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EUROPEAN COMMISSION

DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR EDUCATION AND CULTURE

Culture and Creativity Library and e-Resources Centre

CALL FOR TENDERS

Open procedure EAC/23/2015

Subject: Framework contract for supplies of books, yearbooks, updates and

monographic series

TENDER SPECIFICATIONS

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................... 2

1. INFORMATION ON TENDERING .......................................................................... 3

1.1. Participating institutions ....................................................................................... 3

1.2. Participation ......................................................................................................... 3

1.3. Contractual conditions.......................................................................................... 4

1.4. Compliance with applicable law .......................................................................... 4

1.5. Joint tenders.......................................................................................................... 4

1.6. Subcontracting ...................................................................................................... 4

1.7. Structure and content of the tender ...................................................................... 5

1.8. Identification of the tenderer ................................................................................ 5

2. TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS ............................................................................. 6

2.1. Scope of the framework contract ......................................................................... 6

2.2. Countries of publication covered by the framework contract .............................. 7

2.3. Description of the tasks ........................................................................................ 7

3. EVALUATION AND AWARD ............................................................................... 12

3.1. Award criteria ..................................................................................................... 12

3.2. Ranking of tenders ............................................................................................. 15

3.3. Verification of non-exclusion ............................................................................. 15

3.4. Selection criteria ................................................................................................. 16

4. ANNEXES ................................................................................................................ 19

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1. INFORMATION ON TENDERING

1.1. Participating institutions

This call for tenders is inter-institutional. The framework contracts resulting from this

procedure may therefore be used by the European Commission (the lead contracting

authority) and by any of the following participating institutions as well.

Name

Short name

or

abbreviation

Seat

Council of the European Union Council Brussels

European External Action Service EEAS Brussels

Committee of the Regions CoR Brussels

European Asylum Support Office EASO Valletta

European Securities and Markets Authority ESMA Paris

Body Of European Regulators For Electronic Communications BEREC Riga

Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency EACEA Brussels

European Agency for the Management of Operational

Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of

the European Union

Frontex Warsaw

Research Executive Agency REA Brussels

Single Resolution Board SRB Brussels

European Institute for Gender Equality EIGE Vilnius

European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and

Working Conditions

Eurofound Dublin

1.2. Participation

Participation in this procurement procedure is open on equal terms to all natural and legal

persons coming within the scope of the Treaties, as well as to international organisations.

It is also open to all natural and legal persons established in a third country which has a

special agreement with the Union in the field of public procurement on the conditions laid

down in that agreement. Where the plurilateral Agreement on Government Procurement1

concluded within the World Trade Organisation applies, the participation to this procedure is

also open to all natural and legal persons established in the countries that have ratified this

Agreement, on the conditions it lays down.

1 See http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_E/gproc_e/gp_gpa_e.htm

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1.3. Contractual conditions

The tenderer should bear in mind the provisions of the draft contract which specifies the

rights and obligations of the contractor, particularly those on payments, performance of the

contract, confidentiality, and checks and audits.

1.4. Compliance with applicable law

The tender must comply with applicable environmental, social and labour law obligations

established by Union law, national legislation, collective agreements or the international

environmental, social and labour conventions listed in Annex X to Directive 2014/24/EU2.

1.5. Joint tenders

A joint tender is a situation where a tender is submitted by a group of economic operators

(natural or legal persons). Joint tenders may include subcontractors in addition to the

members of the group.

In case of joint tender, all members of the group assume joint and several liability towards the

Contracting Authority for the performance of the contract as a whole, i.e. both financial and

operational liability. Nevertheless, tenderers must designate one of the economic operators as

a single point of contact (the leader) for the Contracting Authority for administrative and

financial aspects as well as operational management of the contract.

After the award, the Contracting Authority will sign the contract either with all members of

the group, or with the leader on behalf of all members of the group, authorised by the other

members via powers of attorney.

1.6. Subcontracting

Subcontracting is permitted but the contractor will retain full liability towards the Contracting

Authority for performance of the contract as a whole.

Tenderers are required to identify all subcontractors whose share of the contract is above 10%

and whose capacity is necessary to fulfil the selection criteria.

During contract performance, the change of any subcontractor identified in the tender or

additional subcontracting will be subject to prior written approval of the Contracting

Authority.

