ANNEX I TO THE INVITATION TO TENDER

Transcription

1 ANNEX I TO THE INVITATION TO TENDER TENDER SPECIFICATIONS Provision of hotel, restaurant and local transport services' bookings for groups visiting the European Commission's Visitors' Centre in Brussels OPEN CALL FOR TENDER PO/ /C4

2 Table of contents 1. Title of the Tender Objective and context Subject of the contract Services required Price lists...4 a) Hotels...4 b) Restaurants...4 c) Local transport Administration of the provision, reservation and payment of hotel, restaurant and transport services Reports Size of the contract Contractual framework Submission of bids Technical tender Financial offer Exclusion criteria Declaration of honour and evidence Tenders submitted by consortia Tenders involving subcontracting Selection criteria Capacity of the tenderer Additional requirements for joint offers Additional requirements for tenders including subcontracting Award criteria Technical evaluation Financial evaluation Award of the contract

3 1. TITLE OF THE TENDER Open invitation to tender for the provision of hotel, restaurant and local transport services' bookings for groups visiting the European Commission's Visitors' Centre in Brussels (Ref. PO/ /C4). 2. OBJECTIVE AND CONTEXT The Visitors' Centre of the Directorate-General for Communication provides an opportunity for citizens from EU Member States and third countries alike to visit the European Commission in Brussels. It aims at giving its visitors an insight into the work and functioning of the European Commission and explaining its policies and programmes through information visits tailored to their interests. Visits for groups consisting of a minimum of 15 people aged 15 years and above (including school pupils) range from 90-minute general information visits to tailored information visits for high-level groups and key multipliers lasting up to one and a half days. In 2013, the Visitors' Centre received approximately 1,700 visitor groups with over 50,000 visitors in total. The purpose of this contract is to provide an efficient logistical support service in the area of hotel, restaurant and local transport bookings for priority groups visiting the European Commission's Visitors' Centre. In 2013, over 350 groups representing some 9000 participants required either hotel accommodation, meals, or local transport, or a combination of all three services. Group sizes range from 15 to 60 participants, with an average of 25 participants per group. A dedicated team of 12 tailored information visit organisers is responsible for requesting individual booking services for the visiting groups involving close liaison with the contractor. In order to reflect a positive image of the Commission it is essential therefore that the quality of the services offered and the organisational proficiency of the selected contractor be of a consistently high level throughout the duration of the contract. 3. SUBJECT OF THE CONTRACT 3.1. Services required The Contractor shall reserve hotel rooms, restaurants and local transport for visiting groups following individual requests made by the team of visit organisers. He must guarantee to provide unfailing assistance to the Visitors' Centre staff for the various services provided in different locations and premises in the Brussels region, including Brussels Airport (Zaventem) and occasionally Charleroi Airport (Brussels-South). At least one member of the Contractor's team must provide assistance at all times during working hours and must be available by phone outside working hours in order to resolve any problems with service providers. Compliance with deadlines for order confirmations and last minute modifications as well as the thorough follow-up of problems/queries is essential. 3

