REGIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL CENTER. Ady Endre ut 9-11, 2000 Szentendre, Hungary CALL FOR TENDERS. Reference number: WATER SUM 2016/05

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1 REGIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL CENTER Ady Endre ut 9-11, 2000 Szentendre, Hungary CALL FOR TENDERS Reference number: WATER SUM 2016/05 SERVICE CONTRACT FOR PROVIDING SUPPORT TO THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE WATER SUM PROJECT Support to development of Water, Growth and Stability Network LOT 1: Customization of the existing Distance Learning Platform and localization for the Arabic language TENDER SPECIFICATIONS Page 1 of 14

2 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INFORMATION ON TENDERING Participation Contractual conditions Joint tenders Subcontracting Content of the tender Identification of the tenderer: legal capacity and status EVALUATION AND AWARD Evaluation steps Exclusion criteria Selection criteria Award criteria Ranking and Award Compliance of technical offer Financial offer TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS Overall purpose and context of the service General background and objective Specific context of this contract and objectives Subject of the contract Tasks Output and deliverables Performance and quality requirements Duration of the tasks Intellectual property rights Place of performance Page 2 of 14

3 LIST OF ANNEXES ANNEX 1: ANNEX 2: ANNEX 3: ANNEX 4: ANNEX 5: ANNEX 6: ANNEX 7: ANNEX 8: ANNEX 9: DRAFT CONTRACT REFERENCE FORM CV FORM LEGAL ENTITY FORM SUBCONTRACTOR IDENTIFICATION DATA SHEET FINANCIAL OFFER TEMPLATE DECLARATION OF HONOUR THEMATIC SKILLS WITHIN THE CONSULTANTS TEAM TECHNICAL APPLICATION FORM Page 3 of 14

4 1. INFORMATION ON TENDERING 1.1. Participation Participation in this tender procedure is open on equal terms to all natural and legal persons Contractual conditions The rights and obligations of the contractor are specified in the draft contract (Annex 1). The REC reserves the right to change the content of the contract before signature Consortia Tenders may be submitted by a group of operators in consortium. The members of the consortium have joint and several liability towards the REC for the performance of the contract. Tenderers in consortium must assign a member as leader of the consortium and appoint a single point of contact. The contract may be signed by a single member of the consortium if so authorized by all other members of the consortium via power of attorney. In other cases it is required that the contract is signed by all members of the consortium Subcontracting Subcontracting is permitted. The members of the consortium have joint and several liability for the performance of the subcontractor. The proportion of the contract which will be subcontracted has to be indicated in the submitted tender documents. Any planned change in subcontracting, including the proportion of work to be subcontracted and the identities of subcontractors, has to be approved by the REC before changes are made Content of the tender The tenders must be presented as follows: 1. Identification of the tenderer (see section 1.6) 2. Evidence for exclusion criteria (see section 2.2) 3. Evidence for selection criteria (see section 2.3) 4. Technical offer (see section 2.6 & Annex 9) 5. Financial offer (see section 2.7 & Annex 6) The financial offer must be submitted separately from other elements of the tender in a closed envelope or sent to the separate addresses as indicated in the application announcement and in the InfoNote_WGSNetworks_e-platforms.docx. Page 4 of 14

5 1.6. Identification of the tenderer: legal capacity and status The tender must include a cover letter presenting the name of the tenderer and of subcontractors where applicable. The proportion of the contract to be subcontracted has to be identified. If the tenderer is a consortium then the names of all members of the consortium have to be included. The name and contacts of the single contact person have to be provided. For consortia, the cover letter must be signed by a duly authorized representative for each member of the consortium, or by a single tenderer authorized by all other tenderers via power of attorney. Subcontractors must provide a letter of intent stating their willingness to provide the service foreseen in the offer and in line with the present tender specification. Tenderers must attach a signed form and supporting documents on their legal status. The leader of the consortium must provide information and supporting documents on financial status. For legal persons, a copy of the notice of appointment of the persons authorized to represent the tenderer in dealings with third parties and in legal proceedings should be provided. 2. EVALUATION AND AWARD 2.1 Evaluation steps The evaluation is based on the information provided in the submitted tenders. The steps of the evaluation are: 1. Verification of non-exclusion of tenderers on the basis of the exclusion criteria 2. Selection of tenderers on the basis of selection criteria 3. Evaluation of tenders on the basis of the award criteria Only tenders meeting the requirements of one step will pass on to the next step. 2.2 Exclusion criteria All tenderers shall provide a declaration of honour (Annex 7), signed and dated by an authorized representative. Documents as supporting evidence will be required to be submitted for all members of a consortium by the tenderer(s) to whom the contract is awarded before signature of the contract. Page 5 of 14

