TENDER FILE / TERMS OF REFERENCE

(Competitive bidding procedure / One-off contract)

Purchase of Publication Package for Strengthening Lawyers of the Human Rights Centers 

Contract N° SC…../2021

The Council of Europe is currently implementing until 31 March 2022 a Project on “Strengthening the Capacity of Bar Associations and Lawyers on European Human Rights Standards” (SCoBAL). In that context, it is looking for a Provider for the provision of Publication Package for Strengthening Lawyers of the Human Rights Centers (See Section A of the Act of Engagement).

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 one-off 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, a legal person or consortia of legal and/or natural persons.

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-SCoBAL-Publication Package. Tenders addressed to another email addresswill 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) 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: Questions-SCoBAL-Publication Package

Type of contract ►

One-off contract  

Duration ►

Until complete execution of the obligations of the parties (See Article 2 of the Legal conditions as reproduced in the Act of Engagement)

Deadline for submission of tenders/offers ►

27 September 2021

Email for submission of tenders/offers ►

[email protected]

Email for questions ►

[email protected]

Expected starting date of execution ►

04 October 2021


B.    EXPECTED DELIVERABLES

The expected deliverables are described in Section A of the Act of Engagement (See attached).

C.    FEES

All tenderers are invited to fill in the table of fees as reproduced in Section A of the Act of Engagement.

Tenderers subject to VAT shall also send a quote (Pro Forma invoice) on their letterhead 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.

D.    ASSESSMENT

Exclusion criteria and absence of conflict of interests

(by signing the Act of Engagement,[2] you declare on your honour not being in any of the below situations)

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

·         are or appear to be in a situation of conflict of interest;

·         are or if their owner(s) or executive officer(s), in the case of legal persons, are included in the lists of persons or entities subject to restrictive measures applied by the European Union (available at www.sanctionsmap.eu).

Eligibility criteria

• Proven experience in human rights publishing

• Experienced in team building for creating content

• Having the capacity to prepare books and e-books including content creation, design and publishing.

Award criteria

-        Former experience; should present e-versions of 5 publications in similar areas;

-        A list of six books shall be presented with explanation of each suggested title and reasoning of suggested title (how and why the suggested title shall aid to strengthen the capacity of lawyers of the human rights centers) shall be explained briefly;

-        Detailed proposal of suggested topics should include not only the legal aspects to strengthen the members of Human Rights Centers in related working areas of Centers but also psychological self-care and well-being and related other strengthening/development angles for the members of the Human Rights Centers;

-        E-versions including enrichened content for e-books should also be offered;

-        Distribution of the printed books must include inside (to the place shown at the address provided) delivery of the books to 7 pilot bars and UTBA (8 locations in total).

Multiple tendering is not authorised.

E.     NEGOTIATIONS

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

F.     DOCUMENTS TO BE PROVIDED

Tenderers are invited to submit:

All documents shall be submitted in English, 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.

* * *


[1] The activities of the Council of Europe are governed by its Statute and its internal Regulations. Procurement is governed by the Financial Regulations of the Organisation and by Rule 1395 of 20 June 2019 on the procurement procedures of the Council of Europe.

[2] The Council of Europe reserves the right to ask tenderers, at a later stage, to supply the following supporting documents:

-   An extract from the record of convictions or failing that an equivalent document issued by the competent judicial or administrative authority of the country of incorporation, indicating that the first three and sixth above listed exclusion criteria are met;

-   A certificate issued by the competent authority of the country of incorporation indicating that the fourth criterion is met;

-   For legal persons, an extract from the companies register or other official document proving ownership and control of the Tenderer;

-   For natural persons (including owners and executive officers of legal persons), a scanned copy of a valid photographic proof of identity (e.g. passport).

[3] The Act of Engagement must be completed, signed and scanned in its entirety (i.e. including all the pages). The scanned Act of Engagement may be sent page by page (attached to a single email) or as a compiled document, although a compiled document would be preferred. For all scanned documents, .pdf files are preferred.