Birmingham City Council

BIRMINGHAM CITY COUNCIL

Contract No. P0163 Contract Title: Host Organisation for the Birmingham Local Involvement Network (LINk)

TENDER DOCUMENT

FOR

CONTRACT NO. P0163

CONTRACT TITLE: HOST ORGANISATION FOR THE BIRMINGHAM LOCAL INVOLVEMENT NETWORK (LINk)

Birmingham City Council

Corporate Resources Directorate

Corporate Procurement Services

PO Box 1068

Birmingham

B4 7WB

Council’s tender portal http://in-tendhost.co.uk/birminghamcc/

Issue Date: June 2011

Page

BIRMINGHAM CITY COUNCIL

Contract No. P0163 Contract Title: Host Organisation for the Birmingham Local Involvement Network (LINk)

CONTENTS

* Denotes the parts that require completion and submission by the Tenderer.

PART 1 - INSTRUCTIONS FOR TENDERING

1.1. Information and Confidentiality

1.1.1  Birmingham City Council (the Council”) invites Tenders for the contract herein described upon the Terms and Conditions of the Contract contained in the Contract Documents. Every Tender received by the Council shall be deemed to have been made subject to the Contract unless the Council shall previously have expressly agreed in writing to the contrary. The Council retains the right to invite or permit variations or alterations to the terms of the Contract.

1.1.2  The Council reserves the right to reject Tenders that do not comply with these Tender instructions.

1.1.3  All information supplied by the Council in connection with this invitation to tender shall be regarded as confidential by the Tenderer (except that such information may as is necessary be disclosed for the purpose of obtaining guarantees and quotations necessary for the preparation of the Tender).

1.1.4  The Tender Documents are and shall remain the property of the Council and shall be returned with the Tender if no Tender is submitted upon demand.

1.1.5  Tenderers are advised to ensure that they are fully familiar with the nature and extent of the obligations to be accepted by them if their Tenders are accepted.

1.1.6  It is the responsibility of Tenderers to obtain at their own expense all information necessary for the preparation of their Tender.

1.1.7  Tenderers should not rely on any information other than that supplied in the tender documents or other written information supplied by the Assistant Director - Procurement. The Council will not accept responsibility for any inaccurate information obtained otherwise.

1.1.8  If a Tenderer is in doubt as to the interpretation of any part of the Contract Documents they should contact the Council via the Council’s tender portal https://in-tendhost.co.uk/birminghamcc/ using the correspondence function and we will endeavour to answer enquiries prior to tenders being submitted. The answer may be circulated to other Tenderers, where appropriate.

1.2 Offer Documentation and Tender Submission

1.2.1  The goods and/or services offered should be strictly in accordance with the Specification. Alternative goods and/or services may be offered but all differences between such items and the Specification must be indicated in detail in the Tender.

1.2.2  The Documents marked (*) in the contents page of this Tender Document must be fully completed by the Tenderer.

1.2.3  Documents submitted in electronic format must be compatible with Microsoft Office 2003.

1.2.4  Where more than one Tender is submitted by the same Tenderer, the Council shall consider and shall disregard all Tenders submitted other than the latest version.

1.2.5  The insertion of any conditions qualifying the Tender or any unauthorised alteration to any of the tender documents shall not affect the Contract and may cause the Tender to be rejected.

1.2.6  All documents requiring a signature must be signed:-

1.2.6.1  where the Tenderer is an individual, by that individual;

1.2.6.2  where the Tenderer is a partnership, by one duly authorised partner;

1.2.6.3  where the Tenderer is a company by one directors or by a director and the secretary of the Company, such persons being duly authorised for that purpose.

Under the Electronic Communications Act 2000 a typed name can count as a signature if the person who typed it intended it to be treated as a signature.

1.2.7  The deadline for receipt of Tenders by the Council is not later than noon on 22 July 2011. Any tender received after the specified deadline will not be considered under any circumstances.

