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Service for Foreign Policy Instruments
Call for tendersClosed

Partnership Instrument – EU Gateway to China

Details

Status
Closed
Publication date
Deadline date
Opening of tenders
Department
Service for Foreign Policy Instruments

Description

1. Publication reference

EuropeAid/136673/DH/SER/CN

2. Procedure

Restricted

3. Programme title

EU Gateway to China

4. Financing

Partnership Instrument 2014 Annual Action Program (ref. C/2014/7423 of 16.10.2014)

5. Contracting Authority

European Union, represented by the European Commission

CONTRACT SPECIFICATION

6. Nature of contract

Global price

7. Contract description

EU Gateway aims to promote trade and business cooperation with China, to assist EU companies to create business links in China, and to assist EU companies in gaining a better understanding of the local business culture, market rules and practices.

Project purpose is to foster partnership/cooperation with European SMEs and companies for entering the Chinese market, cooperation with multinational and State Owned Enterprises on projects in China and direct business contacts to Chinese companies.

The technical assistance teams for both lots shall jointly provide an attractive package of coaching and strategic and logistical services to facilitate 4 business missions, involving overall 200 EU companies in specific areas:

a) Green growth sector

  • environmental technologies or services,
  • construction and green building technologies/materials and services;

b) Services sectors to be open up by China to foreign companies, especially in the context of new Free Trade Zones development;

c) Agro food products.

The business missions are tentatively planned to be carried out in the following locations (subject to modifications in ToR):

  • Green growth and service sectors in Beijing/Tianjin/Hebei, or Shanghai or Fujian or Guangdong;
  • Agro-food products in Sichuan province (Chengdu Municipality) in Western China.

The Program will be implemented in 2 Lots.

Lot1

The objective of Lot 1 is the selection of the companies. Activities in Europe include the promotion of the programme in all 28 Member States, selecting companies based on current Gateway methodology, preparation and coaching of EU companies. The main activities will consist of a selection procedure and Coaching Network based in Europe and with offices in China, responsible for the selection procedure of EU companies; pre-selection; coaching of EU companies during the entire business mission period and preparation as well as creating links with China business leads. In China, activities will include: a market study to define priority sectors and regions, in which the business missions will be carried out per year in collaboration with Chinese industry and branch organisations.

Lot2

The objective of this Lot 2 is to establish an operational and Logistics unit based in China that would be responsible for the coordination and logistics of activities in China as well as the promotion to potential business visitors in China.

Organisations and institutions participating in tendering consortia under this Call will be excluded as beneficiaries of the project during its implementation.

8. Number and titles of lots

Number of lots: 2

Titles:

Lot 1 Recruitment and Coaching Network for China

Lot 2 Operational and Logistics Unit for China

9. Maximum budget

EUR 4,200,000.00

Max budget:

Lot 1 EUR 2,000,000.00

Lot 2 EUR 2,200,000.00

10. Scope for additional services

The Contracting Authority may, at its own discretion, extend the project in duration and/or scope subject to the availability of funding up to a maximum not exceeding the length and value of the initial contract . Any extension of the contract would be subject to satisfactory performance by the Contractor.

CONDITIONS OF PARTICIPATION

11. Eligibility

Participation is open to all natural persons who are nationals of and legal persons [participating either individually or in a grouping (consortium) of tenderers] which are effectively established in a Member State of the European Union or in a eligible country or territory as defined under the Regulation (EU) N°236/2014 establishing common rules and procedures for the implementation of the Union's instruments for external action (CIR) for the applicable Instrument under which the contract is financed (see also heading 22 below) . Participation is also open to international organisations. All supplies under this contract must originate in one or more of these countries. However, they may originate from any country when the amount of the supplies to be purchased is below100,000 euros per purchase.

12. Candidature

All eligible natural and legal persons (as per item 11 above) or groupings of such persons (consortia) may apply.

A consortium may be a permanent, legally-established grouping or a grouping which has been constituted informally for a specific tender procedure. All members of a consortium (ie, the leader and all other members) are jointly and severally liable to the Contracting Authority.

The participation of an ineligible natural or legal person (as per item 11) will result in the automatic exclusion of that person. In particular, if that ineligible person belongs to a consortium, the whole consortium will be excluded.

13. Number of applications

No more than one application can be submitted by a natural or legal person whatever the form of participation (as an individual legal entity or as leader or member of a consortium submitting an application). In the event that a natural or legal person submits more than one application, all applications in which that person has participated will be excluded.

The candidates may submit an application for one lot only, several lots or all of the lots, but only one application per lot. Contracts will be awarded lot by lot and each lot will form a separate contract.

14. Shortlist alliances prohibited

Any tenders received from tenderers comprising firms other than those mentioned in the short-listed application forms will be excluded from this restricted tender procedure unless prior approval from the Contracting Authority has been obtained (see Practical Guide – PRAG- 2.4.3.). Short-listed candidates may not form alliances or subcontract to each other for the contract in question.

15. Grounds for exclusion

As part of the application form, candidates must submit a signed declaration, included in the standard application form, to the effect that they are not in any of the exclusion situations listed in Section 2.3.3 of the PRAG

16. Sub-contracting

Subcontracting is allowed

17. Number of candidates to be short-listed

On the basis of the applications received, between 4 and 8 candidates per Lot will be invited to submit detailed tenders for this contract. If the number of eligible candidates meeting the selection criteria is less than the minimum of 4, the Contracting Authority may invite the candidates who satisfy the criteria to submit a tender.

