Policy support facility for the implementation of EU

POLICY SUPPORT FACILITY FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF EU

FOREIGN POLICY

PSF 2019 Worldwide

Please note that the awarding of the contract is subject to the condition of:

the prior adoption of a financing decision, which does not modify the elements of the procurement

procedure (this will be the case, for instance, if the budget initially foreseen is different or if the

timeframe, the nature or the condition of the implementation are altered). If the precedent

condition is not met, the contracting authority will either abandon the procurement or cancel the

award procedure without the candidates or tenderers being entitled to claim any compensation.

1. Publication reference

EuropeAid/139974/DH/SER/MULTI

2. Procedure

Restricted

3. Programme title

Partnership Instrument

4. Financing

Budget line 19 05 01

5. Contracting Authority

European Union, represented by the European Commission

Clarifications may be sought from the contracting authority at the following email address FPITENDER-139974@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 as well as on the website of the Service for Foreign Policy

Instruments (FPI) https://ec.europa.eu/fpi/home_en at the latest 5 days before the deadline.

CONTRACT SPECIFICATION

6. Nature of contract

Global price (Lot 1 and 3);

Fee-based or global price (Lot 2).

Multiple framework contract with reopened competition at the level of each assignment.

7. Contract description

Ref. Ares(2018)6628332 - 21/12/2018

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This Framework Contract (FWC) provides expertise for the implementation of EU foreign

policy pursuing EU or mutual interest. The objective of the FWC is to provide, via individual

assignments defined and contracted through Specific Contracts, expertise that can be

mobilised at short notice. The FWC will comprise the following lots:

Lot 1)

Public diplomacy, information outreach and organization of events: The objective is to

provide support (both in terms of content and logistics, as appropriate and as defined in the

specific terms of reference) in the fields of: a) the organization of EU public diplomacy and

outreach initiatives in third countries (in liaison with the local EU Delegations and/or EU

HQ); b) the design and delivery of information campaigns, including initiatives that aim at

increasing societal resilience to disinformation; and c) the organization of events such as

conferences, seminars, open days, information days, information visits, international fora and

symposia, participation at fairs and exhibitions.

Lot 2)

Technical assistance: expected to support and advise EU services (Headquarters and/or

EU Delegations) by providing technical inputs and by assisting in carrying out analysis,

studies and providing opinions and advice, including legal advice. To this end, Lot 2 should

provide expertise related to: a) Analytical studies (e.g. feasibility studies,

institutional/stakeholder analysis, political and economic analysis, intervention logic and

logical framework approach/theory of change, economic analysis, data collection and

analysis). This will also include mainstreaming of crosscutting issues (climate change,

environment, resilience, disinformation, youth, gender, disabilities and more broadly rights

based approach), analysis of legislation, regulations and law enforcement, legislative gap

analysis; b) Policy-related analysis and design; c) Monitoring and evaluation and related

training

Lot 3)

Trade and market access: The objective of Lot 3 is to carry out technical assistance

(feasibility studies, technical reports, baseline and benchmarking relevant for the policy

dialogues) in the field of trade. The following specific objectives will be addressed: a)

Increase business and trading opportunities for EU companies in third countries b) Ensure that

trade and investment agreements are negotiated based on solid information relating to partner

countries’ market and legislation c) Ensure proper enforcement and implementation of trade

and investment agreements, including the provision of unilateral trade preferences and if

necessary via technical assistance d) Promote these agreements with business and other civil

society organisations e) Strengthen capacity for the implementation of Trade and Sustainable

Development chapters, in particular labour provisions and the promotion of internationally

recognised principles and guidelines of corporate social responsibility f) Support market

access activities to ensure the removal of trade and investment barriers for EU business g)

Reinforce Market Access Teams with the aim of contributing to the strategic EU objectives of

strengthening the presence of EU companies in global markets and of improving the EUs

capacity to tackle barriers that block trade and investment h) Contribute to the monitoring of

the business related environment in key markets.

8. Number and titles of lots

Lot 1) Public diplomacy, information outreach and organization of events

Lot 2) Technical assistance

Lot 3) Trade and market access

9. Maximum budget

Lot 1: 74,000,000 EUR

Lot 2: 66,000,000 EUR

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Lot 3: 60,000,000 EUR

10. Scope for additional services

The Contracting Authority may, at its own discretion, increase the maximum budget of the

Framework Contract not exceeding 100% of the value of the initial Framework Contract. Any

extension of the contract would be subject to satisfactory performance by the contractors.

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 organisations.

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 per lot 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 per lot, all applications in which that person has participated will be excluded.

Candidates may submit an application for one lot only, several lots or all of the lots, but only one

application per lot. Contracts will be awarded lot by lot and each lot will form a separate contract.

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 unless prior

approval from the contracting authority has been obtained (see practical guide – PRAG – 2.6.3.).

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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 per each lot of 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

March 2019

19. Provisional commencement date of the contract

September 2019

20. Initial period of implementation of tasks

September 2019 – August 2021, with possible extension up to August 2023

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 singlemember companies when they are sub-contractors.