2 Directive 2014/24/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2014 on public

procurement and repealing Directive 2004/18/EC (OJ L 94, 28.3.2014, p. 65).

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1.7. Structure and content of the tender

The tenders must be presented as follows:

Part A: Identification of the tenderer (see section 1.8)

Part B: Technical offer

The technical offer must cover all aspects and tasks required in the technical

specifications and provide all the information needed to apply the award criteria.

Offers deviating from the requirements or not covering all requirements may be

rejected on the basis of non-compliance with the tender specifications and will not be

evaluated.

Part C: Financial offer

Using the form in Annex 7, tenderers must indicate one rate for each category of

orders (see 2.3.2.c). The tenderer must sign each page of the completed form. The

signature of the tender commits the tenderer vis-à-vis the Contracting Authority.

Part D: Non-exclusion (see section 3.3)

Part E: Selection (see section 3.4)

1.8. Identification of the tenderer

The tender must include the annex 1 signed by an authorised representative presenting the

name of the tenderer (including all entities in case of joint tender) and identified

subcontractors if applicable, and the name of the single contact point (leader) in relation to

this procedure.

In case of joint tender, the annex 1 must be signed either by an authorised representative for

each member, or by the leader authorised by the other members with powers of attorney. The

signed powers of attorney must be included in the tender as well. Subcontractors that are

identified in the tender must provide a letter of intent signed by an authorised representative

stating their willingness to provide the services presented in the tender and in line with the

present tender specifications.

All tenderers (including all members of the group in case of joint tender) must provide a

signed Legal Entity Form with its supporting evidence. The form is available on:

http://ec.europa.eu/budget/contracts_grants/info_contracts/legal_entities/legal_entities_en.cfm

Tenderers that are already registered in the Contracting Authority’s accounting system (i.e.

they have already been direct contractors) must provide the form but are not obliged to

provide the supporting evidence.

The tenderer (or the leader in case of joint tender) must provide a Financial Identification

Form with its supporting documents. Only one form per tender should be submitted. No form

is needed for subcontractors and other members of the group in case of joint tender. The form

is available on: http://ec.europa.eu/budget/contracts_grants/info_contracts/index_en.cfm

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2. TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

2.1. Scope of the framework contract

The purpose of this call for tenders is to award a framework contract for the supply to the

contracting authority of

books, mostly in paper format and exceptionally in electronic format, when no paper

version is available3

yearbooks, updates and monographic series in paper or electronic format

(hereinafter "items") published in the countries listed in paragraph 2.2.

The collections of the European institutions cover all policies of the European Union, in

particular:

1. International cooperation - International relations - International law - European

Union

2. Economic policy - Planning - Social policy - Social problems

3. Economics - Economic conditions - Economic doctrines and systems

4. Law - Administration - Politics

5. Culture - Society

6. Education - Training

7. Agriculture

8. Industry

9. Trade

10. Transport

11. Public finance - Banking - International monetary relations

12. Management - Productivity

13. Labour

14. Demography - Population

15. Biology - Food - Health

16. Environment - Natural resources

17. Earth sciences - Space sciences

18. Science - Research - Methodology

19. Information – Documentation - Computer science - Terminology

Please note that the nature of the requirements below shall be understood as follows.

If the word "must" or "shall" are used to describe an aspect of a requirement then that aspect

is mandatory. When the requirement is more than a simple "Yes" to a specific compliance

then the tenderer will need to explain, succinctly and convincingly (see Annex 6), how the

requirement is met. Bids with an unqualified "No" response will be excluded.

3 Please note that the supply of ebooks is covered by an existing framework contract

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If the words "would be an advantage" are used to describe an aspect of a requirement, then it

does not address a mandatory requirement. Accordingly, the number of points at stake is

fewer than for a requirement described as "shall" or "must". A duly justified compliance with

the requirement will score full points. A partial compliance or a duly justified future

compliance or even a non-compliance are acceptable responses; however they will be scored

correspondingly lower.

2.2. Countries of publication covered by the framework contract

This tender covers items published in the following geographical areas:

zone 1: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden, the

United Kingdom, the United States and all other third countries except Switzerland.

