Telecommunications Tender - AfricaConnect Connectivity

Telecommunications Tender – AfricaConnect Connectivity

United Kingdom-Cambridge: Telecommunications services

2014/S 195-344877

Contract notice

Services

Directive 2004/18/EC

Section I: Contracting authority

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

Delivery of Advanced Network Technology to Europe Limited
City House, 126-130 Hills Road
Contact point(s): procurement@dante.net
For the attention of: Procurement Manager
CB2 1PQ Cambridge
UNITED KINGDOM
Telephone: +44 1223371300
E-mail: procurement@dante.net
Fax: +44 1223371371

Internet address(es):

General address of the contracting authority: www.dante.net

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

Other: UK Limited Company

I.3)Main activity

Other: Research & Education Networks

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

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

MAREN
University of Malawi Central Office, Box 278, Zomba
Blantyre
MALAWI

MoRENet
Ministry of Science and Technology of Mozambique, 770 Patrice Lumumba Avenue
Maputo
MOZAMBIQUE

X-net
Ministry of Education Government Office Park, Luther Street
Windhoek
NAMIBIA

RwEdNet
Kigali Institute of Science, Technology and Management
Kigali
RWANDA

SomaliREN
Industrial Road, Simad University Main Campus
Mogadishu
SOMALIA

SUIN
Information Technology & Networks Administration (ITNA) University of Khartoum
Khartoum
SUDAN

TERNET
P.O. Box 95062. Kawawa Road
Dar es Salaam
TANZANIA

RENU
DICTS Network Operations Centre, Faculty of Computing & Information Technology, Block A, Makerere University, P.O. Box 350069
Kampala
UGANDA

ZAMREN
University of Zambia, Great East Road Campus, School of Education Building, P.O. Box 32379
Lusaka
ZAMBIA

UbuntuNet Alliance
P.O. Box 2550
Lilongwe
MALAWI

TENET
House Vincent, 10 Ebenezer Road
7800 Wynberg
SOUTH AFRICA

iRENALA
Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research – Fiadanana
101 Antananarivo
MADAGASCAR

Eb@ale
Avenue de la Democratie No 44
Kinshasa/Gombe
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO

EthERNet
c/o ICT Center of Excellence, Ground Floor of International Leadership Institute Building, Madagascar Street
Addis Ababa
ETHIOPIA

KENET
P.O. Box 30244 00100
Nairobi
KENYA

Section II: Object of the contract

II.1)Description

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

AfricaConnect Connectivity — Nairobi and Lusaka to Sudan and Europe.

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

Services
Service category No 5: Telecommunications services
NUTS code

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

II.1.4)Information on framework agreement

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

Delivery of Advanced Network Technologies to Europe (DANTE), on behalf of the Ubuntunet Alliance and European National Research and Education Networks, is coordinating procurement efforts under the AfricaConnect project. The project, funded by the European Commission Development and Cooperation-Europe Aid directorate (http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/index_en.htm), aims to establish a high-capacity network for research and education in Southern and Eastern Africa (ESA) region, and to connect this network to the worldwide community of Research and Education Networks through GÉANT, the pan-European Research and Education Network operated by DANTE.

The beneficiaries of AfricaConnect are the NRENs under the UbuntuNet Alliance, the regional research and Education Network for the ESA region. The Alliance currently has membership drawn from 14 countries namely:
— The Democratic Republic of Congo,
— South Africa,
— Ethiopia,
— Kenya,
— Madagascar,
— Malawi,
— Mozambique,
— Namibia,
— Rwanda,
— Somalia,
— Sudan,
— Tanzania,
— Uganda
— Zambia.
The project has European partners comprising the National Research and Education Networks (NREN) of Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands and Portugal – who respectively represent the GÉANT community. DANTE seeks data links from UbuntuNet Alliance PoP in Nairobi to Port Sudan and Amsterdam and from the UbuntunNet Alliance PoP in Lusaka to London. Connectivity will be required at a minimum of STM-1 to Sudan and STM-4 from Lusaka. Pricing is required for 1, 3, 5 and 10 year terms subject to commercial considerations and overall affordability of the total solution.
Bidders should note that both submarine and terrestrial routing options are acceptable.