FOR LOT 1:

1) Economic and financial capacity of the individual tenderer or leader of a consortium

submitting a tender (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.

the average annual turnover of the candidate must exceed 10,000,000 EUR.

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2) Professional capacity (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.

At least 20 members of permanent staff employed must currently be working in fields

relating to one of the following areas (both areas to be covered):

public diplomacy, information environments and outreach initiatives in third countries

organization of events such as conferences, seminars, open days, information days,

information visits, international fora and symposia, participation at fairs and exhibitions.

An organigramme of the individual tenderer or, if the application is submitted by a

consortium, an organigramme of the leader of the consortium and a list of staff shall be

annexed to the application (the list of the staff will include the name and position of the

employee) as documentary proof to meet this selection criterion.

3) Technical capacity (based on items 5 and 6 of the application form). The reference period

which will be taken into account will be the last five years from submission deadline.

The candidate has worked on at least 15 projects (with a budget above 300,000 EUR

each, of which at least 50 % has been implemented by one or several members of the

consortium, based on section 6 of the application form) in providing technical and

administrative services in the field of public diplomacy and outreach.

The candidate must provide a list of at least 15 references that conform to the description

below. The candidate should include no more than 30 references and any extra

references will not be taken into account.

The referenced services and expertise shall cover:

a) At least five projects concerning public diplomacy1

, information environments and

outreach initiatives such as round-tables, seminars, conferences, workshops,

briefing sessions, webinars, visitors programmes/study visits, debate-based events,

social-media and media awareness raising campaigns, side activities at the margin

on EU-third countries bilateral summits, training sessions on specific EU policy

areas (i.a. for policy makers, media, NGOs, civil society and academia),

networking events (e.g. with alumni/beneficiaries of EU programmes), EU

roadshows and fairs, modelling EU and competitions.

b) At least ten projects concerning the organization of events such as conferences,

seminars, open days, information days, information visits, international fora and

symposia, participation at international fairs and exhibitions.

c) At least ten referenced projects must have been carried out in ten different

industrialised and other high-income or middle-income countries and territories

outside the EU2

.

FOR LOT 2:

1

Public Diplomacy refers to the “process whereby a country or an entity seeks to build trust and understanding by

engaging with a broader foreign public beyond the governmental relations that, customarily, have been the focus of

diplomatic effort , Preparatory Action: Culture in EU External Relations, European Parliament resolution of 12

May 2011 on the cultural dimensions of the EUs external actions.

2 http://intragate.ec.europa.eu/dg/devco/prag/annexes.do?annexName=A2a&lang=en notably annexes 7, 9 and 10

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1) Economic and financial capacity of the individual tenderer or leader of a consortium

submitting a tender (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.

the average annual turnover of the candidate must exceed 10,000,000 EUR.

2) Professional capacity (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.

At least 20 members of permanent staff employed must currently be working in fields

relating to one of the following areas (all areas to be covered):

Analytical studies (e.g. feasibility studies, institutional/stakeholder analysis, political and

economic analysis, information environment assessments, strategic environmental

assessments, environmental impact assessments, climate risk assessments, intervention

logic and logical framework approach/theory of change, economic analysis, data

collection and analysis, performance measurement and indicators, monitoring and

evaluation systems). This must also include mainstreaming of crosscutting issues (climate

change, environment, resilience, youth, gender, rights of citizens in third countries,

disabilities and more broadly rights based approach), analysis of legislation, regulations

and law enforcement, legislative gap analysis, etc.

Policy-related analysis (e.g. gender analysis, religious dynamics assessments,

disinformation analysis) and design. This must also include mainstreaming of crosscutting

issues.

Monitoring and evaluation and related training (e.g. project cycle management training,

mid-term, final and ex-post, impact evaluations)

An organigramme of the individual tenderer or, if the application is submitted by a

consortium, an organigramme of the leader of the consortium and a list of staff shall be

annexed to the application (the list of the staff will include the name and position of the

employee) as documentary proof to meet this selection criterion.

3) Technical capacity (based on items 5 and 6 of the application form). The reference period

which will be taken into account will be the last five years from submission deadline.

The candidate has worked on at least 15 projects (with a budget above 100,000 EUR

each, of which at least 50 % has been implemented by one or several members of the

consortium, based on section 6 of the application form) in providing technical inputs and

by assisting in carrying out analysis, studies, evaluations and providing opinions and

advice.

