Framework contract for the provision of language training services to the European Commission at its offices in Grange, County Meath

European Commission

Contract notice Services Section I: Contracting authority I.1) Name, addresses and contact point(s): European Commission, Directorate-General for Health and Consumers, Directorate A — General Affairs, A6 Administrative Affairs, attention: Mr Serge Christiane, GRAN 00/030, Grange, Dunsany, Trim, County Meath, Ireland. Lagneaux. Tel. sanco-irl-cft@ec.europa.eu. Internet address(es): General address of the contracting authority: http://ec.europa.eu/comm/dgs/health_consumer/. Further information can be obtained at: As in abovementioned contact point(s). Specifications and additional documents (including documents for competitive dialogue and a dynamic purchasing system) can be obtained at: As in abovementioned contact point(s). Tenders or requests to participate must be sent to: As in abovementioned contact point(s). Type of the contracting authority and main activity or activities: European institution/agency or international organisation. General public services. The contracting authority is purchasing on behalf of other contracting authorities: no. Object of the contract II.1) Description II.1.1) Title attributed to the contract by the contracting authority: Framework contract for the provision of language training services to the European Commission at its offices in Grange, County Meath. Type of contract and location of works, place of delivery or of performance: Services. Grange, Dunsany, County Meath, Ireland. The attention of applicants is drawn to the location of the office, which is situated in County Meath, some 45 km north-west of Dublin, approx 8 km from Trim and 25 km from Navan. Grange is on a public transport route serviced by Bus Eireann (for details of service refer to www.buseireann.ie). In addition the European Commission operates a limited pay-per-use shuttle bus service between the south side of Dublin and Grange. The establishment of a framework agreement. Information on framework agreement: Framework agreement with a single operator. Duration of the framework agreement: Duration in year(s): 4. Estimated total value of purchases for the entire duration of the framework agreement: Estimated value excluding VAT: EUR 400 000. Short description of the contract or purchase(s): This invitation to tender concerns the teaching of 4 official languages of the European Union: English (EN), French (FR), German (DE) and Spanish (ES). Each language is to be taught at a maximum of 7 different levels depending on the level of the participants. Each level will be of 66 hours' duration, comprising weekly classes (1,5 hours per class) from October to June, followed by 2 weeks of semi-intensive courses (3 hours per day) in August. Candidates are required to tender for all 4 languages mentioned above. In exceptional circumstances, the eventual contractor may also be asked to organise the teaching of any 1 or more of the other 19 languages of the Union: Bulgarian (BG), Czech (CS), Danish (DA), Dutch (NL), Estonian (ET), Finnish (FI), Greek (EL), Hungarian (HU), Irish (GA), Italian (IT), Latvian (LV), Lithuanian (LT), Maltese (MT), Polish (PL), Portuguese (PT), Romanian (RO), Slovak (SK), Slovenian (SL) and Swedish (SV) as well as any other languages which would become an official language during the duration of this contract. The teaching of the 4 stipulated languages will be available at the signature of the contract. The teaching of any of the other 19 languages is to be provided within 3 months of a request by the European Commission. Common procurement vocabulary (CPV): 80580000. Contract covered by the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA): Yes. Quantity or scope of the contract II.2.1) Total quantity or scope: The total value of the framework contract over its potential 4-year duration is estimated at a maximum of EUR 400 000. This figure is given for information only, and is not binding on the European Commission. Duration of the contract or time limit for completion: Duration in months: 48 (from the award of the contract). Legal, economic, financial and technical information III.1) Conditions relating to the contract III.1.1) Deposits and guarantees required: To be stated in the tender documents which will be sent to shortlisted candidates. Main financing conditions and payment arrangements and/or reference to the relevant provisions regulating them: To be stated in the tender documents which will be sent to shortlisted candidates. Legal form to be taken by the group of economic operators to whom the contract is to be awarded: Tenders can be submitted by groupings of service providers/suppliers who will not be required to adopt a particular legal form prior to the contract being awarded, but may be required to do so after the award if this formulation is necessary for the good execution of the contract. However, a grouping of firms must nominate 1 party to be responsible for the receipt and processing of payments for members of the grouping, for managing the service administration, and for coordination. The documents required and listed in the following paragraphs 'Exclusion criteria and supporting documents' and 'Selection criteria' must be supplied by every member of the grouping. Each member of the grouping assumes a joint and several liability towards the Commission. Other particular conditions to which the performance of the contract is subject: No. Conditions for participation III.2.1) Personal situation of economic operators, including requirements relating to enrolment on professional or trade registers: Information and formalities necessary for evaluating if requirements are met: Requests to participate must be submitted