1.2.8  Any Tenderer who directly or indirectly canvasses any member, agent or officer of the Council concerning the award of this contract will be disqualified.

1.2.9  The Invitation to Tender is being issued using the Council’s e-tendering system ‘in-tend’, and the remainder of the procurement process will be managed using this system. Therefore all tenders must be submitted by Tenderers via the ‘in-tend’ system.

https://in-tendhost.co.uk/birminghamcc

1.2.10  Use of the ‘in-tend’ system is free for Tenderers throughout the whole procurement process. The system is secure and access to the tenders will only be made available to those employees of the Council, and/or their authorised advisors in respect of this tender.

If you have any questions on how to use this web site please contact the In-Tend Support team at or call us on +44 (0)1332 222451 . If this number is inoperative due to a fault then the alternative number is +44 (0)7785 355314 (please note this mobile number will only be active in the event of a fault on the main support number).

1.2.11 Tenderers should note that there is a maximum file upload size of 20mb per document to the ‘in-tend’ website and where you have a large number of documents or documents which are close to the 20mb file size limit, you MUST ensure you allow plenty of time for uploading of your submission prior to the deadline for tender submissions.

1.2.12 The following document types are acceptable for upload to ‘in-tend’ for the Employer to evaluate as part of this tender:

Microsoft Word

Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Powerpoint

Adobe Acrobat

1.2.13 Tenderers are reminded that tenders must be fully uploaded into the ‘in-tend’ system by the designated closing date and time for tender submissions (see paragraph 1.2.7 of the Instructions For Tenderers) The system will NOT allow Tenderers to upload any elements of their tender after the submission deadline (based on the ‘in-tend’ system clock) and therefore Tenderers MUST upload all documents in advance of the deadline if they want them to be considered as part of their tender submission. In exceptional circumstances the Employer reserves the right to accept tenders received after the published closing date and time.

1.2.14  For the avoidance of doubt the in-tend server time (shown on the tender submission page for Tenderers) shall apply to the delivery of Tenders.

1.2.15  Tenders submitted via the Council’s Portal must be named in the following format: Project Reference- Document Name- Company name

1.3 Electronic Tendering - Generally

1.3.1  The Council accepts no liability for any losses suffered by the Tenderer as a result of computer viruses. It is the Tenderer's responsibility to ensure that files delivered to the Council are free from viruses and the Council may reject a Tender which is submitted in a file or files which are or the Council reasonably suspects are infected with a virus and may also delete such file or files.

1.3.2  It is the Tenderer's responsibility to ensure that files delivered to the Council are complete and fully accessible by the Council and are not corrupted and the Council accepts no liability for corrupted files or data. The Council may reject a Tender, which consists of or contains corrupted or inaccessible files.

1.3.3  If and to the extent that the delivery of a Tender to the Council is prevented or delayed as a result of problems with the Council's or in-tend’s server, the Authorised Recipient or their nominated officer will ensure the integrity of the Tender process and in his or her sole discretion may allow Tenders to be re-submitted.

1.4 Tenders submitted via the Council’s Portal

1.4.1  Tenders submitted via the Council’s Portal must be named in the following format: Project Reference-Name of Tenderer-Document Name

1.4.2  The time of receipt of the Tender or any other correspondence sent via the Supplier Portal in accordance with this Tender Document will be the time of its delivery to the Council's server as shown in the routing information.

1.5 Prices

1.5.1  All prices shall be in all cases exclusive of Value Added Tax, which will be applied in accordance with legislation.

1.5.2  If the Tenderer after submitting the Tender informs the Council that there is an error in any of the prices or rates contained in the Tender then the Council will afford the Tenderer an opportunity to confirm or withdraw its Tender. However, the tender amount will be adjusted to correct arithmetic errors evident within the tender document.