To access the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire suppliers must first register an account on the DANTE eProcurement portal at www.dante-procurement.net

II.1.6)Common procurement vocabulary (CPV)

64200000, 32560000, 32562200

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: yes
Tenders may be submitted for one or more lots

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:

See Section II.1.5

II.2.2)Information about options

Options: no

II.2.3)Information about renewals

This contract is subject to renewal: no

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

Duration in months: 120 (from the award of the contract)

Information about lots

Lot No: 1Lot title: Nairobi-Port Sudan (landing station)

1)Short description

Bandwidth — STM-1.

2)Common procurement vocabulary (CPV)

64200000, 32560000, 32562200

3)Quantity or scope

4)Indication about different date for duration of contract or starting/completion

5)Additional information about lots

Lot No: 2Lot title: Lusaka-London (via Capetown — Bree Street)

1)Short description

Bandwidth — STM-4

2)Common procurement vocabulary (CPV)

64200000, 32560000, 32562200

3)Quantity or scope

4)Indication about different date for duration of contract or starting/completion

5)Additional information about lots

Lot No: 3Lot title: Nairobi-Amsterdam with a drop in Port Sudan

1)Short description

Bandwidth — STM-1

2)Common procurement vocabulary (CPV)

64200000, 32560000, 32562200

3)Quantity or scope

4)Indication about different date for duration of contract or starting/completion

5)Additional information about lots

Section III: Legal, economic, financial and technical information

III.1)Conditions relating to the contract

III.1.1)Deposits and guarantees required:

None.

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

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

Where bids are submitted by a consortium or association, the members of it would be required either to nominate a lead organisation with whom the contracting authority can contract with; or form themselves into a single legal entity; or to accept joint several liability.

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: Organisations that express interest in this tender will be required to provide this information as part of their response to the Selection questionnaire within the tender documentation they will receive. Economic operators should confirm that none of the reasons for exclusion in Article 45 of directive 2004/18/EC applies to their organisation.
Minimum level(s) of standards possibly required: Candidates will be required to demonstrate as part of their response to the Selection questionnaire within the tender documentation they will receive that they have adequate financial resources at their disposal.

III.2.3)Technical capacity

Information and formalities necessary for evaluating if the requirements are met:
Organisations that express interest in this tender will be required to provide this information as part of their response to the Selection questionnaire within the tender documentation they will receive.
Minimum level(s) of standards possibly required:
Candidates will be required to demonstrate as part of their response to the Selection questionnaire within the tender documentation they will receive that they have adequate technical resources at their disposal.

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

Open

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

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

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:

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

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

Payable documents: no

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

24.11.2014 – 12:00

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

English.

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

IV.3.8)Conditions for opening of tenders

Section VI: Complementary information

VI.1)Information about recurrence

This is a recurrent procurement: no

VI.2)Information about European Union funds

The contract is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds: yes
Reference to project(s) and/or programme(s): FED/2010/255139

VI.3)Additional information

VI.4)Procedures for appeal

VI.4.1)Body responsible for appeal procedures

VI.4.2)Lodging of appeals

Precise information on deadline(s) for lodging appeals: DANTE will incorporate a standstill period at the point information on the award of the contract is communicated to tenderers. That notification will provide full information on the award decision. The standstill period, which will be for a minimum of 10 calendar days, provides time for unsuccessful tenderers to challenge the award decision before the contract is entered into. The Public Contracts Regulations 2006 provide for aggrieved parties who have been harmed or are at risk of harm by a breach of the rules to take action in the High Court (England, Wales and Northern Ireland).

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

VI.5)Date of dispatch of this notice:

8.10.2014