DIRECTORATE-GENERAL HOME AFFAIRS
Brussels, 27/10/10…
CALL FOR TENDER No. HOME/2009/ISEC/022-JUST-C4
(open procedure)
Dear Sir/Madam,
1.The European Commission invitestenders for a service contract regarding the following project:
Further analysis of the EU illicit drugs market and responses to it – responding to future challenges
This invitation to tender follows the publication ofthe contract notice in OJEU S209 - 318374-2010 on 27-10-10.
2.If you are interested in this contract, you must submit a tender in triplicate, in one of the official languages of the European Union.
Tendersmust be:
(a)either sent by registered mail or by private courier
The tendermust be sent by registered mail or by private courier, dispatched not later than 08/12/2010 (the postmark or the receipt issued by the courier service serving as proof of the dispatch) to the following address:
By registered mail
Tender for: Further analysis of the EU illicit drugs market and responses to it – responding to future challenges
European Commission
Directorate-General Home Affairs
Directorate A: Internal Security
Unit A4: Financial support - security
Office LX-46 6/020
B - 1049 Brussels
Belgium
By private courier
Tender for: Further analysis of the EU illicit drugs market and responses to it – responding to future challenges
European Commission
Directorate-General Home Affairs
LX 46 6/020
Avenue du Bourget, 1
B-1140 Brussels (Evere)
Belgium
(b)or delivered by hand
Tenders must be delivered by hand at the Central Mail of the European Commissionby 08/12/2010 not later than 4 p.m. (Brussels time), at the following address:
European Commission
Directorate-General Home Affairs
LX 46 6/020
Avenue du Bourget, 1
B-1140 Brussels (Evere)
Belgium
In this case, a receipt must be obtained as proof of submission, signed and dated by the official in the Commission's central mail department who took delivery. The department is open from 08.00 to 17.00 Monday to Thursday, and from 8.00 to 16.00 on Fridays. It is closed on Saturdays, Sundays and Commission holidays.
3.Tendersmust be placed inside two sealed envelopes, one inside the other.The inner envelopeshould be marked:
Call for tenders No. HOME/2009/ISEC/022-JUST-C4not to be opened by the internal mail department
LX 46 6/020
Or
Appel d’offresNo. HOME/2009/ISEC/022-JUST-C4
à ne pas ouvrir par le service du courrier
LX 46 6/020
If self-adhesive envelopes are used, they must be sealed with adhesive tape and the sender must sign across this tape.
Non-respect of these instructions may lead to the exclusion of the tenderer.
4.Tenders will be opened at 11h00 on 14/12/2010, at46 Rue du Luxembourg,6th floor -1040Brussels).
This opening session will be public. Each tenderer may be represented by not more than one person. At the end of the opening session, the Chairman of the opening committee will indicate the name of the tenderers and the decision concerning the admissibility of each offer received. The prices mentioned in the bids will not be communicated.
5.The specification, listing all the documents that must be produced in order to tender, including supporting evidence of economic, financial, technical and professional capacity and the draft contract are attached.
6.Tenders must be signed by the tenderer or his duly authorised representative and perfectly legible so that there can be no doubt as to words and figures.
7.Validity period of the tender: nine months as from the final date for submission of tenders mentioned under point 2 above.
8.Submission of a tender implies acceptance of all the terms and conditions set out in this invitation to tender, in the specification, in the draft contract and, where applicable, waiver of the tenderer's own general or specific terms and conditions. The terms and conditions are binding on the tenderer to whom the contract is awarded during the performance of the contract.
9.Contacts between the awarding authority and tenderers are prohibited throughout the procedure except in exceptional circumstances and under the following conditions only:
Before the closing date for submission of tenders
- At the request of the tenderer, the awarding authority may provide additional information solely for the purpose of clarifying the nature of the contract.
