Tender specifications

14.Prices

Prices must be expressed in euros. Tenderers are liable for any losses that may result from fluctuations in the exchange rate with non-euro area countries. Prices should be quoted free of all duties, taxes and other charges, i.e. also free of VAT, as the European Union is exempt from such charges in the EU under Articles 3 and 4 of the Protocol on the Privileges and Immunities of the European Communities of 8 April 1965.¹² Exemption is granted to the Commission by the governments of the Member States, either through refunds upon presentation of documentary evidence or by direct exemption. For those countries where national legislation provides for exemption by means of reimbursement, the amount of VAT is to be shown separately. In case of doubt as to the applicable VAT system, it is the tenderer’s responsibility to contact its national authorities to clarify the way in which the European Union is exempt from VAT. Prices should be communicated using tables in the Annex IV, " Financial proposal".
As specified in the draft contract, travel expenses (transport, accommodation and subsistence) incurred by the contractor will be reimbursed according to the rules applied by the European Commission (see Annex II).

15.Terms of payment

Please refer to the enclosed draft contract (Annex VI).

16.Evaluation procedure

The evaluation procedure will be based on the information and documents requested in this call for tender and contains the following steps:

1. 
   Opening of tenders, verification of time limit for receipt of tenders
   

The received tenders will be opened, by the appointed Opening Board, at the time and date indicated in this call for tender (04^th June 2013). One authorised representative from each tenderer can observe the opening of the tenders. A request to attend the opening of tenders has to be sent to the functional mail box [e-mail] by 24^th May 2013. The Opening Board can decide only on the timely receipt of the tenders.

2. 
   Verification of eligibility and exclusion criteria
   

The following documents will be provided by the tenderer and verified by the European Commission:

1. 
   Proof of eligibility: tenderers must indicate the country in which they have their registered office or are established, providing the necessary supporting documents in accordance with their national law, their address, and their telephone and fax numbers.
   
2. 
   VAT status and registration number and, as necessary, objective proof of VAT exemption.
   
3. 
   Declaration on tenderer’s honour, duly signed and dated, that the tenderer is not in one of the situations referred to in Articles 106 and 107 of the Financial Regulation (bankruptcy, professional misconduct, etc.).
   
4. 
   Proof of entry in the professional or trade register, or a declaration or certificate in accordance with the provisions of the Member State in which the tenderer is established;
   

3. 
   Verification of selection criteria
   

Tenderers must provide evidence of their economic/financial and technical/ professional capacity to meet the requirements set out in this call for tender. In addition, experience in the field must be proven.

• 
  Economic and financial capacity
  

The following documents and information will be provided by the tenderer and verified by the European Commission:

1. 
   A bank declaration providing evidence of sound financial standing or evidence of professional risk indemnity insurance.
   
2. 
   A statement of overall turnover for the last 3 financial years.
   The tender must have sufficient financial solidity to execute the Commission contracts. Therefore, the tenderer must demonstrate a compound turnover for the last 2 financial years of not less than EUR 3 000 000 (three million), a pre-tax profit and sufficient cash-flow.
   
3. 
   Balance sheets or extracts from balance sheets for at least the last 2 financial 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 tenderer is established. Only balance sheets of the entity in whose name the tender has been submitted will be accepted.
   
4. 
   If the tenderer plans to subcontract part of the work, it must specify the part concerned and the name of the subcontractor and supply details of the financial, economic and technical capacity of the subcontractor.
   

If, for some exceptional reason which the Commission (OLAF) considers justified, the tenderer is unable to provide the references requested, it may prove its economic and financial capacity by any other means which the Commission (OLAF) considers appropriate

Tenderers should note that failure to provide sufficient information on the above-mentioned points could lead to their tenders being rejected.

• 
  Technical capacity
  

Tenderers must have at least 3 years proven experience in the field of activity in question, i.e. organising digital forensic training events for law enforcement officials, as described in this call for tender. The following documents and information will be provided by the tenderer and verified by the Commission.