Are considered as "third countries" the countries that are not member of the European

Union.

zone 2: Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal and Spain.

2.3. Description of the tasks

2.3.1. Order forms

Items will be ordered by the contracting authority through order forms or specific contracts.

Any reference to order forms applies also to specific contracts.

Order forms will mention the references of the items ordered and their price.

Prices mentioned in the order forms will be calculated according to the provisions of chapter

2.3.2.

The contractor shall sign and date the order forms received from the contracting authority. It

shall send the order forms back to the contracting authority no later than 10 days after their

receipt.

An order form will be considered placed when it is signed and dated by both the contracting

authority and the contractor.

Please note that the words "single orders" and "standing orders", when used in these tender

specifications, shall be understood as follows:

single orders are order forms placed for books in paper format and in electronic

format, when no paper version is available.

standing orders are order forms placed for yearbooks, updates and monographic series

in paper or electronic format (see list in Annex 5).

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2.3.2. Pricing

a. Formula for calculating prices

The net final prices of the ordered items will be calculated on the basis of the rates (see c.)

proposed by the successful tenderer using only the following formula:

Price in the order form = final net price in euros excluding VAT = (publisher price excluding

VAT) X (rate for the category of order)

b. Who is responsible for calculating prices?

On the basis of the formula above, the final net price of the ordered items will be calculated:

either directly by the contracting authority (see d.) or

by the contractor on the basis of a price request sent by the contracting authority (see

e.).

The contracting authority reserves the right to use either method above.

c. Rates

There are 4 categories of orders. The applicable rate depends upon the category of orders

regardless of the geographical area (zones 1 and 2).

Category of orders

Rate

Standing orders in electronic format (1)

Standing orders in paper format (1)

Single orders (1)

Publications of non-commercial publishers (both standing and single

orders) (2)

(1): excluding publications of non-commercial publishers

(2): Are considered non-commercial publishers organisations whose main objectives is not

the publication or distribution of books or provision of information, such as NGOs,

professional bodies, international organisations.

The rates proposed by the tenderer shall be applicable for the whole duration of the

framework contract. They shall therefore not be revised.

For a given category of orders, the same rate shall cover the two geographical zones

mentioned in paragraph 2.2. For information, items published in zone 1 represented, in 2015

and 2014, more than 90% of the orders placed by the contracting authority.

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The rates shall take account of all discounts and all handling, delivery and service costs –

except extra-fast delivery costs (see 2.3.3.b. "Delivery of the items ordered"). No extra

charges will be accepted. It must also cover all tasks, including all travel and subsistence

expenses foreseen by the tenderer for the execution of the tasks. Such travel and subsistence

costs will not be reimbursed separately, even if the costs prove to be different from the

tender’s initial estimate.

Reminder: prices will be free of all duties, taxes and other charges, including VAT, as the

European Union is exempt from such charges under Articles 3 and 4 of the Protocol on the

privileges and immunities of the European Union.

d. Prices directly calculated by the contracting authority

The contracting authority will calculate the net final price of the item to be ordered according

to the formula mentioned in chapter 2.3.2.a.

The contracting authority is likely to use this method when the publisher price in euros

excluding VAT can be found easily (for example on the publisher website).

e. Prices calculated by the contractor on the basis of a price request sent by the

contracting authority

Prior to filling in the order form, the contracting authority will send to the contractor a price

request.

This procedure shall be used whenever the contracting authority deems it necessary or

appropriate, and without having to bring any justification. It shall also be used each time an

extra-fast delivery is requested by the contracting authority (see 2.3.3.b. "Delivery of the

items ordered").

Such a request is not an order form and cannot be regarded as a commitment to order.

The contractor shall calculate the price according to the formula mentioned in paragraph

2.3.2.a and provide the contracting authority with a price quotation within 5 working days

from receipt of the price request and within 1 working day in case of urgent price request.

The period of validity of this quotation shall be 60 calendar days from the quotation date for

items published in the euro zone and 30 calendar days for other items. During this period of

validity, the price shall remain fixed and may not be revised in line with exchange rate

movements. It is for the tenderer to assume the risks or the benefits deriving from any

variation. Prices must be quoted free of all duties, taxes and other charges, including VAT, as

the European Union is exempt from such charges under Articles 3 and 4 of the Protocol on

the privileges and immunities of the European Union. The amount of VAT may be shown

separately.

