TENDER FILE / TERMS OF REFERENCE

(Competitive bidding procedure / Framework Contract)

Providers for the provision of capacity building activities on countering discrimination and hate crimes against Roma and Traveller communities for police and law enforcement authorities.

The Council of Europe, within the framework of its Thematic Action Plan on the Inclusion of Roma and Travellers (2016-2019), is implementing a project on “Strengthening the capacity of law enforcement to counter discrimination and hate crimes against Roma”. The project aims to address anti-Roma hate crimes in the Republic of Moldova, Slovak Republic and Ukraine through the development and provision of specific knowledge and methods to support law enforcement authorities to adequately identify, investigate and prevent racially motivated crimes and discrimination against Roma with full respect and compliance paid to national law and European standards. In that context, it is looking for Providers for the provision of capacity building activities on countering discrimination and hate crimes against Roma and Traveller communities for police and law enforcement authorities in the member States, presently in the Republic of Moldova, Slovak Republic and Ukraine, to be requested by the Council on an as needed basis.

A.    TENDER RULES

This tender procedure is a competitive bidding procedure. In accordance with Rule 1395 of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe on the procurement procedures of the Council of Europe[1], the Organisation shall invite to tender at least three potential providers for any purchase between €2,000 (or €5,000 for intellectual services) and €55,000 tax exclusive.

This specific tender procedure aims at concluding a framework contract for the provision of deliverables described in the Act of Engagement (See attached). A tender is considered valid for 120 calendar days as from the closing date for submission. The selection of tenderers will be made in the light of the criteria indicated below. All tenderers will be informed in writing of the outcome of the procedure.

The tenderer must be either a natural person, or a duly registered company under sole proprietorship of a natural person, or equivalent, provided that the signatory of the Act of Engagement is individually liable for all obligations undertaken by the entity and is the owner of the moral rights in any creations of the entity. If contracted by the Council of Europe, the signatory of the Act of Engagement shall provide the deliverables personally, in accordance with the terms as provided in the current Tender File, Act of Engagement and future Order Forms (see Section D below on ordering procedure).

Tenders shall be submitted by email only (with attachments) to the email address indicated in the table below, with the following reference in subject:  Tender Capacity Building Police Law Enforcement. Tenders addressed to another email address will be rejected.

The general information and contact details for this procedure are indicated on this page. You are invited to use the CoE Contact details indicated below for any question you may have. All questions shall be submitted at least 5 (five) working days before the deadline for submission of the tenders and shall be exclusively addressed to the email address indicated below with the following reference in subject: Q&A Capacity Building Police Law Enforcement.

Type of contract ►	Framework contract
Duration ►	Until 31 December 2021
Deadline for submission of tenders/offers ►	17 September 2019
Email for submission of tenders/offers ►	[email protected]
Email for questions ►	[email protected]
Expected starting date of execution ►	20 September 2019

B.    EXPECTED DELIVERABLES

Background of the Project

In the framework of the project “Strengthening the capacity of law enforcement to counter discrimination and hate crimes against Roma”, the Roma and Travellers Team of the Council of Europe will organise capacity building activities for police officers on combatting hate crimes and discrimination against Roma and Traveller communities.  Specific training events are foreseen to take place in the Republic of Moldova, Slovak Republic and Ukraine until the end of 2019. New countries could join this project depending on the funds available.

The main objectives of the project activities are to:

-       Raise awareness of police officers and other law enforcement representatives about prejudices and stereotypes against Roma;

-       Develop better and deeper understanding of anti-Gypsyism and its consequences to the life of Roma and Traveller communities and the victims of human rights violations;

-       To better understand the ideology and motivation behind anti-Roma hate crimes and discrimination in the context of the targeted member States;

-       To specifically support police officers and law enforcement representatives to improve the efficiency of the investigations of racially motivated crimes and human rights violations against Roma;

-       Ensure effective implementation of national legislation and bylaws on anti-discrimination, hate crimes and hate speech and the domestic monitoring mechanisms.

In order to ensure the above-mentioned objectives, the project will:

-       Develop, implement and evaluate training workshops with police officers in the Republic of Moldova, the Slovak Republic and Ukraine;

-       Produce a training kit (including the Council of Europe police toolkit, training modules and other available training material) on the topic of hate crime, hate speech, non-discrimination against Roma and Traveller communities in order to support the work of police and other law enforcement representatives. The material shall be in compliance with international standards on countering discrimination on various grounds proposed and based on the recommendations and case law in the Council of Europe (ECtHR, ECRI) OSCE and other relevant institutions.

