Invitation to Tender

Transcription

1 Invitation to Tender Provision of Training in Technology Transfer and Related Areas for The Southern Africa Innovation Support Programme 1. Drawing up the tender The tender must be submitted in writing in English. The appendices and all related correspondence must be in English. This tender consists of two parts: 1. Technical Tender which should consists of a summary proposal (up to 6 pages) briefly describing your understanding of the task at hand, your approach, and your related experiences to be substantiated by up to 3 references. 2. The Price Tender should be included as a separate submission and should include the anticipated workdays for the assignment, daily fees in Euro, accommodation and travel cost for trainers and training materials. The offers are compared based on the explanations provided under section Procurement procedure An open procedure will be applied. The contract notice will be announced in the Hilma-service ( This dossier can also be viewed at The Finnish Act on Public Contracts (348/2007) will be applied. For the main principles of the Finnish Public Procurement procedure, please see Appendix 2, The principles of the procurement procedure. to the requests at the latest on and by return to each respondent. All requests are handled anonymously by SAIS Programme Management Office. 4. Delivery of tender Companies or consultants wishing to tender for the assignment are instructed to submit a Technical Tender and a separate Price Tender. The tender must be submitted in writing in English. The appendices and all related correspondence must be in English. The technical tender should indicate briefly the approach and methods to carry out the assignment. CV(s) of the proposed consultant(s) should be enclosed. There should be also list of at least three relevant references applicable to this assignment. Tender submissions to be submitted to tenders@saisprogramme.com in two separate s with subject lines as follows: (i) SAIS Tender 2013/16, Technology Transfer Training, TECHNICAL Tender AND (ii) SAIS Tender 2013/16, Technology Transfer Training, PRICE Tender. Closing date for submission of tenders is 16 August 2013, 16h00 (GMT +2). Requests for clarification can be submitted in writing to Thiru Swettenham, SAIS Programme Coordinator at thiru@saisprogramme.com by 7 August Additional matters This call for tenders is subject to requests for additional information until Additional information requested must be sent by to thiru@saisprogramme.com. s must be clearly marked: SAIS Technology Transfer Training. The principles of equal treatment and transparency require tenderers not to present these requests by telephone. SAIS will give responses 5. Alternative tenders and partial tenders Alternative tenders will not be considered. Partial tenders will not be considered. 6. Subcontracting The service provider may commission a subcontractor to perform its contractual obligations. The service provider shall be responsible for the work of the subcontractor as if it were its own. The service provider

2 shall also be responsible for ensuring that the subcontractor fulfils the service provider s contractual obligations. The service provider must supply for the customer s approval the main subcontractors used by the service provider in providing the service. Within reason, the customer may refuse to approve a subcontractor, if it is deemed that the subcontractor is not appropriately qualified and experienced to provide the service required. 7. Evaluation Criteria SAIS will select the tender which is economically most advantageous. The following formulas and scoring methods are used in comparing the offers: Skills and experience comparison weighting 30 % Evaluation criteria for this category include: The team responsible for the assignment and delivering the service (and so named in the tender) must have at least 8-10 years of experience connected with in the subject area, technology transfer, intellectual property management and commercialisation training. The team should have experience of carrying out similar technology transfer training and have dealt with delivering capacity building programmes and engaged with institutions and partners dealing with technology transfer to the extent and requirements described in the Terms of Reference; The person (and the team) should be completely familiar with the workings of a technology transfer unit and the appropriate mechanisms designed to enhance the technology transfer, IP management and technology commercialisation routes applicable to institutions in the Southern African region. The tenderer must give detailed enough information of person(s) and how the criteria are met. Implementation plan comparison weighting 40 % The tenderer should submit a plan for implementing the service. It must relate to the objectives and scope of the work described above. The evaluation criteria include: The quality and coverage of the plan and the suitability of its frame of reference and approaches to the aims of procurement The methods, resources/measures and materials used and their suitability for the aims of procurement Suitable organisation of the work (work packages, schedule, team member contribution, scheduling and coordination of regional training.) Deliverables Price comparison weighting 30 % Attached should be a separate submission of your financial