Services - 368516-2019

Submission deadline has been amended by:  437498-2019
06/08/2019    S150

Luxembourg-Luxembourg: Live Speech to Text and Machine Translation Tool for 24 Languages

2019/S 150-368516

Contract notice

Services

Legal Basis:
Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 2018/1046

In accordance with Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 2018/1046 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 July 2018 on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the European Union, the European Parliament has decided to issue this invitation to tender to acquire a licence for a tool that is able to automatically transcribe and translate parliamentary multilingual debates in real time for 24 languages and the IT services for implementing that tool. The tool should include the following components: ASR technology component (language identification + Automatic Speech Recognition), machine translation, machine learning and human-machine interaction, user interface.

Section I: Contracting authority

I.1)Name and addresses
Official name: European Parliament
Postal address: Directorate-General for Translation, Plateau de Kirchberg BP 1601
Town: Luxembourg
NUTS code: LU LUXEMBOURG
Postal code: 2929
Country: Luxembourg
Contact person: Stephane Vivard
E-mail: dgtrad.tenders@europarl.europa.eu
Internet address(es):
Main address: http://www.europarl.europa.eu
I.3)Communication
The procurement documents are available for unrestricted and full direct access, free of charge, at: https://etendering.ted.europa.eu/cft/cft-display.html?cftId=5249
Additional information can be obtained from the abovementioned address
Tenders or requests to participate must be submitted to the abovementioned address
I.4)Type of the contracting authority
European institution/agency or international organisation
I.5)Main activity
General public services

Section II: Object

II.1)Scope of the procurement
II.1.1)Title:

Live Speech to Text and Machine Translation Tool for 24 Languages

Reference number: EP/TRAD/2019/LSTT
II.1.2)Main CPV code
72230000 Custom software development services
II.1.3)Type of contract
Services
II.1.4)Short description:

The European Parliament wishes to support multi-lingual innovation and the digitalisation of all EU official languages through targeted developments. It is therefore aiming to enter into an innovation partnership in order to acquire a licence for a tool that is able to automatically transcribe and translate parliamentary multilingual debates in real time.

The tool will also be able to learn from corrections and supporting data as well as from user feedback, so as to enhance quality levels over time. The objective is to provide a useful service for Members of the European Parliament in accessing debates on screen as well as to provide accessibility for deaf and hard of hearing people who currently have no direct access to the debates of the European Parliament.The ultimate goal is to provide an automatic transcription and translation service for parliamentary debates covering the 24 official languages used by the institution.

II.1.5)Estimated total value
Value excluding VAT: 3 000 000.00 EUR
II.1.6)Information about lots
This contract is divided into lots: no
II.2)Description
II.2.3)Place of performance
NUTS code: LU LUXEMBOURG
NUTS code: BE10 Région de Bruxelles-Capitale / Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest
NUTS code: FRF1 Alsace
Main site or place of performance:

Mainly Brussels but also Strasbourg and Luxembourg + at the contractor's office.

II.2.4)Description of the procurement:

The European Parliament has opted to award this contract under an innovation partnership procurement procedure, which will be carried out in 2 steps:

First step of the procedure — exclusion and selection criteria.

The candidates should provide the European Parliament with the following documents (annexed to the specifications, to be duly dated and signed):

Annex I: Declaration on the tenderer’s honour concerning the exclusion and selection criteria;

Annex II: Financial identification form;

Annex IV: Information sheet concerning groups of economic operators (if applicable);

Annex V: Declaration concerning subcontractors (if applicable).

Documents proving selection criteria described in following points of the specifications:

14.1) Legal and regulatory capacity;

14.2) Financial and economic capacity;

14.3) Technical and professional capacity — compliance to the minimum requirements.

All candidates who submit the above documents will be evaluated against the exclusion criteria (point 13) and selection criteria (point 14) of the specifications.

Selected candidates will be shortlisted on the basis of the level of compliance of their candidature to the technical and professional capacity according to the evaluation method described in point 14.4 of the specifications.

A minimum of 3 and maximum of 5 selected candidates will be admitted to the second step of the procedure. Where the number of candidates meeting the exclusion and selection criteria is below 3, the European Parliament may continue the procedure by inviting the candidates with the required capacities.

Second step of the procedure —award.

Candidates shortlisted during the first step will be invited to submit a tender on the basis of the award criteria set out in point 15 of the specifications.

The European Parliament reserves the right to award the contract only after having negotiated the initial tenders. The minimum requirements (see Annex VII of the specifications, point 7) and the award criteria (see point 15 of the specifications) shall not be subject to negotiations.

The European Parliament will award a contract to maximum 3 (or less) tenderers best ranked according to the award evaluation criteria.

The 3 (or less) contractors will each develop a prototype of the tool as described in point 3 of the specifications (Stage 1 of the Innovation Partnership - integration of 10 languages).

