London Air Quality Monitoring Network Quality Assurance Quality Control Contract
The Authority is looking to appoint a maximum of 2 suppliers to provide Quality Assurance and Quality Control services (QAQC) for the Automatic Urban and Rural Air Quality Monitoring Network (AURN).
United Kingdom-London: Environmental services
2014/S 249-442294
Contract notice
Services
Directive 2004/18/EC
Section I: Contracting authority
I.1)Name, addresses and contact point(s)
Defra
17 Nobel House
For the attention of: Fawcett Paul
SW1P 3JR London
UNITED KINGDOM
Telephone: +44 2072385921
E-mail: network.procurement@defra.gsi.gov.uk
Further information can be obtained from: The above mentioned contact point(s)
Specifications and additional documents (including documents for competitive dialogue and a dynamic purchasing system) can be obtained from: The above mentioned contact point(s)
Tenders or requests to participate must be sent to: The above mentioned contact point(s)
I.2)Type of the contracting authority
I.3)Main activity
I.4)Contract award on behalf of other contracting authorities
The contracting authority is purchasing on behalf of other contracting authorities: yes
Welsh Government, Northern Ireland Environment Agency, Scottish Environment Protection Agency
Section II: Object of the contract
II.1.1)Title attributed to the contract by the contracting authority:
II.1.2)Type of contract and location of works, place of delivery or of performance
Service category No 27: Other services
Main site or location of works, place of delivery or of performance: United Kingdom.
NUTS code UK
II.1.3)Information about a public contract, a framework agreement or a dynamic purchasing system (DPS)
II.1.5)Short description of the contract or purchase(s)
The QAQC Contract has responsibility for all quality assurance and quality control for collection, validation and ratification of data on the networks prior to transmission to the Data Dissemination Unit (DDU).
II.1.6)Common procurement vocabulary (CPV)
90700000, 90731000, 90710000, 90731400, 24100000, 65210000, 90731100, 76100000, 90731300, 90711500, 65200000, 90731200
II.1.7)Information about Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)
II.1.8)Lots
II.1.9)Information about variants
II.2.1)Total quantity or scope:
The Contract will be let for a period of 3 years with a handover period with the current QAQC contractor of not less than 1 month and an option to extend the Contract by up to a further 24 months in up to 12 month increments.
The QAQC contract has responsibility for all quality assurance and quality control for collection, validation and ratification of data on the networks prior to transmission to the DDU.
The AURN aims to:
— Inform the public about air quality in near-real time.
— Provide data for comparison with statutory air quality standards, objectives, target and limit values.
— Assess effects of air pollution on health and the environment.
— Inform and support the development of cost-effective planning solutions and identify long-term trends and sources of pollution.
— Inform policy development.
— Provide data for use by the scientific community in research.
— Enhance our understanding of atmospheric chemistry.
The specification describes the activities to be undertaken and invites tendering companies to offer to provide QAQC services for 2 Lots. Lot 1 also contains additional functions summarised below and detailed in Section 6:
— Lot 1: Provision of QAQC for the Urban and Rural sites set out in Annex 1, Table 1 (133 sites) as well as EU intercomparison Exercises, management of AURN Hub, Health and Safety co-ordination role and production of quarterly reports for sites covered by both Lots 1 and 2.
— Lot 2: Provision of QAQC for the ALN sites set out in Annex 1, Table 2 (16 sites).
Estimated value excluding VAT:
Range: between 2 500 000 and 5 000 000 GBP
II.2.2)Information about options
Description of these options: This is a 3 year contract with the option to extend up to a further 2 years in up to 12 month increments.
