The Embassy of Sweden in Addis Abeba

Transcription

1 Ref. No.UM2015/11212/ADDI The Embassy of Sweden in Addis Abeba Invites Tenderers Regarding Framework Agreement for Local Audit Services The Embassy intends to enter into contract with not more than three (3) auditing companies to assist the Embassy in the following areas: 1. to give the Embassy of Sweden in Ethiopia the possibility to undertake different types of auditing and review services 2. to assist the Embassy and counterpart institutions, authorities and organizations in building internal capacity relating to audit activities 3. to assist on an ad-hoc basis in less complicated audit advice that can be given by telephone or within a day. We look forward to receiving your tender: Bids must be delivered to the address below at or before 4 th November, Delivery address: Embassy of Sweden Lideta Sub-City, Kebele 07/14, House No. 891 P.O Box 1142, Addis Abeba, Ethiopia The Embassy of Sweden in Addis Ababa recommends that the tenderer, as soon as possible after receipt of this invitation, take note of the requirements in the website of the Embassy at: GB/Embassies/Addis-Abeba/. Some of the requested documentation must be obtained from designated authorities, which can result in a certain time for handling. Note that requirements marked as must needs to be part of the tender in order for it to qualify for evaluation. Response (QA) to questions submitted to the Embassy will be posted in English on the website of the Embassy at: GB/Embassies/Addis-Abeba/ under Development Cooperation/ Procurement of audit framework agreement/ Questions and Answers.

2

3 INVITATION TO TENDER Framework Agreement for Audit Services You are hereby invited to tender for an assignment according to this Invitation to Tender, the enclosed Terms of Reference (ToR), appendix 1, Draft Framework Agreement, appendix 2 and General Conditions, appendix 3. Appendices Appendix 1 Appendix 2 Appendix 3 Appendix 4 Appendix 5 Appendix 6 Appendix 7 Appendix 8 Appendix 9 Appendix 10 Appendix 11 Terms of Reference (ToR) Draft Framework Agreement with the Embassy of Sweden in Addis Ababa Sida s general conditions for framework agreements, 2002 Solemn declaration (form) Figures for liquidity ratio and solvency ratio (form) CV (form) Previous performed assignment (form) Language Level Definition List of Consultants (form) Price Basket (form) Draft Call-off Inquiry Renewed Competitive Tender 2(18)

4 Table of Contents 1. Administrative Conditions Procurement regulations Questions and Answers regarding the contract documents Mandatory requirements Evaluations of the tenders submitted... 6 Correction of errors and clarification and supplementation of tenders Notice of Award General Tendering Conditions Requirements regarding the tenderer (qualification) Financial Position Tenderer s Technical and Professional Capacity Personnel for the Performance of the Services Level1 Senior Consultant Level2 Junior/Assistant Consultant Supporting resources 12 5 Tender price Fees and costs 12 6 Terms of reference/requirements specification 13 7 Evaluation criteria Implementation & Method (25p) Organization and availability (25p) Organization(12.5p) Availability(12.5p) Qualifications and competence( 50p) In addition to the requirements stated in p the 15 proposed Senior Consultant should (30p) In addition to the requirements stated in section the 15 proposed Junior/Assistant Consultant should (20p): 8 Tender check-up and evaluation principles Principles of Evaluation Methods of Evaluation Contract The Framework Agreement (s) 9.2 Term of Contract 10 Openness and Confidentiality (18)

5 1 Administrative Conditions Contracting authority Postal address Embassy of Sweden, Addis Ababa Tel: P.O. Box 1142, Addis Ababa Ethiopia Correspondence/contact Last date to tender November 4, 2015 The tender shall be valid until All correspondence including questions in regards to this procurement should be done in writing and send to always with a copy to yebankwork.belay@gov.se All correspondence must be marked with Ref. No. UM2015/11212/ADDI 100 days from the last date to tender 4(18)