The candidate must provide a list of at least 15 references that conform to the description

below. The candidate should include no more than 30 references and any extra

references will not be taken into account.

a) The referenced services and expertise shall cover at least two thirds (i.e. at least

15) of the following fields:

1) environment, natural resources, biodiversity and sustainable water management;

2) raw materials;

3) energy;

4) climate change;

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5) smart, sustainable and green growth;

6) research, development and innovation;

7) industry and SMEs;

8) regulatory cooperation and standards harmonisation;

9) employment and social policy;

10) education and training;

11) judicial cooperation;

12) migration and mobility;

13) foreign policy/security;

14) disinformation and societal resilience

15) health and consumer safety;

16) digital;

17) economic and financial affairs;

18) transport;

19) governance, human rights and democracy;

20) maritime policy;

21) culture and creativity;

22) tourism;

23) citizens’ rights

b) At least ten referenced projects must have been carried out in ten different

industrialised and other high-income or middle-income countries and territories

outside the EU3

FOR LOT 3:

1) Economic and financial capacity of the individual tenderer or leader of a consortium

submitting a tender (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.

the average annual turnover of the candidate must exceed 10,000,000 EUR.

2) Professional capacity (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.

At least 20 members of permanent staff employed must currently be working in fields

relating to:

technical assistance (feasibility studies, technical reports, baseline and benchmarking

relevant for the policy dialogues) in the field of trade.

3 http://intragate.ec.europa.eu/dg/devco/prag/annexes.do?annexName=A2a&lang=en notably annexes 7, 9 and 10

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An organigramme of the individual tenderer or, if the application is submitted by a

consortium, an organigramme of the leader of the consortium and a list of staff shall be

annexed to the application (the list of the staff will include the name and position of the

employee) as documentary proof to meet this selection criterion.

3) Technical capacity (based on items 5 and 6 of the application form). The reference period

which will be taken into account will be the last five years from submission deadline.

3.1) The candidate has worked on at least 15 projects (with a budget above 50 000 EUR

each, of which at least 50 % has been implemented by one or several members of the

consortium, based on section 6 of the application form) in providing technical and

administrative services in the field of trade and market access.

The candidate must provide a list of at least 20 references that conform to the description

below. The candidate should include no more than 40 references and any extra

references will not be taken into account.

3.1.a) The referenced services and expertise shall cover all 22 of the following

fields, of which a project may cover more than one field (each project and field

covered should be indicated by the candidate):

1. customs and trade facilitation,

2. import formalities and requirements,

3. non-tariff barriers (NTBs),

4. technical-barriers to trade (TBTs),

5. investment,

6. services, either financial services or transport services

7. rules of origin and origin procedures,

8. intellectual property rights,

9. public procurement,

10. corporate social responsibility, gender and/or labour rights

11.sustainable development and/or environment,

12.sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures,

13. agriculture and/or fisheries,

14. competition policy,

15. anti-fraud,

16. energy and/or raw material,

17. telecommunications,

18. electronic commerce,

19. Proceedings linked to WTO dispute settlements,

20.Removal of market access barriers in third countries,

21.Advocacy with third country governments and/or third country civil society

organisations,

22.Taxation issues.

3.1.b) At least ten referenced projects must have been carried out in ten different

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industrialised and other high-income or middle-income countries and territories

outside the EU4

.

3.2) The candidate has worked on at least 5 projects (with a budget above 100 000 EUR

each, of which at least 50 % has been implemented by one or several members of the

consortium, based on section 6 of the application form) in event management. Each

project must have been implemented in a different location among the following (South

Africa, China, Japan, South Korea, India, Canada, US, Brazil, Mexico, Russia).

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 which will be taken into

consideration during this re-examination, in the order that they appear below, are:

1) The total number of reference projects found eligible under Technical capacity for each

lot; and in case of equality on this criterion,

then

2) The value of the eligible part (the proportion carried out by the candidate participating

either individually or in a grouping) of the projects found eligible under Technical capacity

for each lot

N.B.: additional comparative criterion 2) will be applied only if the number of eligible

candidates remain higher than 8 after applying additional comparative criterion 1).

22. Award criteria

4 http://intragate.ec.europa.eu/dg/devco/prag/annexes.do?annexName=A2a&lang=en notably annexes 7, 9 and 10

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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, or 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 slip5

, but in the second case it is the acknowledgment of

receipt given at the time of the delivery of the application which will serve as proof.

Time 17:00 local time on 8 February 2019

Any application submitted 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 or of the evaluation

report, if accepting applications that were submitted on time but arrived late would considerably

delay the evaluation procedure(for instance when applications are received after the evaluation

committee has finished its works and evaluating them would imply re-calling the evaluation

committee) 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

Service for Foreign Policy Instruments

5

It is recommended to use registered mail in case the postmark would not be readable.

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Unit FPI.1

Office EEAS/02/306

For the attention of Christian Meunier

B – 1049 Brussels

OR hand delivered by the participant 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

Service for Foreign Policy Instruments

Unit FPI.1

Office EEAS/02/306

For the attention of Christian Meunier

Avenue du Bourget 1

B-1140 Brussels (Evere) Belgium

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

23 November 2018 (OJ nr 2018/226)

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 234/2014 of the European Parliament and of

the Council of 11 March 2014 establishing a Partnership Instrument for cooperation with third

countries - See Annex A2 of the practical guide.

30. Additional information

NA

* * *

Electronically signed on 21/12/2018 13:05 (UTC+01) in accordance with article 4.2 (Validity of electronic documents) of Commission Decision 2004/563