offer, your anticipated workdays and daily fees in Euro are needed. Approximation on other costs involved (travelling, accommodation, subsistence etc.) should be included. These additional costs will not form part of the price evaluation criteria. They will be reimbursed based on actual costs incurred. All prices must be given in EUR exclusive of VAT. VAT information must be given in the Table of prices. Quality comparison The criteria and their weighted values are explained above (Implementation and Team). SAIS grades each score criterion from 0-5 (0 =totally inadequate response, 1 =poor, 2 = moderate, 3 = fairly good, 4 = good, 5 = excellent). After scoring the quality criteria with 0-5 points, the points are weighted according to their weighted values expressed above. Weighted points are summed up and the sum is converted to a scale of using the formula: offer score/the best score *100. Price comparison: In price comparison the following formula is used: lowest price/offer price * Terms of invoicing and payment The procurement fee will be paid against submission of the invoice and timesheets for trainers. Payment terms: 30 days net. Payment for procurement will be made against invoice in arrears for work done. Invoicing cycles and further details will be agreed in the contract. Payments will not be made in advance without security. SAIS will not accept invoices from subcontractors. All payments must be made in Euros at the exchange rate at the date of transaction. SAIS

3 uses the rates in the European Commission Financial and Programming Budget website tracts/inforeuro/inforeuro_en.cfm A detailed invoice of the expenses and work performed must be provided by the supplier. Invoices must be addressed to: SAIS Programme P.O. Box 9020 EROS Windhoek Namibia. 9. Price adjustment The rates set in the tender must be valid for the fixed contract period. The maximum price given cannot be exceeded. 10. Personnel to be used in the service The contract may specify by name the persons providing the consulting service. The service provider shall use individuals possessing suitable competence and experience for providing the service. If a team of experts are to be used to provide training, then all their CVs should be provided with the tender documentation. The service provider shall immediately and without payment exchange an individual who lacks sufficient expertise or if there is other good cause to replace the individual. The service provider must avoid changes of personnel used for providing the service that may adversely affect service quality. Any new individual must fulfil the education and experience requirements possibly set for service personnel in the invitation to tender or contract. If the contract specifies by name the persons providing the consulting service, the service provider may not replace those persons during the contract period without the consent of the customer. If the service provider is unable to appoint a replacement to the satisfaction of the customer, the customer is entitled to cancel the contract with regard to any work that remains undelivered. The service provider or its personnel shall not be in an employment or public office relationship with the customer when handling tasks according to the contract. The personnel used in providing the service, when working on the customer s premises, must comply with the customer s instructions and regulations relating to security, data protection and general behaviour as well as other instructions and regulations. The customer must notify the service provider in advance about all procedural obligations intended for the compliance of personnel used in providing the service. The service provider shall retain work management and supervision responsibility for its own personnel, if no personnel hire or transfer of work management and supervision responsibility has been separately agreed. 11. Service quality and defects in the service The service must correspond to that which has been agreed throughout the entire contract period. The service must fulfil the regulations of the European Union s mandatory legislation and of Finnish laws and decrees as well as regulations issued by the authorities. The service provider shall provide the services prudently, with care and with such expertise that can reasonably be assumed from an expert, experienced service provider. The service shall be provided in English, if not otherwise agreed. If the service deviates for that presented above, it shall be deemed to be below standard. If the service is substandard and there are shortcomings, the customer must inform the service provider about the shortcomings within a reasonable period of the shortcoming being detected and when the deficiency was detected. If the service has a deficiency, the service provider must address the deficiency without delay. The service provider may be released from liability by demonstrating that the shortcoming did not arise from a factor within the service provider s responsibility. The customer shall have the right to request a price reduction instead of redoing the work 12. Monitoring service quality The customer and service provider shall meet at agreed intervals in service monitoring meetings. The contracting parties shall process matters relating, for example, to service implementation, quality, claims, customer feedback and future service needs.