1. 
   A statement of the average annual manpower and the number of managerial staff of the tenderer in the last 3 years.
   
2. 
   Description of the structure of the project team, specifying the project manager, training coordinators and the number of persons dealing with administrative management, organisation and assignment of tasks.
   
3. 
   Curricula vitae of all proposed expert forensics trainers and facilitators, highlighting academic/other qualifications and expertise/experience relevant to the subject of the contract and indicating dates, place of work and recipients of the work (in particular those services provided on behalf of the tenderer). Evidence must be provided that those experts have at least 3 years’ international experience in delivering digital forensics training to public officials working for national law enforcement agencies.
   
4. 
   Curricula vitae of all the project team members responsible for providing the services, highlighting academic/other qualifications and expertise/experience relevant to the subject of the contract and indicating dates, place of work and recipients of the work (in particular services provided on behalf of the tenderer). The project coordinator/manager must have very good command of English and at least 3 years’ experience in a similar position in the field of the services described in this call for tender.
   
5. 
   Where tenders are submitted by consortia: clear identification of the coordinator of the work, who will also be responsible for signing the contract, and written confirmation from each member of the consortium that they would be ready and willing to participate in the work, and briefly describing their role;
   
6. 
   A list of the principal services provided in the past 3 years in relation to all services described in this call for tender, specifying the dates, recipients of the services and a short description of the services provided. In particular, evidence should be provided of any international training services organised for national law enforcement officials.
   
7. 
   A description of the measures employed to ensure the quality of the services.
   
8. 
   An indication of the proportion of the contract which the tenderer may intend to subcontract, and for which services.
   

For the purpose of this call for tender, tenderers should use the standard European Union form for curricula vitae available under the following link:

http://europass.cedefop.europa.eu/en/home
Tenderers should note that failure to provide sufficient information on the above-mentioned points could lead to their tenders being rejected.

4. 
   Verification of award criteria: best value for money
   

The framework contract will be awarded to the tenderer offering the best value for money having regard to the quality of the services offered and the prices offered in accordance with the criteria set out below.

The assessment will start with the technical proposal. The technical part will be weighted at 80 % of the total.
The financial proposal will then be assessed. The financial part will be weighted at 20 % of the total.
The following award criteria will be applied to assess the technical quality of the technical proposal:

Criteria	Points (max)	Minimum to be scored
Understanding of the nature of the task, its context, results to be achieved, and training needs and expectations of trainees	10	5
Quality of training courses (content and material) and methodology used to design/organise/deliver/evaluate the digital forensics training events (Annex III)	35	24
Quality of the website registration and networking tools, including social events proposed	10	5
Quality of the certification procedure(s)	10	5
Quality of the trainer team and project team	20	10
Quality of the logistical arrangements (accommodation, travel, training rooms, IT equipment and tools, training facilities)	15	8
Total	100

Tenders scoring less than 65 % overall or less than the minimum points set for each criterion above will be excluded and not further evaluated.

The points scored for the qualitative criteria (technical proposal) will be combined with the points awarded for the price as specified below, and the contract will be awarded to the most cost-effective tender (i.e. which offers the best value for money). In this calculation, the technical points will account for 80 % and the price points for 20 % of the final points awarded.
The best price/quality ratio of each offer (S_total) will be calculated as the sum of the calculated price score (P_cal) and quality criteria (Q_score), weighted according to the formula below:
Total score of the offer (S_total) = 80 %*Q_score + 20 %* P_cal

Q_score= score obtained in the award criteria

P_offer= price_tot as indicated in Annex IV (financial proposal)

P_{min =} lowest price offered by tenderers

P_cal= 100*P_min/P_offer

17.Deadlines

Final date for submitting tenders: 24 May 2013

Final date for submitting written questions: 30 April 2013

18.Contact with the European Commission

In principle, no contact is permitted between the Commission and tenderers during the procurement procedure.

