B-Brussels: study on challenges and good practices in the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Country:

Belgium

City/Locality:

BRYJELLES

Notice/Contract Number:

eu:129426-2008

Publication Date:

May 20, 2008

Deadline:

Jul 7, 2008

Buyer:

EUROPEAN COMMISSION

Original Language:

English

Address:

EUROPEAN COMMISSION
BRUSSELS , Arr. de Bruxelles-Capitale / Arr. van Brussel-Hoofdstad
Belgium

Email:

Click here

Notice Type: C398
-
Contract notice
Regulation of Procurement: European Institution/Agency or International Organisation
EU Official Journal Publication: 96/2008
, #
129426-2008
Contract Nature: Service contract
Procedure Type: Open procedure
Type of Bid Required: Global tender
Awarding Criteria: The most economic tender

Summary:
Contract notice
Services
Section I: Contracting authority
I.1) Name, addresses and contact point(s): European Commission,
Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal
Opportunities, Unit G3, attn: Mr Johan ten Geuzendam, Rue Joseph II 54,
B-1049 Bruxelles/Brussel. Contact: Laetitia Lethé. Tel. (32-2) 296 22 38.
Fax (32-2) 299 80 78. E-mail: empl-pwd-info@ec.europa.eu.
Internet address(es):
General address of the contracting authority:
http://www.ec.europa.eu/employment_social/emplweb/tenders/index_en.cfm.
Further information can be obtained from:
the above-mentioned contact point(s).
Specifications and additional documents (including documents for
competitive dialogue and a dynamic purchasing system) can be obtained
from:
the above-mentioned contact point(s).
Tenders or requests to participate must be sent to:
European Commission, Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities
DG, Directorate G, Unit G3, B-1049 Bruxelles/Brussel. Contact: Laetitia
Lethé. Tel. (32-2) 296 22 38.
I.2) Type of the contracting authority and main activity or activities:
European institution/agency or international organisation.
Employment, social affairs and equal opportunities.
The contracting authority is purchasing on behalf of other contracting
authorities: no.
Section II: Object of the contract
II.1) Description
II.1.1) Title attributed to the contract by the contracting authority:
Study on challenges and good practices in the implementation of the UN
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
II.1.2) Type of contract and location of works, place of delivery or of
performance: Services.
Service category No 10.
NUTS code: BE100.
II.1.3) The notice involves: A public contract.
II.1.5) Short description of the contract or purchase(s): The contractor
will put together a compendium of best practices with regards to
implementation of the UN Convention, from a legal and practical point of
view, identifying challenges and measures to facilitate the achievement of
the UN Convention objectives in all the Member States. To do so, the
contractor will design questionnaires and carry out this study covering
all the Member States. In particular the contractor will undertake the
following tasks, in regular and close co-operation with the European
Commission (EMPL DG, Unit G3: Integration of People with Disabilities):
1) give an overview of legislations (national as well as European) that
needed/need to be adjusted in order to comply with the UN Convention on
the basis of available data obtained by the national screening exercises.
The analysis should go beyond the mere identification of the relevant
legislation and should focus on the content of the relevant provisions and
the possible adaptations, where needed. It should specify the type of
adjustment and the necessary process for its adoption, pointing to
responsible bodies leading it:
(a) while mapping the various relevant legislations in the Member States
the contractor should also identify and analyse its source (for example:
European Directive implying obligation to (adjust) national legislation);
(b) while analysing legislation at the European level, the contractor
should take as reference the declaration of competences annexed to the
Council Decision concerning conclusion by the European Community the UN
Convention;
2) collect and map the good practices of implementation of the UN
Convention covering both legal and relevant practical measures in all the
Member States. On the basis of a detailed questionnaire addressing the
main stakeholders, creating a pool of examples with description of the
concrete cases of key measures taken to implement the adaptations that are
needed. Such presentation of good practices should focus on those measures
that answer to the main challenges identified and that have a lasting and
structural impact on policies, as opposed to specific, final projects;
3) select and make a compendium of those good practices in the form of a
publication for awareness-raising purposes in order to inform the
authorities of Member States, other stakeholders and persons with
disabilities of possible implementing measures and objectives to be
reached. The compendium should cover various policies covered by the UN
Convention and contain under each policy both a legal and a practical
part. Selection of good practices should be made on the base of clear
criteria identified in advance, include at least 1 example per country
and, if more examples are chosen, maintain balance between new and old
Member States, large and small, as well as geographically;
4) list the relevant government departments, contact points, agencies,
etc; which are responsible for implementing the United Nations Convention,
relating them to the various requirements of the Convention and
identifying their role and contribution to the process of implementing the
Convention;
5) prepare and present concluding recommendations on how policy makers
could implement the UN Convention to achieve its objectives;
6) create a web site containing information collected during execution of
the study, including aforementioned deliverables, all collected good