The Council of Europe is looking for a maximum of 10 Providers (provided enough tenders meet the criteria indicated below) in order to support the implementation of the project with a particular expertise on hate crime, hate speech and non-discrimination against Roma and Traveller communities.

Depending on the profile of the successful candidates, the Council of Europe might request the services of the providers to support one or more of the above-mentioned activities.

This Contract is currently estimated to cover up to 2 training events, 1 working meeting and 3-4 days’ work on educational materials, before 31/12/2019, with the pool of providers to be valid until 31/12/2021 with its possible renewal until 31/12/2023. This estimate is for information only and shall not constitute any sort of contractual commitment on the part of the Council of Europe. The Contract may potentially represent a higher or lower number of activities, depending on the evolving needs of the Organisation.

For information purposes only, the total budget of the project amounts to 42,300 Euros and the total amount of the object of present tender shall not exceed 55,000 Euros tax exclusive for the whole duration of the Framework Contract. This information does not constitute any sort of contractual commitment or obligation on the part of the Council of Europe.

The successful tenders will be invited and expected to attend a working meeting at the end of September to discuss the implementation of the project and organisation of the upcoming training sessions.

Scope of the Framework Contract

Throughout the duration of the Framework Contract, pre-selected Providers may be asked to:

-          Attend an expert and inter-institutional meeting on the topic of hate crime, hate speech and non-discrimination of Roma and Travellers communities;

-          Revise or develop, implement and evaluate traning programmes for police officers which will take place in member States (Republic of Moldova, Slovak Republic and Ukraine) currently foreseen until the end of 2019, with further trainings in other member States possible in the near future;

-          Contribute to the creation of a training resource kit on the topic of hate crime, hate speech and non-discrimination of Roma communities for police and other law enforcement authorities;

-          Participate in the internal pool of the Council of Europe of experts and trainers in the thematic area of this call for tender with the purpose of supporting the implementation of the project activities and asist mamber States in their efforts to accelerate their efficiency against racially motivated crimes and discrimiantion of Roma and other vulnarable groups.

The above list is not considered exhaustive. The Council reserves the right to request deliverables not explicitly mentioned in the above list of expected services, but related to the field of expertise of the present Framework Contract.

In terms of quality requirements, the pre-selected Service Providers must ensure, inter alia, that:

• The services are provided to the highest professional/academic standard;
• Any specific instructions given by the Council – whenever this is the case – are followed.

In addition to the orders requested on an as needed basis, the Provider shall keep regular communication with the Council to ensure continuing exchange of information relevant to the project implementation. This involves, among others, to inform the Council as soon as it becomes aware, during the execution of the Contract, of any initiatives and/or adopted laws and regulations, policies, strategies or action plans or any other development related to the object of the Contract (see more on general obligations of the Provider in Article 3.1.2 of the Legal Conditions in the Act of Engagement).

Unless otherwise agreed with the Council, written documents produced by the Provider shall be in English (see more on requirements for written documents in Articles 3.2.2 and 3.2.3 of the Legal Conditions in the Act of Engagement).

C.    FEES

Tenderers are invited to indicate their fees, by completing and sending the table of fees, as attached in Section A to the Act of Engagement. These fees are final and not subject to review. Tenders proposing fees above the exclusion level indicated in the Table of fees will be entirely and automatically excluded from the tender procedure.

The Council will indicate on each Order Form (see Section D below) the global fee corresponding to each deliverable, calculated on the basis of the unit fees, as agreed by this Contract.

D.    HOW WILL THIS FRAMEWORK CONTRACT WORK? (Ordering PROCEDURE)

Once the selection procedure is completed, you will be informed accordingly. Deliverables will then be delivered on the basis of Order Forms submitted by the Council to the selected Providers, by post or electronically, on an as needed basis (there is therefore no obligation to order on the part of the Council).

Pooling

For each Order, the Council will choose from the pool of pre-selected tenderers the Provider who demonstrably offers best value for money for its requirement when assessed – for the Order concerned – against the criteria of: 

-          quality (including as appropriate: capability, expertise, past performance, availability of resources and proposed methods of undertaking the work);

-          availability (including, without limitation, capacity to meet required deadlines and, where relevant, geographical location); and

-          price.

