• 1. Publication reference:

  EuropeAid/127282/SER/JO

• 2. Procedure:

  Restricted.

• 3. Programme:

  MEDA.

• 4. Financing:

  Financing Agreement — 'Support to human rights and good governance' — Project No MED/2005/018-179 Addendum No 1 to the Financing Agreement on 31.10.2006.

• 5. Contracting authority:

  The Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

Contract specification

• 6. Nature of contract:

  Fee-based.

• 7. Contract description:

  The overall objective of the project is to enhance the political reform process and to increase participation of the civil societies in the public policy making process. In order to meet the general objective, the project will in particular:

  — assist the PMU to become a functional and operational unit in the MoPD to effectively implement and supervise the projects and programmes, as well as to deliver appropriate services to the civil society and its key State actors,

  — enhance capacities of the MoPD staff so as to enable them to successfully carry out their foreseen duties and functions,

  — optimise the organisational structure of the MoPD to improve its functioning and working mechanisms in order to enable it to achieve its strategic objectives,

  — support MoPD to fulfil its mandate to interact effectively with civil society and key State actors.

• 8. Number and titles of lots:

  1 lot.

• 9. Maximum budget:

  EUR 600 000.

• 10. Scope for additional services:

  Additional services may be requested but their duration and value shall not exceed the initial contract.

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 within the framework of 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:

  October 2008.

• 19. Provisional commencement date of the contract:

  January 2009.

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

  The period of execution of the contract will be 15 months.

Selection and award criteria

• 21. Selection criteria:

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

  1) Economic and financial standing of candidate:

  — The total annual turnover of the candidate(s) must exceed 3 times the annualised maximum budget of the contract.

  2) Professional capacity of candidate:

  — At least 10 staff currently work for the applicant in fields related to this contract, and

  — at least 20 % of all staff working for the candidate this year in fields related to this contract are permanent.

  3) Technical capacity of candidate:

  (a) Candidate(s) must have proven recent experience (over the last 5 years) in the field of institutional strengthening and capacity building.

  (b) Candidate(s) must have proven qualifications and experience in governmental projects with civil societies (over the last 3 years).

  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 factors which will be taken into consideration during this re-examination are:

  1) experience with previous EC contracts;

  2) an international consortium of eligible companies.

• 22. Award criteria:

  Best value for money.

Application

• 23. Deadline for receipt of applications:

  23.10.2008 (14:00), local 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/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) to:

  Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation , attention: Mr Marwan Al-Refai, PO Box (555) , Amman 11118 , Jordan,

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

  Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation, Jabal Amman — Third Circle, attention: Mr Marwan Al-Refai — Second Floor, Amman, Jordan.

  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 tenders. No application may be altered after this deadline.

  Any such notification of alteration or withdrawal shall be prepared and submitted in accordance with clause 25. The outer envelope (and the relevant inner envelope) 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:

  None.

• 29. Date of publication of contract forecast:

  3.7.2008.

• 30. Legal basis:

  Council Regulation — addendum. Specific Financing Agreement 'Support to human rights and good governance in Jordan'. Agreement programme: Project MED/2005/018-179.