practices and relevant training materials, translated into German, English
and French:
(a) during the execution of the work, the contractor might develop and use
a website that needs to be accessible in content, architecture and
organisation conformant with WAI/WCAG 1.o level AA. The purpose of this
site is to be an operational tool for the execution of the project. The
target audience is to be determined in the response to this tender
depending on the needs of the work, experts, disability NGOs or others.
The Commission might provide, if deemed necessary, a link from the EMPL DG
site to the contractor site to facilitate the work;
(b) at the end of the work, the contractor should anyway provide all
relevant information and results in the form of an accessible web site so
that the Commission can publish this information online on the Europa web
site if it so decides.
The purpose of this site is to make the results of the work available to
the public including persons with disabilities and experts in the field.
The contractor should ensure that the content, organisation and
architecture of this web site, including the pages and their content would
be accessible in conformity with WAI/WCAG 1.0 level AA and with the
information providers guide of Europa IPG as described in
http://ec.europa.eu/ipg/index_en.htm. The contractor will produce this
final site using static pages. If other technology is needed to build or
update the site the contractor will consult the Commission and will need
formal written approval by the Commission on the technology to use before
starting this work. The Commission reserves the right to decide at the end
of the contract if the contractor will publish the site themselves or if
they should provide all necessary content and architecture for a web site
run or to be published by another entity.
II.1.6) Common procurement vocabulary (CPV): 73000000, 74131100,
74131000, 74132000.
II.1.7) Contract covered by the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA):
Yes.
II.1.8) Division into lots: No.
II.1.9) Variants will be accepted: No.
II.2) Quantity or scope of the contract
II.2.1) Total quantity or scope: EUR 325 000.
II.2.2) Options: No.
II.3) Duration of the contract or time-limit for completion: 12 months
from the award of the contract.
Section III: Legal, economic, financial and technical information
III.1) Conditions relating to the contract
III.1.2) Main financing conditions and payment arrangements and/or
reference to the relevant provisions regulating them: In drawing up the
bid, the tenderer should take into account the provisions of the standard
contract comprising the 'General terms and conditions applicable to
service contracts'. In particular, as mentioned in the section on 'Guide
and details on how the tasks are to be carried out' (point 5.2 of this
document), the contractor is required to detail in its final activity
report its achievements in meeting the described equal opportunities
provisions.
Payments will be made on receipt of the corresponding invoices, according
to the following schedule:
(a) pre-financing following signature of the contract by the last
contracting party, within 30 days of the receipt by the Commission of a
request for pre-financing with a relevant invoice, a pre-financing payment
equal to 20 % of the total amount referred to in Article I.3.1 of the
contract shall be made;
(b) requests for interim payment by the contractor shall be admissible if
accompanied by:
— an interim technical report in accordance with the instructions laid
down in Annex I of the contract,
— the relevant invoices, provided the report has been approved by the
Commission. The Commission shall have 60 days from receipt to approve or
reject the report, and the contractor shall have 30 days in which to
submit additional information or a new report. Within 30 days of the date
on which the report is approved by the Commission, an interim payment
corresponding to the relevant invoices, up to maximum 60 % of the total
amount referred to in Article I.3.1 of the contract shall be made;
(c) payment of the balance: the request for payment of the balance of the
contractor shall be admissible if accompanied by:
— the final technical report in accordance with the instructions laid down
in Annex I of the contract,
— the relevant invoices, provided the report has been approved by the
Commission. The Commission shall have 60 days from receipt to approve or
reject the report, and the contractor shall have 30 days in which to
submit additional information or a new report. Within 30 days of the date
on which the report is approved by the Commission, payment of the balance
of the total amount referred to in Article I.3.1 of the contract shall be
made.
III.1.3) Legal form to be taken by the group of economic operators to
whom the contract is to be awarded: Tenders can be submitted by groupings
of service providers/suppliers who will not be required to adopt a
particular legal form prior to the contract being awarded, but the
consortium selected may be required to assume a given legal form when it
has been awarded the contract if this change is necessary for proper
performance of the contract. However, a grouping of economic operators
must nominate 1 party to be responsible for the receipt and processing of
payments for members of the grouping, for managing the service
administration, and for coordination. The documents required and listed in
points 11 and 12 of the tender specifications must be supplied by every
member of the grouping. Each member of the grouping assumes a joint and
several liability towards the Commission. These entities can take the form
of an entity with or without legal personality but offering sufficient
protection of the Commission's contractual interests (depending on the
Member State concerned, this may be, for example, a consortium or a
temporary association). The contract has to be signed by all members of