II.2.3)Information about renewals
Number of possible renewals: 1
II.3)Duration of the contract or time limit for completion
Section III: Legal, economic, financial and technical information
III.1.3)Legal form to be taken by the group of economic operators to whom the contract is to be awarded:
III.1.4)Other particular conditions
III.2.1)Personal situation of economic operators, including requirements relating to enrolment on professional or trade registers
Information and formalities necessary for evaluating if the requirements are met: Suppliers Instructions How to Express Interest in this Tender: 1. Register your company on the eSourcing portal (this is only required once) — Browse to the eSourcing Portal: https://defra.bravosolution.co.uk and click the link to register — Accept the terms and conditions and click ‘continue’ — Enter your correct business and user details — Note the username you chose and click ‘Save’ when complete — You will shortly receive an email with your unique password (please keep this secure) 2. Express an Interest in the tender — Login to the portal with the username/password — Click the ‘PQQs / ITTs Open To All Suppliers’ link. (These are Pre-Qualification Questionnaires or Invitations to Tender open to any registered supplier) — Click on the relevant PQQ/ ITT to access the content. — Click the ‘Express Interest’ button at the top of the page. — This will move the PQQ /ITT into your ‘My PQQs/ My ITTs’ page. (This is a secure area reserved for your projects only) — You can now access any attachments by clicking ‘Buyer Attachments’ in the ‘PQQ/ ITT Details’ box 3. Responding to the tender — Click ‘My Response’ under ‘PQQ/ ITT Details’, you can choose to ‘Create Response’ or to ‘Decline to Respond’ (please give a reason if declining) — You can now use the ‘Messages’ function to communicate with the buyer and seek any clarification — Note the deadline for completion, then follow the onscreen instructions to complete the PQQ/ ITT — There may be a mixture of online and offline actions for you to perform (there is detailed online help available) You must then submit your reply using the ‘Submit Response’ button at the top of the page. If you require any further assistance please consult the online help, or contact the eTendering help desk.
III.2.2)Economic and financial ability
Minimum level(s) of standards possibly required: Defra will review a range of economic information to evaluate your organisation’s economic and financial standing. Defra’s evaluation will be based on all the information reviewed and will not be determined by a single indicator.
If your organisation is evaluated as high risk Defra may:
— ask for additional information, including information relating to your parent company, if applicable; and/or
— require a parent company guarantee or a performance bond.
In addition to the information requested below, Defra may consult Dun & Bradstreet reports and other credit rating or equivalent reports depending on where your organisation is located.
In particular, Defra will consider financial strength and risk of business failure.
Financial strength is based on tangible net worth and is rated on a scale of 5A (strongest) to H (weakest). There are also classifications for negative net worth and net worth undetermined (insufficient information). Financial strength will be assessed relative to the estimated annual contract value.
Defra will also consider annual turnover. For this procurement, Defra expects the contractor to have an annual turnover for each of the last two financial years of at least GBP 4 750 000.
In the case of a joint venture or a consortium bid, the annual turnover is calculated by combining the turnover of the relevant organisations in each of the last 2 financial years. In addition, the annual turnover of at least one of those organisations should be GBP 2 375 000.
III.2.3)Technical capacity
Information and formalities necessary for evaluating if the requirements are met:
Evaluation information required from Tenderers will be stated in the Invitationto Tender (ITT) which is available only at http://defra.bravosolution.co.uk
Tenderers are required in delivering the contract to comply with Defra’s policies, strategies and standards.
Section IV: Procedure
IV.1.1)Type of procedure
IV.2.1)Award criteria
IV.2.2)Information about electronic auction
IV.3.1)File reference number attributed by the contracting authority:
IV.3.2)Previous publication(s) concerning the same contract
IV.3.3)Conditions for obtaining specifications and additional documents or descriptive document
IV.3.4)Time limit for receipt of tenders or requests to participate
IV.3.5)Date of dispatch of invitations to tender or to participate to selected candidates
IV.3.6)Language(s) in which tenders or requests to participate may be drawn up
IV.3.7)Minimum time frame during which the tenderer must maintain the tender
IV.3.8)Conditions for opening of tenders
Place: Defra Procurement
Nobel House, 17 Smith Square
SW1P 3JR London
UNITED KINGDOMPersons authorised to be present at the opening of tenders: yes
Additional information about authorised persons and opening procedure: 2 representative’s from Defra’s Network Corporate Services (NCS).
Section VI: Complementary information
VI.2)Information about European Union funds
VI.3)Additional information
VI.4.1)Body responsible for appeal procedures
Defra
Nobel House, 17 Smith Square
SW1P 3JR London
UNITED KINGDOM
E-mail: procurement@defra.gsi.gov.uk
Body responsible for mediation procedures
Royal Courts of Justice
Royal Courts of Justice
WC2A 2LL London
UNITED KINGDOM
Internet address: http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk
VI.4.2)Lodging of appeals
VI.4.3)Service from which information about the lodging of appeals may be obtained
HM Courts
Internet address: http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk
VI.5)Date of dispatch of this notice: