etc.).

Candidates are reminded that the successful Tenderer/Consultant/Contractor will in any case be requested to provide evidence of the financial and economic standing and of the technical and professional capacity according to the selection criteria specified at point 21 of this Procurement Notice. If the successful Tenderer/Consultant/Contractor fails to provide the evidence of the financial and economic standing and/or of the technical and professional capacity within 15 calendar days following the notification of award, or if the successful Tenderer/Consultant/Contractor is found to have provided false information, the award will be considered null and void.

Candidates are also reminded that participation in spite of being in any of the situations listed in Section 2.3.3 of the Practical Guide to contract procedures for EC external actions will make them subject to exclusion from tender procedures and contracts in accordance with Section 2.3.5 of the said Practical Guide. Furthermore, provision of inaccurate or incomplete information deliberately in the Application Form will make them subject to financial penalties representing 2% to 5% of the total value of the contract being awarded. This rate may be increased to 4% to 10% in the event of a repeated offence within five years of the first infringement.

3)      Special Requirements

The Tenderer/Consultant/Contractor should be aware of the political, legal and diplomatic context prevailing in Cyprus and abstain from contacts of a political nature. Should issues relating to the specific political, legal and diplomatic context arise in the preparation and implementation of this contract, the Tenderer/Consultant/Contractor should inform the Project Manager. The /Tenderer/Consultant/Contractor should ensure confidentiality with no disclosure of the issue to third parties.

The Tenderer/Consultant/Contractor shall ensure that, in the preparation and implementation of the action subject of this tender, the rights of natural and legal persons, including the rights to possessions and property shall be respected.

No action undertaken by the Tenderer/Consultant/Contractor in the course of preparation and implementation of this contract should be intended to imply recognition of any public authority other than the Government of the Republic of Cyprus.

.

29.             Date of publication of contract forecast

09/05/2008

30.             Legal basis

Council Regulation (EC) No 389/2006 of 27/02/2006 (OJ L 65 of 07/03/2006).