the group, or by 1 of the members, which has been duly authorised by the
other members of the grouping (a power of attorney or sufficient
authorisation is to be attached to the contract), when the tenderers have
not formed a legal entity.
III.1.4) Other particular conditions to which the performance of the
contract is subject: No.
III.2) Conditions for participation
III.2.1) Personal situation of economic operators, including requirements
relating to enrolment on professional or trade registers: Information and
formalities necessary for evaluating if requirements are met:
1) Bidders must provide a declaration on their honour, duly signed and
dated, that they are not in 1 of the situation referred to in Articles 93
and 94(a) of the Financial Regulation. Those articles are as follows:
'Article 93: applicants or tenderers shall be excluded if:
(a) they are bankrupt or being wound up, are having their affairs
administered by the courts, have entered into an arrangement with
creditors, have suspended business activities, are the subject of
proceedings concerning those matters, or are in any analogous situation
arising from a similar procedure provided for in national legislation or
regulations;
(b) they have been convicted of an offence concerning their professional
conduct by a judgement which has the force of 'res judicata';
(c) they have been guilty of grave professional misconduct proven by any
means which the contracting authority can justify;
(d) they have not fulfilled their obligations relating to the payment of
social security contributions or the payment of taxes in accordance with
the legal provisions of the country in which they are established or with
those of the country of the contracting authority or those of the country
where the contract is to be performed;
(e) they have been the subject of a judgement which has the force of res
judicata for fraud, corruption, involvement in a criminal organisation or
any other illegal activity detrimental to the Communities' financial
interests;
(f) they are currently subject to an administrative penalty referred to in
Article 96(1) (see footnote 1). (…)
Article 94: contracts may not be awarded to candidates or tenderers who,
during the procurement procedure:
(a) are subject to a conflict of interest;
(b) are guilty of misrepresentation in supplying the information required
by the contracting authority as a condition of participation in the
procurement procedure or fail to supply this information; (…)'.
2) The tenderer to whom the contract is to be awarded shall provide,
within a time limit defined by the contracting authority and preceding the
signature of the contract, the evidence referred to in Article 134 of the
Implementing Rules, confirming the declaration referred to in point 1
above. Article 134 of the Implementation Arrangements — Supporting
documents:
1. The contracting authority shall accept, as satisfactory evidence that
the candidate or tenderer is not in 1 of the situations described in
points (a), (b) or (e) of Article 93 of the Financial Regulations,
production of a recent extract from the judicial record or, failing that,
a recent equivalent document issued by a judicial or administrative
authority in the country of origin or provenance showing that these
requirements are met.
2. The contracting authority shall accept, as satisfactory evidence that
the candidate or tenderer is not in the situation described in point (d)
of Article 93 of the Financial Regulations, a recent certificate issued by
the competent authority of the State concerned.
3. Where no such document or certificate is issued in the country
concerned, it may be replaced by a sworn or, failing that, a solemn
statement made by the interested party before a judicial or administrative
authority, a notary or a qualified professional body in his country of
origin or provenance.
4. Depending on the national legislation of the country in which the
tenderer or applicant is established, the documents referred to in
paragraphs 1 and 2 above shall relate to legal entities and/or physical
persons, including, where considered necessary by the awarding authority,
company directors or any person with powers of representation,
decision-making or control in relation to the tenderer. See Annex I of the
specifications (which may be used as a checklist) for the supporting
documents accepted by the European Commission to be provided by
applicants, tenderers or tenderers to who the contract will be awarded.
3) The contracting authority may waive the obligation of a candidate or
tenderer to submit the documentary evidence referred to in Article 134 of
the Implementing Rules, if such evidence has already been submitted to it
for the purposes of another procurement procedure launched by EMPL DG and
provided that the issuing date of the documents does not exceed one year
and that they are still valid. In such a case, the candidate or tenderer
shall declare on his honour that the documentary evidence has already been
provided in a previous procurement procedure and confirm that no changes
in his situation have occurred (footnote 1).
'Article 96(1): the contracting authority may impose administrative or
financial penalties on the following:
(a) candidates or tenderers in the cases referred to in point (b) of
Article 94;
(b) contractors who have been declared to be in serious breach of their
obligations under contracts covered by the budget. (…)'.
III.2.2) Economic and financial capacity: Information and formalities
necessary for evaluating if requirements are met:
economic and financial capacity to carry out the study demonstrated as
follows:
(a) the tenderer must provide proof of turnover in the last financial year
at least equivalent to 100 % of the proposed price of the contract;
(b) balance sheets from the last 2 financial years, where publication of
the balance sheets is required under company law in the country in which
