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AF-Kabul: DCI — provision of technical assistance to the Afghan Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock to contribute to strengthen the planting material and horticulture industry

Request For Proposals

General Information
Country:   Afghanistan
City/Locality:   KABUL
Notice/Contract Number:   eu:88100-2010
Publication Date:   Mar 27, 2010
Deadline:   Apr 29, 2010
Buyer:   DELEGATION OF THE EUROPEAN UNION TO THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF AFGHANISTAN
Original Language:   English

Contact Information
Address:   DELEGATION OF THE EUROPEAN UNION TO THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF AFGHANISTAN
KABUL
Afghanistan
Web Site:   http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/work/procedures/implementation/services/index_en.htm

Goods, Works and Services

 

Summary

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Notice Type: AP302 - Contract notice
Regulation of Procurement: External aid and European Development Fund
EU Official Journal Publication: 60/2010, #88100-2010
Contract Nature: Service contract
Procedure Type: Restricted procedure
Type of Bid Required: Global tender
Awarding Criteria: Not defined

Original Text

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Location — Afghanistan
Service procurement notice
1. Publication reference:
EuropeAid/129320/C/SER/AF/2010.
2. Procedure:
Restricted.
3. Programme:
Support to agriculture in Afghanistan — DCI-ASIE/2009/020-600.
4. Financing:
BGUE-B2010-19.100102-C8-AIDCO.
5. Contracting authority:
European Union, represented by the European Commission, on behalf of and for the account of the beneficiary country, the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.
Contract specification
6. Nature of contract:
Fee-based.
7. Contract description:
The project will build on the achievement of the ongoing perennial horticulture development project (PHDP) and should particularly focus on the following fields: further develop the partnership between public (Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock — MoAIL) and private (National Union for Horticulture Development in Afghanistan — NUHDA) sector institutions to support an expanding horticulture industry; support MoAIL in the maintenance of the full range of Afghanistan's fruit and nut tree crop varieties at governmental perennial horticulture development centres (PHDCs) and their continuous evaluation; establishment and strengthening of structures (including extension services) to support the private sector fruit and nut nursery and grower industry, particularly in the provision of sufficient healthy, true-to-type stock to meet demands from growers for planting orchards and the adoption of best horticultural practices.
8. Number and titles of lots:
1 lot.
9. Maximum budget:
6 100 000 EUR.
10. Scope for additional services:
The contracting authority may, at its own discretion, extend the project in duration and/or scope subject to the availability of funding, up to a maximum not exceeding the length and value of the initial contract. Any extension of the contract would be subject to satisfactory performance by the contractor.
Conditions of participation
11. Eligibility:
Participation is open to all legal persons participating either individually or in a grouping (consortium) of candidates which are established in a Member State of the European Union or in a country or territory of the regions covered and/or authorised by the specific instruments applicable to the programme under which the contract is financed (see also item 30 below). Participation is also open to international organisations. The participation of natural persons is governed by the specific instruments applicable to the programme under which the contract is financed.
12. Candidature:
All eligible natural and legal persons (as per item 11 above) or groupings of such persons (consortia) may apply.
A consortium may be a permanent, legally-established grouping or a grouping which has been constituted informally for a specific tender procedure. All members of a consortium (i.e. the leader and all other members) are jointly and severally liable to the contracting authority.
The participation of an ineligible natural or legal person (as per item 11) will result in the automatic exclusion of that person. In particular, if that ineligible person belongs to a consortium, the whole consortium will be excluded.
13. Number of applications:
No more than 1 application can be submitted by a natural or legal person whatever the form of participation (as an individual legal entity or as leader or member of a consortium submitting an application). In the event that a natural or legal person submits more than 1 application, all applications in which that person has participated will be excluded.
14. Shortlist alliances prohibited:
Any tenders received from tenderers comprising firms other than those mentioned in the shortlisted application forms will be excluded from this restricted tender procedure. Shortlisted candidates may not form alliances or subcontract to each other for the contract in question.
15. Grounds for exclusion:
As part of the application form, candidates must submit a signed declaration, included in the standard application form, to the effect that they are not in any of the exclusion situations listed in Section 2.3.3 of the 'Practical Guide to contract procedures for EU external actions'.
16. Subcontracting:
Subcontracting of services will be allowed up to a maximum of 30 %.
17. Number of candidates to be shortlisted:
On the basis of the applications received, between 4 and 8 candidates will be invited to submit detailed tenders for this contract. If the number of eligible candidates meeting the selection criteria is less than the minimum of 4, the contracting authority may invite the candidates who satisfy the criteria to submit a tender.
Provisional timetable
18. Provisional date of invitation to tender:
20.5.2010.
19. Provisional commencement date of the contract:
15.9.2010.
20. Initial period of implementation of tasks and possible extension of the contract:
52 months, with possible extension of the project duration if additional services are requested (see also item 10 above).