4 The customer shall have the right during the contract period to inspect and at its own cost commission through an independent third party an inspection to investigate whether the service complies with requirements and the service provider has operated in accordance with the contract. The customer or the customer s representative shall have the right to access premises in which the service is provided as well as to interview personnel involved in providing the service and to familiarize itself with those documents of the service provider; in respect of which familiarization is necessary to evaluate the minimum requirements set for operations and the quality of the service content. The customer shall have the right to inspect only such information that relates to the fulfilment of the contractual obligations of the contract in question. The customer must notify in advance its intention to make an inspection visit during one of the training sessions. The service provider shall have the right with good cause to reschedule an inspection visit for up to fourteen (14) days beyond the date proposed by the customer. The service provider shall have the right to request that the person performing the inspection sign a confidentiality agreement relating to the inspection. The confidentiality agreement shall not prevent the reporting of the results of the inspection to the customer. 13. Service Provider s other obligations The service provider shall undertake to cooperate with possible other service providers providing services to the customer at any given time such that the overall service configuration functions as flexibly and efficiently as possible for the customer. The service providers cooperation must be arranged such that the service providers business or professional secrets are not divulged. If cooperation gives rise to other than minor costs to the service provider, the contracting parties must agree on the sharing of costs before initiating activity that gives rise to additional costs. The service provider shall be responsible for the service it provides to the customer. The service provider shall be responsible for losses arising to the customer from the service it provides. In cases where the customer is liable for damages in respect a third party, cases of loss shall be handled such that the customer settles claims in accordance with its own procedures. If losses have arisen in the above-mentioned case as a result of a supplier neglecting its contractual obligations, the customer shall have the right to present a claim for compensation to the service provider. The customer shall also have the right to present a claim for compensation in the event that other losses arise to the customer from the neglect of contractual obligations. 14. Customer s obligations to cooperate The customer shall be responsible for ensuring that the tasks within the customer s responsibility are performed in accordance with the contract. The customer must give the service provider correct and sufficient information for the provision of the service. The customer must ensure that the service provider s personnel can access when necessary the customer s premises or equipment as agreed. 15. Intellectual property rights If the contract involves the assignment of expert resources to the customer for a specific task, the intellectual property rights pertaining to the results of the work of these expert resources will remain with the customer unless otherwise agreed. If the contract involves an assignment producing the results detailed in the contract, the copyright and intellectual property rights in any documents and other results produced belong to the customer unless otherwise agreed. However copyright and intellectual property rights notwithstanding the customer has the unlimited right to use, distribute and further adapt the documents and other results in his own activities indefinitely. The customer has the right to transfer the documents and other results to a third party for use on behalf of the customer, or to transfer the service results to any third party to whom the duties of the customer will be transferred, taking into account the confidentiality required in the contract. The service provider shall be responsible for ensuring that services or related material provided by the service provider do not, when they are used, violate a

5 third party s patent, copyright or other intellectual property rights which are valid in Southern Africa and Finland. If any claims are presented against the customer concerning intellectual property rights relating to the services or related material, the service provider shall be obliged to meet these claims on the customer s behalf and at its own expense. The service provider shall be responsible to the customer for ensuring that no legal costs, damages, other compensation payable to a third party or other liabilities towards a third party are incurred by the customer through claims or obligations arising from intellectual property rights relating to the services or related material. 