Requests for additional information must be sent in writing not later than sixcalendar days before the closing date for submission of tenders to the following address:
European Commission
DG Home Affairs
Unit A4: Financial support - security
LX 46 6/020
B-1049 Brussels
Belgium
Fax (+ 32 2) 29 98215
e-mail:
- The Commission may, on its own initiative, inform interested parties of any error, inaccuracy, omission or any other material shortcoming in the text of the tender documents.
Further information will be sent simultaneously to all tenderers who have requested the specification in writing, where this is appropriate. Tenderers who have downloaded the documents from the Directorate-GeneralHome Affairswebsite on Europa (DG Home) are invited to consult this site regularly until the deadline for submission.
After the opening of tenders
If a tender requires clarification, or if there is a need to correct material errors which have occured in the drafting of the tender, the Commission may take the initiative and contact the tenderer(s).Such contact shall not lead to the conditions of the tender being altered in any way.
10.This invitation to tender is in no way binding on the Commission. A commitment will come about only when a contract with the successful tenderer has been signed.
Until a contract is signed, the awarding authority may decide not to award a contract or to cancel the tendering procedure, without the candidates or tenderers being entitled to claim any compensation. Where appropriate, the decision will be substantiated and brought to the attention of the tenderers.
11.The costs of dispatching the documents and in participating in this call for tender shall be borne by the tenderer.
12.Tenderers will be informed of whether their tenders have been accepted or rejected.
13.The follow-up of your response to the invitation to tender will require the recording and further processing of personal data (i.e. name, address, CV, etc.). This data will be processed in accordance with the requirements of Regulation (CE) 45/2001 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by Community institutions and bodies and on the free movement of such data. Unless if otherwise stated, replies to questions and personal data requested are necessary for the purpose of assessing your tender (according to the specifications of the invitation to tender) and will only be processed within DG Homeas data controller, for this purpose. You may, upon request, have your personal data sent to you and rectify any inaccurate or incomplete particulars. Should you have any queries concerning the processing of your personal data, please address them to the entity acting as data controller within DG Home. As regards the processing of your personal data, you have the right to bring the matter before the European Data Protection Supervisor at any time.
14.You are informed that for the purposes of safeguarding the financial interest of the Communities, your personal data may be transferred to internal audit services, to the European Court of Auditors, to the Financial Irregularities Panel and/or to the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF).
Tenderers and, if they are legal entities, persons who have powers of representation, decision-making or control over them, are informed that, shouldthey be in one of the situations mentioned in:
-the Commission Decision of 16.12.2008 on the Early Warning System (EWS) for the use of authorising officers of the Commission and the executive agencies (OJ, L 344, 20.12.2008, p. 125), or
-the Commission Regulation of 17.12.2008 on the Central Exclusion Database – CED (OJ L 344, 20.12.2008, p. 12),
their personal details (name, given name if natural person, address, legal form and name and given name of the persons with powers of representation, decision-making or control, if legal person) may be registered in the EWS only or both in the EWS and CED, and communicated to the persons and entities listed in the above-mentioned Decision and Regulation, in relation to the award or the execution of a procurement contract or a grant agreement or decision.
Yours faithfully,
Reinhard Priebe
TENDER SPECIFICATIONS
ATTACHED TO THE INVITATION TO TENDER
Invitation to tender No. HOME/2009/ISEC/022-JUST-C4concerning
Further analysis of the EU illicit drugs market and responses to it – responding to future challenges
I.SPECIFICATIONS
I.1.Introduction
I.1.1. The legal and institutional context of the study
All Member States of the EU have subscribed to the UN Conventions of 1961, 1971 and 1988. The former Treaty on European Union (TEU) provided the legal basis for pursuing an integrated and coordinated approach on drugs at EU level, which was reinforced in Article 168 of the TFEU[1]. In December 2004, the European Council endorsed the EU Drug Strategy (2005-2012)[2] that set the framework, objectives and priorities for two consecutive four-year Drug Action Plans to be brought forward by the European Commission. The strategy was and integral part of the multi-annual "The Hague Programme" for strengthening freedom, security and justice in the EU[3]. The first EU Drug Action Plan (2005-2008) implementing the EU Drug Strategy was evaluated in 2008[4]. The current EU Drug Action Plan (2009-2012)[5] was adopted by the European Council in December 2008.
