Public relations consultancy destination Staffordshire

UK-Stafford: public relations services

2012/S 25-040895

Contract notice

Services

Directive 2004/18/EC

Section I: Contracting authority

I.1)Name, addresses and contact point(s)

Staffordshire County Council
Wedgwood Building, Tipping Street
For the attention of: Darren Langley
ST16 2DH Stafford
UNITED KINGDOM
Telephone: +44 1785854643
E-mail: darren.langley@staffordshire.gov.uk
Fax: +44 1785854660

Internet address(es):

General address of the contracting authority: www.staffordshire.gov.uk/business/procurement

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

Regional or local authority

I.3)Main activity

General public services

I.4)Contract award on behalf of other contracting authorities

The contracting authority is purchasing on behalf of other contracting authorities: yes

Section II: Object of the contract

II.1)Description

II.1.1)Title attributed to the contract by the contracting authority:

PC361 Public relations (PR) consultancy for destination Staffordshire.

II.1.2)Type of contract and location of works, place of delivery or of performance

Services
Service category No 11: Management consulting services [6] and related services
Main site or location of works, place of delivery or of performance: Staffordshire.
NUTS code UKG2

II.1.3)Information about a public contract, a framework agreement or a dynamic purchasing system (DPS)

The notice involves a public contract

II.1.4)Information on framework agreement

II.1.5)Short description of the contract or purchase(s)

Destination Staffordshire is a public and private sector cooperative venture, whose area of concern and activity is the promotion and coordination of the Staffordshire visitor economy for the benefit of its private sector members, businesses operating in the various parts of the tourism industry in Staffordshire, i.e. accommodation providers, attractions, food & drink providers.
The local authority partners are: Cannock Chase District Council, Lichfield District Council, Newcastle under Lyme Borough Council, Staffordshire Moorlands District Council, Stafford Borough Council, Tamworth Borough Council, East Staffordshire Borough Council, South Staffordshire Council, Stoke-on-Trent City Council and Staffordshire County Council.
Staffordshire County Council is acting as the lead and sole authority for this procurement.
The partnership, with the County Council as the accountable body, is looking to recruit the services of a single agency with relevant experience and skills to provide public relations support at competitive rates but with a quality and expertise demanded by the membership, providing the maximum consumer exposure for the destination and for our members services.

II.1.6)Common procurement vocabulary (CPV)

79416000, 79416100, 79416200

II.1.7)Information about Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)

The contract is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA): yes

II.1.8)Lots

This contract is divided into lots: no

II.1.9)Information about variants

Variants will be accepted: no

II.2)Quantity or scope of the contract

II.2.1)Total quantity or scope:

The contract will commence on 1.7.2012 for an initial period of 3 years. A further 12 month extension option may be taken up at the discretion of the County Council.
Estimated value excluding VAT:
Range: between 150 000 and 300 000 GBP

II.2.2)Information about options

Options: yes
Description of these options: The contract may be extended for a further 12 month period at the end of the 3 year term at the discretion of the County Council.

II.2.3)Information about renewals

II.3)Duration of the contract or time limit for completion

Starting 1.7.2012. Completion 30.6.2016

Section III: Legal, economic, financial and technical information

III.1)Conditions relating to the contract

III.1.1)Deposits and guarantees required:

III.1.2)Main financing conditions and payment arrangements and/or reference to the relevant provisions governing them:

Payments may be made following acceptance by the banking agents of the County Council.

III.1.3)Legal form to be taken by the group of economic operators to whom the contract is to be awarded:

No special legal form is required by the grouping of providers but each provider will be required to become jointly or severally responsible for the contract before acceptance.

III.1.4)Other particular conditions

The performance of the contract is subject to particular conditions: no

III.2)Conditions for participation

III.2.1)Personal situation of economic operators, including requirements relating to enrolment on professional or trade registers

III.2.2)Economic and financial ability

Information and formalities necessary for evaluating if the requirements are met: The requirements for minimum economic, financial and technical capacity will be included in the tender documents.
Any tender may be rejected from a company/organisation who interalia:
(a) Is bankrupt or is being wound up, where his affairs are being administered by the court, where he has entered into an arrangement with creditors, where he has suspended business activities or is in any analogous situation arising from a similar procedure under national laws and regulations;
(b) Is the subject of proceedings for a declaration of bankruptcy, for an order for compulsory winding up or administration by the court or of an arrangement with creditors or of any other similar proceedings under national laws and regulations;
(c) Has been convicted by a judgment which has the force of res judicata in accordance with the legal provisions of the country of any offence concerning his professional conduct;
(d) Has been guilty of grave professional misconduct proven by any means which the contracting authorities can demonstrate;
(e) Has not fulfilled obligations relating to the payment of social security contributions in accordance with the legal provisions of the country in which he is established or with those of the country of the contracting authority;
(f) Has not fulfilled obligations relating to the payment of taxes in accordance with the legal provisions of the country in which he is established or with those of the country of the contracting authority;
(g) Is guilty of serious misrepresentation in supplying the information required under this Section or has not supplied such information;
(h) Has been the subject of a conviction for participation in a criminal organisation, as defined in Article 2(1) of Council Joint Action 98/733/JHA;
(i) Has been the subject of a conviction for corruption, as defined in Article 3 of the Council Act of 26 May 1997 and Article 3(1) of Council Joint Action 98/742/JHA respectively;
(j) Has been the subject of a conviction for fraud within the meaning of Article 1 of the Convention relating to the protection of the financial interests of the European Communities;
(k) Has been the subject of a conviction for money laundering, as defined in Article 1 of Council Directive 91/308/EEC of 10 June 1991 on prevention of the use of the financial system for the purpose of money laundering.
Please refer to Regulation no 23 of the Public Procurement Regulations 2006 (SI No 5) for additional rejection criteria (see link).
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2006/20060005.htm

Minimum level(s) of standards possibly required: Financial checks will be undertaken for economic operators using the Councils current financial assessors n2check (www.n2check.com). Economic operators will be assessed according to the level of risk stipulated by n2check. Any Economic Operator being given an Above Average Risk rating or poorer may be rejected.