Selection and award criteria
21. Selection criteria:
The following selection criteria will be applied to candidates. In the case of applications submitted by a consortium, these selection criteria will be applied to the consortium as a whole:
1) Economic and financial capacity of candidate (based on item 3 of the application form). In the case of the applicant being a public body, equivalent information should be provided:
(a) reference criterion 1: the average annual turnover of the candidate over the last 3 years must exceed by 2 times the annualised maximum budget of the contract (i.e. the maximum budget stated in the procurement notice divided by the initial contract duration in years, equally about 2 820 000 EUR); and
(b) reference criterion 2: the averages of cash and cash equivalents at the beginning and end of the year have been on average positive for the past 3 years.
2) Professional capacity of candidate (based on items 4 and 5 of the application form):
(a) reference criterion 1: the candidate must prove adequate level of backstopping in fields related to perennial horticulture. At least 15 % of all permanent staff working for the candidate this year work in fields related to this contract; and
(b) reference criterion 2: the candidate must at least have 5 years' experience in 1 or more of the following fields of specialisation: perennial horticulture and nursery industry (public/private) institutions, regulatory framework and capacity development; establishment and strengthening of plant tissue culture laboratory and nucleus/mother stock nursery; maintenance and evaluation of fruit and nut germplasm and rootstock collections; establishment and strengthening of extension services to support the private sector fruit and nut nursery and grower industry.
3) Technical capacity of candidate (based on items 5 and 6 of the application form):
(a) reference criterion 1: the candidate should have worked successfully on at least 2 major projects in some of the fields related to this contract (see reference criterion 2 above) for an aggregate value of at least 4 000 000 EUR in the past 3 years; and
(b) reference criterion 2: the candidate should have worked successfully on at least 1 similar (public/private) institutional strengthening project in the past 3 years, preferably in a post-conflict environment, but not only;
(c) experience in the specific or wider central or south Asian region will be considered an asset.
An economic operator may, where appropriate and for a particular contract, rely on the capacities of other entities, regardless of the legal nature of the links which it has with them. It must in that case prove to the contracting authority that it will have at its disposal the resources necessary for performance of the contract, for example by producing an undertaking on the part of those entities to place those resources at its disposal. Such entities, for instance the parent company of the economic operator, must respect the same rules of eligibility and notably that of nationality, as the economic operator.
If more than 8 eligible candidates meet the above selection criteria, the relative strengths and weaknesses of the applications of these candidates must be re-examined to identify the 8 best applications for the tender procedure. The only factors which will be taken into consideration during this re-examination are:
1) technical capacity;
2) professional capacity.
22. Award criteria:
Best value for money.
Application
23. Deadline for receipt of applications:
29.4.2010 (16:00), Afghan local time.
Any application received after this deadline will not be considered.
24. Application format and details to be provided:
Applications must be submitted using the standard application form (available from the following Internet address: http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/work/procedures/implementation/services/index_en.htm), whose format and instructions must be strictly observed.
Any additional documentation (brochure, letter, etc.) sent with an application will not be taken into consideration.
25. How applications may be submitted:
Applications must be submitted in English exclusively to the contracting authority:
— either by recorded delivery (official postal service) to:
Finance and Contract Section,Delegation of the European Union to the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan,Charahi Sedarat, opposite the Ministry of the Interior, Shar-e Naw,Kabul, AFGHANISTAN,
— or hand-delivered (including courier services) directly to the contracting authority in return for a signed and dated receipt to:
Finance and Contract Section, Delegation of the European Union to the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Charahi Sedarat, opposite the Ministry of the Interior, Shar-e Naw, Kabul, AFGHANISTAN. Local: Tel. +93 202101692, Mobile No +93 79095004/05/06. GTNT-SAT Tel. +32 24730045, GTNT-SAT Fax +32 24730046. E-mail: delegation-afghanistan-tenders@ec.europa.eu
The contract title and the publication reference (see item 1 above) must be clearly marked on the envelope containing the application and must always be mentioned in all subsequent correspondence with the contracting authority.
Applications submitted by any other means will not be considered.
26. Alteration or withdrawal of applications:
Candidates may alter or withdraw their applications by written notification prior to the deadline for submission of applications. No application may be altered after this deadline.
Any such notification of alteration or withdrawal shall be prepared and submitted in accordance with item 25. The outer envelope (and the relevant inner envelope if used) must be marked 'Alteration' or 'Withdrawal' as appropriate.
27. Operational language:
All written communications for this tender procedure and contract must be in English.
28. Additional information:
Not applicable.
29. Date of publication of contract forecast:
12.2.2010.
30. Legal basis:
DCI Regulation (EC) No 1905/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council — OJ L 378/65 of 27.12.2006 — financing instrument for development cooperation with developing countries in Asia.
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