6 2.3 Selection criteria Tenderers must prove their economic, financial, technical and professional capacity to carry out the work subject to this call for tender. The evidence requested should be provided by each member of the consortium. However a consolidated assessment will be made to verify compliance with the minimum capacity levels which will include the assessment of all members of the consortium, and for technical and professional capacity also the assessment of subcontractors. Economic and financial capacity criteria and evidence In order to prove their economic and financial capacity, the tenderer (i.e. in case of consortium, the combined capacity of all members of the consortium and identified subcontractors) should provide the following evidence: Copy of the Annual Report (or at least the profit & loss account and balance sheet in some certified form) for the last two years, Failing that, appropriate statements from banks, If, for some exceptional reason which the REC considers justified, a tenderer is unable to provide one or other of the above documents, the tenderer may prove evidence of economic and financial capacity by any other document which the REC considers appropriate. The REC must be notified of the exceptional reason and its justification in the tender. The REC reserves the right to request any other document enabling it to verify the tenderer's economic and financial capacity. Technical and professional capacity criteria and evidence The tenderer must satisfy the following minimum requirements relating to references and expertise. Tenders must score above 50% for each criterion and sub-criterion. Tenders that do not reach the minimum thresholds will be rejected and will not be evaluated on the basis of award criteria. a. Criteria relating to tenderers Tenderers (in case of a joint tender the combined capacity of all tenderers and identified subcontractors) must comply with the following criteria: - A minimum of five years work experience in the area of software development. - At least 50 relevant engineers in the field of web and mobile (ios and Android) development. Page 6 of 14

7 - At least one working platform which can support the features stated in the Objective of the assignment text - At least two projects in the field of online collaboration. - At least two projects in the field of digital content distribution through the network. - Experience in the creation, setting up and maintenance of distributed systems. The following evidence should be provided to fulfil the above criteria: - Description of relevant services provided through the above mentioned projects, with amounts, dates and services' recipients, public or private. The projects' descriptions should provide relevant proof of satisfactory execution, specifying that they have been carried out in a professional manner and have been fully completed (Annex 2). b. Criteria relating to the team delivering the service: The team delivering the service should include, as a minimum, the following profiles: Project Manager: As a minimum 5 years' professional experience in project management, including overseeing project delivery, quality control of the delivered service, client orientation and conflict resolution experience in a project of a similar size and nature. Experts: The core team should include at least 3 experts with a university degree and experience in the field of web and mobile (ios and Android) development. The following evidence should be provided to fulfil the above criteria: - The educational and professional qualifications of the key persons who will provide the service for this tender (Annex 3) including the management staff. Each CV provided should indicate the intended contribution to the delivery of the service. - The tender should include a table (see template in Annex 8) listing the experts with the required education and experience who will cover the relevant topics/services Award criteria The tender will be awarded according to the best-value-for -money procedure. The quality of the tender will be evaluated based on the following criteria. The maximum total quality score is 100 points. A maximum of 50 points will be attributed to criterion 1, a maximum of 20 points will be attributed to criterion 2 and maximum of 30 points to criterion 3. In addition a minimum threshold will be set up under this system of points: Technical sufficiency levels: Selected companies will have to score a minimum of 30 points under criteria 1 and minimum of 10 points under criteria 2 and minimum of 15 points under criteria 3, with a minimum total of 45 points. Page 7 of 14

8 Tenders scoring less than 45 in the overall points total or less than the technical sufficiency level in the points awarded for a single criterion will be excluded from the rest of the assessment procedure. Since assessment of the tenders will focus on the quality of the proposed services, tenders should elaborate on all points addressed by these specifications in order to score as many points as possible. (1) Relevant expertise in the area of software development, number of relevant staff (50 points minimum threshold 50%) This criterion will assess the relevant expertise and the capacity to resolve the questions underlying in the tender in a realistic and well-structured way, as well as whether the methods proposed are suited to the needs set out by the REC in the Technical Description. (2) Quality of submitted CVs (20 points minimum threshold 50%) This criterion will assess quality of submitted CVs and how the roles and responsibilities of the proposed team and of the other operators (in case of joint tenders, including subcontractors if applicable) are distributed for each task. (3) References in the field of online collaboration and in the field of digital content distribution through the network (30 points minimum threshold 50%) This criterion will assess relevant references in the field of online collaboration and in the field of digital content distribution through the network; the higher number of relevant references will be given the highest number of points. 2.5 Ranking and Award Having examined the tenders from a technical point of view, the evaluation committee will proceed considering which is the economically most advantageous offer taking into account only those tenders that have obtained at least 45 out of the 100 points that are available for the technical quality of the bid. The evaluation committee will then proceed with the financial comparison of the tenders retained for further consideration according to the ranking procedure below. The bid offering the best value for money will be chosen, provided that the minimum number of points cited above is achieved. The ranking of the tenders will be calculated as follows: All bids that do not reach the stated technical sufficiency levels for each individual award criteria will not be considered for contract award. All bids that have passed the individual levels and score 45 or higher are deemed to be technically sufficient. Then the price is divided by the total number of points awarded to obtain the price-quality ratio. The award of the contract will be made in accordance with the lowest ratio. Page 8 of 14

9 The REC reserves the right not to select any tender if the amounts tendered exceed the budget envisaged for this project Compliance of technical offer The technical offer must cover all aspects and tasks required in the technical specification and provide all the information needed to apply the award criteria. Offers deviating from the requirements or not covering all requirements may be excluded on the basis of non-conformity with the tender specifications and will not be evaluated Financial offer The maximum budget for LOT 1 is fixed including VAT. The price for the tender must be quoted in euro. Tenderers from countries outside the euro zone have to quote their prices in euro. The price quoted may not be revised in line with exchange rate movements. It is for the tenderer to assume the risks or the benefits deriving from any variation. 3. TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS 3.1 Overall purpose and context of the service In reaction to rapid depletion of water resources, deterioration in water quality, increased water demand, and changes in water endowments affect environmental quality, food security, municipal infrastructure, and economic development in most societies of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, the Regional Environmental Center (REC) is implementing project Sustainable Use of Transboundary Water Resources and Water Security Management (WATER SUM). Project is funded by Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) for duration of 36 months, from April 2014 till April The overall objective of the Project is to promote and enhance sustainable water resources management and to promote a comprehensive and integrated approach to water security and ecosystem services for sustainable development in beneficiary countries in the MENA region in order to help halt the downward spiral of poverty, biodiversity loss and environmental degradation. The Project is divided into two components: Page 9 of 14

10 - Component 1, Water Resources Management Good Practices and Knowledge Transfer (Water POrT), and - Component 2, Water and Security (WaSe). Water POrT component objective is to accelerate more sustainable use of the region s water resources and perform strategic approach on adaptation to climate change, while WaSe component objective is to promote a comprehensive and integrated approach to water security and ecosystem services for sustainable development in 8 selected self-governing territories in Jordan and Tunisia. WaSe component is a part of efforts to combat water scarcity, reduce threat of conflicts, downward spiral of poverty, biodiversity loss and environmental degradation and increase overall human well-being within the wider context of ensuring regional peace and stability. Project envisages two main results to attain the Project objectives: - Increased capacities of the respective national authorities to apply Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) approach; promoted framework for common understanding among water practitioners and stakeholders regarding needs for cooperation and regional approach in managing water problems and strengthened abilities of practitioners to deal with the impacts of climate change on the region s water resources (WATER PORT component). - Process of introduction and drafting Local Water Security Action Plan (LWSAP) initiated and supported in target self-governing territories in Jordan and Tunisia, while partner communities work jointly towards sustainable development, and local environmental governance in partner countries benefiting from Local Water Security Action Plan concept (WaSe component). 3.3 Specific context of this contract and objectives As result of inception phase Jordan and Tunisia were selected as focal countries for WaSe component. Following stakeholder s consultations in initial phase of the Project 8 selfgoverning territories were selected in Jordan and Tunisia for development LWSAP: In Jordan: - Municipality Al-Karak; - Municipality Jarrash; - Municipality Al Salt; - Municipality Ajloun; In Tunisia: Page 10 of 14

11 - Nefza delegation; - Bir Mcherga delegation; - Matmata delegation; - Sidi Ali Ben Aoun Delegation. To support process of introduction and drafting Local Water Security Action Plans (LWSAP) in abovementioned 8 partner self-governing territories a Manual for practitioners has been developed. Manual is structured in a way which enables replication in any other local community interested in development LWSAP, supported through Distant Learning Platform, for training of development teams. In order to further support and enhance the networking and cooperation in MENA region, and as a follow up of the conclusions of the project s conference Water, Growth and Stability: Transboundary Water Cooperation for Sustainable Growth and Stability in MENA held on April 26, 2016 to April 28, 2016, development of Water, Growth and Stability Network is initiated Subject of the contract Support to development of Water, Growth and Stability Network is envisaged through LOT 1 and LOT 2 as follows: 1) LOT 1: Customization of the existing Distance Learning Platform and localization for the Arabic language, and 2) LOT 2: Development of the customized platform for Water, Growth and Stability Network. LOT 1: Customization of the existing Distance Learning Platform and localization for the Arabic language Within LOT 1, Contractor should support the activities of the WATER SUM project s WaSe component with the following: Customize the existing Distance Learning Platform developed for WATER SUM project on ctree platform ( Localize the existing Distance Learning Platform for the Arabic language Expand the number of licences for participants/students. Page 11 of 14

12 3.5 Tasks LOT 1: Customization of the existing Distance Learning Platform and localization for the Arabic language Under LOT 1 the tenderer will carry out the following tasks: - Enabling the customization of the ctree Distance Learning Platform and localization for the Arabic language. - Translation of all the documents to Arabic Language. - Expanding the number of licenses for additional 60 people. - Providing training for efficient use of the localized platform in Arabic Language (project team members and associated experts), as follows: - Training for administrators - Training for users - Developing a User Manual for localized Distance Learning Platform. - Providing full administrative support and help desk services in duration of existing contract and project (April 2017), and if possible, extended until end of Output and deliverables The following table summarises the expected deliverables which are specified in section 3.5: LOT/Task Deliverable LOT 1 Distance Learning Platform provision of additional licences Deadline for deliverables (in months from the signature of the contract) Comments 1 Expanding the number of licenses for additional 60 people is envisaged LOT 1 LOT 1 Distance Learning Platform localized in Arabic language On-job training for administrators 3 3 LOT 1 On-job training for users 4 Page 12 of 14

13 LOT 1 User Manual 4 R1 Progress report 3 Maximum 50 pages + annexes R2 Final report 9 Maximum 50 pages + annexes Unless otherwise agreed, all reports and documents should be prepared in English and edited by an advanced English speaker. Moreover, quality checking will have to be carried out in order to ensure high technical quality. The successful tenderer should closely coordinate preparation of all deliverables with the WATER SUM project team, including approval of the outline, volume and structure of all deliverables. A progress report should be submitted within three months of the signature of the contract. This report should include a work plan and timetables for all the tasks and should outline progress made towards implementation of the agreed work programme. The progress reports and the final report (as well as any other text) will be drafted by the tenderer in the version of MS-Office available at the time of the delivery. The final report should contain a description of the activities implemented and all the completed deliverables. It shall be supplied in two paper copies and in electronic format on a CD-ROM or USB Stick. The tenderer will be requested to participate in progress meetings and a final meeting with the REC that will take places in the REC or in the consultants premises or, when possible, through phone calls and video conferences. Furthermore, the tenderer will be stipulated to take part in meetings and events organised in the framework of the WATER SUM project, including the World Water Week 2016 in August Stockholm and two key project Conferences envisaged in November 2016 and April In total in includes 3 (three) WATER SUM events, 1 person per event and 2-3 days duration. 3.7 Performance and quality requirements The clause on liquidated damages mentioned in article II.12 of the draft contract could be activated if the expected level of quality during the execution of the contract is not attained, i.e. full execution of the tasks, timely delivery of intermediate and final deliverables, adherence to the methodology presented in the tender and/or agreed at the joint meetings, and clear reporting. 3.8 Duration of the tasks The assignment is expected to begin in mid-june 2016 with the duration until April Page 13 of 14

14 3.9 Intellectual property rights Provisions on intellectual property rights are specified in the draft contract in clauses I.8. and II Place of performance The place of performance of the tasks shall be the tenderer s premises or any other place indicated in the tender, with the exception of the REC s premises Page 14 of 14