Licitación Internacional de la vertiente Red de Capacitación Digital (Escuela Virtual y Red Arandu) del Proyecto Mercosur Digital (BR-Rio de Janeiro: design and implementation of the Mercosur Digital project's virtual school)

Licitación Internacional de la vertiente Red de Capacitación Digital (Escuela Virtual y Red Arandu) del Proyecto Mercosur Digital (BR-Rio de Janeiro: design and implementation of the Mercosur Digital project's virtual school)

La Comisión Europea invita a la comunidad académica a participar en la "Licitación Internacional de la vertiente Red de Capacitación Digital (Escuela Virtual y Red Arandu) del Proyecto Mercosur Digital", hasta el 24 de febrero de 2011.

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Características de la licitación

1. Publication reference: EuropeAid/130839/D/SER/MULTI.

Internet addresses:
General address of the contracting authority: http://www.mercosurdigital.org

2. Procedure: Restricted.

3. Programme: DCI-ALA/2006/18558 Support for the Mercosur information society.

4. Financing: Financing agreement.

5. Contracting authority: National Education and Research Network (RNP) of Brazil.

6. Nature of contract: Fee-based.

7.Contract description:

The virtual school will be a self-sustainable and innovative network of institutions, recognised as a point ofreference in the Mercosur and other regions, which furthers the development and promotion of the informationsociety, the reduction in asymmetries and regional integration, through activities involving training and thedissemination and exchange of knowledge, particularly in areas concerning e-commerce, for a wide range ofgroups at public, private and civil society level.
The strategic lines of action with their strategic objectives are:

1. Management and governability: to implement an effective and efficient administrative management model; toimplement a governability model which ensures the smooth operation of the network's institutions.

2. Quality: to offer training which meets the requirements of the recipients of the educational offers; to implementa teaching model in accordance with the profile of the recipients of the training; portal management and qualityguarantee mechanisms; effective technological model in line with the requirements of users, teaching model andavailability of access.

3. Community of knowledge and practice: to have a portal which brings together a wide community of users,focussing on the dissemination, promotion of knowledge and good practice in e-commerce; to consolidatea community of knowledge for a wide group of users, which promotes the exchange and dissemination ofknowledge.

4. Positioning: to carry out a relations plan with the relevant, influential environment, to ensure medium andlong-term social and political sustainability; and to position the virtual school at Mercosur level in various sectorslinked to e-commerce and the information society.
5. Financial sustainability: to achieve medium and long-term financial sustainability; to have a portfolio ofproducts and services for the market. This portfolio will be consolidated, recognised and accepted by a widegroup.

8.Numbers and titles of lots: The contract is divided into lots: no, 1 lot only.

9.Budget: Maximum budget: 2 223 700 EUR.

10.Scope for additional services: The contracting authority may, at its own discretion, extend the project in duration and/or scope, subject to theavailability of funding, up to a maximum not exceeding the length and value of the initial contract. Any extensionof the contract would be subject to satisfactory performance by the contractor.
Conditions of participation

11.Eligibility: DCI-ALA programme.

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 constitutedinformally 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 exclusionof that person. In particular, if that ineligible person belongs to a consortium, the whole consortium will beexcluded.

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

14. Shortlist alliances prohibited: Any tenders received from tenderers having a different composition than the ones on the application forms willbe excluded from this restricted tender procedure, unless prior approval from the contracting authority has beenobtained - see PRAG 2.4.3. Shortlisted candidates may not form alliances or subcontract to each other for thecontract in question.

15. Grounds for exclusion: As part of the application form, candidates must submit a signed declaration, included in the standardapplication form, to the effect that they are not in any of the exclusion situations listed in Section 2.3.3 of thePractical Guide to contract procedures for EU external actions.

16. Subcontracting: Subcontracting is allowed.
Maximum percentage of the contract value which may be subcontracted: 50 %.
Activities which may be subcontracted: the tenderer may subcontract 1 or more parts of the contracted servicesin the areas in which he will participate: management, production of courses, offer of courses, technologicalsupport, governmental interaction, visibility, marketing. However, the activities that will be subcontracted mustbe clearly indicated in the tender submission form if the tender is on the shortlist. Link to the form which must besubmitted for the tender: http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/work/procedures/implementation/services/index_es.htm

17. Number of candidates to be shortlisted: On the basis of the applications received, at least 4 and at most 8 candidates will be invited to submit detailedtenders for this contract. If the number of eligible candidates meeting the selection criteria is less than theminimum 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: 24.2.2011.

