Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency Erasmus+ : Higher Education - International Capacity Building OPEN CALL FOR TENDERS EACEA/2014/1 Centralised Support to the Network of Higher Education Experts Questions and Answers Version 6 (29/7/2014)
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Questions and answers 1. We have accessed the Higher Education Reform Portal but understand that there is a confidential area of this Portal to which we have no access. While we can estimate the website content based on the limited information available on the Portal in the public domain, we have no information on the volume of information and the type of platform in restricted access. This poses us a problem to make a concrete estimate in our bid in terms of the scale of the work involved and the costs for the takeover of the website. Could you provide any information on this point? Would it be possible to have access to this confidential area? We understand that potential tenderers are interested to consult also the protected area of the Higher Education Reform Portal, but considering that the protected area contains personal data such as names and photos of the members, we have decided to make available a "demo version" of the website, in which the personal data has been removed. You can access this version at the following address: http://tenderdemo.bolognaexperts.net/user/ by using the login e-mail EACEA-EPLUS- CBHE@ec.europa.eu and the password tender. 2. Regarding the virtual platform/portal can you clarify whether the new provider/contractor will "receive" the site as such as a Drupal tool that can simply be "injected" on another Drupal site? The platform is a network of about 20 Drupal sites connected via custom single-sign-on modules. The main site, the Virtual Community, is a Drupal 6 site based on Open Atrium with heavy customizations. The other sites are also made with Drupal 6, one for each seminar. A full export of the system (full database, entire codebase, attached files for all the ~20 sites) will be made available to the new contractor. Please note, however, that Drupal 7 (and not 6) is now the reference platform for Drupal developments in the Commission and Executive Aency. 3. Could you also clarify whether a number of Drupal extensions (with additional functionalities) have been built in the existing sites and if so which ones? Many custom modules and features have been added, as custom developments, to the standard Drupal 6 and Open Atrium. They provide functionality such as: custom administrative pages; extended profile fields; advanced notifications system; maps; single sign on; user activity tracking; moderation workflow. In addition to these custom developments the following publicly available third-party Drupal 6 modules are used on the main site: activity, cck_facets, drupal_queue, email_registration, exportables, faceted_search, filefield, flag, imagefield, inline, link, mapbox, menu_block, mimemail, og_facets, openlayers, openlayers_geocoder, reg_with_pic, semanticviews, url_alter, views_bulk_operations, views_send, xrds_simple. 4. Could you let us know whether the entire website, i.e. (1) the content and (2) the entire design, systems, software is entirely the property of EACEA and can be taken up as a whole by the new contractor? Yes, we confirm that the site is the property of the Union and can be taken up as a whole by the new contractor. 3
5. Could you also let us know whether the costs of catering (lunches, coffee breaks, potential dinners) should be foreseen in the financial offer, or whether HERE experts/participants attending the events will have their own Per Diem to cover the costs of their lunches/dinners? As mentioned in the section Organisation of Events of the tendering specifications (under 3.3.2 Specific activities, page 15), the financial bid shall include all organisational costs of the events, including catering. 6. We have a question regarding the electronic version of our tender application: do you accept electronic versions stored on USB keys or is a CD-ROM the only possible storage medium? We confirm that the tenderer can choose to submit the electronic version of the tender on an USB stick. 7. We are now preparing the whole documentation for the tender "Centralised Support to the Network of Higher Education Experts Reference N EACEA/2014/1" and one of the requirements is the list of publications related to the higher education policies and/or reforms. If our understanding is correct we need to provide in the three paper versions (original and two copies) just the list of publications and not the hard copies of the publications themselves, which we will provide in the electronic version on USB. You are asking for clarifications on the supporting documents to be submitted together with you tender as regards verification of the tenderer's technical capacity (section 4.2.3 of the tender specifications). We hereby confirm that you do not need to send us copies of the publications themselves (neither hard copies nor electronic copies), but only a list of the relevant publications produced by your organisation. 8. Could you let me know if experts from the Tempus region (= eligible partner countries) would be eligible. The tendering specifications do not impose requirements regarding the nationality of the experts proposed by the tenderer, being it those experts contributing to the specific activities identified under section 3.3.2 or those proposed under section 3.4.1 "Personnel". 9. Are we correct to understand that in the budget form, the IT staff costs for the handover of the portal, its development and maintenance are to be recorded as one item under "Other costs" (without any information on unit costs) while web editing staff costs are to be recorded under staff costs? Please note that both the web editing staff costs and the IT staff costs related to the handover, development and maintenance of the portal should be included under section "A. Personnel" of the Price and budget breakdown form (Annex 3) if the tasks are directly performed by the contractor's staff. If the corresponding services are intended to be subcontracted to an external service provider they should be included under section 4
"C. Other foreseen large items of expenditure" with a clear description of what the specific costs entail and specifying the name of the subcontractor. 10. Could you clarify further that by organisational costs for the events (including catering) you also include e.g. a conference/seminar dinner or whether the organisational costs only include catering costs related to lunches and coffee breaks, but exclude conference dinners that should not be foresee The proposed costs for the organisation of events could indeed include the costs related to a conference/seminar dinner organised in the context of the event should the tenderers propose such an option in their offers. 11. What is the volume of information contained in the protected area of the portal? The approximate volume of information corresponds to 1200 users and profiles, 60 groups, 240 discussions and 3000 attached files (to discussions, comments, posts, etc.). The total size of the attached files is approximately 600 Mbytes. 12. Is there a need to foresee translation costs for all the 15 events (international conferences, thematic seminars and study visits) and if so in how many languages? As mentioned in the tendering specification (see under subsection 3.3.2. Specific activities, page 15), translation and interpretation costs have to be foreseen for the 15 events to be organised by the tenderer. These events will be mainly carried out in English and the translation and/or interpretation needs may be in (/towards) one language only if required. There is no need for translation or interpretation costs for the organisation of the technical assistance missions (see also under subsection 3.3.2. Specific activities, page 15). 13. Do local organisational staff costs related to the 15 events (i.e. before and during the events) come under staff costs or can these be budgeted under organisational costs? If the work entailed is to be performed by the tenderer staff the corresponding costs must be recorded under section "A. Personnel" of the Price and budget breakdown form (Annex 3). If the work is intended to be subcontracted to an external service provider they should be included under section "C. Other foreseen large items of expenditure" with a clear description of what the specific costs entail and specifying the name of the subcontractor if already identified. 5