Federal Department of Foreign Affairs FDFA

Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation SDC

TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE FOR LOCAL AUTHORITIES IN POLICY DEVELOPMENT

AND BUDGETING- ROMANIA

1 Terms and abbreviations

Abbreviation Definition

EA Executing Agencies

PPO Federal Ordinance of 11 December 1995 on Public Procurement

EU European Union

HEKS Hilfswerk der Evangelischen Kirchen Schweiz

NGO Non-Governmental Organisation

PMU Programme Management Unit of the Reform Fund linked to the

Inclusion of Roma and other Vulnerable Groups

RIF Reform Fund linked to the Inclusion of Roma and other Vulnerable

Groups

SRCP Swiss-Romanian Cooperation Programme

SCO Swiss Contribution Office in Bucharest

SDC Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation

FDFA Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (Switzerland)

TFA Thematic Fund Agreement

2 Purpose of this document

This document contains the requirements relating to the mandate for the 3 projects

implemented under Line 1 of the “Reform Fund linked to the Inclusion of Roma and other

Vulnerable Groups” part of the Framework Agreement between the Swiss Federal Council

and the Government of Romania concerning the implementation of the Swiss-Romanian

Cooperation Programme (SRCP) to reduce economic and social disparities within the

enlarged European Union. It serves as a template for the bidder to submit his or her offer.

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Contracts are awarded according to the invitation to tender procedure according to Art. 35 of

the PPO.

The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) is looking through the present

tender procedure for an organization to fully implement and administer a Technical

Assistance Programme in minimum 20 project localities, from December 2016 – March 2018,

in close partnership with the Swiss Contribution Office (SCO) in Romania. The bidding

organization must have experience in technical assistance of local authorities in policy

development and financing and operation of grants for vulnerable groups and have the ability

to fluently communicate is both spoken and written Romanian and English.

The Technical Assistance mandate will cover 16 months with possible contract renewal. The

current bidding process is for a single phase 2016-2018 that includes administration and

service costs, project activities, capacity development, communication and public relations

costs. The programme will consist of three components: Training on building the capacity of

the representatives of local authorities, Technical support provided to beneficiaries and an

Investment grant line in value of up to 250’000 CHF.

3 Goal and content of the mandate

3.1 Background

In 2010 a Framework Agreement between the Swiss Federal Council and the Government of

Romania concerning the implementation of the Swiss-Romanian Cooperation Programme to

reduce economic and social disparities within the enlarged European Union was signed. The

Swiss contribution to Romania amounts to CHF 181 million. Switzerland has approved 7

thematic funds and 19 projects aimed at reducing the economic and social disparities until

the end of the commitment period in December 2014. All projects must be completed by

December 2019.

The Annex 4 of the above-mentioned Agreement includes a “Reform Fund linked to the

Inclusion of Roma and other Vulnerable Groups” with a total budget of 14 million CHF. The

respective Thematic Fund Agreement (TFA hereafter) between SDC and the Ministry of

Finance held that the Reform Fund linked to the Inclusion of Roma and other Vulnerable

Groups (Roma Inclusion Fund - RIF) consists of two lines of financing: 11 million CHF were

set aside for Line1, “Improvement of living conditions” and 1 million CHF for Line 2

“Empowerment and awareness building”, and 2 million CHF were allocated to Programme

Management Unit and backstopping, funding for project preparation and reserve. Line 1 is

implemented through three large multi-annual projects, focusing mainly on education and

health, followed by other activities such as community development, housing or vocational

training. The implementation of the 2 lines of the RIF is under the responsibility of the

Programme Management Unit (PMU), which provides assistance in management and

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implementation to Executing Agencies (EAs) and their partners as well monitors all projects

funded under the 2 lines above-mentioned.

The projects are implemented by consortia led by Swiss NGOs, in partnership with

Romanian NGOs. Other partnership agreements are in place to support the implementation

of the projects which include local authorities, schools or other stakeholders. Line 1 of the

Thematic Fund views the integrated character of the projects’ interventions as key towards

the successful realisation of the Thematic Fund’s goals.