19. Provisional commencement date of the contract: 20.6.2011.

20. Initial period of implementation of tasks: Duration in months: 27. Selection and award criteria

21. Selection criteria: Same criteria for legal and natural person.
The following selection criteria will be applied to candidates. In the case of applications submitted by aconsortium, these selection criteria will be applied to the consortium as a whole:

1) Economic and financial capacity of candidate: in case of applicant being a public body equivalent information should be provided.
1. The annual budget or turnover of the candidate in 2008 (antepenultimate year) and 2009 (penultimate year)must exceed 500 000 EUR.
2. The averages of cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of 2008 and 2009 are positive.
3. The averages of cash and cash equivalents at the end of 2008 and 2009 are positive.

2) Professional capacity of candidate:
1. The candidate (the lead institution in the proposal or, at least, 1 of the member institutions in the case ofa consortium) must have project management experience in more than 1 country. If the proposal involvesmore than 1 institution, the lead institution must provide evidence of experience in managing interinstitutionalinteraction.
2. The candidate (the lead institution in the proposal or, at least, 1 of the member institutions in the case of aconsortium) must provide evidence of experience in interaction with government, academic and civil societyinstitutions.
3. The candidate (the lead institution in the proposal or, at least, 1 of the member institutions in the case of aconsortium) must provide evidence of experience in the management of network training projects and in theproduction and offer of computer-assisted courses.

3) Technical capacity of candidate:
1. In the past 3 years, the candidate (the lead institution in the proposal or, at least, 1 of the member institutionsin the case of a consortium) has worked successfully on at least 2 projects with an annual budget of at least 200000 EUR in at least 2 different countries.
2. In the past 3 years, the candidate (the lead institution in the proposal or, at least, 1 of the member institutionsin the case of a consortium) has worked successfully on at least 2 specific projects in fields related to thiscontract.
An economic operator may, where appropriate and for a particular contract, rely on the capacities of otherentities, regardless of the legal nature of the links which it has with them. Some examples of when it may notbe considered appropriate by the contracting authority are when the tenderer relies in majority on the capacitiesof other entities or when it relies on key criteria. If the candidate relies on other entities it must in that caseprove to the contracting authority that it will have at its disposal the resources necessary for performance of thecontract, for example by producing an undertaking on the part of those entities to place those resources at itsdisposal. Such entities, for instance the parent company of the economic operator, must respect the same rulesof eligibility and notably that of nationality, as the economic operator. Furthermore, the data for this third entityfor the relevant selection criterion should be included in the tender in a separate document. Proof of the capacitywill also have to be furnished when requested by the contracting authority.
If more than 8 eligible candidates meet the above selection criteria, the relative strengths and weaknessesof the applications of these candidates must be re-examined to identify the 8 best applications for the tenderprocedure. The only factors which will be taken into consideration during this re-examination are:
for professional and technical capacity, knowledge of information society projects at regional level (SouthAmerica, Mercosur and countries with a similar structure in the context of application) will be considered anadvantage.

22. Award criteria: Best value for money. Application

23.Deadline for receipt of applications: 24.2.2011 (18:00), local time.Any application received after this deadline will not be considered.

24. Applications format and details to be provided: Applications must be submitted using the standard application form, the format and instructions of which mustbe strictly observed. The application form is available at the following Internet address: http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/work/procedures/implementation/services/index_es.htm
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 exclusively to the contracting authority in the following language: Spanish,
— either by recorded delivery (official postal service) to: National Education and Research Network (RNP), Rua Lauro Müller, 116/1905 — Botafogo, 22290-906Rio deJaneiro, BRAZIL,
— or hand delivered (including courier services) directly to the contracting authority in return for a signed anddated receipt to:
for the attention of: Marta Pessoa, Project Director. Tel. +55 212102-4195.
Opening hours: 9:00–18:00.
As in abovementioned address.
The contract title and the publication reference (see item 1 above) must be clearly marked on the envelopecontaining the application and must always be mentioned in all subsequent correspondence with the contractingauthority.
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 ofapplications. No applications 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' asappropriate.

27. Operational language: All written communications for this tender procedure and contract must be in: Spanish.

28. Date of publication of contract forecast notice: 14.12.2010.

29. Legal basis: Council Regulation (EEC) No 443/92 of 25.2.1992 on financial and technical assistance to, and economiccooperation with, the developing countries in Asia and Latin America.

30. Additional information: At http://www.mercosurdigital.org/ the calendar of events planned in the Mercosur countries is available, givinginformation on this invitation to tender (Information Day), which is planned in the 4 Mercosur countries.

In addition to point 28, all written communications regarding this tender procedure and contract must be inPortuguese or Spanish.
To avoid a conflict of interests, none of the institution's employees or consultants will have participated indrawing up this invitation to tender. The institution must also not be involved in drawing up the model and termsof reference in the project's preliminary invitations to tender.

31.Date of dispatch of this notice: 9.12.2010.