4 3.1.1 Price lists The tenderer shall present a list of hotels, restaurants and transport companies, with whom he has negotiated the best rates (see Annex VI Price Offer part II Price lists). The hotels and restaurants on these lists must be easily accessible (maximum 15 minutes, or 30 minutes during rush hour) by coach from the Commission buildings in Brussels, in particular from the Visitors' Centre, 170 rue de la Loi, 1040 Brussels. a) Hotels Three categories of hotels must be proposed: 5-star, 4-star and 3-star (see guidelines for hotel classification in Brussels - "Arrêté de l'exécutif du 24 décembre 1990" 1 and "Ministerieel besluit tot bepaling van classificatienormen inzake comfort voor een vergund toeristisch logies 27 November 2009" 2 ). A choice of at least four 5-star hotels, seven 4-star hotels and seven 3-star hotels is required. These lists shall indicate the price for a hotel room (double or single only), during weekdays and at the week-end, including breakfast but excluding additional services. Hotels must guarantee, in normal circumstances, the reservation of approximately 15 to 60 rooms provided five weeks' prior notice is given by the Contractor. The lists must specify whether hotels are prepared to guarantee the above reservations with less prior notice and indicate the minimum notice required, including for modifications to the number of rooms required. Hotels should also guarantee that any cancellations received up to two weeks in advance of the date of arrival will be accepted without a cancellation charge. The lists must specify whether hotels are prepared to accept cancellations with less prior notice and indicate the minimum notice required. For information, the Commission estimates that it will require +/- 6,000 overnight stays per year; this figure may fluctuate up or down according to the budget available and the strategy chosen by the contracting authority. The number of hotel nights to be booked for those visits which include hotel accommodation varies from 1 to 3 nights for the group of participants. b) Restaurants A list of at least ten, but not more than twenty, restaurants of various types shall be provided, with prices ranging from 10 to 80 per person. The list provided must indicate the guaranteed rate available to the Contractor for the provision of three-course lunches and dinners, including

5 accompanying beverages (wines, beers, fruit juices, mineral waters, coffees and teas). Restaurants should also be able to offer a vegetarian option and cater for specific dietary requirements in addition to the traditional menus. As the Visitors' Centre also intends to use the Commission restaurants, the list must include the tariffs of the external providers for these restaurants under Framework Contract OIB.DR.2/PC/2012/117/558/CO Lots 1, 2 & 3 (contact address: oib-selfs-restaurantscafeterias@ec.europa.eu), which covers all their range of catering services and includes light sandwich lunches in meeting rooms Tenderers should also indicate the prices for optional extra services such as microphones, podiums provided by the restaurants. For information, the Commission estimates that it will require +/- 9,000 meals per year for its visitors; this figure may fluctuate up or down according to the budget available and the strategy chosen by the contracting authority. Restaurants must be able to guarantee availability for between 15 and 100 lunches or dinners per group, providing 2 weeks prior notice is received. The lists must specify whether restaurants are prepared to guarantee meal reservations with less prior notice and indicate the minimum notice required. Restaurants should also guarantee that any cancellations received up to one week in advance will be accepted without a cancellation charge. The lists must specify whether restaurants are prepared to accept cancellations with less prior notice and indicate the minimum notice required. Restaurants should guarantee that any increase in numbers of up to 10% of the reserved number be accommodated providing 24 hours' advance notice is given. c) Local transport A list of at least three transport companies shall be required indicating the guaranteed rate for coach transport plus qualified driver for groups of approximately 15 to 60 persons in vehicles which comply with the safety standards in force. At least one company must guarantee wheel chair access and must accept to keep suitcases in the vehicle when necessary. Vehicles must be of at least 3-star category (see quality control classification of the "Fédération Belge des exploitants d'autobus et d'autocars et des organisateurs de voyages" 3. A range of vehicles of various capacities must be given. The price for a group of 25 people will be used for the financial evaluation of the tenders

6 Coach transport will normally involve picking-up / dropping-off visitor groups at either Brussels Airport (Zaventem), Charleroi Airport (Brussels- South) or the main railway stations in Brussels in addition to journeys to various locations in Brussels (see Annex 3 Price lists). Transport providers must be able to guarantee the availability of transport for groups of 15 to 100 persons, providing 5 weeks' prior notice is given. The lists must specify whether transport companies are prepared to guarantee reservations with less prior notice and indicate the minimum notice required. Transport companies must also guarantee that any cancellations received up to one week in advance will be accepted without a cancellation charge. The lists must specify whether transport companies are prepared to accept cancellations with less prior notice and indicate the minimum notice required. For information, the Commission estimates that it will require local transport for visitor groups on +/- 400 occasions; this figure may fluctuate up or down according to the budget available and the strategy chosen by the contracting authority Administration of the provision, reservation and payment of hotel, restaurant and transport services The Contractor must provide unfailing assistance with regard to the various services requested and be available outside working hours should problems arise with service providers (see paragraph 3.1). The successful contractor shall have access to the Visitors' Centre's dedicated IT tool to manage and process all booking requirements. The booking procedure shall involve the following steps: At least 6 weeks prior to the required date of the services for hotels and transport and 3 weeks for restaurants, the Commission shall request the required services by means of an electronic booking form (see Annex III to draft framework service contract) indicating the name of the group, visit reference number, number of participants, country of origin and the visit organiser responsible for the visit programme. The Contractor shall be solely responsible for contacting the service providers to ascertain the availability of the required services for each visit. Within 5 working days he shall return the booking form proposing services offering the best value for money in the preferred area and on the date(s) required. The tariffs shall be automatically those in force on the date of the initial request for the services(s) by the Commission. Tariffs proposed by service providers which for whatever reason exceed those in force shall be at the written consent of the contracting authority. 6

