TENDER FILE / TERMS OF REFERENCE
(Competitive bidding procedure / One-off contract)
Purchase of “Development of instruments for assessing competencies of local government employees”.
Contract N° 4708/2022/83
The Council of Europe is currently implementing a joint European Union (EU)/CoE Programme “Human Resources Management in local self-government” - phase 2 (2018 -2021) (the “Programme” hereinafter). In that context, it is looking for a Provider for the provision of “Development of instruments for assessing competencies of local government employees” (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. Each lot will be awarded to the Provider providing the best value for money for the lot concerned, on the basis of the award 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: “Instruments for competencies”. 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 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: “Instruments for competencies”
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Type of contract ► |
One-off contract |
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Duration ► |
Until complete execution of the obligations of the parties (See Article 2 of the Legal conditions as reproduced in the Act of Engagement) |
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Deadline for submission of tenders/offers ► |
18 July 2022 |
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Email for submission of tenders/offers ► |
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Email for questions ► |
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Expected starting date of execution ► |
01 August 2022 |
B. EXPECTED DELIVERABLES
The expected deliverables are described in Section A of the Act of Engagement (See attached).
Please note that each lot concerns a different series of deliverables. Tenderers may tender for one, all or several lots.
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, for each lot, a quote (Pro Forma invoice) on their letterheadincluding:
- 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, 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 public servants employed at central, local or provincial level;
· 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 (Applicable for all lots)
- University degree in a field related to the relevant Lot OR equivalent 10 years’ relevant work experience;
- Minimum of 5 years of professional experience in the field related to the relevant Lot;
- Good communication and presentation skills;
- Proficiency in Serbian and English language.
Award criteria
For lot 1:
- Quality of the offer (90%), including:
o Knowledge of legislative framework defining competencies for local government employees;
o Familiarity with the Law on Employees in Autonomous Provinces and Local Self-government Units and accompanying bylaws and Law on Local Self-Government of the Republic of Serbia;
o Direct experience in working for AND/OR working with local self-government administration (preferably in an area related to defining the organisation and responsibilities of local self-government bodies);
o Experience with developing/implementing competencies for public administration employees would be an asset.
- Financial offer (10%).
The Council reserves the right to hold interviews with eligible tenderers.
For Lot 2:
- Quality of the offer (90%), including:
o Knowledge of IT systems used at local self-government level (hardware and software);
o Knowledge of: computer functions (creating files and managing files and networks; familiarity with security aspects); use of internet (internet search and online/e-mail communication); MS Office (creating and formatting texts in MS Word and Excel);
o Experience in working with local self-governments would be an asset;
o Knowledge of IT systems used at the national government level (hardware and software) would be an asset;
o Experience with developing/implementing competencies for public administration employees would be an asset.
- Financial offer (10%).
The Council reserves the right to hold interviews with eligible tenderers.
For Lot 3:
- Quality of the offer (90%), including:
o Good knowledge of Serbian language/grammar;
o Experience in working as an expert in business communication (in private or public sector), including knowledge of standards in written, verbal and non-verbal communication;
o Knowledge of business communication competencies used at national level for civil servants would be an asset;
o Experience with developing/implementing competencies for public administration employees would be an asset.
- Financial offer (10%).
The Council reserves the right to hold interviews with eligible tenderers.
Multiple tendering is not authorised.
E. NEGOTIATIONS
F. DOCUMENTS TO BE PROVIDED
Tenderers are invited to submit:
- A completed and signed copy of the Act of Engagement[3] (See attached)
- For tenderers subject to VAT only: a quote, describing the financial offer, in line with the requirements of Section C of the Tender File (see above)
- A list of all owners and executive officers, for legal persons only;
- For all Lots:
- CV (no longer than 4 pages);
- Motivation letter (no longer than 2 pages) showing the understanding of the scope of this programme assignment and main challenges facing introduction of competencies into the recruitment and selection HRM function at local government level in the Republic of Serbia.
All documents shall be submitted in English or Serbian, 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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[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.