Advisory services for resilient agri-food system

Advisory Services for Resilient Agri-Food System

Location - Worldwide

1. / Publication reference

EuropAid/139946/DH/SER/MULTI

2. / Procedure

Restricted

3. / Programme title

Support Measures 2018 financed under the DCI (Development Cooperation Instrument)

4. / Financing

Budget line 21.020704

5. / Contracting Authority

European Union, represented by the European Commission.

Clarifications may be sought from the contracting authority at the following email address EuropeAid-Tenders-139946@ec.europa.eu at the latest 21 days before the deadline for submission of applications stated at the point 23 below.

Clarifications will be published on the website of DG International Cooperation and Development at the latest 5 days before the deadline.

CONTRACT SPECIFICATION

6. / Nature of contract

Fee-based

7. / Contract description

During the current EU Financial Framework (2014-2020), 61 countries selected food and nutrition security and sustainable agriculture as a priority sector for partnering with the EU. The EU has committed more than €8.8 billion to this intervention, corresponding to 20 % of the EU development portfolio. For the next EU financial Framework, a significant number of countries could choose again Food and Nutrition Security as a focal sector for aid. At the same time, EU impact needs to be enhanced, particularly by improving the synergies between public and private sector interventions. Priorities at country level will include inclusive and responsible investments in agriculture and agri-businesses; supportive rural infrastructure; sustainable and nutrition-sensitive agriculture, adapted to climate change; strengthening producer organizations; linking smallholders to markets; strengthening research, innovation and scaling capacities; risk reduction initiatives; initiatives to reduce stunting, increase dietary diversity and tackle micronutrient deficiencies; and social protection initiatives that will ensure access to adequate food and nutrition. Innovations will be key in all priorities. Gender considerations are essential in each area.

The purpose of the advisory services is to provide high quality and SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound) services to increase development impact, to spur policy changes and investments to realize the EU’s contribution to end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture (SDG2).

Through these advisory services HQ and delegation staff will be able to have easy access to technical advice, studies, to support policy development, policy dialogue, identification, programming, monitoring/evaluation, as well knowledge sharing/communication products.

8. / Number and titles of lots

One lot only

9. / Maximum budget

EUR 6,000,000

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 the estimated amount of approximately EUR 3,000,000. Any extension of the contract would be subject to satisfactory performance by the contractor.

CONDITIONS OF PARTICIPATION

11. / Eligibility

Participation is open to all natural persons who are nationals of and legal persons (participating either individually or in a grouping – consortium – of tenderers) which are effectively established in a Member State of the European Union or in a eligible country or territory as defined under the Regulation (EU) No 236/2014 establishing common rules and procedures for the implementation of the Unions instruments for external action (CIR) for the applicable instrument under which the contract is financed (see also heading 29 below). Participation is also open to international organizations.

Please be aware that after the United Kingdoms withdrawal from the EU, the rules of access to EU procurement procedures of economic operators established in third countries will apply to candidates or tenderers from the United Kingdom depending on the outcome of negotiations. In case such access is not provided by legal provisions in force at the time of contract award, candidates or tenderers from the United Kingdom could be rejected from the procurement procedure.

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 one 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 one 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 short-listed application forms will be excluded from this restricted tender procedure unless prior approval from the contracting authority has been obtained (see practical guide – PRAG – 2.6.3.). Short-listed 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 2.6.10.1. of the PRAG.

Candidates included in the lists of EU restrictive measures (see Section 2.4. of the PRAG) at the moment of the award decision cannot be awarded the contract.

16. / Sub-contracting

Subcontracting is allowed.

17. / Number of candidates to be short-listed

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

June 2019

19. / Provisional commencement date of the contract

October 2019

20. / Initial period of implementation of tasks

48 months

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 unless specified otherwise. The selection criteria will not be applied to natural persons and single-member companies when they are sub-contractors.

1) / Economic and financial capacity of candidate (based on item 3 of the application form). In case of candidate being a public body, equivalent information should be provided. The reference period which will be taken into account will be the last three years for which accounts have been closed (2015, 2016 and 2017).

a) / the average annual turnover of the candidate for the last three accounting years (2015, 2016, 2017) must exceed EUR 2,000,000.

2) / Professional capacity of candidate (based on items 4 and 5 of the application form). The reference period which will be taken into account will be the last three years from submission deadline.

a) / at least 6 permanent staff currently work for the candidate in fields directly related to this contract (i.e. sustainable agriculture, food & nutrition security, monitoring & evaluation, communication and knowledge management).

3) / Technical capacity of candidate (based on items 5 and 6 of the application form). The reference period which will be taken into account will be the last three years from submission deadline.

a) / the candidate has provided services under at least 1 project with a budget of at least EUR 2 million (the candidate itself must have implemented at least 50% of the project’s budget) in the sustainable agriculture and/or food security fields.

b) / the candidate has provided services under at least 10 agriculture and/or food security projects (each of them with a minimum budget of EUR 150,000 and 50% of each project’s budget must have been implemented by the candidate itself) covering :

i. / policy development or dialogue,

ii. / identification and programme cycle management,

iii. / sector budget support design and operations,

iv. / private sector promotion and investments,

v. / knowledge sharing and communication.

All the 5 above areas must be covered by the project references but each project does not necessarily have to cover all of them.

Among these 10 contracts, at least two must relate to (i) policy development or dialogue, at least two must relate to (ii) identification and programme cycle management and at least two must relate to (iv) private sector promotion and investments.

c) / The candidate has provided advisory services (for technical, legal, institutional, economic and fiscal issues) in the sustainable agriculture field under at least 2 projects.

d) / The candidate has provided services in the communication and/or knowledge management (including management of communities of practice) fields applied to agriculture and food security under at least 2 projects.