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2.3.3. Management of orders by the contractor

Orders will be managed by the contractor according to the following steps.

a. Verification of the order forms

Upon receipt of an order form, the contractor shall check that the price, the title, the year of

publication, the publisher and the format mentioned in the order form correspond to the ISBN

code indicated. Any inconsistency shall be immediately reported to the contracting authority.

b. Delivery of the items ordered

The time allowed for delivery shall be maximum 3 weeks starting from the date of signature

of the order form by the last party or from the date of publication of the item ordered,

whichever comes the latest.

The time allowed for delivery shall cover:

the supply by the publisher to the contractor of the ordered items

the shipment of the ordered items by the contractor to the contracting authority.

The contractor shall undertake any research and take any necessary steps to supply to the

contracting authority the ordered items, should they be difficult to find.

If the contractor realizes that the delivery time will be above 3 weeks (for example if an item

proves to be difficult to find or cannot be quickly supplied by the publisher), it shall inform

the contracting authority as soon as possible and in any case before the expiration of the three-

week time limit. See also 2.3.3.c. "Cancellations".

Delivery costs are deemed to be included in the prices calculated according to the methods

explained in paragraph 2.3.2.c. No additional cost shall therefore be invoiced by the

contractor for delivery, except in the circumstance below:

The contracting authority may request an extra-fast delivery in exceptional cases. This extra

fast delivery may entail additional costs. These costs shall be communicated by the contractor

to the contracting authority in the price quotation following a price request (see 2.3.2.e).

The delivery points are located in the European Union, mainly in Brussels. The exact

addresses of the delivery points and details of the final addressees shall be communicated to

the contractor in the order forms.

Items delivered in hard copy must be packed in such a way that they are protected against

damage (e.g. during handling) and labelled correctly.

The contractor shall bear all costs and risks involved in delivering the goods to the place of

delivery.

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c. Cancellations

The contracting authority reserves the right to cancel an order where the contractor is not in a

position to deliver the item(s) ordered within 3 weeks from the date of signature by both

parties of the order form or from the date of publication, whichever comes the latest.

2.3.4. Questions, claims and complaints handling

The contractor shall reply to any questions, claims and complaints formulated by the

contracting authority within 5 working days from their receipt.

The contractor shall be responsible for taking any appropriate contacts, including with the

publishers, in order to solve as quickly as possible any problem that may arise concerning in

particular the availability, the delivery and the prices of ordered items.

In order to ensure a smooth communication, the contractor shall designate at least one

member of its staff to deal with queries from the contracting authority.

2.3.5. Additional specific requirements regarding standing orders

a. Electronic standing orders

The subscription period for electronic standing orders shall start as from the day on which the

contracting authority is able to access the ordered item.

The contractor shall be responsible for:

contacting the publishers and taking the necessary steps to ensure that access is

granted to the contracting authority

informing the contracting authority once the access has been given by the publishers

liaising with the publisher to convey any request/complaints formulated by the

contracting authority regarding access to these electronic subscriptions.

b. Delivery of publications covered by a standing order

The contractor shall ensure identification and delivery of all items covered by a standing order

upon their publication.

c. List of standing orders - Annex 5

The list of standing orders provided in annex 5 is indicative. It is given for guidance and for

evaluation purposes only. The contracting authority is not obliged to order any of the listed

items.

During the implementation of the framework contract, the list of standing orders is reviewed

each year and may be amended. Each year, the contracting authority shall send an order form

to indicate which standing orders have to be renewed. There will be no automatic renewal.

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2.3.6. Supply of additional services and use of IT systems

The supply by the contractor of the following additional services would be an advantage:

machine-readable cataloguing data in MARC21 format (ISO 2709 unicode);

alerts concerning newly published items (in the geographical areas specified in

paragraph 2.2).

The supply of the above additional services will be deemed to be included in the rates

proposed by the tenderer (see paragraph 2.3.2.c.).

The use by the contractor of the following IT systems would be an advantage:

EDI (electronic data interchange) ;

e-prior.