using 1 of the following methods: — registered post, as evidenced by the postmark, to the address indicated in Section I.1, — delivery (in person or by any party representing the candidate, or by courier) to the address indicated in Section I.1. This department is open from 8:30 until 17:00, Monday to Thursday, and from 8:30 until 16:00 on Fridays. It is closed at weekends and on Commission holidays. For deliveries by courier, the valid date of dispatch will be the date on the courier's delivery note. For deliveries made in person or by any party representing the candidate, delivery will, in this case, be confirmed by a receipt dated and signed by an official of the department indicated in Section I.1. — quote reference 'A6/01/2009/Language training' in their request to participate, — enclose the documents and information required in points III.2.1 to III.2.3, — enclose identity details as follows: name, legal status, nationality, address, telephone and fax numbers, contact name and e-mail address, VAT number, official registration number (where applicable) and bank details. Legal position — means of proof required: name of the country in which candidates have their head office or are domiciled, enclosing the documents evidencing this under the law in their country of residence. Candidates' requests to participate must include a solemn declaration, duly signed and dated, stating that they are not in any of the situations listed hereafter which would disqualify them from participating in a contract. Groupings must furnish separate declarations for each member. Candidates will be disqualified from taking part in the contract if they: (a) are bankrupt or being wound up, if their affairs are being administered by the court or if they have entered into an arrangement with creditors, if they have suspended business activities, if they are the subject of proceedings of this nature or if they are in any analogous situation arising from a similar procedure under national laws or regulations; (b) have been convicted of an offence concerning their professional conduct by a judgment which has the force of 'res judicata'; (c) have been guilty of grave professional misconduct proven by any means which the contracting authorities can justify; (d) have not fulfilled their obligations to pay social security contributions or taxes in accordance with the legal provisions of their country of residence or with those of the country of the contracting authority, or those of the country where the contract is to be carried out; (e) have been the subject of a judgment which has the force of 'res judicata' for fraud, corruption, involvement in a criminal organisation or any other illegal activity detrimental to the Communities' financial interests; (f) have been declared to be in serious breach of contract for failure to comply with their contractual obligations, following another procurement procedure or grant award procedure financed by the Community budget. Moreover, interested parties are informed that candidates or tenderers will not be awarded the contract if, during the procurement procedure, they: — are subject to a conflict of interests, — are guilty of misrepresentation in furnishing the information required by the contracting authority in order to take part in the contract, or have not furnished said information. Administrative or financial penalties may be imposed by the contracting authority on tenderers who are in 1 of the cases of exclusion provided for above, in accordance with Articles 93, 94 and 96 of the Financial Regulation (Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) 1605/2002 of 25.6.2002) and Article 133 of the Implementing Regulation (Commission Regulation (EC, Euratom) 2342/2002 of 23.12.2002). Candidates invited to tender must include a solemn declaration with their tenders, duly signed and dated, stating that they are not in any of the situations which would disqualify them from being awarded a contract. The tenderer to whom the contract will be awarded must furnish, within the time limit indicated by the contracting authority and before the contract is signed, the following documents in support of the solemn declaration with regard to the situations which would disqualify him from participation in the contract: — a recent extract from the judicial record or, failing this, an equivalent document recently issued by the appropriate judicial or administrative body in the country in which tenderers reside, stating that they are not in any of the situations described in (a), (b) and (e) which would disqualify them from participating in a contract, — a recently-issued certificate from the appropriate body in the country in which tenderers reside, stating that they have fulfilled their obligations in respect of payment of social security contributions and taxes in accordance with the legal provisions of the country in which they reside. Where no such document or certificate is issued in the country concerned, it may be replaced by a statement under oath or, failing that, a solemn declaration made by tenderers before a judicial or administrative body, a notary or a qualified professional body in their country. Tenders submitted by a consortium, grouping or association of companies must contain: (a) a document detailing the composition and constitution of the entity or legal form of this cooperation should they be awarded the contract; (b) a letter signed by each grouping member stating that they undertake to carry out the work and specifying their role, qualifications and experience. Tenderers failing to provide this document may be automatically excluded. Economic and financial capacity: Information and formalities necessary for evaluating if requirements are met: Candidates must provide evidence of