6 Address and marking The tender must be sealed and addressed to the contracting authority. The envelope must be clearly marked as stated below: TENDER Audit Services Postal address: Embassy of Sweden in Addis Ababa Att: Christina Sandberg P.O. Box 1142, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Tenders submitted by fax Tenders submitted by Procurement procedure Visiting address: Kebele 07/14 Lideta Sub-City House No. 891 Addis Ababa Opening Hours: Monday Thursday: Friday: Saturday and Sunday: Closed Not allowed. Not allowed. Open CPV-code Contracts will be signed as is described in section 9 Contract, see under Framework Agreement and Term of Contract. 2 Procurement Regulations 2.1 Questions and Answers Regarding the Contract Documents During the procurement process, the contracting authority is not permitted to discuss documentation, tenders, evaluation or other such matters with tenderers in a manner which favours or disfavours one or more tenderers. It is imperative that questions are directed through the specified contact details above at the latest 10 days before the last date to tender. Questions posted later than 10 days before the last date to tender (tender deadline is 4 th November 2015) will be disregarded. 5(18)

7 All questions and answers will be published at the website of the Embassy at: under Development Cooperation - Procurement of audit framework agreement - Questions and Answers and will hence be updated from time to time. Each tenderer needs to ensure that it reads the answers to the questions, together with any other information, which will be published in English on the specified website. All tenderers are responsible for ascertaining that they include all information made available on the specified website, into their tenders, prior to last date to tender. 2.2 Mandatory Requirements The contract documents with the appendices contain a number of compulsory requirements, which are so designated by the word must and are underlined. 2.3 Evaluations of the Tenders Submitted Before evaluating the tenders the contracting authority shall examine whether the tenderers fulfill the mandatory requirements that are indicated by the word must. If the tenderer fulfills the must requirements and is regarded as qualified, the tender will be evaluated. The evaluation criteria and method are described in section 7 and Correction of Errors and Clarification and Supplementation of Tenders Responses by tenderers to requests by Embassy for corrections of errors, clarifications or supplementation of tenders should be submitted in writing according to instructions above, i.e. through christina.sandberg@gov.se always with a copy to yebankwork.belay@gov.se. All correspondence must be marked with Ref. No UM2015/11212/ADDI. Potential correction of errors and clarifications to tender documents will be posted at the website of the Embassy at: GB/Embassies/Addis-Abeba/ under Development Cooperation - Procurement of audit framework agreement Corrections and clarifications and will hence be updated from time to time. 6(18)

8 2.5 Notice of Award All tenderers will be notified by of the winning tenders as soon as possible and not later than ten days after a decision has been made to award the contract. A notice of award does not mean that a binding contract has been entered into between Embassy and the winning tenderer. A contract is not legally binding until it has been signed by both parties. 3 General Tendering Conditions 1. The tender must be submitted in writing and must be signed by an authorized representative of the company or equivalent. 2. The formation of consortium or joint venture is not allowed. 3. The tender must be produced in English. The attachments to the tender must be in English. The tender and its attachments must contain all information and documentation requested in this tender dossier. 4. The complete tender must be submitted in duplicate one original and two copy. The tender should also contain a digital copy (USB-memory) and should be clearly marked with the name of the company and the Embassy s reference number. If the tender versions in these media differ, the paper version shall govern. All appendices should be listed in the tender and be marked with the name of the tenderer and Embassy s reference number. 5. The tender must contain information of the tenderer s type of organization, VAT registration number, TIN number, contact person, telephone, and postal address. 6. The tender should not be hardbound, fastened together or glued. Loose sheets in an ordinary file or folder are sufficient. 7. The tender will be opened and listed on the first day after the closing date for receipt of tender in the presence of at least two officials appointed by the Embassy. 8. The regulations in the Swedish Act (2007:1091) on Public Procurement (LOU) apply to this procurement. 7(18)

