TENDER FILE / TERMS OF REFERENCE

(Competitive bidding procedure / One-off contract)

Local consultancy to draft technical specifications for the tender to purchase audio-video & videoconferencing systems for the Constitutional Court

Contract N° BH9200-2025-001

The Council of Europe is currently implementing until 30 September 2026 a Project on "Support to the Development of Constitutional Justice in Armenia in Line with European Standards". In that context the Project team intends to launch an open tender for the supply, installation and commissioning of integrated audio-video (AV) recording/streaming and videoconferencing systems for two courtrooms (≈ 220 m² and ≈ 95 m²). To ensure full technical accuracy the Project seeks an external consultant to draft technical specification package that can be inserted directly into the formal tender package.

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 €6,000 for intellectual services) and €171,000 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 180 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 BH9200-2025-001 – Technical Specifications of Courtroom Audio-Video Equipment. 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: Questions BH9200-2025-001 - Technical Specifications of Courtroom Audio-Video Equipment.

Type of contract ►	One-off contract
Duration ►	Until complete execution of the obligations of the parties (See Article 2 of the Contract)
Deadline for submission of tenders/offers ►	23:59 (Armenia time) 06 July 2025
Email for submission of tenders/offers ►	[email protected]
Email for questions ►	[email protected]
Expected starting date of execution ►	16 July 2025

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 submit a quote (proforma invoice), on their letterhead, indicating their fees.

Tenderers subject to VAT shall also indicate:

-       the Service Provider’s name and address;

-       its VAT number;

-       the full list of services;

-       the fee per type of deliverables (in Euros, tax exclusive);

-       the total amount per type of deliverables (in Euros, tax exclusive);

-       the total amount (in Euros), tax exclusive, the applicable VAT rate, the amount of VAT and the amount VAT inclusive.

The bidder understands and agrees that the fees proposed shall include the full assignment of all intellectual property rights related to the deliverables.

D.    ASSESSMENT

Exclusion criteria and absence of conflict of interests

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

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, terrorist financing, terrorist offences or offences linked to terrorist activities, child labour or trafficking in human beings;
• 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 an entity created to circumvent tax, social or other legal obligations (empty shell company), have ever created or are in the process of creation of such an entity;
• have been involved in mismanagement of the Council of Europe funds or public funds;

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

• are retired Council of Europe staff members or are staff members having benefitted from an early departure scheme;
• are currently employed by the Council of Europe or were employed by the Council of Europe on the date of the launch of the procurement procedure;

·         are subject to restrictive measures applied by the United Nations Security Council or the European Union. In the case of legal persons, the restrictive measures imposed on the tenderer’s owner(s) or executives will also exclude the tenderer from participating in this tender procedure.

Eligibility criteria

• At least three years of experience in the development of the technical specifications and/or designing and installing audio-video recording and videoconferencing systems;
• Demonstrated experience of making concepts and analysis, developing technical specifications, conducting monitoring on audio-video recording and videoconferencing systems;

Award criteria

• Quality of the offer (70%), including:

-          Technical soundness of proposal.

-          Tenderer’s experience and track record with similar projects, including videoconferencing solutions; proven track record in designing, supplying, and installing audio-video recording and/or videoconferencing systems in courtroom or governmental facility or similarly regulated environments will be an asset.

• Financial offer (30%).

-          Cost-effectiveness and overall value for money.

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:

• A completed and signed copy of the Act of Engagement[3] (See attached)

·         A quote, describing their financial offer, in line with the requirements of section C of the Tender File (see above);

• For natural persons: a detailed CV demonstrating clearly that the tenderer fulfils the eligibility criteria;

·         Registration documents for legal persons only;

• A list of all owners and executive officers, for legal persons only;

·         An example of developed concepts and analysis and/or technical specifications for similar projects or contact details of at least one professional reference from a comparable project successfully completed within the past five years.

All documents shall be submitted in English, failure to do so will result in the exclusion of the tender. *the registration documents showing that the Tenderer is entitled to perform relevant commercial activities in Armenia can be provided in Armenian*

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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