At the end of Stage 1, the prototype(s) will be evaluated by the European Parliament in accordance with the methodology described in point 6 of the technical specifications (see Annex VII of the specifications). The contractor whose prototype performs best in the evaluation will continue the work in Stages 2 — integration of 9 languages and 3 — integration of 5 languages of this Innovation Partnership. The contracts of non-retained contractors will be terminated.

II.2.5)Award criteria
Criteria below
Quality criterion - Name: Quality of the proposed solution / Weighting: 35 points
Quality criterion - Name: Quality of the IT aspects and technical support offered / Weighting: 30 points
Quality criterion - Name: Quality of the project management / Weighting: 15 points
Quality criterion - Name: Quality of the live demonstration / Weighting: 20 points
Price - Weighting: 50 points
II.2.6)Estimated value
Value excluding VAT: 3 000 000.00 EUR
II.2.7)Duration of the contract, framework agreement or dynamic purchasing system
Duration in months: 3
This contract is subject to renewal: yes
Description of renewals:

The contract shall be renewed tacitly on the basis of 3-month periods but its duration may not exceed 36 months from the date of its entry into force unless one of the parties objects thereto by registered letter sent at least one month before the expiry of the renewal date. Such renewal shall not entail any modification or deferment of existing obligations.

II.2.9)Information about the limits on the number of candidates to be invited
Envisaged minimum number: 3
Maximum number: 5
Objective criteria for choosing the limited number of candidates:

Selected candidates will be shortlisted on the basis of the level of compliance of their candidature with the technical and professional capacity, according to the evaluation method described in point 14.4 of the specifications.

A minimum of 3 and maximum of 5 selected candidates will be admitted to the second step of the procedure. Where the number of candidates meeting the exclusion and selection criteria is below 3, the European Parliament may continue the procedure by inviting the candidates with the required capacities.

Candidates shortlisted during the first step will be invited to submit a tender on the basis of the award criteria set out in point 15 of the specifications.

II.2.10)Information about variants
Variants will be accepted: no
II.2.11)Information about options
Options: no
II.2.13)Information about European Union funds
The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds: no
II.2.14)Additional information

Section III: Legal, economic, financial and technical information

III.1)Conditions for participation
III.1.1)Suitability to pursue the professional activity, including requirements relating to enrolment on professional or trade registers
List and brief description of conditions:

The tenderer is required to be enrolled in a relevant professional or trade register, except for international organisations.

III.1.2)Economic and financial standing
Selection criteria as stated in the procurement documents
III.1.3)Technical and professional ability
Selection criteria as stated in the procurement documents
III.2)Conditions related to the contract
III.2.3)Information about staff responsible for the performance of the contract
Obligation to indicate the names and professional qualifications of the staff assigned to performing the contract

Section IV: Procedure

IV.1)Description
IV.1.1)Type of procedure
Innovation partnership
IV.1.3)Information about a framework agreement or a dynamic purchasing system
The procurement involves the establishment of a framework agreement
Framework agreement with several operators
Envisaged maximum number of participants to the framework agreement: 3
IV.1.8)Information about the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)
The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement: no
IV.2)Administrative information
IV.2.2)Time limit for receipt of tenders or requests to participate
Date: 27/09/2019
Local time: 12:00
IV.2.3)Estimated date of dispatch of invitations to tender or to participate to selected candidates
Date: 02/12/2019
IV.2.4)Languages in which tenders or requests to participate may be submitted:
Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, German, Greek, English, Spanish, Estonian, Finnish, French, Irish, Croatian, Hungarian, Italian, Lithuanian, Latvian, Maltese, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Swedish
IV.2.6)Minimum time frame during which the tenderer must maintain the tender
Duration in months: 9 (from the date stated for receipt of tender)

Section VI: Complementary information

VI.1)Information about recurrence
This is a recurrent procurement: no
VI.3)Additional information:

The invitation to submit a candidature/tender, the specifications and the draft framework contract are available and downloadable on following e-tendering address: https://etendering.ted.europa.eu/cft/cft-display.html?cftId=5249

The candidature/tender must be accompanied by an electronic memory device (USB stick or CD or DVD) containing a full and exact electronic copy of the original tender in PDF format.

The European Parliament’s Administration will ask tenderers to complete any candidature/tender which is incomplete or illegible or which is not formatted as requested.

Probable signature of the framework contracts: April 2020.

We draw your attention to the fact that the working language of this call for tenders is English.

VI.4)Procedures for review
VI.4.1)Review body
Official name: General Court of the Court of Justice of the European Union
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 433766
Internet address: http://curia.europa.eu/
VI.4.4)Service from which information about the review procedure may be obtained
Official name: General Court of the Court of Justice of the European Union
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 433766
Internet address: http://curia.europa.eu/
VI.5)Date of dispatch of this notice:
25/07/2019