The EU Drugs Strategy encourages the implementation of evidence-based, multidisciplinary policies that reflect the Union's balanced approach between drug demand reduction and drug supply reduction. The aim is to reduce the negative health and social-harms associated with drug use on one hand, and to bring down large-scale drug-related crime through law-enforcement cooperation on the other, taking into account respect for fundamental EU principles relating to personal freedom, fundamental rights of the citizen and the rule of law.
The Strategy also commits the Member States to achieving a better understanding of the drugs problem and the development of an optimal response to it through a measurable and sustainable improvement in the knowledge base and knowledge infrastructure.
The EU Drugs Strategy (2005-2012) combines two vertical pillars – drug demand reduction and drug supply reduction – with three horizontal aspects: coordination, international cooperation and information, research and evaluation. In recent years, progress has been made in all of these areas.
In 2009, the Commission published a scientific study titled 'A Report on the Global Illicit Drugs Market 1998-2007'[6]. The study was launched in the context of the High Level Segment of the 52nd United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, which gathered to adopt a new Political Declaration and Plan of Action in the field of drugs, in follow up of the UNGASS Declaration on Drugs from 1998. The extensive Commission study had analysed the characteristics of and trends and developments in the global illicit drugs market in the past decade. One if its main findings were that 'no evidence could be found that the global drug problem was reduced during the UNGASS period from 1998 to 2007. For some nations the problem declined but for others it worsened and for some of those it worsened sharply and substantially. The drug problem generally lessened in rich countries and worsened in a few large developing or transitional countries'.
Within the EU, the final evaluation of the EU Drugs Action Plan (2005-2008), conducted in 2008 and which can be considered as the mid-term evaluation of the Strategy, showed that some of the major objectives of the first Drugs Action Plan had been partly achieved at best. Drug use in the population had not been significantly reduced while the social harm caused by the use of and trade in illicit drugs had not diminished. Some achievement had been made in the reduction of important drug-related harms associated with drug use. The evaluation showed that a certain level of convergence between Member States' policies had occurred. At the same time it concluded that both in the field of drug demand and drug supply reduction, major additional efforts were needed to improve effectiveness and impact of drug policy on the actual drug situation.
Both the EU Drugs Strategy (2005-2012) and the EU Drug Action Plan (2009-2012) expire in 2012. In accordance with Action 72 of the Action Plan, the implementation of both documents will be independently evaluated, followed by a period of reflection. The evaluation will be part of a separate exercise which will begin as of 2011 and which should provide important information on the achievements and results of EU drug policy in the years covered by the Strategy.
Notwithstanding the findings of the evaluation which will become available in 2012, a number of important policy relevant questions have already been raised that are considered important in exploring options for EU drugs policy beyond 2012. This study therefore has a forward looking character and is meant to provide answer to some of these pertinent questions. The tasks indicated underneath are therefore not always interlinked.
The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) has been analysing and collecting information on the drug situation in the EU for over fifteen years, providing objective, comparable and reliable data on the drug situation, which underpins drug policy development at EU level. Europol plays an important role in providing strategic and operation assistance to law-enforcement agencies in EU Member States, as well as important information on the specific threats originating from large scale organised crime in the EU, including in the field of drugs.
I.1.2. Objectives and expected results
The study should provide a further analysis of the characteristics and operations of the EU's illicit drugs market and address some key aspects and mechanisms in that market that are still inadequately understood.
The study should, where possible, provide a health, social, legal, economic and environmental perspective, reflecting the multidimensional approach of drug policies at EU level and at the level of the Member States.
It should draw on data and information – first and foremost – already available from the EMCDDA and Europol, as well as from other relevant international, EU and national sources.