9 Ref. No UM2015/11212/ADDI 4 Requirements Regarding the Tenderer (Qualification) The tenderer must be a legal entity i or an individual established as a registered company ii. The following requirements must be fulfilled. The tenderer must have fulfilled the required legal obligations regarding registration, social security contributions and other legal charges in the tenderer s home country. The tenderer and individuals representing the tenderer must not have been found guilty of any crime related to the exercise of his profession. Tenderers to whom circumstances pursuant to LOU, Chapter 10, 1-2 iii apply; will be excluded from participation in this procurement. A tenderer must submit the following documents: a) a certificate of registration (copy) issued by a competent authority showing the tenderer is registered by a national Registrars of Companies or a Trade Association. b) certificate (not older than six months) showing that the tenderer, is registered for declaration and payment of value added tax or a similar sales tax in accordance with the tenderer s national legislation, has declared preliminary taxes for staff and employee contributions, and is free from debts regarding taxes and social security contributions. c) a solemn declaration (affirmation of truth), Appendix 4, must be signed by an authorized signatory, showing that the persons having influence over the company s activities have not been found guilty of offences or committed serious offences in business dealings. 4.1 Financial Position The tenderer must have a solid financial and economic base. The tenderer s latest approved annual accounts must contain figures showing a liquidity ratio iv not less than 1 and a solvency ratio v not less than 15%. The basis of the calculation must be the figures accounted for in the latest year of activity. i A legal entity refers to a limited or private company (corporation), a limited partnership, a trading company, an economic or non-profit association or foundation. ii A registered company refers to a physical person established as a registered company. iii For an English version se Directive 2004/18/EC article 45. iv Liquidity = short term payment ability Calculations: Current assets/short term liabilities v Solvency = long term payment ability Calculations: Share holders equity +( 0,7 x Untaxed reserves)/total assets 8(18)

10 In case lower figures than required are shown, or there is a lack of figures, the tenderer may still be regarded as qualified if the tenderer, in his tender, can present an explanation showing the tenderer is in a corresponding position of financial and economic stability, for instance a guarantee issued by the parent company. The tenderer must, in appendix 5, confirm and submit in the tender, the following: a) confirmation that the above mentioned requirements for figures are fulfilled and b) if not, provide the required explanation, c) confirmation that the latest annual accounts (not older than two years) are approved by the auditors; The tenderer shall upon request submit the latest approved (not older than two years) annual accounts. 4.2 Tenderer s Technical and Professional Capacity The tenderer must be an auditing firm providing authorized public accountants or chartered accountants with competence to perform audits in accordance with international standards issued by IAASB (The International Auditing and Assurance Board). The tenderer (the firm) must have documented resources, knowledge and experience to perform assignment/s within the requested area/s of competence/s. The tenderer must have extensive experience of auditing foreign funded development co-operation projects. The tenderer must have very good knowledge regarding local procedures, rules and regulations. The assessment of the tenderer s technical capacity and capability shall include the combined experience. The tenderer must: a) present a specification of the assignments the tenderer refers to (Appendix 7). A specification must consist of: - scope of work - start date and completion date - name of client - number of staff months provided by the tenderer b) present a brief description of the tenderer (facts about the company, competence and capacity, and possibly market position, plans for development or as else considered appropriate by the tenderer); 9(18)

11 c) present quality assurance system and routines that ensure that audits are implemented according to their terms of reference and are of high quality, as well as of international standards. 4.3 Personnel for the Performance of the Services Tenderers must offer two different levels of consultants: Level 1 and Level 2. These two levels are described below. The tenderer must supply at least three (3) consultants (individual) for each Level. The tenderer must offer a maximum of five (5) consultants (individuals) per level. If a tenderer offers more than five consultants (individuals), only the first five (5) listed will be considered. The proposed consultancy team must include members who have a very good knowledge of English (written and spoken). A consultant (individual) must not be part of more than one tender related to this procurement Level 1 Senior Consultant The consultants who fulfills the requirements below will be listed as approved consultants see summary of approved consultants Appendix 9, that are allowed to be used within this framework. Additional consultants that the organization wants to engage for assignments in specific call-offs must fulfill requirements as specified below. The person(s) responsible for the performance of each specific audit assignment must be Senior Consultant(s) and have a very high level of competence within his/her area. The Senior consultant(s) must be able to work as a team-leader. A very high level of competence is defined as the consultant (individual) meeting all of the requirements below: Must have at least seven years relevant working experience in a senior position to assignments in the auditing sector. Must have a degree from a college/university with relevance to performing assignments in the Auditing Sector or alternatively equivalent substantiated knowledge acquired through fifteen years of working experience. Must have been responsible for and/or carried out at least five assignments in the last five years with relevance to auditing 10(18)

