Technical Assistance for Local Authorities in Policy ... · Assistance Programme in minimum 20...
Transcript of Technical Assistance for Local Authorities in Policy ... · Assistance Programme in minimum 20...
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.
18/20
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
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.
19/20
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
20/20
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