III.1.1)Suitability to pursue the professional activity, including requirements relating to enrolment on professional or trade registersList and brief description of conditions:
Information and formalities necessary for evaluating if the requirements are met: The tenderer's identification form in Annex 1 shall be filled in and signed by:
— the tenderer (including any member of a consortium or grouping),
— subcontractor(s) whose share of the work represents more than 20 % of the contract.
In order to prove their legal capacity and their status, all tenderers (including any member of a consortium or grouping) must provide a signed legal entity form with its supporting evidence. The form is available on:
http://ec.europa.eu/budget/contracts_grants/info_contracts/legal_entities/legal_entities_en.cfm
Tenderers that are already registered in the contracting authority's accounting system (i.e. they have already been direct contractors) must provide the form but are not obliged to provide the supporting evidence.
If it has not been included with the legal entity form, tenderers must provide the following information:
— for legal persons, a legible copy of the notice of appointment of the persons authorised to represent the tenderer in dealings with third parties and in legal proceedings, or a copy of the publication of such appointment if the legislation which applies to the legal entity concerned requires such publication. Any delegation of this authorisation to another representative not indicated in the official appointment must be evidenced,
— for natural persons, where applicable, a proof of registration on a professional or trade register or any other official document showing the registration number.
The tenderer (only the leader in the case of a joint tender) must provide a financial identification form and supporting documents. The form is available on: http://ec.europa.eu/budget/contracts_grants/info_contracts/index_en.cfm
III.1.2)Economic and financial standingList and brief description of selection criteria:
Tenderers must prove their economic, financial, technical and professional capacity to carry out the work subject to this call for tenders.
The tenderer may 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.
Minimum level(s) of standards possibly required:
In order to prove their economic and financial capacity, the tenderer (in the case of a joint tender the combined capacity of all tenderers and identified subcontractors) must comply with the following criteria:
— the annual turnover of a minimum of 1 000 000 EUR for each of the last 2 financial years for which the accounts have been closed.
The following evidence should be provided:
— copy of the profit and loss account for the last 2 years for which accounts have been closed,
— failing that, appropriate statements from banks, and
— if applicable, evidence of professional risk indemnity insurance;
If, for some exceptional reason which the contracting authority considers justified, a tenderer is unable to provide 1 or the other of the above documents, they may prove his or her economic and financial capacity by any other document which the contracting authority considers appropriate. In any case, the contracting authority must at least be notified of the exceptional reason and its justification in the tender. The Commission reserves the right to request any other document enabling it to verify the tenderer's economic and financial capacity.
III.1.3)Technical and professional abilityList and brief description of selection criteria:
Tenderers (in the case of a joint tender the combined capacity of all tenderers and identified subcontractors) must comply with the following criteria:
— the tenderers will demonstrate a sound understanding of the current policy, regulatory, economic and technical context of renewable fuels for aviation in Europe, a good understanding of the context in this field in relation to the International Civil Aviation Organisation, have knowledge on the situation in countries outside the EU (e.g. Brazil, Indonesia, United States) and understand issues and constraints faced by alternative fuel producers. More details on the overall context are given in Section ‘3.1 General background’,
— the tenderers will show evidence of their capacity to analyse a complex situation and propose practical initiatives aiming at resolving issues which are currently preventing a larger use of renewable fuels in aviation in Europe so as to contribute to the decarbonisation of aviation,
— the tenderers will demonstrate their capacity to carry out studies and analysis and mapping of factors having impact on biofuel deployment at European level and worldwide in the fields of:
— financing strategies and legal instruments to compensate for the extra cost of renewable fuels,
— current EU and Member State regulatory frameworks regarding biofuels/renewable fuels,
— single European sky regulatory framework,
— different methodologies used to establish sustainability criteria of renewable fuels in different regions of the world (EU, United States, etc.),
— certification of aviation fuels,
— full supply chain of aviation fuel (from production to delivery at the aircraft).
Studies and analysis will bear more on the methodologies and processes than on the technical content. These capacities can be illustrated relying on examples of their previous involvement in a similar type of work,
— the tenderers will provide evidence that they delivered at least 1 project related to the fields mentioned above in the last 5 years with a minimum value for each project of 300 000 EUR,
— the tenderers must prove experience of working in English with at least 2 projects delivered in the last 5 years showing the necessary language coverage,
— the tenderers must prove experience of having projects in a European context with at least 2 projects delivered in the last 5 years, the combination of which showing the necessary coverage,
— the tenderer must prove experience in data collection, modelisation, analyses, and drafting of reports and recommendations.
Minimum level(s) of standards possibly required:
The team delivering the service should include, as a minimum, the following profiles:
Project manager: at least 5 years of experience in project management, including overseeing project delivery, quality control of delivered service, client orientation and conflict resolution experience in project of a similar size and scope (being in at least one of the fields covered or related to this call for tender) with experience in management of a team of at least 3 people and have experience of working in a European and/or international context.
Project leader: at least 5 years of experience in the field of renewable fuels for aviation, having demonstrated competence, ownership of the issue and recognition of its action among the community of aviation fuels; the project leader must have the capacity to understand, analyse, take leadership and propose practical initiatives in this complex environment; he/she must be able to dedicate at least 60 % of his/her time over the duration of the contract and at least 70 % of his/her time if the project leader and the project manager roles are carried out by the same person.
At least 3 experts in the following fields of expertise listed below by order of importance:
— regulatory framework: renewable fuels evolve in a complex and changing EU and international regulatory framework (Renewable Energy Directive, Fuel Quality Directives, emission trading schemes, Single European Sky, ICAO context, etc.); expertise in other regulatory frameworks such as in Brazil, Indonesia and United States is desirable,
— economic analysis and modelling: mechanisms to finance extra costs linked to renewable fuels in a transition phase from the current limited levels of production of renewable fuels in demonstration plants to a situation where price parity and/or stable support will allow a volume of renewable fuels of the order of several percent of the volume of fuel consumed by aviation in Europe,
— sustainability: methodologies used for the assessment of the sustainability of fuels, including aspects linked to indirect land use change; one of the issues will be how to harmonise sustainability criteria at international level,
— certification process of renewable fuels,
— fuel supply and distribution chain.
Each expert shall demonstrate relevant higher education degree and 3 years' professional experience in at least one of the abovementioned fields.
At least 1 person with adequate experience in supporting the organisation of workshops and events and skill in communicating with stakeholders and policymakers.
Language quality check: at least 3 members of the team should have proficiency-level language skills in English, as guaranteed by a certificate or past relevant experience.