12 donor funded projects or programmes in development cooperation. Must have a very good knowledge of English (written and spoken) at least as per Language Level 2, Full Professional Proficiency in Appendix 8, Language Level Definition Level 2 Junior/Assistant Consultant The consultants who fulfills the requirements below will be listed as approved consultants see summary of approved consultants Appendix 9, that are allowed to be used within this framework. Additional consultants that the organization wants to engage for assignments in specific call-offs must fulfill requirements as specified below. The Junior/Assistant Consultant must have a good level of competence within his/her area and be able to work independently. A good level of competence is defined as the consultant (individual) meeting all of the requirements below: Must have at least three years working experience of assignments with relevance for performing assignments in the Auditing Sector. Must have a degree from a college/university with relevance for performing assignments in the Auditing Sector or acquired similar competence through experience working within the sector. Must have participated in at least three assignments during the last five years within the Auditing Sector. Must have a very good knowledge of English (written and spoken) at least as per Language Level 2, Full Professional Proficiency in Appendix 8, Language Level. Documents that must be enclosed (for item senior consultant and 4.3.2, junior consultant) with the tender a) Information stating which persons the tenderer intends to use to carry out the assignments. The persons must be introduced in an enclosed Curriculum Vitae (CV) set out according to Appendix 6 Template for CV and contain name, theoretical competence, experience and assignments carried out that show that the requirements regarding Consultant Level 1 and 2 have been met. The presentation of the assignments carried out must also detail 11(18)

13 the type of assignments that have been carried out, showing experience in relation to the sector (Auditing). The CV must also show which consultant level the person belongs to. b) A brief description of two assignments per person that meet the requirements of the consultant level in question (Appendix 6). The assignments must have been performed within the Auditing Sector. The Contracting Authority may verify information given in the tender by contacting the client for those previously performed assignments. c) The template for List of consultants in Appendix 9 must be used by the tenderer to list all consultants 4.4 Supporting resources When carrying out an individual assignment, the loss of an individual must not affect the tenderer s ability to supply the agreed competence or resources. The tenderer shall be able to supply persons with similar competence and experience when carrying out the assignment. A general description of how this requirement will be met must be enclosed with the tender. 5 Tender Price 5.1 Fees and Costs The tender must specify the fee/hour for each category (level) of proposed personnel in the tender (max five persons per level) according to appendix 10, Price Basket. Only one fee may be specified for each category. All fees and costs in tender must be stated in ETB exclusive of VAT and must include all other taxes and levies. For invoicing the Embassy will accept invoices in accordance with legislation of the registration country of the company, in ETB. The financial evaluation will be performed based on the total hourly fee according to the enclosed form Price Basket, appendix 10. The hourly fee must include any costs for travel to and from place of delivery, i.e. in normal circumstances Addis Ababa. The Firm shall be entitled to reimbursement for business travel outside place of delivery unless otherwise stated in the call-off invitation to tender. The Firm shall only be entitled to reimbursement for the least expensive 12(18)