1.6 Contract Award Criteria

1.6.1  The contract will be evaluated in accordance with Part 2 of this Tender Document.

1.6.2  The Council is not bound to accept the lowest or any tender.

1.6.3  Notwithstanding 1.6.2 above, the successful Tenderer will be required to execute a formal Agreement and until the execution of that Agreement, the successful tender together with the Council’s written acceptance will form a binding agreement between the Council and the successful Tenderer.

1.7 TUPE

1.7.1 Please refer to the TUPE Information sheet appended to the Invitation To Tender Document.

1.8 Indicative Timetable

1.8.1 The timetable for this phase of the procurement process is as follows.

PART 2 – TENDER EVALUATION

2.1 Introduction

2.1.1 The specification details the outcome(s) and outputs required for this contract and the Tenderer within the tender submission should describe their skills, proposed activities and investments (financial & non-financial) required to deliver the outcome(s).

2.1.2 This section describes how the tender will be evaluated to ensure that the successful contractor(s) are capable of meeting the required standards.

2.2 Evaluation Panel

2.2.1 Following receipt of Tender responses, an Evaluation Panel consisting of City Council Officers, and any other external consultants as deemed necessary, will be constituted. Copies of the Tenderer’s responses will be distributed to panel members, on the condition that they remain confidential.

2.3 Evaluation Criteria

2.3.1 The evaluation of tenders for this contract will be based on the Quality of bids submitted by the Tenderer. The assessment of Quality will consider written information provided by the Tenderer in relation to the specific requirements as set out within the Tender Document. All relevant submitted evidence will be assessed/merit rated against pre-determined criteria. Tenders submitted without all the information required for the Evaluation Criteria will be considered incomplete and may therefore be rejected.

2.3.2 The Tenderer should be aware that post contract monitoring may incorporate the standards set by the Tendered submission. They will be rigorously enforced even though the standard may be above the minimum required by the Council.

2.3.3 It may be necessary for members of the Evaluation Panel to contact or visit the reference sites. This will be to satisfy the panel that the proposed quality of service can meet the specified requirements. The results of reference site visits will be included within the tender evaluation process. Company Information included within the tender will be taken into account within the evaluation process.

2.3.4 The Evaluation Panel may seek technical and financial references in respect of Tenders. Failure to obtain satisfactory references may result in a bid being rejected. Subject to a final risk assessment the will be carried out. If no undue risks are evident, the Tender(s) will be recommended for acceptance.

2.4 Quality Assessment

2.4.1 Quality assessment will account for 100% of the Tender Evaluation. The breakdown of this is shown in the table below.

2.4.2 Firms who score less than 50% of the Tenderers Written Proposals may not be invited for an interview / presentation and may not take any further part in the process. After rejecting bids that in the opinion of the Council are unrealistically low in terms of quality the highest quality score will be given a score of 100%. Other quality scores will then be calculated as a percentage of the highest score. This gives the adjusted quality Score. The weighting for quality assessment is then applied to the adjusted quality score to give the weighted quality score. Where a response to any question is given a score of nil, (0), the tender may be discounted in its entirety and take no further part in the process.

2.5 Initial Assessment

2.5.1 The information in 2.5.2 and 2.5.4 details the initial assessment. Tenderers are required to pass all aspects in order to progress to Stage 1 Assessment.

2.5.2 Tenderers shall confirm compliance with the Specification and Terms and Conditions in its entirety. Variances / non-compliance may result in disqualification. Tenderers shall sign and return with their Tender the Non Negotiation Certificate as set out Appendix Part 12 to this document.

2.5.3 Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 may apply under this contract. Note that no TUPE transfers directly between the Council and the service provider(s). As part of the Non Negotiation Certificate in Part 12 you are required to confirm your commitment in taking on a TUPE workforce. Your attention is also drawn to Part 14 which contains details on this.

2.5.4 Confirmation that the service will be delivered within the budget of £333,000 for the contract period of 1st October 2011 until 30th September 2012.

2.6 Stage 1 Assessment – Evaluation Criteria