The organisation should hold as a minimum the following insurance levels or be able to provide with their response, a written statement advising that should they be awarded the contract they will have the required levels of insurance in place for the commencement of the contract.
Public liability 5 000 000 GBP.
Employers liability 10 000 000 GBP.
Professional indemnity 2 000 000 GBP.

III.2.3)Technical capacity

Minimum level(s) of standards possibly required:
.

III.2.4)Information about reserved contracts

III.3)Conditions specific to services contracts

III.3.1)Information about a particular profession

Execution of the service is reserved to a particular profession: no

III.3.2)Staff responsible for the execution of the service

Legal persons should indicate the names and professional qualifications of the staff responsible for the execution of the service: no

Section IV: Procedure

IV.1)Type of procedure

IV.1.1)Type of procedure

Restricted

IV.1.2)Limitations on the number of operators who will be invited to tender or to participate

Envisaged minimum number 5
Objective criteria for choosing the limited number of candidates: The 5 highest scoring submissions at PQQ stage will be invited to proceed to the ITT stage, subject to the conditions and criteria set out in the PQQ documents.

IV.1.3)Reduction of the number of operators during the negotiation or dialogue

Recourse to staged procedure to gradually reduce the number of solutions to be discussed or tenders to be negotiated no

IV.2)Award criteria

IV.2.1)Award criteria

The most economically advantageous tender in terms of the criteria stated in the specifications, in the invitation to tender or to negotiate or in the descriptive document

IV.2.2)Information about electronic auction

An electronic auction will be used: no

IV.3)Administrative information

IV.3.1)File reference number attributed by the contracting authority:

PC361

IV.3.2)Previous publication(s) concerning the same contract

IV.3.3)Conditions for obtaining specifications and additional documents or descriptive document

Time limit for receipt of requests for documents or for accessing documents: 5.3.2012
Payable documents: no

IV.3.4)Time limit for receipt of tenders or requests to participate

5.3.2012

IV.3.5)Date of dispatch of invitations to tender or to participate to selected candidates

2.5.2012

IV.3.6)Language(s) in which tenders or requests to participate may be drawn up

English.

IV.3.7)Minimum time frame during which the tenderer must maintain the tender

IV.3.8)Conditions for opening tenders

Date: 5.3.2012
Place:

Staffordshire.

Persons authorised to be present at the opening of tenders: no

Section VI: Complementary information

VI.1)Information about recurrence

This is a recurrent procurement: yes
Estimated timing for further notices to be published: 4.1.2015, 4.1.2016.

VI.2)Information about European Union funds

The contract is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds: no

VI.3)Additional information

This is an electronic tender. All requests for information to be sent through the electronic tendering portal and messaging facility on the Proactis electronic tendering system. How to register.
1. Instructions at http://www.staffordshire.gov.uk/business/procurement/etendering/;

2. Follow the link to Proactis ETendering (http://www.staffordshire.alito.co.uk). On the main page click Suppliers then (new user) Register links;

3. Complete the self registration questions and click the Register button;
4. You will receive a confirmation e-mail with an authentication link (this e-mail may find its way to your trash/junk email account, so please check);
5. Confirm the authentication and then login into Proactis Suppliers side;
6. Search the bulletin board for the tender(s) using key words, search criteria etc;
7. Once found, click on the (blue) contract title to register interest against an active tender;
8. Click the Register button and then Continue;
9. The tender will now be in the My Tenders profile area on the main menu;
10. Find the Read Me First document and continue with managing the tender.
If you require urgent assistance regarding the initial usage of the eTendering package please contact the Contracting Authority point of contact in Section I.1 of this notice. On failure to reach this contact, please immediately e-mail the nature of the difficulty to sp@staffordshire.gov.uk.

VI.4)Procedures for appeal

VI.4.1)Body responsible for appeal procedures

UK
UNITED KINGDOM

VI.4.2)Lodging of appeals

Precise information on deadline(s) for lodging appeals: The Contracting Authority will incorporate a minimum 10 calendar day standstill period (or 15 days where non electronic or fax methods are used) at the point that an award decision notice is communicated to tenderers. The award decision notice will specify the criteria for the award of the contract/framework agreement, the reasons for the decision, including the characteristics and relative advantages, the name and score of the successful tender; and will specify when the standstill period is expected to end or the date before which the contracting authority will not conclude the contract/framework agreement. If an appeal regarding the award of a contract/framework agreement has not been successfully resolved, the Public Contracts (Amendment) Regulations 2009 provide for aggrieved parties who have been harmed or are at risk of a breach of the rules to take action in the High Court (England, Wales and Northern Ireland). Any such action must be brought promptly (generally within 3 months). The Court may order the setting aside of the award decision or may order the Contracting Authority to amend any document and may award damages. If a framework agreement has been entered into the Court may make a declaration of ineffectiveness or may order that the duration of any relevant specific contract be shortened and additionally may award damages. The time limit for seeking such a declaration is generally 30 days from notification of the award (either by award decision notification or contract award notice depending upon the circumstances) or otherwise 6 months.

VI.4.3)Service from which information about the lodging of appeals may be obtained

VI.5)Date of dispatch of this notice:3.2.2012