14 means of travel and reasonable accommodation costs unless otherwise agreed in the call-off. 6 Terms of Reference/Requirements Specification The Terms of Reference specifies the fundamental and the specific requirements for the implementation of the assignment as well as the objectives of the programme or the project. The tenderer must draw up a tender based on the given prerequisites. 7 Evaluation Criteria The tenderer s proposal based on the requirements in this document will be assessed in accordance with the evaluation criteria and method stated below in section 7 and Implementation & Method (25p) Based on the requirements, in the ToR, the tender shall present the methodology the tenderer intends to use for carrying out assignment and in particular specify how the method will comply with the requested objectives. The presentation shall show that the tender is able to conduct the audit services according to the ToR and cover the following: - the understanding of the services the proposal should show that the tenderer has a good grasp of the services and its role and task (6.25p); - the proposal should show that the tenderer has experience and knowledge of this type of services (6.25p); - how the tenderer describes the tenderer s methods used to carry out the different types of audits, reviews and investigations (6.25p); - the tenderer s experiences in carrying out training activities and methods used (6.25p); 7.2 Organization and Availability (25p) The relevant evaluation of criteria related to organization and availability will partly be assessed through presentation to an evaluation group at the Embassy. 13(18)

15 7.2.1 Organization (12.5p) The tenderer shall specify the organizational set up for the performance of the services. The specification shall meet the requirements set up in the ToR and cover the following: - the organization should be designed to secure that personnel with adequate qualifications and experience are designated for the services (3.125p); - the interface between the client and the Consultants should, on the Consultants side, consist of as few contact persons as possible and the distribution of responsibilities should be as clear and transparent as possible (3.125p); - the organization should be clear, transparent and well suited to the purpose and objectives of the services (3.125p); - description of availability for meetings on short notice for planning and/or follow-up of assignments (3.125p) Availability (12.5p) The tenderer must state the time needed for preparation before a specific audit service under the Framework Agreement can be commenced. The tenderer must confirm that less complicated advice can be given by telephone or within a day. In the Terms of Reference assignments are categorized according to their length in the following way: 1. Short-term assignments include up to and including 120 hours 2. Long-term assignments exceed 120 hours For short term assignments of maximum 120 working hours the ranking order from the procurement evaluation is valid, where the tenderer that is ranked number one will be called off first. For long-term assignments renewed competition will be made based on template in Appendix 11, where an will be sent to all three framework agreement holders, with requirements sought for the specific service requested. For the two assignment categories the tenderer should state the availability to perform the assignment after request and Terms of Reference have been received and if applicable, after reward of contract for the particular assignment. The tenderer should motivate how the availability level will be adhered to. 14(18)

16 Short-term assignments (<120 hours) Long-term assignments (>120 hours) a) 1-5 days (6.25 p) a)1-2 weeks (6.25 p) b) 6-9 days (5.3 p) b)3-4 weeks (5.3 p) c) days (4.3 p) c)5-6 weeks (4.3 p) d)7-8 weeks (3.3 p) 7.3 Qualifications and Competence (50p) The tender should include information on qualifications and competence of the company and the proposed personnel see section 4. The information will be evaluated and compared to the following requirements: In addition to the requirements stated in p the proposed Senior Consultant should (30p): a) have extensive professional experience from special audits (4.3 p) b) have extensive experience in auditing in donor-funded projects or programmes in East Africa (4.3 p) c) have extensive experience in accounting and financial management rules, procedures and practices in Ethiopia (4.3 p) or another East African country (2.1 p) d) be acquainted with polices for procurement applied by the different sectors in Ethiopia or other countries with comparable setup (4.3 p) e) have experience in carrying out training activities (4.2 p) f) have experience from working with Sida and/or other development agencies in East Africa (4.3 p) g) have requested language skills in English according to language definition Appendix 8, with highest point being for native speaker proficiency. (4.3 p) In addition to the requirements stated in section the proposed Junior/Assistant Consultant should (20p): h) have extensive professional experience from special audits (2.9p) i) have extensive experience in auditing in a wide variety of donorfunded projects or programmes in East Africa (2.9p) j) have extensive experience in accounting and financial management rules, procedures and practices in Ethiopia (2.9p) k) be acquainted with polices for procurement applied by the different sectors in Ethiopia or other countries with comparable setup (2.9p) l) have experience in carrying out training activities (2.8p) 15(18)