Specifically, the Line 1 of the Roma Inclusion Fund has funded three projects, as follows:

a) “Together for Empowerment: Inclusion for Rroma & other Disadvantaged Groups –

zefiR”, implemented by Terre des Hommes, Switzerland (as Executing Agency), and

the following partners: Amare Rromentza Rroma Centre, Împreună Agency for

Community Development, PACT Foundation- Partnership for Community Action and

Transformation, Pestalozzi Foundation Romania; associate partners: Habitat for

Humanity and Sastipen. The project is implemented in Gorj, Olt and Dolj since May

2013 till February 2018.

b) “Social Inclusion and improvement of living conditions for Roma and other

vulnerable groups in Mures, Cluj and Bihor”, implemented by HEKS, Switzerland (as

Executing Agency) and FAER Foundation, Reghin, Diakonia Foundation Cluj-

Napoca, Diakonia Foundation Covasna, Alba Orthodox Philanthropy Association, as

local partners in Alba, Bihor, Cluj, Covasna, Salaj and Mures counties. Its period of

implementation is May 2013 –June 2018.

c) “Inclusion of Roma and Other Vulnerable Groups in Satu Mare and Maramures”,

implemented by Caritas Switzerland (as Executing Agency), Caritas Satu-Mare and

the Resource Centre for Roma Communities, Cluj-Napoca, as local partners in

Maramures and Satu Mare counties. Its period of implementation is February 2014-

December 2017.

Detailed and updated information on projects’ activities can be accessed on

http://romainclusionfund.ro/en/.

In education all the three projects implement several activities to integrate Roma children and

to increase their participation into mainstream education system by establishing,

institutionalizing and up-scaling various supplementary education support such as after-

school classes, catch-up summer kindergarten, other support in pre-school and primary

school level and enhancing inclusive education, enhance the involvement of the parents in

the children’s education and capacitate teachers for providing equally better teaching tools.

In the health and social assistance area, the three projects target to improve social services

by informing the Roma and other vulnerable groups about their right to access medical

services and health insurance; offering assistance for medical registration; information and

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awareness raising on health issues; medical services, nutrition, hygiene, childcare, family

planning, social counselling.

Two of the consortia (TdH and Caritas) implement community development activities in order

to enhance the participation of the communities in the local decision-making process, their

ownership on the projects’ achievements, strengthen them in the relation with local

authorities and other stakeholders and mobilize themselves in finding solutions to their

issues. Two of the projects (TdH and HEKS) offer support and assistance in housing

rehabilitation or building new houses for the most in need beneficiaries.

Till end of 2015 the three projects achieved the various results in the areas of intervention,

namely: in education more than 3500 Roma children of other vulnerable groups benefited of

qualitative services of early education or after school program, while in health and social

assistance there were provided several services (free access to medical services, health

awareness campaigns, social care etc.) to more than 5500 beneficiaries, and in housing

approximately 40 families received support in housing rehabilitation or building new houses;

Since the start-up of the projects, the three consortia worked consistently towards raising

awareness and lobbying the local authorities for co-financing the project activities in order to

build up premises for post project sustainability. Their efforts have been focused on

education, health care and social assistance services, Thus, the EAs succeeded to obtain

overall, per project, approximately 20% (average) of co-funding among which the biggest

segment pertains to the after-school programme.

In addition, in the TdH and Caritas projects within community development component; the

Local Action Plans are developed by the Local Initiative Groups which will include the project

activities transformed into actions for improving social inclusion of Roma people. These plans

would be submitted for approval to Local Councils through advocacy actions and community

mobilisation. However, without sufficient budgeting, the plans will be without value.

The above concerns are determined by several key challenges that Executing Agencies and

their partners are experiencing during the project implementation, specifically:

Lack of political will

The lack of political will of some local public authorities related to the interventions in Roma

communities is generally known. Additionally, because of decentralization, there are a few

tools which can be used to convince local authorities to invest in Roma communities.

Usually, majority of local authorities develop temporary interest during local elections, when

funds are earmarked for Roma communities.

Insufficient financial resources

The main sources of revenue for the local budgets are:

a. The local taxes;

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b. The equalisation transfers from County Councils for rebalancing the

discrepancies between the financial need and the existent financial resources at local

level;

c. The investments.

Nonetheless, the majority of local authorities are financially poor because in rural areas there

is a limited tax generation and the fiscal transfers from county to local level lack in objectivity,

predictability, transparency and poorly cover the financial needs of the local communities.

