Section one: Contracting authority
one.1) Name and addresses
Department of Finance - International Fund for Ireland
Seatem House, 28-32 Alfred street
BELFAST
BT2 8EN
Contact
ssdadmin.cpdfinance-ni.gov.uk
ssdadmin.cpd@finance-ni.gov.uk
Country
United Kingdom
Region code
UK - United Kingdom
Internet address(es)
Main address
https://etendersni.gov.uk/epps
Buyer's address
https://etendersni.gov.uk/epps
one.2) Information about joint procurement
The contract is awarded by a central purchasing body
one.3) Communication
Access to the procurement documents is restricted. Further information can be obtained at
https://etendersni.gov.uk/epps
Additional information can be obtained from the above-mentioned address
Tenders or requests to participate must be submitted electronically via
https://etendersni.gov.uk/epps
Tenders or requests to participate must be submitted to the above-mentioned address
Electronic communication requires the use of tools and devices that are not generally available. Unrestricted and full direct access to these tools and devices is possible, free of charge, at
https://etendersni.gov.uk/epps
one.4) Type of the contracting authority
Body governed by public law
one.5) Main activity
General public services
Section two: Object
two.1) Scope of the procurement
two.1.1) Title
DoF - International Fund for Ireland - Public Relations Services and Website Services
two.1.2) Main CPV code
- 79416000 - Public relations services
two.1.3) Type of contract
Services
two.1.4) Short description
The International Fund for Ireland requires a Supplier to provide a comprehensive public relations service to its Board of the Fund. The Fund’s latest Annual Report can be accessed on the Fund’s website www.internationalfundforireland.com. The service to be provided must cover strategic communication as well as operational communication. In addition, the Supplier will be required to host, maintain and support the Fund’s website which also has a secure members area. It should be borne in mind that, while the Fund is a single, integrated, international organisation which focuses most of its activity on the twelve northern counties of the island of Ireland, it has an office in Belfast which covers activities in Northern Ireland and an office in Dublin which covers activities in the six Southern border counties. The Supplier will be required to provide services to the Fund in both jurisdictions and this contract is, therefore, in respect of the Fund’s PR requirements North and South. The Supplier must deliver the following throughout the lifetime of the contract: Website Hosting, Content Management, Support and Maintenance contract and any website redesign.
two.1.5) Estimated total value
Value excluding VAT: £900,000
two.1.6) Information about lots
This contract is divided into lots: No
two.2) Description
two.2.2) Additional CPV code(s)
- 79416100 - Public relations management services
- 79416200 - Public relations consultancy services
- 79430000 - Crisis management services
- 72413000 - World wide web (www) site design services
- 72415000 - World wide web (www) site operation host services
two.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS codes
- UKN0 - Northern Ireland
- IE0 - Ireland
two.2.4) Description of the procurement
The International Fund for Ireland requires a Supplier to provide a comprehensive public relations service to its Board of the Fund. The Fund’s latest Annual Report can be accessed on the Fund’s website www.internationalfundforireland.com. The service to be provided must cover strategic communication as well as operational communication. In addition, the Supplier will be required to host, maintain and support the Fund’s website which also has a secure members area. It should be borne in mind that, while the Fund is a single, integrated, international organisation which focuses most of its activity on the twelve northern counties of the island of Ireland, it has an office in Belfast which covers activities in Northern Ireland and an office in Dublin which covers activities in the six Southern border counties. The Supplier will be required to provide services to the Fund in both jurisdictions and this contract is, therefore, in respect of the Fund’s PR requirements North and South. The Supplier must deliver the following throughout the lifetime of the contract: Website Hosting, Content Management, Support and Maintenance contract and any website redesign.
two.2.5) Award criteria
Quality criterion - Name: Qualitative Criteria / Weighting: 75
Cost criterion - Name: Quantitative Criteria / Weighting: 25
two.2.6) Estimated value
Value excluding VAT: £900,000
two.2.7) Duration of the contract, framework agreement or dynamic purchasing system
Duration in months
36
This contract is subject to renewal
Yes
Description of renewals
Two options to extend of up to 12 months each.
two.2.10) Information about variants
Variants will be accepted: No
two.2.11) Information about options
Options: No
two.2.13) Information about European Union Funds
The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds: No
Section three. Legal, economic, financial and technical information
three.1) Conditions for participation
three.1.3) Technical and professional ability
Selection criteria as stated in the procurement documents
Section four. Procedure
four.1) Description
four.1.1) Type of procedure
Open procedure
four.1.8) Information about the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)
The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement: Yes
four.2) Administrative information
four.2.2) Time limit for receipt of tenders or requests to participate
Date
2 January 2024
Local time
3:00pm
four.2.4) Languages in which tenders or requests to participate may be submitted
English
four.2.6) Minimum time frame during which the tenderer must maintain the tender
Tender must be valid until: 1 April 2024
four.2.7) Conditions for opening of tenders
Date
2 January 2024
Local time
3:30pm
Information about authorised persons and opening procedure
Construction and Procurement Delivery authorised representatives
Section six. Complementary information
six.1) Information about recurrence
This is a recurrent procurement: No
six.2) Information about electronic workflows
Electronic ordering will be used
Electronic invoicing will be accepted
Electronic payment will be used
six.3) Additional information
The figure indicated in Section II 1.5 represents an estimated contract value. This value reflects the potential scale of the contract, however, neither CPD nor the Authority can provide any guarantee as to the level of business under this contract. The Contracting Authority does not bind itself to accept the lowest or any tender. Economic Operators remain responsible for all costs and expenses incurred by them or by any third party acting under instructions from the Economic Operator in connection with taking part in this procurement process regardless of whether such costs arise as a consequence, directly or indirectly of any amendments made to the procurement documents by the Contracting Authority at any time. No legally binding contract shall arise (and an Economic Operator shall. have no legitimate expectation that a contract will be entered into) until such time as entry into the Contract has been confirmed by the. Contracting Authority. Economic Operators should note that all dates, time periods and figures in relation to values and volumes specified in this notice and the procurement documents are approximate only and the Contracting Authority reserves the right to change any or all of them. The successful contractor’s performance on the contract will be regularly monitored. Contractors not delivering on contract requirements is a serious matter. It means the public purse is not getting what it is paying for. If a contractor fails to reach satisfactory levels of contract performance they will be given a specified time to improve. If, after the specified time, they still fail to reach. satisfactory levels of contract performance, the matter will be escalated to senior management in CPD for further action. If. this occurs. and their. performance still does not improve to satisfactory levels within the specified period, it may be regarded as an act of grave professional misconduct and they may be issued with a Notice of Unsatisfactory Performance and the contract may be terminated. The issue of a Notice of unsatisfactory Performance will result in the contractor being excluded from all procurement competitions being undertaken by Centres of Procurement Expertise on behalf of bodies covered by the Northern Ireland Procurement Policy for a period of twelve months from the date of issue of the Notice.
six.4) Procedures for review
six.4.1) Review body
The UK does not have any special review body with responsibility for appeal/mediation procedures in public procurement competitions. Instead; any challenges are dealt with by the High Court, Commercial Division, to which proceedings may be issued regarding alleged breaches of the PCR 2015 as amended
United Kingdom
Country
United Kingdom
six.4.3) Review procedure
Precise information on deadline(s) for review procedures
The Contracting Authority will comply with the requirements of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (as amended) and, where applicable, will incorporate a minimum 10 calendar day standstill period at the point information on the award of the contract is communicated to all Economic Operators. That notification will provide full information on the award decision. This provides time for the unsuccessful. tenderers to challenge the award decision before the contract is entered into..