Each time an Order Form is sent, the selected Provider undertakes to take all the necessary measures to send it signed to the Council within 5 (five) working days after its reception. If a Provider is unable to take an Order or if no reply is given on his behalf within that deadline, the Council may call on another Provider using the same criteria, and so on until a suitable Provider is contracted.

Providers subject to VAT

The Provider, if subject to VAT, shall also send, together with each signed Form, a quote[2] (Pro Forma invoice) in line with the indications specified on each Order Form, and including:

-     the Service Provider’s name and address;

-     its VAT number;

-     the full list of services;

-     the fee per type of deliverables (in the currency indicated on the Act of Engagement, tax exclusive);

-     the total amount per type of deliverables (in the currency indicated on the Act of Engagement, tax exclusive);

-     the total amount (in the currency indicated on the Act of Engagement), tax exclusive, the applicable VAT rate, the amount of VAT and the amount VAT inclusive.

Signature of orders

An Order Form is considered to be legally binding when the Order, signed by the Provider, is approved by the Council, by displaying a Council’s Purchase Order number on the Order, as well as by signing and stamping the Order concerned. Copy of each approved Order Form shall be sent to the Provider, to the extent possible on the day of its signature.

E.     ASSESSMENT

Exclusion criteria and absence of conflict of interests

(by signing the Act of Engagement, you declare on your honour not being in any of the below situations)^[3]

Tenderers shall be excluded from participating in the tender procedure if they:

• have been sentenced by final judgment on one or more of the following charges: participation in a criminal organisation, corruption, fraud, money laundering;
• are in a situation of bankruptcy, liquidation, termination of activity, insolvency or arrangement with creditors or any like situation arising from a procedure of the same kind, or are subject to a procedure of the same kind;
• have received a judgment with res judicata force, finding an offence that affects their professional integrity or serious professional misconduct;
• do not comply with their obligations as regards payment of social security contributions, taxes and dues, according to the statutory provisions of their country of incorporation, establishment or residence;

·         are or are likely to be in a situation of conflict of interests.

Eligibility criteria

• Master’s Degree in Law, Social Science or another relevant field;
• Excellent knowledge of European standards and particularly those of the Council of Europe on equality and non-discrimination and the relevant case law;
• At least 3 years of professional and practical experience in the thematic area/s of human rights, hate speech, hate crimes, Roma rights, equality and/or non-discrimination, or other areas that are of relevance to the project;
• Experience of working as a police officer or working in other related fields within law enforcement and use of this experience in sharing good practices;
• Experience of delivering training and or capacity building activities for police and law enforcement representatives;
• Excellent knowledge of procedural and practical aspects of identification of discrimination issues, preferably in the area of racially motivated crimes;
• Understanding of national legal context/s of the Republic of Moldova, Slovak Republic and/or Ukraine in the area of equality and anti-discrimination will be considered an advantage;
• A financial offer not exceeding the exclusion level set out in the Act of Engagement.

Award criteria

• Quality of the offer (90%), including:

-        Expertise in hate crime, hate speech and anti-discrimination of Roma and Traveller communities;

-        Experience of working with and delivering training and capacity building activities for police officers and law enforcement representatives;

-        Having knowledge and experience of national legislation in the field of anti-discrimination and hate crime;

-        Previous experience in similar tasks to the scope of this project;

-        Proposed methods of undertaking the work;

-        Capacity to meet the required deadlines;

-        Capacity to adapt to the context.

• Financial offer (10%).

The Council reserves the right to hold interviews with eligible tenderers.

Multiple tendering is not authorised.

F.     NEGOTIATIONS

The Council reserves the right to hold negotiations with the bidders in accordance with Article 20 of Rule 1395.

G.    DOCUMENTS TO BE PROVIDED

·         A completed and signed copy of the Act of Engagement[4] (See attached);

·         A detailed CV, preferably in Europass Format, demonstrating clearly that the tenderer fulfils the eligibility criteria;

• Motivation letter;
• A document describing the methodology proposed for training events.

All documents shall be submitted in English or French, failure to do so will result in the exclusion of the tender.

If any of the documents listed above are missing, the Council of Europe reserves the right to reject the tender.

The Council reserves the right to reject a tender if the scanned documents are of such a quality that the documents cannot be read once printed.

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