Poor fiscal capacity of the local authorities.

There is low capacity of local authorities to identify financial resources inside and outside the

local budgets. Specifically, local authorities lack the expertise in developing and

implementing projects funded by EU and other European funds. In the next period several

European funded programmes will be launched. This would be an opportunity for local

authorities to increase the base of their financial resources and investment in the social

services, economic and infrastructure development within vulnerable communities.

Within this general context there is a need for technical assistance for capacity building of

local authorities and to ease several above-mentioned constraints with regard to

sustainability of the projects:

- Lack of political will of some local authorities. The technical assistance in drafting

proposal for EU Funds and other funds is a proven incentive to stimulate the interest

of local authorities to participate in such programmes, this being an opportunity to

bring additional financial resources to the local budget;

- Insufficient financial resources at local level. The technical assistance for local

authorities targeting efficient budgeting of local policies will help local authorities to

identify alternative funds as well as to more efficiently manage their existing financial

situation and cut loses.

3.2 Objectives

The new project will support the enhancement of the political interest and ownership of the

local authorities in providing public services for Roma and other vulnerable groups. The

specific objectives are the following:

- To increase the capacity and skills of the local authorities in budgeting and financial

resourcing the local policies;

- To improve the collaboration among community and local authorities in policy

development and budgeting;

The initiatives that will be developed and implemented within the frame of this proposal will

contribute to the establishment of sustainable capacities and systematic collaboration among

local authorities, civil society and Roma and other vulnerable groups’ communities.

The intervention will strengthen competent public institutions, by strengthening the

decentralization (evidence-based planning at the community level, decentralized and needs-

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based continuous training), facilitating access to quality services of Roma and vulnerable

groups (coordinated and client-oriented), finding proper role for local communities in the

system (public-civil society partnerships, advocating for users’ interests), and enhancing

mechanisms for protection of human rights of service-users and their non-discrimination.

3.3 Content of the mandate, terms of reference

The Contractor follows the Procurement Guideline for the FDFA (SDC) Contractors, which

are available at www.eda.admin.ch > Services and publications > Mandates > Information

and downloads for contractors and contribution recipients. Any departure from these rules

must be justified and authorized beforehand in writing by the FDFA (cf. General Conditions of

Business (GCB) for Project Implementation Mandates – Version December 2015, 2.1. Sub-

contracting agreements).

The technical assistance intervention will target local authorities from approximately 20

projects’ localities, which are the most active through co-financing project activities and

evidenced committed to undertake the costs of several post-project activities. Specifically,

the TA will target the financial and administrative staff of the respective local governments

through a complete process of building the capacity in financial planning, management and

resourcing of local initiatives which will consist in learning tools as well as in practical

demonstrations of the abilities and knowledge gained. Further, the programme must

generate evidences for advocacy actions to line-up intergovernmental financial system by

removing structural obstacles and facilitate the access of local governments to a bigger pool

of financial resources.

The programme will consist in three-pronged components:

a. Training on building the capacity of the representatives of local authorities

responsible for budgeting in efficiently designing the local budgets in order to

serve the interest of all members of communities;

b. Technical support provided to beneficiaries in several areas:

- to the Local Initiative Groups and local authorities in developing the Local

Action Plan (LAP) from the perspective of budgetary prognosis for the next

3 years;

- to the beneficiaries of the training in designing ad planning the local

budgets by including also the budgetary prognosis regarding LAPs;

- to local authorities in identifying additional funds and develop project

proposals accordingly.

For multiplication and exchange of good practices, a network of the beneficiaries,

field studies in the localities of the projects and experience sharing workshops would

be organised. The on-going technical support will be planned and strategized based

on a baseline assessment of the capacity of local authorities in budget planning and

development.

c. Investment grant line in value of up to 250’000 CHF made available to

beneficiaries of the TA in order to put in practice the gained competencies. The

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grant line would be implemented as competitive open call competition for all

beneficiaries of the technical assistance programme, the best proposals being

selected for financing. Therefore, the grant line would be an instrument to

measure the impact of the technical assistance, a reward for the qualitative work

in budget development and planning by the local authorities and to fund specific

actions needed in Roma communities.