In exceptional circumstances, however, tenderers may contact the Commission before the date given above to submit written questions in order (and only for this reason) to clarify the nature of the contract or to request a copy of the call for tender in a different language.
Such requests for further information may be made by letter to the address mentioned below or by e-mail to the following e-mail address
[e-mail]

19.General terms and conditions for submission of tenders

Submission of a tender implies that the contractor will accept all the terms and conditions set out in the specifications of this call for tender (including the annexes) and waives all other terms of business. Submission of a tender binds the contractor to whom the contract is awarded during performance of the contract.

The tendering procedure does not entail any obligation for the Commission to award the contract.

Once the Commission has accepted the tender, it becomes the property of the Commission, which will treat it confidentially. The Commission will not reimburse expenses incurred in preparing and submitting tenders. No compensation may be claimed by tenderers whose tenders have not been accepted, including when the Commission decides not to award the contract.
The Protocol on the Privileges and Immunities of 8 April 1965 (OJEC L 152 of 13 July 1967) or, where appropriate, the Vienna Convention of 24 April 1963 on Consular Relations will apply to this call for tender.

20.How to submit tenders

Tenders must be submitted in writing using the appropriate templates enclosed (i.e. Annexes III and IV for the technical and financial proposals). No alterations and no PDF documents are allowed.

Tenders may be:

a) either sent by registered mail, posted no later than Friday, 24 May 2013 (date as postmark), to the following address:
EUROPEAN COMMISSION

European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF)

Call for tender No: OLAF/D5/59/2013

Budget Unit R.2

Office address: J-30 1/116

BE-1049 Brussels, Belgium

b) or delivered by hand,

i.e. by delivery in person or by an authorised representative (including private courier services) not later than 16:00 on Friday, 24 May 2013, to the following address:

EUROPEAN COMMISSION

European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF)

Call for tender No: OLAF/D5/59/2013

Budget Unit OLAF/R.2

Office address: J-30 1/116
Service central de réception du courrier

Avenue du Bourget 1

BE-1140 Bruxelles, Belgique
Please note that, for security reasons, hand deliveries (including private courier services) will no longer be accepted in other Commission buildings. An acknowledgement of receipt will be delivered by the ‘Service central de réception du courrier’.
The tender must be sent or delivered, in triplicate, under double sealed cover. The inner envelope should be addressed to the department indicated in a) and marked ‘Call for tender No D5 59 2013’ and ‘Not to be opened by the mail service’. If self-adhesive envelopes are used, they must be sealed with adhesive tape and the sender must sign across the tape.

Tenderers must follow the above instructions precisely to ensure that the tenders reach their proper destination in due time.

Reminder: Late delivery will lead to exclusion of the tenderer from the award procedure for this contract.

21.Conclusion and implementation of the contract

Once the Commission decides to award the contract, it will send the contractor a contract agreement (a model is annexed), including the rights and obligations of both parties.

22.ANNEXES

1. 
   Annex I — Description of IT and training facilities
   
2. 
   Annex II — Travel and accommodation rules
   
3. 
   Annex III — Technical proposal (to be filled in by tenderers)
   
4. 
   Annex IV — Financial proposal (to be filled in by tenderers)
   
5. 
   Annex V — Declaration on exclusion criteria (to be signed by tenderers)
   
6. 
   Annex VI — Framework contract model
   

1 The English language version will be considered as the official version.

2 OJ L 136, 31.5.1999, p. 20.

3 For more about OLAF, please see http://ec.europa.eu/anti_fraud/documents/reports-olaf/2011/olaf_report_2011_en.pdf.

4 See Article 1 of Decision 878/2007.

5 See Article 1a of Decision 878/2007.

6 A template for specific contracts is enclosed (see Annex VI).

7 The ceiling has been set also taking into account the use of framework contracts by Directorates-General other than OLAF over a 4-year period. In such cases, budget lines other than Hercule II might be used.

8 C(2013) 612 of 7 February 2013, point 8.1.3.

9 See Annex II.

10 Kirkpatrick model ©.

11 See conditions for payment in the enclosed draft contract.

12 OJ L 152, 13.07.1967.