economic and financial capacity. Candidates who do not provide the documentation specified, or who are judged, on the basis of the documentation provided, not to have fulfilled the criteria specified below, will be excluded. The following documents must be provided in evidence of economic and financial capacity: — the presentation of balance sheets or extracts from balance sheets and profit-and-loss accounts for the last 3 years for which accounts have been closed, where publication of the balance sheet is required under the company law of the country in which the economic operator is established. The balance sheet shall show before-tax profits for the past 3 years for which accounts have been closed, — if the balance sheets or the statement show an average loss over the past 3 years, then candidates must furnish another document as proof of their financial and economic standing, such as appropriate statements from the bank or evidence of professional risk indemnity insurance, — in the case of entities established less than 3 years ago, the relevant documents should be provided for the period of their existence only, — a statement of overall turnover and turnover for the kind of services required in this contract realised over the past 3 financial years (2006, 2007 and 2008). Should the application be submitted by a grouping, the aforementioned information must be submitted to the contracting authority in the form of a separate document for each grouping member and a document summarising the consolidated data for the grouping as a whole. Minimum level(s) of standards possibly required: Annual turnover must have averaged at least EUR 100 000 for the kind of services required in this contract during the 3 past financial years given as references for candidates to be eligible to take part in the contract. Information and formalities necessary for evaluating if requirements are met: 1. As evidence of such experience, applicants must enclose the following information or documents with their request to participate so that their technical capacity can be assessed: (a) a list of the main references for services provided over the past 3 years in the field covered by this contract with details of the dates they took place and details of their public or private recipients, the number of teaching staff provided and languages provided; (b) a description of a group course (needs analysis, course content, evaluation) provided by the applicant to a large organisation. Applicants must provide evidence (via detailed CVs) that they have access to at least 10 or more teachers with at least 3 years' experience in teaching their native language as a foreign language to groups of linguistically diverse professionals. Minimum level(s) of standards possibly required: 1. Candidates must have at least 3 years' experience of providing training services in a range of languages to groups of linguistically diverse professionals. Candidates must be in a position to simultaneously provide 10 or more teachers who have more than 3 years' proven professional experience in teaching languages as foreign languages to groups of linguistically diverse professionals. Teachers must be native speakers of the language they are to teach. Conditions specific to services contracts III.3.1) Execution of the service is reserved to a particular profession: No. Procedure IV.1) Type of procedure IV.1.1) Type of procedure: Restricted. Award criteria IV.2.1) Award criteria: The most economically advantageous tender in terms of the criteria stated in the specifications, in the invitation to tender or to negotiate or in the descriptive document. An electronic auction will be used: No. Administrative information IV.3.1) File reference number attributed by the contracting authority: A6/01/2009/Language training. Previous publication(s) concerning the same contract: No. Time limit for receipt of tenders or requests to participate: 2.3.2009 (16:00). Language(s) in which tenders or requests to participate may be drawn up: Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Irish, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish and Swedish. Complementary information VI.1) This is a recurrent procurement: Yes. Estimated timing for further notices to be published: 2012. Contract related to a project and/or programme financed by EU funds: No. (1) The attention of interested parties is drawn to the aim of this notice, i.e. to select candidates who will receive the specifications and be invited to tender. (2) NB: interested parties are requested to observe strictly the conditions stated in point III.2 when submitting their request to participate, namely: — to send their application by post before the deadline in point IV.3.4. Applications sent after the deadline in point IV.3.4 will be automatically rejected, — to enclose all the documents and information requested in points III.2.1 to III.2.3. Incomplete applications may be automatically discarded. (3) Interested parties are requested to refrain from seeking further information at this stage. Procedures for appeal VI.4.1) Body responsible for appeal procedures: Court of First Instance of the European Communities, boulevard Konrad Adenauer, L-2925 Luxembourg. Tel. CFI.Registry@curia.europa.eu. http://curia.europa.eu. Precise information on deadline(s) for lodging appeals: Within 2 months of the plaintiff being notified or, failing this, of the date on which it became known to them. A complaint made to the European Ombudsman neither suspends this period nor opens a new period for lodging appeals. Date of dispatch of this notice: 16.1.2009.

The time limit for receipt of tenders was 2009-03-02. The procurement was published on 2009-01-28.

• • European Commission

• • Training services › Provision of language courses