The purpose of this call for tenders is to conclude a competitive multiple framework contract (hereinafter referred to as ‘the FWC’) with 5 contractors for the following services:
I. to assist and provide expert advice to the Court in the context of its mandate to conduct an annual performance audit of bank resolutions managed by the Single Resolution Board (‘the Board’) within the regulatory framework of the Banking Union, including assistance with the Court's examination whether the European Commission's assessment of aid from the Single Resolution Fund (‘the Fund’) was efficient and rigorous. In this context, the contractor may be asked to provide the following advisory services in connection with bank resolutions managed by the Board in participating Member States:
— assessment of compliance with the conditions and objectives of resolution,
— assessment whether a bank can be wound up under normal insolvency proceedings,
— assessment of banks' legal and operational structure, critical functions and core business lines and how they could be separated,
— assessment of banks' short- and long-term viability, performance and sustainability,
— assessment of economic and financial valuations of bank assets and liabilities and off-balance sheet positions,
— assessment of banks' capital and funding structures,
— evaluation of the risks to which banks are exposed,
— examination of the Board's assessment of resolvability, including impediments to resolvability,
— assessment of the minimum requirement for own funds and eligible liabilities,
— assessment of resolution plans, resolution schemes, tools and measures,
— assessment of the choice of resolution tools in the context of minimising the use of the Fund,
— assessment of terms for converting or transferring capital instruments in a resolution situation (e.g. debt/equity swap, write-down of liabilities, bail-in of creditors),
— examination of the compatibility, rigour and efficiency of the European Commission's Fund aid assessments,
— assessment of the ‘no creditor worse off’ principle (no creditor should be worse off in resolution than under normal insolvency proceedings),
— assessment of compliance of the Board's resolution actions with the Single Rulebook;
II. to assist the Court with specific issues arising in connection with a special performance audit of the single resolution mechanism.
The above list of tasks is not exhaustive. It may be necessary to address other issues, either at the expert advisors' initiative (with Court approval) or at the Court's request. Similarly, depending on the circumstances, some tasks may not be necessary.
As the contract terms, quantities and delivery times cannot be indicated precisely in advance, the Court intends to conclude a competitive multiple FWC which will establish the basic terms for a series of specific contracts (in the form of purchase orders also called ‘specific contracts’) to be issued over its duration. The FWC will not give rise to any direct obligation on the part of the Court; it is only its implementation through specific contracts that will be binding on the Court.
The FWC will be concluded in the form of separate but identical contracts with 5 economic operators, insofar as a sufficient number of economic operators can satisfy the exclusion and selection criteria and submit admissible tenders which meet the award criteria.
The purpose of the FWC is to establish the terms governing the specific contracts which may be awarded during the period of its validity. The specific contracts may further specify the terms of the FWC or modify them insubstantially.