PROVISIONAL TIMETABLE

18. Provisional date of invitation to tender

June 2015

19. Provisional commencement date of the contract

September 2015

20. Initial period of implementation of tasks

24 months

SELECTION AND AWARD CRITERIA

21. Selection criteria

The following selection criteria will be applied to candidates. In the case of applications submitted by a consortium, these selection criteria will be applied to the consortium as a whole:

  1. Economic and financial capacity of candidate (based on item 3 of the application form). In case of candidate being a public body, equivalent information should be provided.
    1. The average annual turnover of the candidate in the last 3 years (2012, 2013 and 2014) must exceed the indicative annual budget of the Lot, indicated in point 8 (i.e. the maximum budget stated divided by the contract duration in years, indicated in point 20).
  2. 2) Professional capacity of candidate(based on items 4 and 5 of the application form)
    1. For lot 1, at least 10 staff currently working for the candidate in fields related to this contract, of which minimum 3 must be permanently employed.
    2. For lot 2, at least 10 staff currently working for the candidate in fields related to this contract, of which minimum 3 must be permanently employed.
  3. Technical capacity of candidate (based on items 5 and 6 of the application form)For Lot 1: The candidate has provided services under at least 2 contracts in the fields of international business cooperation and external trade promotion (references must cover both fields), each with a budget of at least EUR 2 000 000 of which at least 50% was implemented by the candidate itself.
  • For lot 2: The candidate has provided services under at least 2 contracts, each with a budget of at least EUR 2 000 000 of which at least EUR 50% was implemented by the candidate itself in the following fields: export promotion; event management; organisation of exhibitions/ trade fairs; PR and design including media strategy (references must cover at least 3 different fields).

Projects used as reference for above criteria 3.1 and 3.2 must have been implemented at any moment during the 3 years prior to the submission deadline (see item 23 below).

This means that the project the candidate refers to could have been started or completed at any time during the indicated period but it does not necessarily have to be started and completed during that period nor implemented during the entire period.

Candidates/tenderers (i.e. the consortium as a whole, in the case of an application from a consortium) are allowed to refer either to projects completed within the reference period (although started earlier) or to projects not yet completed. In the first case the project will be considered in its whole if proper evidence of performance is provided (statement or certificate from the entity which awarded the contract, proof of final payment). In case of projects still on-going only the portion satisfactorily completed during the reference period will be taken into consideration. This portion will have to be supported by documentary evidence (similarly to projects completed) also detailing its value. In this case, a precise budget and description of the tasks which were implemented during the reference period (2012 to 2015) shall be added in the detailed description of the project in the application form.

Please adapt the table in the submission form accordingly.

If a candidate/tenderer has implemented the project in a consortium, the percentage that the candidate/tenderer has successfully completed must be clear from the documentary evidence, together with a description of the nature of the services provided if the selection criteria relating to the relevance of the experience have been used.

Previous experience which caused breach of contract and termination by a Contracting Authority shall not be used as reference.

An economic operator may, where appropriate and for a particular contract, rely on the capacities of other entities, regardless of the legal nature of the links which it has with them. It must in that case prove to the Contracting Authority that it will have at its disposal the resources necessary for performance of the contract, for example by producing an undertaking on the part of those entities to place those resources at its disposal. Such entities, for instance the parent company of the economic operator, must respect the same rules of eligibility and notably that of nationality, as the economic operator.

If more than 8 eligible candidates meet the above selection criteria, the relative strengths and weaknesses of the applications of these candidates must be reexamined for each lot separately to identify the eight best candidates. The only factors which will be taken into consideration during this re-examination are:

  • The total number of reference projects found eligible under 21.3; and in case of equality on this criterion, then
  • The cumulated contract value of the eligible part (the proportion carried out by the candidate) of the projects found eligible under 21.3

22. Award criteria

Best value for money.

APPLICATION

23. Deadline for receipt of applications

25/05/2015 at 16:00h Beijing time

Any application received by the Contracting Authority after this deadline will not be considered.

24. Application format and details to be provided

Applications must be submitted using the standard application form, the format and instructions of which must be strictly observed. The application form is available from the following Internet address: http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/prag/annexes.do?group=B

Any additional documentation (brochure, letter, etc) sent with an application will not be taken into consideration.

25. How applications may be submitted

Applications must be submitted in English exclusively to the Contracting Authority in a sealed envelope:

  • EITHER by recorded delivery (official postal service) to :

Attn. Ms. Maria Luisa Wyganowski
Delegation of the European Union to China and Mongolia
4th floor,Entrance D, Qian Kun Mansion
6 Sanlitun Xi Liu Jie
Beijing 100027
China

  • OR hand delivered (including courier services) directly to the Contracting Authority in return for a signed and dated receipt to:

Attn. Ms. Maria Luisa Wyganowski
Delegation of the European Union to China and Mongolia
4th floor,Entrance D, Qian Kun Mansion
6 Sanlitun Xi Liu Jie
Beijing 100027
China

The Contract title and the Publication reference (see item 1 above) must be clearly marked on the envelope containing the application and must always be mentioned in all subsequent correspondence with the Contracting Authority.

Applications submitted by any other means will not be considered.

26. Alteration or withdrawal of applications

Candidates may alter or withdraw their applications by written notification prior to the deadline for submission of applications. No application may be altered after this deadline.

Any such notification of alteration or withdrawal shall be prepared and submitted in accordance with Item 25. The outer envelope (and the relevant inner envelope if used) must be marked 'Alteration' or 'Withdrawal' as appropriate.

27. Operational language

All written communications for this tender procedure and contract must be in: English.

28. Date of publication of prior information notice

04/02/2015
EA91 JOS 24

29. Legal basis

Regulation (EU) N°236/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2014 laying down common rules and procedures for the implementation of the Union's instruments for financing external action. The eligibility criteria are laid down in article 9 of the said Regulation.

Regulation (EU) No 234/2014 establishing a Partnership Instrument for cooperation with third countries.

30. Additional information

N.A.