17 m) have experience from working with Sida and/or other development agencies in East Africa (2.8p) n) have requested language skills in English according to language definition Appendix 8, with highest point being for native speaker proficiency. (2.8p) 8 Tender Check-up and Evaluation Principles Firstly a check-up is made to verify that the tender is received in due time, signed and containing the requested documents according to section 1 and 3. A tender not fulfilling these requirements may be rejected. Secondly a check-up is made to verify that the tenderer has fulfilled the specified must requirements specified in this document. A tenderer who fulfills all must requirements is considered qualified for further assessment. The third part of the evaluation comprises an assessment of the tender s section Principles of Evaluation The contract will be awarded to the economically most advantageous tenderers with regard to the following evaluation criteria as well as based on the price, for an example see under 8.2. Technical Evaluation Evaluation Criteria 1. Implementation & Method 2. Organisation & Availability 3. The combined competence and experience of proposed staff for the performance of the services Max. Points Senior Consultant 30 - Junior Consultant/Assistant Consultant 20 Total points (18)

18 8.2 Method of Evaluation The number of points that can be awarded Poor vi 0% under each of the technical evaluation Not entirely 40 % criteria. For example, if a maximum of 20 satisfactory vii points can be awarded for a give criteria, Satisfactory viii 70 % Good will mean 0.8 x 20 = 16 points. Good ix 80 % (In the evaluation, the levels (in %) will have Very Good x 100 % fixed values, which means that there will be no intermediate values). Minimum technical score The technical part of the tender must achieve a minimum of >70< points as a condition for further evaluation To conclude the evaluation the technical score and the total price (fee) are converted to a Comparison value. The winning tender has the lowest Comparison value. The Comparison value is an adjustment of the price based on the following formula: Comparison value = Offered price x (1+Percentage increase). Percentage increase = ((Maximum technical score Actual technical score) / Maximum technical score) x Adjustment factor; The Adjustment factor indicates the weight the technical score has in relation to the price. In this case the adjustment factor is 10. Example The adjustment factor in this example is 3.0. VI Not addressed or not sufficient vii Sufficient in some aspects but not as a whole VII Sufficient but lacks substantial advantages or has uneven quality VIII Adequate and well suited to the purpose IX Gives added value and shows high quality on the whole X. Gives added value and shows a very high quality on the whole 17(18)

19 Tender A: Price , Technical score 90. Tender B: Price , Technical score 75. Evaluation Tender A: Percentage increase = (100-90) / 100 x 3,0; Percentage increase = 0,3 Comparison value = x (1+0,3); Comparison value = Evaluation Tender B: Percentage increase = (100-75) / 100 x 3,0; Percentage increase = 0,75 Comparison value = x (1+0,75); Comparison value = The winning tender is A since it has the lowest Comparison value. 9 Contract 9.1 The Framework Agreement(s) The Embassy of Sweden in Addis Abeba will sign one framework agreement (draft in Appendix 2) with each of the winning tenderers with the Embassy of Sweden in Addis Abeba, provided that these tenderers meet the requirements set up in the tender dossier. The tenderer may comment on the wording of the Draft Frame Work Agreement, Appendix 2, but any proposed alteration must not alter the significance of the contract in a substantial way. 9.2 Term of Contract The goal is to have the contract entered into force no later than and that the contract shall continue in force until The contract period is 24 months with an option to extend twice with unaltered conditions for a period of twelve (12) months for each extension (see ToR and Draft Framework Agreement). 10 Openness and Confidentiality Confidentiality covers information in a procurement matter until an award decision has been taken or the procurement is completed in other ways. If a tenderer is of the opinion that information given in a tender should be covered by confidentiality, the tenderer should state in the tender which information is concerned and specify the damage that publicity of the information would entail for the tenderer. The Embassy will, however, perform an independent assessment in the matter. 18(18)