The tasks to be fulfilled by the Bidder are grouped in four-pronged components:

a. Training on building the capacity of the representatives of local authorities

responsible for budgeting in efficiently designing the local budgets in order to serve

the interest of all members of communities;

Scope of work:

- To develop a methodology of selection of the minimum 20 project localities that

will benefit of the capacity building on policy development and financing; the main

criteria on which the selection methodology would be developed should be the level

of willingness to participate in the programme and the commitment of the local

authorities towards projects activities and their sustainability;

- To develop a baseline assessment on the capabilities, constraints and obstacles

of the local government to financially supporting social inclusion projects/policies;

- To organize and deliver a capacity building training programme for

representatives of local authorities from 2 project localities of Line 1 to redesign the

budgets and financial plan in accordance with the community needs; The programme

will consist in minimum 2 trainings.

Results expected and deliverables

- A baseline assessment on the capabilities, constraints and obstacles of the

local government in financially supporting social inclusion projects/policies

- A methodology of selection of the projects’ localities beneficiaries of the

programme;

- Minimum 2 training programmes organized with minimum 60 of participants

each;

- Final report which also will contain information of the impact of the training in

comparison with the baseline data on capacity of local authorities on local

budgeting.

b. Technical support provided to beneficiaries in several areas:

- To the Local Initiative Groups and local authorities in developing the Local

Action Plan (LAP) from the perspective of budgetary prognosis for the next 3

years;

- To the beneficiaries of the training in designing ad planning the local budgets

by including also the budgetary prognosis regarding LAPs;

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- To local authorities in identifying additional funds and developing project

proposals accordingly.

Scope of the work is:

- To provide support to Local Initiative Groups/representatives of Roma

communities and local authorities in minimum 20 localities to develop

budgetary forecast for the next three years for implementation of the Local

Action Plans;

- To provide continuous assistance to local authorities from minimum 20

localities to make the most of the existing financial resources through financial

planning and budgeting;

- To identify alternative funding, such as European Funds for effectively

implementing the projects’ services and the Local Action Plans’ objectives;

- To provide assistance in drafting project proposals for European Funds or

other funds;

- To establish a network of the beneficiaries and organize visits/ workshops for

sharing experiences and good practices;

- To develop a guide on local budgeting of local policies for Roma in Romania

and other vulnerable groups based on the final assessment on the impact of

the programme;

- To develop a position paper on the obstacles and lessons learned regarding

the financial implementation of national programmes/strategies at local level,

deficiencies of the actual financial intergovernmental system and

recommendations which would be presented to several national institutions

responsible with policy development and financing in the area of social

inclusion.

Results expected and deliverables:

- Minimum 20 Local Actions Plans with develop budgetary forecast for the next

three years;

- 20 redesigned local budgets;

- Minimum 15 project proposals which cover measures of the Local Action

Plans submitted to calls funded by several European Funds (EU Funds,

Norway Grants, etc.)

- A network for beneficiaries to share the good practice and lessons learned to

overcome the constraints in policy development and budgeting;

- Minimum 20 visits and 4 workshops for sharing experiences and good

practices;

- A guide on local budgeting of local policies for Roma in Romania and other

vulnerable groups;

- Final report which will assess the impact of the programme;

- A position paper on the obstacles and lessons learned regarding the financial

implementation of national programmes/strategies at local level, deficiencies

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of the actual financial intergovernmental system and recommendations which

would be presented to several national institutions responsible with policy

development and financing in the area of social inclusion.

c. Investment grant line in value of up to 250’000 CHF made available to beneficiaries of

the TA in order to put in practice the gained competencies. The grant line would be

implemented as competitive open call competition for all beneficiaries of the technical

assistance programme, the best proposals being selected for financing. Therefore,

the grant line would be an instrument to measure the impact of the technical

assistance, a reward for the qualitative work in budget development and planning by

the local authorities and to fund specific actions needed in Roma communities.