16. Confidentiality The contracting parties shall undertake to keep secret such confidential material and information that they receive from each other and which under law must be kept secret, and to undertake not to use them for purposes other than in accordance with the contract. The customer, being a public body, complies with the provisions on confidentiality and publicity contained in the Act on the Openness of Government Activities (621/1999) and other relevant legislation. The service provider shall not without the customer s consent transfer confidential information or personal data to third parties. The service provider shall be responsible for ensuring that the subcontractors it uses adhere to these provisions relating to confidentiality. The service provider must make clear the content of the obligation to maintain secrecy to personnel providing the service. If the customer so requires, the service provider must prepare a list of the service provider s or its subcontractor s personnel participating in the provision of the service who have access to the customer s material or sensitive information relating to the customer or a third party. The list must be continuously updated. The transfer of information to an authority or other party on the basis of an obligatory official order shall not be deemed a violation of the obligation to maintain secrecy. The supplier must ensure that the equipment he/she owns and the facilities he/she uses for service production are appropriately protected against information security risks and that protection and backup procedures are followed. The customer is similarly responsible for his own facilities. If the contract or a commission expires or is cancelled, each party undertakes to return to the other party any confidential material belonging to the other party or, if the other party consents, to destroy it. However, material may not be destroyed if the law or official instructions require it to be retained. Confidentiality does not apply to information which is generally available or public, or which a party has legally obtained from some other source than the other party. Each party is entitled to use the professional competence and experience acquired in connection with the delivery. If needed, customer and supplier will make a separate agreement about confidentiality. The service provider shall not use the contract or the customer s name in marketing without the customer s consent. If not otherwise agreed, the service provider can, however, use the contract as reference information when making tenders to procurement units referred to in the Act on Public Procurement. 17. Delay The service performance shall be regarded as delayed if it has not been submitted on the given date as agreed. In the event that the delivery of a service performance based on a schedule jointly adopted by the parties is delayed for a reason within the control of the supplier, SAIS will be entitled to a contract penalty without having to prove that they have suffered any losses as a result of the delay. The extent of the contract penalty shall be ten (10) percent for each period of seven (7) days or part thereof by which the supplier exceeds the agreed delivery period. The contract penalty will be calculated on the sum that remains un-invoiced (maximum price deducted by the sum that has already been invoiced).

6 A contract penalty may only be payable for 15 weeks at maximum. The customer shall be entitled to deduct the contract penalty from payments made to the supplier. A delay in delivering written information, documents, certificates and reports that are part of the service performance will entitle the customer to a contract penalty. If a contracting party perceives that it will be delayed in its obligations or considers a delay to be probable, the delaying party must immediately and in writing notify the other party of the delay and its impact on the fulfilment of the contract. In the event of a delay on the part of the service provider, the service provider must notify the customer of a new service performance date as soon as possible. A delay in providing information or service documentation required under the contract shall be equivalent to a delay of the service. If the customer has made an advance payment and the service is delayed for a reason caused by the service provider, the service provider shall be obliged to pay for the delay period annual interest according to the Interest Act for that part of the advance payment corresponding to the value of the delayed service. The customer shall have the right to deduct the interest from payments made to the service provider. 18. Price reduction and cancellation of the contract If the service has been defective, not according to specifications or has shortcomings, the customer shall have the right to demand a price reduction from the service provider. Each contracting party may cancel the contract completely or partly if the other contracting party has substantially violated its contractual obligations or it is evident that a substantial breach of contract will take place. If the breach of contract is reparable, the other party may cancel the contract only if the breach occurs repeatedly or the party responsible for the breach has not remedied the breach in reasonable time of being notified in writing of the breach by the other party. A substantial breach of contract shall be deemed to be, for example, a service that does correspond to that agreed and the defect is not a minor one and the defect despite the customer s reminder is not remedied without delay or if in view of the nature of the contract the provision of the service is substantially delayed or the delays or defects occur repeatedly. If the customer has made an advance payment, the service provider shall on the cancellation of the contract pay back to the customer the advance payment it received plus interest calculated according to the Interest Act from the date the advance payment was made to the repayment date. 19. Termination of the contract in special situations The