Technical specifications concerning e-prior (i.e. the interface control document), details on

access and user manuals are available at the following website:

http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/informatics/supplier_portal/documentation/documentation_en.htm

3. EVALUATION AND AWARD

The evaluation is based solely on the information provided in the submitted tender. It

involves:

1. Verification of compliance with the minimum requirements set out in these

tender specifications.

2. Evaluation of tenders on the basis of the award criteria.

3. Verification of non-exclusion on the basis of the exclusion criteria of tenderers

whose tenders have been ranked first and second in relation to the assessment

of the award criteria and to the ranking formula.

4. Selection on the basis of selection criteria of tenderers whose tenders have

been ranked first and second in relation to the assessment of the award criteria

and to the ranking formula.

The contracting authority may reject abnormally low tenders, in particular if it established that

the tenderer or a subcontractor does not comply with applicable obligations in the fields of

environmental, social and labour law.

The tenders will be assessed in the order indicated above. Only tenders meeting the

requirements of one step will pass on to the next step.

3.1. Award criteria

The contract will be awarded based on the most economically advantageous tender,

according to the 'best price-quality ratio' award method. The quality of the tender will

be evaluated based on the following criteria. The maximum score for quality criteria is

70 points. The maximum score for price is 30 points.

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3.1.1. Number of titles amongst the titles listed in Annex 5 which the contractor

is able to provide

This criterion will be awarded points out of 20 points, according to the following formula:

Score = (number of titles indicated as available amongst the titles listed in Annex 5 / total

number of titles listed in Annex 5) x 20.

Tenders scoring less than 70% for this first criterion will be rejected.

3.1.2. Management of the orders by the contractor

This criterion evaluates the quality of the services proposed by the tenderer to deliver the

ordered items to the contracting authority in the shortest time limits (management of order

forms upon their receipt, check of the availability of the ordered items and delivery).

This criterion will be awarded points out of 15 points.

It will be assessed on the basis of the answers given by the tenderer to the questionnaire (see

annex 6, question 1).

Tenders scoring less than 50% for this second criterion will be rejected.

3.1.3. Questions, claims and complaints handling

This criterion evaluates the system proposed by the contractor to deal with questions, claims

and complaints from the contracting authority in the shorter time limits.

This criterion will be awarded points out of 10 points.

It will be assessed on the basis of the answers given by the tenderer to the questionnaire (see

annex 6, question 2).

3.1.4. Specific management of standing orders by the contractor

This criterion evaluates the services proposed by the contractor for:

the management of electronic standing orders

the identification and delivery of all the items covered by a standing order

This criterion will be awarded points out of 15 points.

It will be assessed on the basis of the answers given by the tenderer to the questionnaire (see

annex 6, question 3).

Tenders scoring less than 50% for this fourth criterion will be rejected.

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3.1.5. Supply of additional services and use of IT systems

The tender will be awarded points out of 10 with regard to the possibility, for the tenderer, to

supply the additional services and use the IT systems listed in chapter 2.3.6.

It will be assessed on the basis of the answers given to the questionnaire (see annex 6,

question 4).

The following 4 criteria will be assessed:

1. Supply of machine-readable cataloguing data in MARC21 (out of 2,5 points)

2. Alert system to inform on newly published items (out of 2,5 points)

3. Possibility to use EDI (out of 2,5 points)

4. Possibility to use e-prior (out of 2,5 points).

3.1.6. Price

As far as price is concerned, the tender will be assessed on the basis of the rates (see 2.3.2.c.

for definition) proposed by the tenderer for the 4 categories of orders below. Points will be

awarded out of 30 according to the following split:

Category of orders

Score

Rate for standing orders in electronic format (1)

up to 9 points

Rate for standing orders in paper format (1)

up to 9 points

Rate for single orders (1)

up to 10 points

Rate for publications of non-commercial publishers (both standing

and single orders) (2)

up to 2 points

(1): excluding publications of non-commercial publishers

(2): Are considered non-commercial publishers organisations whose main objectives is not

the publication or distribution of books or provision of information, such as NGOs,

professional bodies, international organisations.

For each of the 4 rates, the lowest acceptable bid will receive the maximum number of points.

The remaining tenders will be awarded points according to the ratio between their rate and the

lowest rate, such that, the more expensive a tender, the fewer points it will receive.

