TENDER FILE / TERMS OF REFERENCE

(Competitive bidding procedure / One-off contract)

Purchase of consultancy services for standardisation of the Council of Europe’s’ e-learning good governance course to be uploaded into the national e-learning platform

[4708/2021/44]

The joint EU/CoE programme “Human Resources Management in local self-government” - phase 2 (2018 -2021) is based on the achievements and challenges of the Programme “Human Resources Management in local self-government” phase 1 (2016-2017) implemented by the Council of Europe in cooperation with programme partners: the  Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-government and  Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities. The programme “Human Resources Management in local self-government”- phase 2 is also built on the implementation of the Strategy of Public Administration Reform in the Republic of Serbia Action Plan and in accordance with the European Charter of Local Self-Government’s principles, which provides a solid basis for setting-up strong and stable local authorities in the country. The Programme addresses the most relevant issues of human resources management (HRM) and human resource development (HRD) at local self-government level in the Republic of Serbia, which are prescribed in the Law on employees in autonomous provinces and local self- government units, the Law on salaries in autonomous provinces and local self-government units and the Law on National Academy for Public Administration.

The Program is financed by the European Union (EU) and the Council of Europe (CoE) and is implemented by the Council of Europe in cooperation with the following project partners: Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government and Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities, who are implementing activities in line with their scope of work. The program started on 19 December 2018 and it will be completed on 19 December 2021. 

The overall objective of the Programme is to support Serbian administration to effectively meet requirements and conditions deriving from the accession negotiations and successfully manage overall EU integration and pre-accession assistance geared towards EU membership, focusing on key areas of human resources management (HRM) and human resource development (HRD) in local public administration.

The programme is linked to two main components/expected outputs (EO) and four specific tasks (ST):

EO 1: Strengthened HRM function at local level

·         ST 1.1: Improved legal and procedural HRM framework at national and local level in accordance with planned reforms.

·         ST 1.2: Increased effectiveness of the HRM system in local administrations.

EO 2: Strengthened human resources development system at local level.

                                                               

·         ST 2.1: Training Framework for professional development of local administration more effective and coordinated

·         ST 2.2: Increased LSG capacities in selected priority areas of local competences and management capacities of local leaders

Within the Programme activity 1.2.7 Standardisation and implementation of the existing CoE e-learning course on good governance for HRM employees and heads of organisational units in local administrations in cooperation with National academy for public administration (NAPA), the process of uploading CoE e-learning course on good governance into the online NAPA platform should be completed. The course is intended for HRM employees and heads of organisational units in LSGs to increase their knowledge and awareness on CoE good governance principles and EU values in this field. CoE’s e-learning course (required materials) are already translated in Serbian language by the Programme team and will be used for the purpose of standardising all CoE e-learning course materials that will be uploaded on to the NAPA online platform.

In that context the Council of Europe is looking for a Provider for the provision of consultancy services for standardising existing CoE e-learning course on good governance in Serbian language in order to be successfully uploaded on to the NAPA online platform.

The Provider will not be responsible to develop software solution, since NAPA already possess its’ own platform, but only to standardise already existing CoE’s e-learning course in order to be successfully uploaded on to NAPA online platform.

Therefore, required  services imply the following: development of folder detailed structure and form in line with the CoE’s e-learning course, development of all training materials, development of folder design, development of training tests, rules of procedures, verification and quality control and development of intro materials and voice over. All materials will be submitted to NAPA for uploading on to the existing online platform and to the Programme team for prior verification (See Section A of the Act of Engagement).

A.    TENDER RULE

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 a legal person except consortia.

Tenders shall be submitted by email only (with attachments) to the email address indicated in the table below, with the following reference in subject: Consultancy services for CoE’s e-learning standardisation. 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: Consultancy services for CoE’s e-learning standardisation

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 ►

 8 March 2021

Email for submission of tenders/offers ►

[email protected]

Email for questions ►

[email protected]

Expected starting date of execution ►

12 March 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 are likely to be in a situation of conflict of interests;

·         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 working experience in developing e-learning courses.

Award criteria

-        Minimum five years of professional experience in developing e-learning courses. 

-        Minimum five years of staff working experience in video producing, designing and technical development of materials for on-line learning.

-        Working experience within the international environment will be considered as an asset.

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

Multiple tendering is not authorised.

E.     NEGOTIATIONS

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

F.     DOCUMENTS TO BE PROVIDED

Tenderers are invited to submit:

·         Portfolio of the Provider precisely referring to the eligibility and award criteria listed above, indicating total number of employees.

·         Contact details (name, phone number, e-mail address) of at least three referees/clients indicating successful performance in the last five years in given area.

·         CVs of employees who will be responsible for working on this assignment, demonstrating their knowledge and skills in line with the award criteria listed above.

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.

* * *


[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 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.