Section II: Object of the contract
II.1)Description
II.1.1)Title attributed to the contract by the contracting authority:
Scientific analysis and advice on gender equality in the EU.
II.1.2)Type of contract and location of works, place of delivery or of performanceServices
Service category No 11: Management consulting services [6] and related services
NUTS code
II.1.3)Information about a public contract, a framework agreement or a dynamic purchasing system (DPS)The notice involves a public contract
II.1.4)Information on framework agreement
II.1.5)Short description of the contract or purchase(s)
The overall objective of the contract is to contribute to the improvement of European-level policy analysis and policy development on gender equality by providing reliable, independent, and rigorous scientific support and advice to the European Commission. It will strengthen the Commission's knowledge base, including its country-specific knowledge, to support the preparation of political initiatives, and to support political cooperation at European level.
More precisely, the scientific support and advice will cover the following themes:
— gender equality in the labour market, including the gender gaps in pay, working hours and employment,
— work-life balance,
— poverty, social inclusion and social protection, including pensions systems, from a gender perspective,
— gender equality in decision-making,
— gender-based violence, including intimate partner violence, sexual violence, cyber violence and harassment, sexual violence and harmful practices and ‘honour’-based violence,
— gender equality in and through education and training,
— horizontal issues, such as gender mainstreaming, gender budgeting, gender stereotypes or the role of men in gender equality,
— statistics on gender equality and gender-based violence.
II.1.6)Common procurement vocabulary (CPV)71241000 Feasibility study, advisory service, analysis, 72316000 Data analysis services, 79411000 General management consultancy services, 73200000 Research and development consultancy services, 71700000 Monitoring and control services, 79951000 Seminar organisation services, 30196100 Meeting planners
II.1.7)Information about Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)The contract is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA): yes
II.1.8)LotsThis contract is divided into lots: no
II.1.9)Information about variantsVariants will be accepted: no
II.2)Quantity or scope of the contract
II.2.1)Total quantity or scope:Estimated value excluding VAT: 1 100 000 EUR
II.2.2)Information about optionsOptions: no
II.2.3)Information about renewalsThis contract is subject to renewal: yes
Number of possible renewals: 1
II.3)Duration of the contract or time limit for completionDuration in months: 24 (from the award of the contract)
Section III: Legal, economic, financial and technical information
III.1)Conditions relating to the contract
III.1.1)Deposits and guarantees required:
See tender specifications.
III.1.2)Main financing conditions and payment arrangements and/or reference to the relevant provisions governing them:
See tender specifications.
III.1.3)Legal form to be taken by the group of economic operators to whom the contract is to be awarded:
See tender specifications.
III.1.4)Other particular conditionsThe performance of the contract is subject to particular conditions: no
III.2)Conditions for participation
III.2.1)Personal situation of economic operators, including requirements relating to enrolment on professional or trade registersInformation and formalities necessary for evaluating if the requirements are met: See tender specifications.
III.2.2)Economic and financial abilityInformation and formalities necessary for evaluating if the requirements are met: In order to prove their financial and economic capacity, the tenderers (i.e. in the case of joint tender, the combined capacity of all members of the consortium and identified subcontractors) must show that their annual consolidated turnover exceeds 300 000 EUR (average for the past 3 years).
The following evidence should be provided:
— the completed ‘Simplified balance sheet’ and ‘Simplified profit & loss account’ completed for the last 3 years,
— copy of the profit and loss account and balance sheet for the last 3 years for which accounts have been closed,
— failing that, appropriate statements from banks,
— 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, he or she 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.
Minimum level(s) of standards possibly required: See above.
III.2.3)Technical capacityInformation and formalities necessary for evaluating if the requirements are met:
A. Criteria relating to tenderers:
The tenderer must comply with the following criteria:
Each individual team member responsible for carrying out work other than clerical or administrative tasks must have:
a) strong experience in the fields of policy analysis and assessment and proven experience of a minimum of 4 years in the field of gender equality at national or European level;
b) good knowledge of English, both oral and written.