Score for Price = [(lowest acceptable bid for electronic standing orders/bid) x 9] + [(lowest

acceptable bid for standing orders in paper format/bid) x 9] + [(lowest acceptable bid for

individual orders/bid) x 10] + [(lowest acceptable bid for publications of non-commercial

publishers/bid) x 2]

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3.2. Ranking of tenders

The contract will be awarded to the tenderer reaching the highest score according to the

following formula: Total score for tender X= Total score for qualitative criteria for tender X +

Points for price for tender X.

3.3. Verification of non-exclusion

All tenderers must provide a declaration on honour (see Annex 2) signed and dated by an

authorised representative, stating that they are not in one of the situations of exclusion listed

in that declaration on honour.

In case of joint tender, each member of the group must provide a declaration on honour

signed by an authorised representative.

In case of subcontracting, all subcontractors whose share of the contract is above 10 % and

whose capacity is necessary to fulfil the selection criteria must provide a declaration on

honour signed by an authorised representative.

The Contracting Authority reserves the right to verify whether the successful tenderer is in

one of the situations of exclusion by requiring the supporting documents listed in the

declaration of honour.

The successful tenderer must provide the documents mentioned as supporting evidence in the

declaration on honour before signature of the contract and within the standstill period..

The standstill period is a period of 10 days during which the contract cannot be signed by the

contracting authority. This period counts from the day after simultaneous dispatch of the

notification by electronic means to all tenderers whose tenders have been considered regular

at the opening phase (Art. 161 RAP).

If, due to technical reasons, the dispatch is made when using other means, the standstill period

is 15 days (Article 171 RAP). If the requested evidence is not submitted in due time, the

Contracting Authority can award the Contract to the Tenderer evaluated as the next-best.

This requirement applies to each member of the group in case of joint tender and to all

identified subcontractors whose share of the contract is above 10 % and whose capacity is

necessary to fulfil the selection criteria.

The obligation to submit supporting evidence does not apply to international organisations.

A tenderer (or a member of the group in case of joint tender, or a subcontractor) is not

required to submit the documentary evidence if it has already been submitted for another

procurement procedure and provided the documents were issued not more than one year

before the date of their request by the contracting authority and are still valid at that date. In

such cases, the tenderer must declare on its honour that the documentary evidence has already

been provided in a previous procurement procedure, indicate the reference of the procedure

and confirm that that there has been no change in its situation.

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A tenderer (or a member of the group in case of joint tender, or a subcontractor) is not

required to submit a specific document if the contracting authority can access the document in

question on a national database free of charge.

3.4. Selection criteria

Tenderers must prove their legal, regulatory, economic, financial, technical and professional

capacity to carry out the work subject to this procurement procedure.

The tenderer may 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.

The tender must include the proportion of the contract that the tenderer intends to subcontract.

The tenderer (and each member of the group in case of joint tender) must declare whether it is

a Small or Medium Size Enterprise in accordance with Commission Recommendation

2003/361/EC. This information is used for statistical purposes only.

3.4.1. Declaration and evidence

The tenderers (and each member of the group in case of joint tender) and subcontractors

whose capacity is necessary to fulfil the selection criteria must provide the declaration on

honour (see Annex 2) signed and dated by an authorised representative, stating that they fulfil

the selection criteria applicable to them. In case of joint tender or subcontracting, the criteria

applicable to the tenderer as a whole will be verified by combining the various declarations

for a consolidated assessment.

This declaration is part of the declaration used for exclusion criteria so only one declaration

covering both aspects should be provided by each concerned entity.

The Contracting Authority will evaluate selection criteria on the basis of the declarations on

honour. Nevertheless, it reserves the right to require evidence of the legal and regulatory,

financial and economic and technical and professional capacity of the tenderers at any time

during the procurement procedure and contract performance. In such case the tenderer must

provide the requested evidence without delay.

After contract award, the successful tenderer will be required to provide the evidence

mentioned below before signature of the contract and within the standstill period. This

requirement applies to each member of the group in case of joint tender and to subcontractors

whose capacity is necessary to fulfil the selection criteria.