the service provider is established;
(c) if the tenderer cannot provide these documents, his bid must be
accompanied by evidence that there is no legal obligation to annually
publish the turnover and/or the balance sheet. In this case, a bank
declaration providing evidence of good financial standing of the tenderer
may be accepted by the contracting authority.
III.2.3) Technical capacity: Information and formalities necessary for
evaluating if requirements are met:
technical and professional capacity for carrying out the project:
(a) a list of the main works carried out by the tenderer in relation to
the subject of this call for tender over the past 3 years proving merits
and experience in human rights studies and/or legal research. In the case
of tenders from consortia this list must be provided by each member of the
consortium. Where the work was undertaken for the European Commission, the
candidate must also indicate the reference number of the Commission
contract and the department for which the contract was performed;
(b) good experience in the specific field of the study (in particular on
academic and research activities in the area human rights and/or
disability), as attested by the CVs and related documentation of experts
proposed. The details of educational and professional qualifications of
all the persons providing the services have to be included;
(c) the coordinator must certify his team's ability to work in several
Community languages (including those of the new Member States); covering
at least the 3 working languages of the Commission (English, French,
German) and should ensure that the project contains provision for
interpretation and translation if this is considered necessary by the
contractor;
(d) proof of enrolment in one of the professional trade registers or a
declaration or certificate, as prescribed in the legislation of the
country in which the tenderer is located;
(e) in the case of tenders from consortia: clear identification of the
co-ordinator of the work who will also be responsible for signing the
contract, and written confirmation from each member of the consortium that
they would be ready and willing to participate in the work, and briefly
describing their role.
III.2.4) Reserved contracts: No.
III.3) Conditions specific to services contracts
III.3.1) Execution of the service is reserved to a particular profession:
No.
III.3.2) Legal entities should indicate the names and professional
qualifications of the staff responsible for the execution of the service:
Yes.
Section IV: Procedure
IV.1) Type of procedure
IV.1.1) Type of procedure: Open.
IV.2) Award criteria
IV.2.1) Award criteria: The most economically advantageous tender in
terms of the criteria stated in the specifications, in the invitation to
tender or to negotiate or in the descriptive document.
IV.2.2) An electronic auction will be used: No.
IV.3) Administrative information
IV.3.1) File reference number attributed by the contracting authority:
VT/2008/001.
IV.3.2) Previous publication(s) concerning the same contract: No.
IV.3.3) Conditions for obtaining specifications and additional documents
or descriptive document: Time-limit for receipt of requests for documents
or for accessing documents: 30.6.2008 (12:00).
Payable documents: no.
IV.3.4) Time-limit for receipt of tenders or requests to participate:
7.7.2008 (16:00).
IV.3.6) Language(s) in which tenders or requests to participate may be
drawn up: Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish,
French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Irish, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian,
Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish and
Swedish.
IV.3.7) Minimum time frame during which the tenderer must maintain the
tender: 10 months from the date stated for receipt of tenders.
IV.3.8) Conditions for opening tenders: 18.7.2008 (10:00).
Place: J54 1/SDR 5.
Persons authorised to be present at the opening of tenders: yes.
A representative of each tenderer, duly authorised — in writing — by the
tenderer. The request to attend the opening of the bids must be received
by e-mail (empl-pwd-info@ec.europa.eu) 2 days before the opening date at
the latest.
Section VI: Complementary information
VI.1) This is a recurrent procurement: No.
VI.2) Contract related to a project and/or programme financed by EU
funds: Yes.
Reference to project(s) and/or programme(s): Progress programme
established by Decision No 1672/2006 published in the Official Journal on
15.11.2006.
VI.4) Procedures for appeal
VI.4.1) Body responsible for appeal procedures: Court of First Instance
of the European Communities, boulevard Konrad Adenauer, L-2925 Luxembourg.
Tel. (352) 43 03-1. Fax (352) 43 37 66. E-mail:
ECJ.registry@curia.europa.eu. URL: http://curia.europa.eu.
Body responsible for mediation procedures:
The European Ombudsman, 1, avenue du Président Robert Schuman, BP 403,
F-67001 Strasbourg Cedex. Tel. (33) 388 17 23 13. Fax (33) 388 17 90 62.
E-mail: euro-ombudsman@europarl.eu.int. URL:
http://www.euro-ombudsman.eu.int.
VI.4.2) Lodging of appeals: Precise information on deadline(s) for
lodging appeals:
within 2 months of the notification to the plaintiff, or, in absence
thereof, of the day on which it came to knowledge. A complaint to the
European Ombudsman does not have an effect either to suspend this period
or to open a new period for lodging appeals.
VI.4.3) Service from which information about the lodging of appeals may
be obtained: Court of First Instance of the European Communities,
boulevard Konrad Adenauer, L-2925 Luxembourg. Tel. (352) 43 03-1. Fax
(352) 43 37 66. E-mail: ECJ.registry@curia.europa.eu. URL:
http://curia.europa.eu.
VI.5) Date of dispatch of this notice: 8.5.2008.

B-Brussels: study on challenges and good practices in the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

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