7 After approval of the booking form by the Commission, the Contractor shall confirm the proposed services to the service provider. The order form for the confirmed services shall be signed electronically by the Commission on or before the start date of the visit. Any change in the requirements of the visiting group shall be notified to the Contractor as quickly as possible using the IT tool. The Contractor should ensure that the modified service be provided in the most efficient and cost-effective manner. The Contractor shall be responsible for paying all relevant invoices from hotels/restaurants/transport companies for services reserved on the signed order forms Reports Following the receipt and payment of all service suppliers' invoices for each calendar month, a detailed report summarising the services rendered for that month for each order form shall be submitted to the Commission for comments/queries before submission of the monthly invoice. Scanned copies of invoices from suppliers must be attached. 4. SIZE OF THE CONTRACT The exact number of services required and their precise dates cannot be specified. Individual orders will be made specifying the dates and other details of the services relating to hotel, restaurant and local transport booking requests. The maximum budget for this tender is EUR over four years, VAT excluded. Pursuant to Article 134(1)f and Article 134(3) of Commission delegated Regulation (EU) No 1268/2012 of on the rules of application of Regulation (EU) No 966/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union, the contracting authority may use a negotiated procedure for the award of new services which entail the repetition of similar services entrusted to the contractor who was awarded the original contract. That procedure may be used only during the three years following conclusion of the original contract. 5. CONTRACTUAL FRAMEWORK The services specified above will be the subject of a Framework Contract drawn up between the European Commission (COMM C4) and the tenderer 7

8 to whom the contract is awarded. The draft contract is attached in Annex II to the Invitation to Tender. In drawing up his bid, the tenderer should bear in mind the provisions of this draft contract and, notably: I.4 Payments arrangements and performance of the framework contract II.15 Reporting and payments 6. SUBMISSION OF BIDS The tenderer's bid must comprise: The Declaration of Honour concerning the exclusion criteria, duly signed and completed, using the form in Annex III. All documents relating to the selection criteria listed under point 10; for those documents, the tenderer will fill in the tables to be found in Annexes IV and V. The technical tender, as specified under point 7, in line with the specifications under point 3. The financial offer, according to point 8, corresponding to all of the tender specifications, using the tables in Annex VI, which must be filled in and signed by the tenderer. 7. TECHNICAL TENDER Tenderers should include in their bid a technical tender detailing how they will perform the tasks covered by the contract, in compliance with all the requirements of the tender specifications. The technical tender should follow the same structure as the subject of the contract (see Point 3), by demonstrating namely: - an understanding of the services to be provided: a detailed description of the approach taken in selecting individual service providers guaranteeing consistent quality at best prices; - a management plan detailing how the work will be organised and the proposed team: ability to provide timely and efficient reservations and manage contacts with service providers and Commission staff; - mechanisms for continuity, quality control and risk assessment. The technical tender should not include any of the documents referred to under the exclusion or selection criteria, nor should it refer to issues already covered by the exclusion and selection criteria. The technical tender will be assessed in the light of the quality award criteria set out under point 11. 8