Scope of the work is:

- To develop a guide on Investment Grant which will contain application forms,

tools and procedures for application, selection, implementation and monitoring

phases of the open calls. The guide would be submitted to SCO Romania and

SDC for review and approval;

- To plan, prepare and organize the launching of competition of calls for

proposals. The calls would be launched in two phases following the

finalisation of the training programmes. The pre-announcement of the calls is

a must in order to facilitate applicants’ preparation for the upcoming call. The

call(s) for proposal shall be open to all eligible local authorities and focus on

the projects areas in which the three consortia intervene;

- To set up a group of independent experts and Selection Committee(s) that

shall recommend the projects to be funded within the programme;

- To draft the procedures and formats of notification of approval / rejection

decisions to applicants;

- To inform the applicants about the results of the evaluation of the applications;

- To implement administrative processes from signing the contract till

presentation of the operational and financial reports;

- To prepare and submit reports to the SCO Romania on the implementation of

the Investment Grant and ensuring reporting from beneficiaries;

- To conduct regular monitoring of the grants through visits and review of

financial and technical reports;

- To archive of all documents relevant to the coordination and implementation of

the Investment grant;

- To submit an operational and financial report every 6 months and the final

comprehensive report to SCO Romania and SDC;

- To ensure appropriate implementation of the Visibility Guidelines of SDC,

which is available online on FDFA’s website;

- To closely cooperate with the Programme Management Unit during

preparation, implementation and reporting;

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- To establish an appropriate management and control systems for operation of

the Investment Grant.

Results expected and deliverables:

- The Investment grant to be completely and successfully used for financing

several actions targeting Roma and other vulnerable groups in the localities

which benefitted of the capacity programme;

- Minimum 20 local authorities’ beneficiaries of the Investment Grant;

- Maximum 2 open calls organized and launched;

- A guide on Investment Grant which will contain application forms, tools and

procedures for application, selection, implementation and monitoring phases

of the open calls reviewed and approved by SCO Romania and SDC;

- An archive of all documents relevant to the coordination and implementation

of the Investment grant;

- 2 periodical operational and financial reports and 1 final report reviewed and

approved by SCO Romania and SDC.

d. Management and monitoring of the project

Scope of work is:

- To monitor progress and achievement of planned outputs and outcomes in

accordance with the Logical Framework Matrix;

- To prepare annual and semi-annual activity plans and budgets, operational

and financial reports for consideration by SDC and the Steering Committee;

- To provide other services of relevance for the implementation as stated in the

contract with SDC.

Profile of the Bidding Organization

No consortia are permitted. The bidding organization shall cumulatively fulfil the following

criteria:

To demonstrate their independence of government regarding their financial resources

and decision making process;

Management experience: information on human resources, technical capacity and

sources of finance for the last three years shall be submitted to prove sufficient

management experience;

Previous experience in capacity building of local authorities in policy development

and/or budgeting and in technical assistance in drafting project proposals funded by

various European donors;

Previous experience in operating grants for disadvantaged groups with a minimum

value of 200.000 CHF;

In-depth knowledge and experience in managing and implementing projects targeting

Roma and other vulnerable groups in Romania.

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The experts of the bidding organizations should fulfil the following minimum criteria:

- Extensive knowledge and experience of result-based management, as well as

participatory monitoring and evaluation methodologies and approaches;

- Extensive knowledge and experience of capacity building in policy development and

budgeting, budget management, fundraising and grant operating;

- Demonstrated analytical, communication and report writing skills;

- Training and facilitation experience;

- Fluency in written and spoken in English and Romanian;

- The experts should not have been involved in the project design or implementation of

projects funded by Reform Fund linked to the Inclusion of Roma and other vulnerable

groups.

3.4 Time frame, target dates

Deadline Activity

2nd September 2016 Publication of the mandate on: www.eda.admin.ch

12th September 2016 Expression of interest in submitting an offer by email

15th September 2016 Deadline for submitting questions by email

22th September 2016 Deadline for SDC for sending answers by e-mail to all interested

bidders

7th October 2016 Deadline for submission of complete offers

October- Mid

November 2016 Evaluation (negotiations remain reserved) of the offers submitted

November 2016 Communication on decision to all bidding organizations, publication

of award

End of November

2016 Signing of Contract between SDC and implementing organization

1st December 2016 Mandate begins

4 Formal aspects of the invitation to tender

4.1 Contracting authority

Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation manages the award procedure and is also

the direct mandating party for the bidder.

4.2 Type of procedure

Procurement by the invitation to tender is in accordance with the Federal Ordinance of 11

December 1995 on Public Procurement, PPO, SR 172.056.11.

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The award of contract cannot be contested. Additional services can be directly awarded in

exceptional cases for service mandates that are awarded in the invitation to tender FOPP,

Art. 36, para. 2, lit.d.

The contractor reserves the right to directly award additional services to the successful

bidder of a given award procedure if changing service providers is not possible for economic

or technical reasons, or would entail significant difficulties or incur disproportionate costs for

the contractor.

The three Executing Agencies implementing projects within Line 1 of the RIF, including their

project employees, are not eligible to apply for this tender nor are they allowed to give

information to other bidders. All other are welcome to give in a bid.

4.3 Composition and content of the offer

The bid can be written in the form of a project proposal whereas the format is at the decision

of the bidder but should not exceed 30 pages excl. annexes. The bid shall be used as an

integral part of the contract. The offer shall include the elements below.

Please respect the following structure for your offer, which is compulsory:

Chapter Description No. pages

max

SC/ AC1

0 Cover letter with signatures 2

1 Presentation of the bidder

1.1 Acceptance GCB SC 1

1.2 Declaration of bidder SC 2

1.3 Legal Documents SC 3

1.4 Economic, financial, organizational capability

Self-Declaration of ability to fulfil the mandate

Annual report;

External independent audit report;

Bylaws or organisation chart

SC 4

1.5 Acceptance electronic bill SC 6

1.6 Procurement according Guideline for FDFA

contractors

SC 7

1.7 Experience SC 8

1.8 Personal resources SC 9

1.9 Contact partner SC 10

1.10 Language skills of the key persons SC 11

2 Concept note/technical proposal Max. 10 +

Annexes

AC1

1 Reference to Suitability Criterion (SC) or Award Criterion (AC)

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2.1 Description of prior experience in managing similar

projects and programmes

AC1.1

2.2 Project’s system of objectives including a tentative

Logical Framework

AC1.2

2.3 Description of the methods and type of activities to

provide technical assistance for local authorities

AC1.3

3 Profile of key project staff/experts and their

foreseen roles responsibilities and no. of working

hours

Max. 4 +

CVs (max.

2 pages

each)

AC2

4 Financial Offer

The financial offer is to be submitted in accordance

with the SDC standard project budget template

provided in the documentation in Swiss Francs

(CHF). The cost should be realistically estimated,

market conformity of salaries and fees for project

staff and consultants and in accordance with the

roles, responsibilities and number of working hours

foreseen in the profile of key project staff/experts.

The costs for preparing, organising and operating the

grant should be detailed presented.

The financial offer consists of detailed budget in

accordance with the tentative log-frame.

AC3

4.4 Budget

The total volume of the administrated funds - Investment Grant - (part 4 of the SOR budget

form -annex 4 - for the phase 2016-2018) is estimated to be up to CHF 250’000. Part 1-3 of

the SOR budget form have to be calculated by the bidder. The part 1-3 of the budget is

estimated to be around 70-80% of the Investment Grant’s value. This amount (Part 1-3) will

be evaluated under the award criteria.

Fee rates

All fee rates must cover:

- Remuneration paid to Key Staff;

- Administrative costs of employing Key Staff;

- The margin covering the consultant’s overheads, profit and backstopping facilities

such as general administration and administration related to the Services

(management, personnel administration, secretarial services, book keeping, IT

administration, other support, etc.);

- Contractors may not charge more than for 8 hours in one day. The fees should be

realistic and in accordance with the length of the period necessary for obtaining the

expected results and deliverables requested by the Client.

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There would not be a separated chapter for Administration costs as these would be included

in the costs of the management experts and consultants.

Local travel within Romania.

Travel costs for missions to be undertaken by key staff as part of the assignment away from

the base of operation in the country of the assignment are allowed. Such travel expenses

may comprise: Travels by air/ground by the most appropriate means of transport and the

most direct, practicable route, and shall be on what corresponds to economy class using

existing discount schemes.

Terms of Remuneration

Payment of invoices will be made on the basis of the acceptance, by the Client, of expected

deliverables. Deliverables that generate payments are identified above in section 3.3 Content

of the mandate, Terms of references, subheading “Results expected and deliverables”

(pages 6-8).

No reimbursement can be made for the bidder's work in preparing and submitting his or her

offer.

4.5 Contractual terms

The contract to be concluded is subject to the general terms and conditions for Project

Implementation Mandates.

The general terms and conditions are considered to be accepted when an offer is submitted.

5 Suitability criteria

SC Suitability Criteria Evidence

SC 1 Acceptance GCB

The bidder shall explicitly confirm, without limitation or

modification, the acceptance of the FDFA’s General

Conditions of Business (GCB) as per annex 1 of the

present tender document.

Written confirmation.

SC 2 Declaration of bidder

The bidder has to fill in the declaration of bidder.

Written confirmation, signed

by the bidder according to

annex 2.

SC 3 Legal Documents

Certificate of legal registration of the bidding

organization.

Excerpt from the commercial

register. Bidders from abroad

are required to present

comparable current foreign

official certificates (copy of

original; not older than 6

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SC Suitability Criteria Evidence

months).

SC 4 Economic (ECO) / financial (FIN) / organizational

(ORG) capability

The bidder can verify his or her ability to fulfil the

mandate in technical, financial and commercial terms,

resp. shall confirm this with a self-declaration and

requested documents.

Written confirmation (self-

declaration)

Annual report;

External independent

audit report;

Bylaws or organisation

chart.

SC 6 Acceptance of electronic bill

Contractors are obliged to submit an electronic bill to

the FDFA if the contract value is above CHF 5’000

(excl. VAT). Information on the electronic billing

system is available under the following link: www.e-

rechnung.admin.ch. Annex 4.

The bidder shall confirm that he/she is willing to

submit an electronic bill to the FDFA.

Written confirmation.

SC 7 Acceptance of Procurement according to the

Guideline for FDFA contractors.

Written confirmation.

SC 8 Experience

The bid organization has enough experience in

managing projects comparable with the present

mandate in terms of scope and complexity. He proves

this experience with exactly 3 references of projects

with budgets above CHF 200’000, specifically dealing

with vulnerable groups. .

Written proof of the

references giving at least the

following data:

- Name of company and

address of contact person(s)

and telephone numbers;

- Time and place of execution

of the mandate;

- Volume of the executed

mandate;

- Description of the provided

services;

The contracting authority

reserves the right to contact

the contact persons

indicated.

SC 9 Personnel resources

The bidder in its entirety has the necessary personnel

at his disposal to be able to fulfil the mandate as

described in the functional specification.

Written confirmation with

easily understandable

documentation about the

human resources employed

for the mandate.

SC10 Contact partner Written confirmation, giving

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SC Suitability Criteria Evidence

The bidder has a contact person at his disposal

(SPOC) who is able to do what is necessary so that

decisions can be taken and who takes responsibility

for the mandate in the event of an escalation of

problems.

the family name and first

name, contact data, function

name and deputy of the

SPOC.

SC11 Language skills of the key persons

The bidder is willing to deploy key persons who can

communicate in Romanian and English both orally

and in writing and are able to compile and supply the

project results and documentation in English.

Written confirmation with

clearly understandable

documentation about the

language skills of the key

persons.

6 Award criteria

Of the valid offers submitted, the contract will be awarded to the economically most

favourable bid.

Offers will be assessed according to the following award criteria and weighting:

AC Award Criteria Weighting

Concept Note/Technical Proposal

AC1 Understanding of the mandate and general

approach

50%

AC1.

1

Thematic expertise/ capacity/ achieved results

Profile of the implementing organization;

Experience in collaboration and coordination with the

local government;

Experience in managing projects of similar size.

40%

AC1.

2

Coherence, impact logic and feasibility of the objectives

system (incl. Log-frame for the entire first phase of 4

years).

20%

AC1.

3

Relevance of the projects approaches, strategies

and results

Soundness of the methods and type of activities to

provide technical assistance for local authorities who are

beneficiaries of the Line 1 RTF in policy development

and budgeting and additional funding;

Proposed methods and type of activities to operate the

40%

17/20

Investment Grant which would be accessed by the

beneficiaries of the technical assistance programme;

Proposed approach for providing technical assistance in

policy development and budgeting to local authorities

involved within the projects funded under Line 1;

Efficiency of the project financial and technical

monitoring and evaluation methods and tools and

experience of the human resources involved;

Convincing the project sustainability and opportunities of

up strategies.

AC2 Qualification and experience of management and

implementation team

Availability of personnel with strong background in

management and implementation of similar projects with

the mandate and of experts with experience in technical

assistance of local government and operating funds;

Clarity of the roles of the project team, the length of the

contract, the number of hours, deliverable and results

expected.

30%

Financial Proposal

AC3 Financial Proposal 20%

AC3.

1

Clarity of the proposed costs: realistic estimation of the

costs; are costs covering all the activities; market

conformity of salaries and fees for project staff and

consultants.

40%

AC3.

2

Proper use of the SDC budget template. 10%

AC3.

3

The formula for the financial evaluation of the financial

offer is the following:

The overall amount (excl. VAT) across the

mandate (Part 1-3 of the SOR Budget) will be

estimated using the following formula

Score = (Pmin × max. Points

P)

P = price of bid being assessed

P min = price of cheapest bid

max. Points = 5

50%

Award criteria are evaluated on a scale of 0 to 5.

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Score Fulfilment and quality of the criteria

0 Cannot be established Information not available

1 Very bad fulfilment Information is incomplete

Data quality is very poor

2 Bad fulfilment Information relates inadequately to the requirements

Data quality is poor

3 Average fulfilment

Information globally responds inadequately to the

requirements

Data quality is adequate

4 Good fulfilment Information focuses well on requirements

Data quality is good

5 Very good fulfilment Information clearly relates to the achievement of outputs

Data quality is excellent

7 Additional points to be noted by the bidder

7.1 Address for submission of offers

Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation

thomas.krajnik@eda.admin.ch

7.2 Language of documents, language of bids

The bid can be submitted in English. The documents are available in English.

7.3 Expression of interest in submitting an offer and receiving documents

Interested bidders can express their interest in submitting an offer by email until 12th

September 2016 (23:59 EAT) to the email address provided under point 7.1 and will receive

these terms of reference and additional documents by email in return.

7.4 Answering questions

Questions concerning the awarding of the mandate in question can be sent by email till 152h

September 2016 to the contact person named under point 7.1. Please send in questions in

writing by email. By 22nd September 2016, the answers will be made available by email to all

bidders who have expressed an interest in submitting an offer.

7.5 Deadline for submitting a bid and validity

The bid must be sent by email to the contact person named under point 7.1 by 7th October

2016 (23:59 Swiss Time (GMT+2)) at the latest.

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The bid is valid for up to 90 days after the aforementioned date for submission.

Please submit the financial proposal in CHF.

7.6 Negotiations

Remain reserved.

7.7 Confidentiality

All information of any kind that comes to the attention of the bidder in connection with the

tendered mandate of the awarding authority is to be treated as confidential. The content of

the present tender may only be made available to persons taking part in the preparation of

the bid.

The tender documentation may not be used for any other purposes than preparation of the

bid, even in extracts.

Bidders treat facts as confidential that are not public knowledge or publicly available. In

cases of doubt, facts are to be treated as confidential. This obligation to secrecy remains

valid even after conclusion of the tender procedure.

The awarding authority undertakes to maintain confidentiality about this bid towards third

parties subject to the reserve of statutory publication requirements.

7.8 Integrity clause

Bidders undertake to take all necessary measures to avoid corruption, especially not to offer

or accept payments or other advantages.

Bidders who violate the integrity clause are required to pay a contractual penalty to the

contracting authority amounting to 10% of the contract sum or at least CHF 3,000 per

violation.

The bidder notes that a violation of the integrity clause leads as a rule to the cancellation of

the award or to early termination of the contract by the contracting authority for important

reasons.

The Parties shall inform each other in case of any well-founded suspicions of corruption.

7.9 Protected rights

All protected rights that arise from executing the mandate shall be transferred to the

contracting authority.

8 Annex

No. Annex

1 General Conditions of Business (GCB) for Project Implementation Mandates –

Version December 2015

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2 Declaration of bidder

3 Information E-Billing

4 Service oriented remuneration

4.1.

and.

4.2.

4.1. SOR offer form and 4.2. How to charge SOR?

5 Contract Template Project Implementation Mandate

6 Log-frame template

7 Procurement according Guideline for FDFA contractors