The selection criteria to be satisfied jointly by the members of the team are as follows:
a) combined proven expertise and language skills to cover all EU Member States;
b) proven expertise, scientific knowledge and academic experience of a minimum of 5 years in the following fields:
— labour market issues, including female labour participation, the gender pay gap, reconciliation between work, private and family life,
— social protection/social inclusion,
— gender-based violence, including legal expertise, medical/psychology expertise, and expertise on violence statistics, and covering various forms of violence, including intimate partner violence, sexual violence, cyber violence and harassment, sexual violence and harmful practices and ‘honour’-based violence,
— gender balance in decision-making, covering different fields (economic decision-making, political decision-making, etc.),
— gender and education,
— statistics and econometrics;
c) very good knowledge of English to facilitate communication with the Commission;
d) strong planning and organising skills and the ability to facilitate meetings;
e) proven capacity to set up the appropriate organisational structure to carry out all the required tasks, including a proven capacity to manage the administrative, logistic and financial aspects. The Commission will assess this criterion on the basis, inter alia, of a list of previous similar activities of the tenderer;
f) proven capacity to mobilise a sufficient amount of experts and the capacity to rely on sufficient thematic competences and language skills, in order to easily access and collect the necessary information to carry out the required tasks. The Commission will assess this criterion on the basis of a list of CVs and a description of activities of the tenderer and of an enumeration of relevant bodies, institutions, structures, etc., the tender can rely on, and the networking it can eventually activate;
g) proven capacity to have access to the services of other professionals and competent actors such as an editor with an appropriate educational degree, knowledge of the English language at native level, as attested by the CVs.
B. Means of proof:
The following evidence should be provided to fulfil the above criteria:
1. tenderers should provide with their offer a detailed curriculum vitae of each member of the team/expert responsible for carrying out the work, including his or her educational background, degrees and diplomas, professional experience, research work, publications and linguistic skills. The CVs shall be presented, preferably, in accordance with the Commission Recommendation of 11.3.2002 on a common European format for curricula vitae (CVs), OJ L 79, 22.3.2002, p. 66;
2. a list of the principal services of the same type provided in the past 5 years, with the sums, dates and recipients, whether public or private, of the services provided, together with certificates issued or countersigned by public authorities or by private clients or, failing this, simply declared by the service provider to have been effected;
3. part of the contract which the service provider intends to subcontract. 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 specifications.
Minimum level(s) of standards possibly required:
See above.
III.2.4)Information about reserved contracts
III.3)Conditions specific to services contracts
III.3.1)Information about a particular professionExecution of the service is reserved to a particular profession: no
III.3.2)Staff responsible for the execution of the serviceLegal persons should indicate the names and professional qualifications of the staff responsible for the execution of the service: yes
Section IV: Procedure
IV.1)Type of procedure
IV.1.1)Type of procedureOpen
IV.1.2)Limitations on the number of operators who will be invited to tender or to participate
IV.1.3)Reduction of the number of operators during the negotiation or dialogue
IV.2)Award criteria
IV.2.1)Award criteriaThe 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
IV.2.2)Information about electronic auctionAn electronic auction will be used: no
IV.3)Administrative information
IV.3.1)File reference number attributed by the contracting authority:
JUST/2015/RGEN/PR/EQUA/0088.
IV.3.2)Previous publication(s) concerning the same contractno
IV.3.3)Conditions for obtaining specifications and additional documents or descriptive documentTime limit for receipt of requests for documents or for accessing documents: 27.10.2015
Payable documents: no
IV.3.4)Time limit for receipt of tenders or requests to participate3.11.2015 - 12:00
IV.3.5)Date of dispatch of invitations to tender or to participate to selected candidates
IV.3.6)Language(s) in which tenders or requests to participate may be drawn upAny EU official language
IV.3.7)Minimum time frame during which the tenderer must maintain the tenderDuration in months: 6 (from the date stated for receipt of tender)
IV.3.8)Conditions for opening of tendersDate: 6.11.2015 - 10:30
Place:
rue Montoyer 59, 1040 Brussels, BELGIUM.
Persons authorised to be present at the opening of tenders: yes
Additional information about authorised persons and opening procedure: 1 representative of each tenderer may attend the opening of the bids.
Section VI: Complementary information
VI.1)Information about recurrenceThis is a recurrent procurement: no
VI.2)Information about European Union fundsThe contract is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds: no
VI.3)Additional information
VI.4)Procedures for appeal
VI.4.1)Body responsible for appeal proceduresOfficial name: General Court
Postal address: rue du Fort Niedergrünewald
Town: Luxembourg
Postal code: 2925
Country: Luxembourg
E-mail: generalcourt.registry@curia.europa.eu
Telephone: +352 4303-1
Fax: +352 4303-2100
Internet address: http://curia.europa.eu/
Body responsible for mediation procedures
Official name: Same as above
VI.4.2)Lodging of appealsPrecise information on deadline(s) for lodging appeals: Within 2 months of the notification to the plaintiff, or, in absence thereof, of the day on which it came to the knowledge. A complaint to the European Ombudsman does not have as an effect either to suspend this period or to open a new period for lodging appeals.
VI.4.3)Service from which information about the lodging of appeals may be obtained
VI.5)Date of dispatch of this notice:12.8.2015