The study is not intended as an evaluation of EU drugs policy, but should be foreword looking and provide answers to some key questions that have been raised in view of the development of future EU drugs policy.
I.2.Purpose of the contract
I.2.1. Description of the study
- An analysis of specific characteristics, mechanisms and factors that govern the EU illicit drugs market.
Despite the fact that the drugs market in the EU Member States is increasingly monitored and developments evaluated, there are still a number of important questions to be answered regarding the nature and functioning of this illicit market, especially in regards to the supply side. The analysis should therefore, inter alia:
- Provide an analysis of the composition and organisation of the European illicit drugs market, the type of organisation/ structures that are involved in it and how they are organised. Examine the extent to which these structures are influenced by/ linked to networks outside the EU;
- Provide a geography of the European drugs market, including – inter alia – an overview of the main production, delivery and transit points for the most prevalent illicit drugs (cannabis, cocaine, heroin and ATS);
- Analyse to which extent the trade in illicit drugs has an ‘EU dimension’or whether it takes place mainly through national drug markets;
- Analyse whether there are separate markets for the most prevalent illicit drugs and whether these markets are interlinked, in particular on the supply side. The analysis should be made for the level of production, export, trafficking, import, wholesale and retail and should ideally take into account differences between geographical areas in the EU;
- A detailed analysis of the size and share of the EU illicit drug market.
Important questions remain in regards to the actual consumption of specific sections in the EU drug user market, as well as the availability of drugs in different Member States. The answers to these questions are important in order to optimise policy responses to illicit drug use. The analysis should therefore, inter alia:
- Provide an estimate of the volume of the 'EU market' in illicit drugs (production and trafficking);
- Provide an estimate of the profits generated by this market for the most prevalent illicit drugs and examine how these profits are distributed over the different actors involved in the market;
- Analyse whether the EU drugs market suppy or demand driven. Which are the driving factors behind demand and supply, in particular in the EU, while differentiating between the most prevalent illicit drugs and taking into account possible differences and characteristics of national drug markets.
- Analyse– on the basis of available information and possible additional field research - the availability of the most prevalent illicit drugs to different types of drug users in various EU countries, while taking into account the relevant legal and drug policy context;
- Provide – on the basis of available and possible additional field research - a qualitative estimation of the 'typical' consumption of the most prevalent illicit drugs by different groups of users in the EU, while providing a general typology of these different user groups (e.g. experimental/ recreational/ dependent users; socially included/ marginalised users);
- Provide – on the basis of available information and possible additional field research – a reliable estimate of the relative share of consumption of these groups in the illicit drug market.
- A detailed analysis of a number of potential policy impacts on the EU drug market(s) in recent years.
Within the EU, most Member States pursue a drug policy that is based on important national characteristics and needs, with a number of key characteristics and aspects that fit into the EU drugs policy framework. In the past decade, some important policy initiatives have been widely adopted in many EU Member States, e.g. regarding the delivery of substitution treatment and legal/ and or policy changes regarding possession and personal use of drugs. It is important to assess the impact of such measures. Therefore the study should, inter alia:
- Analyse the impact of the development of opiate substitution treatment in the EU on the size of the illicit heroin market in the EU, while taking into account that substitution treatment practice, coverage and delivery differs between Member States.
- Analyse what the impact was on national drug markets of important changes in legal situation and/ or drug policy (de-jure or de-facto) regarding the personal use and possession and/ or selling/ dealing of drugs in EU Member States where such changes have occurred..
- Analyse which other important policy measures in the field of drugs have impacted the illicit drug market in countries inside and outside the EU.Have there been any important unintended consequences as a result of these measures? ?
- Scanning the future – trends in the market and policy responses
It is unclear how the global drugs market and the responses to it will evolve in the next decade. However, on the basis of current trends and scientific evidence, some exploratory work could be done to inform future drug policies. The study should therefore: