• 1. Publication reference:

  EuropeAid/127727/C/SER/AL.

• 2. Procedure:

  Restricted.

• 3. Programme:

  IPA 2007.

• 4. Financing:

  22.02.02 transition and institution-building assistance to potential candidate countries.

• 5. Contracting authority:

  European Community, represented by the European Commission, on behalf of and for the account of the Government of Albania.

Contract specification

• 6. Nature of contract:

  Fee-based.

• 7. Contract description:

  Service contract for elaborating the Albanian Government support policy and development programme for sustaining SME growth and competitiveness through innovation, technology transfer and modern business management training, comprising the following elements:

  — establishment of the Business Innovation and Relay Centre in Albania,

  — organisation of national survey of SME training needs analysis (TNA),

  — establishment of national competitiveness programme for SMEs,

  — development of innovation and technology strategy,

  — technical assistance for elaboration of SME development action plan.

• 8. Number and titles of lots:

  1 lot only.

• 9. Maximum budget:

  EUR 2 400 000.

• 10. Scope for additional services:

  The contracting authority may, at its own discretion, extend the project in duration and/or scope subject to the availability of funding, up to a maximum not exceeding the length and value of the initial contract. Any extension of the contract would be subject to satisfactory performance by the contractor.

Conditions of participation

• 11. Eligibility:

  Participation is open to all legal persons participating either individually or in a grouping (consortium) of candidates which are established in a Member State of the European Union or in a country or territory of the regions covered and/or authorised by the specific instruments applicable to the programme under which the contract is financed (see also item 30 below). Participation is also open to international organisations. The participation of natural persons is governed by the specific instruments applicable to the programme under which the contract is financed.

• 12. Candidature:

  All eligible natural and legal persons (as per item 11 above) or groupings of such persons (consortia) may apply.

  A consortium may be a permanent, legally-established grouping or a grouping which has been constituted informally for a specific tender procedure. All members of a consortium (i.e. the leader and all other members) are jointly and severally liable to the contracting authority.

  The participation of an ineligible natural or legal person (as per item 11) will result in the automatic exclusion of that person. In particular, if that ineligible person belongs to a consortium, the whole consortium will be excluded.

• 13. Number of applications:

  No more than 1 application can be submitted by a natural or legal person whatever the form of participation (as an individual legal entity or as leader or member of a consortium submitting an application). In the event that a natural or legal person submits more than 1 application, all applications in which that person has participated will be excluded.

• 14. Shortlist alliances prohibited:

  Any tenders received from tenderers comprising firms other than those mentioned in the shortlisted application forms will be excluded from this restricted tender procedure. Shortlisted candidates may not form alliances or subcontract to each other for the contract in question.

• 15. Grounds for exclusion:

  As part of the application form, candidates must submit a signed declaration, included in the standard application form, to the effect that they are not in any of the exclusion situations listed in Section 2.3.3 of the 'Practical Guide to contract procedures for EC external actions'.

• 16. Subcontracting:

  No subcontracting is allowed under this contract.

• 17. Number of candidates to be shortlisted:

  On the basis of the applications received, 4–8 candidates will be invited to submit detailed tenders for this contract. If the number of eligible candidates meeting the selection criteria is less than the minimum of 4, the contracting authority may invite the candidates who satisfy the criteria to submit a tender.

Provisional timetable

• 18. Provisional date of invitation to tender:

  May 2009.

• 19. Provisional commencement date of the contract:

  September/October 2009.

• 20. Initial period of implementation of tasks and possible extension of the contract:

  24 months, with possible extension under the conditions outlined in section 10 above.

Selection and award criteria

• 21. Selection criteria:

  The following selection criteria will be applied to candidates. In the case of applications submitted by a consortium, these selection criteria will be applied to the consortium as a whole:

  1) Economic and financial capacity of candidate (based on item 3 of the application form):

  (a) the average annual turnover of the candidate over the past 3 years (2006, 2007 and 2008) must exceed EUR 2 400 000.

  2) Professional capacity of candidate (based on items 4 and 5 of the application form):

  (a) at least 8 permanent staff working for the candidates currently work in fields related to this contract; and

  3) Technical capacity of candidate (based on items 5 and 6 of the application form):

  (a) the candidate has completed successfully in the course of the past 3 years (2006, 2007, 2008) at least 1 project in the fields described in Article 7 above. The candidate's proportion of the services carried out must have been greater than EUR 1 500 000 for his services in each project.

  An economic operator may, where appropriate and for a particular contract, rely on the capacities of other entities, regardless of the legal nature of the links which it has with them. It must in that case prove to the contracting authority that it will have at its disposal the resources necessary for performance of the contract, for example by producing an undertaking on the part of those entities to place those resources at its disposal. Such entities must respect the same rules of eligibility and notably that of nationality, as the economic operator.

  If more than 8 eligible candidates meet the above selection criteria, the relative strengths and weaknesses of the applications of these candidates must be re-examined to identify the 8 best applications for the tender procedure.

  The only factor which will be taken into consideration during the re-examination is:

  — the total value of the eligible contracts referred to in point 3 (technical capacity of candidate based on items 5 and 6 of the application form).

• 22. Award criteria:

  Best value for money.

Application

• 23. Deadline for receipt of applications:

  27.4.2009 (16:00), Central European Time.

  Any application received after this deadline will not be considered.

• 24. Application format and details to be provided:

  Applications must be submitted using the standard application form (available from the following Internet address:

  http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/work/procedures/implementation/services/index_en.htm), whose format and instructions must be strictly observed.

  Any additional documentation (brochure, letter, etc.) sent with an application will not be taken into consideration.

• 25. How applications may be submitted:

  Applications must be submitted in English exclusively to the contracting authority:

  — either by recorded delivery (official postal service),

  — or hand-delivered (including courier services) directly to the contracting authority in return for a signed and dated receipt to:

  Delegation of the European Commission to Albania , attention: Contracts, Finance and Audit Section , Rruga e Durresit 127/1 , Tirana , ALBANIA. Tel. +355 42228320 . Fax +355 42274412 .

  The application must comprise 1 original and 3 copies in an envelope marked as:

  — 'Supporting SMEs to become more competitive in the EU Market — EuropeAid/127727/C/SER/AL'.

  The contract title and the publication reference (see item 1 above) must be clearly marked on the envelope containing the application and must always be mentioned in all subsequent correspondence with the contracting authority.

  Applications submitted by any other means will not be considered.

• 26. Alteration or withdrawal of applications:

  Candidates may alter or withdraw their applications by written notification prior to the deadline for submission of applications. No application may be altered after this deadline.

  Any such notification of alteration or withdrawal shall be prepared and submitted in accordance with item 25. The outer envelope (and the relevant inner envelope if used) must be marked 'Alteration' or 'Withdrawal' as appropriate.

• 27. Operational language:

  All written communications for this tender procedure and contract must be in English.

• 28. Additional information:

  Not applicable.

• 29. Date of publication of contract forecast:

  8.11.2008 in OJ/S 218.

• 30. Legal basis:

  Council Regulation (EC) No 1085/2006 of 17.7.2006 establishing an Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) — OJ L 210/82 of 31.7.2006.