Projects used as reference for criteria 21.3 must have been implemented at any moment during the reference period : April 2016 to April 2019. This means that the project the candidate refers to could have been started or completed at any time during the indicated period but it does not necessarily have to be started and completed during that period, nor implemented during the entire period. Candidates are allowed to refer either to projects completed within the reference period (although started earlier) or to projects not yet completed. In the first case the project will be considered in its whole if proper evidence of performance is provided (statement or certificate from the entity which awarded the contract, proof of final payment). In case of projects still on-going only the portion satisfactorily completed during the reference period although started earlier will be taken into consideration. This portion will have to be supported by documentary evidence (similarly to projects completed) also detailing its value. In this case, a precise budget and a description of the tasks which were implemented until the end of the reference period (up to April 2019) shall be added in the detailed description of the project in the application form. Please adapt the table in the submission form accordingly.

If a candidate has implemented the project in a consortium, the percentage that the candidate has successfully completed must be clear from the documentary evidence, together with a description of the nature of the services provided if the selection criteria relating to the pertinence of the experience have been used. Documentary evidence is not required at the application stage but will be requested with the invitation to tender.

Previous experience which caused breach of contract and termination by a contracting authority shall not be used as reference.

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. Some examples of when it may not be considered appropriate by the contracting authority are when the tender rely in majority on the capacities of other entities or when they rely on key criteria. If the tender relies on other entities it must prove to the contracting authority that it will have at its disposal the resources necessary for performance of the contract, for example by producing a commitment 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 - notably that of nationality – and must comply with the selection criteria for which the economic operator relies on them. Furthermore, the data for this third entity for the relevant selection criterion should be included in the tender in a separate document. Proof of the capacity will also have to be furnished when requested by the contracting authority.

With regard to technical and professional criteria, an economic operator may only rely on the capacities of other entities where the latter will perform the works or services for which these capacities are required.

With regard to economic and financial criteria, the entities upon whose capacity the tenderer relies, become jointly and severally liable for the performance of the contract.

If more than 8 eligible candidates meet the above selection criteria, the relative strengths and weaknesses of the applications of these candidates must be reexamined to identify the eight best candidates. The only additional comparative criteria that will be taken into consideration during this re-examination, in the order that they appear below, are:

1) The number of projects fulfilling criteria 21.3.a)

2) The total number of projects fulfilling criteria 21.3.b)

3) The total budget implemented by the candidate itself for projects fulfilling criteria 21.3.a) and 21.3.b).

N.B.: additional comparative criteria 2) and 3) will be applied only if the number of eligible candidates remain higher than 8 after applying additional comparative criteria 1) and 2) respectively.

22. / Award criteria

Best price-quality ratio.

APPLICATION

23. / Deadline for receipt of applications

The candidates attention is drawn to the fact that there are two different systems for sending applications: one is by post or private mail service, the other is by hand delivery.

In the first case, the application must be sent before the date and time limit for submission, as evidenced by the postmark or deposit slip , but in the second case it is the acknowledgment of receipt given at the time of the delivery of the application that will serve as proof.

16:00 Central European Time on 17/05/2019

Any application sent to the contracting authority after this deadline will not be considered.

The contracting authority may, for reasons of administrative efficiency, reject any application submitted on time to the postal service but received, for any reason beyond the contracting authoritys control, after the effective date of approval of the short-list report, if accepting applications that were submitted on time but arrived late would considerably delay the evaluation procedure or jeopardise decisions already taken and notified.

24. / Application format and details to be provided

Applications must be submitted using the standard application form, the format and instructions of which must be strictly observed. The application form is available from the following Internet address:

http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/prag/annexes.do?chapterTitleCode=B

The application must be accompanied by a declaration of honour on exclusion and selection criteria using the template available from the following Internet address:

http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/prag/annexes.do?chapterTitleCode=A

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 in a sealed envelope:

/ EITHER by post or by courier service, in which case the evidence shall be constituted by the postmark or the date of the deposit slip, to :

European Commission

Directorate General for International Cooperation and Development - EuropeAid

Unit B6

EuropeAid/139946/DH/SER/MULTI

Avenue du Bourget, 1

Office L-41 03/110

B- 1049 Brussels – Belgium

(Tel. +32 2 299 79 16)

/ OR hand delivered by the candidate in person or by an agent directly to the premises of the contracting authority in return for a signed and dated receipt, in which case the evidence shall be constituted by this acknowledgement of receipt, to:

European Commission

Directorate General for International Cooperation and Development - EuropeAid

Unit B6

EuropeAid/139946/DH/SER/MULTI

Avenue du Bourget, 1

Office L-41 03/110

B- 1140 Brussels – Belgium

(Tel. +32 2 299 79 16)

N. B.: This department is open from 7:00 to 17:30 from Monday to Friday; it is closed on Saturdays, Sundays and EU Commission holidays

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.

By submitting an application candidates accept to receive notification of the outcome of the procedure by electronic means. Such notification shall be deemed to have been received on the date upon which the contracting authority sends it to the electronic address referred to in the application.

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. / Date of publication of prior information notice

/ 30/10/2019

/ Notice number in JO: 2018/S 209-476264

29. / Legal basis

Regulation (EU) No 236/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2014 laying down common rules and procedures for the implementation of the Unions instruments for financing external action and Regulation (EU) No 233/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2014 establishing a financing instrument for development cooperation for the period 2014-2020. See Annex A2 of the practical guide.

30. Additional information

N/A

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