A tenderer (or a member of the group in case of joint tender, or a subcontractor) is not

required to submit the documentary evidence if it has already been submitted for another

procurement procedure and provided the documents were issued not more than one year

before the date of their request by the contracting authority and are still valid at that date. In

such cases, the tenderer must declare on its honour that the documentary evidence has already

been provided in a previous procurement procedure, indicate the reference of the procedure

and confirm that that there has been no change in its situation.

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A tenderer (or a member of the group in case of joint tender, or a subcontractor) is not

required to submit a specific document if the contracting authority can access the document in

question on a national database free of charge.

3.4.2. Legal and regulatory capacity

Tenderers must prove that they are allowed to pursue the professional activity necessary to

carry out the work subject to this call for tenders. The tenderer (including each member of the

group in case of joint tender) must provide the following information if it has not been

provided with the Legal Entity Form:

- For legal persons, a legible copy of the notice of appointment of the persons authorised to

represent the tenderer in dealings with third parties and in legal proceedings, or a copy of the

publication of such appointment if the legislation applicable to the legal person requires such

publication. Any delegation of this authorisation to another representative not indicated in the

official appointment must be evidenced.

- For natural persons, if required under applicable law, a proof of registration on a

professional or trade register or any other official document showing the registration number.

3.4.3. Economic and financial capacity criteria

The tenderer must have the necessary economic and financial capacity to perform this

contract until its end. In order to prove their capacity, the tenderer must comply with the

following selection criteria.

- Annual turnover of the last two financial years above EUR 700.000.

- Satisfactory results following the analysis of the financial capacity which will be performed

by the Contracting Authority based on the methodology attached in annex 3a.

The following evidence should be provided:

Contracts worth more than EUR 260 000

For contracts worth more than EUR 260.000, proof of economic and financial capacity is

provided by the following documents:

the declaration on the honour in Annex 2.

the economic and financial capacity analysis form showing the financial data of the

economic operator, completed and signed by the operator (see Annex 3b, 'Economic &

financial capacity form');

for economic operators required under national law to keep a complete set of accounts:

the annual accounts (balance sheet, income statement and annexes) for the last two

years for which accounts have been closed;

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for economic operators required under national law to keep a simplified set of

accounts: the statement of expenditure and revenue and the annex showing assets and

liabilities for the last two financial years for which accounts have been closed;

in all cases, a statement of overall turnover and turnover specifically related to the

supplies or services covered by the contract for the last two financial years for which

accounts have been closed.

If, for some exceptional reason which the Contracting Authority considers justified, a tenderer

is unable to provide one or other of the above documents, it may prove its economic and

financial capacity by any other document which the Contracting Authority considers

appropriate. In any case, the Contracting Authority must at least be notified of the exceptional

reason and its justification. The Commission reserves the right to request any other document

enabling it to verify the tenderer's economic and financial capacity.

3.4.4. Technical and professional capacity criteria and evidence

Tenderers (in case of a joint tender the combined capacity of all tenderers and identified

subcontractors) must comply with the criteria listed below:

The tenderer must have supplied similar services to libraries and/or public

administrations over at least three years;

The tenderer must have the logistical and technical means to execute the contract, in

particular, where appropriate, a goods handling service, a delivery service and IT

facilities;

The contact person(s) must have an experience of at least three years in handling orders

from libraries and/or public administrations;

The following documents must be presented as evidence of compliance with the above

criteria:

Certificates of studies and professional qualifications, incl. CV's of the tenderer and/or

senior staff of the company and, in particular, those responsible for providing the

services in question;

A list of the principal services provided and supplies delivered in the past three years in

the relevant sector, indicating the precise type of work carried out, the dates, the human

resources used, the value of the contract, and the clients (public or private). The

tenderer is requested to give the Commission the names and contacts of at least two

libraries that can be contacted as references;

Certification of compliance or proven experience with EDI (electronic data

interchange).

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4. ANNEXES

The following documents are annexed to these Tender Specifications and form an integral

part of them:

Annex 1 : Tenderer Information

Annex 2 : Declaration on Honour on exclusion criteria and selection criteria

Annex 3a : Methodology on the evaluation of the financial capacity

Annex 3b : Economic & Financial Capacity Form

Annex 4 : Draft Framework Contract

Annex 5 : List of standing orders

Annex 6 : Questionnaire

Annex 7 : Financial offer - Rates