9 8. FINANCIAL OFFER The financial offer must be quoted using the attached form in Annex VI, which must be duly signed and dated. The price quoted must be all-inclusive and cover all costs related to performance of the contract as described above. The offer must also include the three completed price tables of service providers for hotel, restaurants and local transport (tables 2, 3 and 4 to Annex VI). 9. EXCLUSION CRITERIA Bids from tenderers who do not meet the exclusion criteria referred to in Articles 106 and 107 of the Financial Regulation 4 will not be assessed Declaration of honour and evidence Tenderers will provide a declaration on their honour, duly signed and dated, stating that they are not in one of the exclusion situations, using the form provided in Annex III to the invitation to tender. The tenderer to whom it is proposed to award the contract will provide, within a time-limit specified by the contracting authority and prior to the signature of the contract, the necessary evidence in support of his declaration. These supporting documents must be valid on the date of the deadline for submission of tenders and, at all events, must have been issued within the 12 months preceding that date. Depending on the national legislation of the country in which the tenderer is established, the necessary evidence shall relate to legal persons 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 tenderer. If such proofs were already presented for the purpose of another procurement procedure and provided that they are not more than one year old starting from the issuing date and that they are still valid, the tenderer shall declare on his honour that the documentary evidence has already been provided in a previous procurement procedure and confirm that no changes in his situation have occurred

10 9.2. Tenders submitted by consortia Tenders involving subcontracting In the case of tenders submitted by consortia or groups of service providers, all the economic operators involved in the tender must provide evidence that none of the exclusion criteria for participation in or award of the contract applies to them, by providing a declaration of honour, duly dated and signed (Annex III). The tenderer to whom the contract is awarded must provide, within the time-limit specified by the awarding authority and prior to the signature of the contract, the evidence listed above, confirming the declaration of honour, for each member of the consortium or group of service providers. In the case of tenders involving subcontracting, and when requested by the contracting authority, the tenderer shall submit a declaration on honour from the intended subcontractor that he is not in one of the situations referred to in Articles 106 and 107 of the Financial Regulation. In case of doubt on this declaration on the honour, the contracting authority shall request the evidence referred to in paragraphs 3 and 4 of art.143 of the Rules of Application. Paragraph 5 of art.143 shall apply, where appropriate. 10. SELECTION CRITERIA Capacity of the tenderer The tenderer must demonstrate sufficient economic, financial, technical and professional capacity to be able to perform the tasks as specified in point 3 of these specifications. An economic operator may, where appropriate and for a particular contract, rely on the capacities of other entities to achieve the required level of economic, financial and technical capacity, regardless of the legal nature of the links that it has with them (subcontractor, parent company, third party). 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 (see Points 10.2 and 10.3 below). If a third party provides the whole or a very large part of the financial capacity, the contracting authority may demand that that entity signs the contract or that it provides a joint and several first-call guarantee, should that tender be awarded the contract. The tenderer must provide proof of his capacity by enclosing the following information and documents with his tender. The contracting authority may waive the obligation of a tenderer to submit the documentary evidence referred to in paragraph 10.1.a) to 10.1.c) if such evidence has already been submitted for the purposes of another procurement procedure and still complies with Point a) Legal capacity and bank details 10

11 The tenderer will provide a 'Legal Entity File (LEF)' and a 'Bank Account File (BAF)' duly completed and signed, with the necessary annexes. The forms to be used are available at the following addresses: /legal_entities_en.cfm nancial_id_en.cfm b) Financial and economic capacity Evidence of financial and economic standing has to be provided by the following documents: balance sheets or extracts from balance sheets for the last three 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; tables I and II in Annex V duly completed, signed and dated, with all relevant data extracted from the balance sheets, in Euro. These tables must also be provided on CD/DVD/USB.. If, for some exceptional reason which the contracting authority considers justified, the tenderer 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 contracting authority considers appropriate (bank guarantee, evidence of professional risk indemnity insurance, etc.). c) Technical and professional capacity The tenderer must demonstrate convincingly that he has the ability to undertake the tasks requested by providing evidence of the following: Professional experience in similar services: - the tenderer must prove his experience in performing the requested services, (with a minimum value for each project of ) As evidence, he will provide a list (minimum 3) of relevant services carried out in the past three years, with the approximate sums, dates and recipients, together with reference letters from the contracting authority; - a description of the measures employed to ensure the quality of services Necessary human resources to perform the contract in line with best professional practice: - staff skilled in performing the requested services (see 3.1.1) - linguistic skills needed to perform the services. Contacts between the Contractor and the Commission will take place in French and 11