customer shall have the right to give notice of terminating the contract immediately, if the customer demonstrates that it would not have entered into the contract with the service provider if the customer had when making the procurement decision been aware of actual circumstances relating to the service provider. By these circumstances is meant the exclusion criteria listed in Sections 53 and 54 of the Act on Public Procurement (348/2007). Accordingly the service provider shall have the right to receive full payment for services provided up to the time the contract is terminated, but shall not be entitled to other compensation as a result of the termination of the contract. The customer shall have the right to give notice of terminating the contract with immediate effect, if the service provider s financial or other circumstances are perceived to have changed substantially so that it cannot be assumed that the service provider will fulfil its contractual obligations and the service provider gives no reliable explanation about the fulfilment of its obligations. Before giving notice of termination, the customer must notify the service provider about the threat of termination and give the service provider an opportunity to provide an explanation within a reasonable period. 20. Damages The customer and the service provider shall have the right to receive damages for direct losses arising from the other contracting party s breach of contract. If the contract is cancelled for a reason caused by the service provider on the basis of Section 20 (Termination of the contract in special situations) and losses arise to the customer from this, the customer

7 shall have the right to damages for losses arising from the premature ending of the contract. The customer shall have the right to receive damages for delay or other losses arising from the service provider s breach of contract insofar as the amount of losses exceeds any delay penalty payable to the customer and any other contractual penalty separately agreed by the contracting parties. A contracting party shall additionally have the right to compensation for indirect losses if the other contracting party has caused the losses wilfully or through gross negligence, violated confidentiality obligations or infringed intellectual property rights. 21. Transfer of the contract, changes and options The service provider shall not have the right without the customer s consent to transfer, even partially, the contract to a third party. The customer shall have the right to transfer the contract to such a third party to whom the customer s tasks are transferred fully or partially. Changes to the contract must be made in writing. Changes made in electronic form shall be deemed changes in writing to the contract. Changes relating to the service and their impact on the performance date of the service or price must be agreed in writing before measures are initiated. If the contract includes an option and the terms and conditions for exercising this option are not precisely specified, the exercise of the option shall be at the customer s discretion. 22. Duty to help and assist should the service provider change If not otherwise agreed, in the event of a change of service provider, the service provider shall be obliged to help and assist the customer in transferring the contractual obligations to the new service provider or to be handled by the customer itself. The service provider shall have the right to charge for additional work arising from this in accordance with its price list. The duty to help and assist shall begin before the termination of the contract, when notice of termination has been given or the contract has been cancelled or when the customer notifies that it is initiating a contract that applies to services under the contract. The obligation shall continue at most until twelve (12) months have expired since the termination of the contract. 23. Settlement of disputes and applicable law Issues relating to the contract shall be resolved primarily through negotiations between the contracting parties. If a dispute cannot be resolved through negotiation, they shall be submitted for resolution in Court of First Instance in the customer s domicile. The laws of Finland shall be applied to the contract. 24. Force majeure Force majeure is defined as an unusual and relevant occurrence happening after the signing of the contract and preventing the fulfilment of the contract, and which the parties cannot be expected to have taken into account when signing the contract, which is beyond the control of both parties, and whose consequences cannot be prevented without unreasonable additional cost or waste of time. Such occurrences include (but are not limited to) war, mutiny, expropriation or confiscation for public needs, embargo on imports or exports, natural catastrophe, interruption in public transport or energy distribution, industrial action, fire, or any other occurrence of unusual and devastating impact beyond the control of the parties. If the fulfilment of a party s contractual obligations is prevented due to force majeure, the deadline for that fulfilment will be extended for as long as is reasonable considering the circumstances. The parties must immediately notify one another in writing of the occurrence of force majeure, and also when force majeure ceases. Force majeure affecting a subcontractor of either party is construed as force majeure affecting that party if the subcontracted work in question cannot be obtained elsewhere without unreasonable cost or loss of time.