12 English, while Dutch is also necessary for contacts with service providers. As evidence, the tenderer will provide the educational and qualifications of the persons who will provide the services for this tender (CVs in Europass format: n.csp), including the management staff. Each CV provided should indicate the intended function in the delivery of the services Additional requirements for joint offers In the case of a tender submitted by a consortium, each member must provide evidence of his economic and financial standing (see point 10.1.b). In addition, the following elements must also be provided in the offer: a document with the name of the company designated to represent the consortium, with the credentials of the person designated to sign the contract and/or to act as the point of contact with the Commission for the consortium; a document stating clearly the composition and constitution of the grouping or similar entity (company/temporary association/ ), and the legal form their cooperation would take, should they be awarded the contract and if this change is necessary for proper performance of the contract; A letter signed by each member stating its commitment to execute the services in the tender, clearly indicating its role, qualifications and experience Additional requirements for tenders including subcontracting In the case of a tender which includes subcontractors, the tenderer must provide evidence of the economic and financial standing (see point 10.1.b) of each subcontractor whose tasks represent more than 20% of the contract in value. In addition, the following elements must also be provided in the offer: a document stating clearly the identity, roles, activities and responsibilities of the subcontractor(s) and specifying the volume/proportion of the tasks of (each of) the subcontractor(s), as well as a description of the quality control measures which will be applied to the tasks to be carried out by (each of) the subcontractor(s); A letter of intent by (each of) the subcontractor(s) stating their unambiguous undertaking to collaborate with the tenderer should he win the contract and the extent of the resources that he will put at the tenderer s disposal for the performance of the contract. Otherwise, a document should be provided stating that the tenderer does not intend to subcontract and that he/she will inform the Commission of any change in this situation. The Commission reserves the right to judge if such a change would be acceptable. 12

13 Any tenderer with a professional conflict of interest that may affect the performance of the contract may be rejected on the basis of not fulfilling selection criteria for professional capacity. 11. AWARD CRITERIA Bids from tenderers who do not satisfy the exclusion/selection criteria will not be considered for the award of the contract. The contract will be awarded to the tender offering the best value for money on the basis of the following criteria: Quality a) proposed methodology with respect to the requested services (x 30% weighting) b) quality of the tenderer's management plan detailing how the objective is to be achieved : organisation of the work, time schedule, allocation of staff, quality control measures, risk assessment (x 40% weighting) c) quality, consistency and completeness of the proposed service (x 30% weighting). Price Technical evaluation The technical tender to be submitted as part of the bid (see point 7) will be assessed on the basis of Quality criteria a), b) and c). The result of the technical evaluation is the sum of the number of points obtained as a result of the evaluation of each criterion. Only those bids which are awarded at least 60% for each criterion and a total score of at least 70 points will be considered for the award of the contract Financial evaluation For the financial bid, the tenderer must use the standard price tables in Annex VI (Administrative costs, Hotels, Restaurants, Transport). Any omission or amendment to the original price schedule will cause the bid to be considered null and void. For the purpose of evaluation and comparison of the financial offers, the Commission will use a reference price (please see table 2 in Annex VI) based on : - fixed all-inclusive monthly price for administrative costs x 30% - + sum of average weekday price for 3, 4 and 5 star single and double rooms x 30% - + average price for meals x 30% 13

14 - + average price for local transport of 25 persons x 10% Award of the contract The contract will be awarded to the tender achieving the highest score obtained by applying the following formula: Score tender X for = Cheapest price Price of tender X * total quality score (out of 100) for all criteria of tender X 14