Commonwealth Secretariat

COMMONWEALTH SECRETARIAT

MARLBOROUGH HOUSE, PALL MALL, LONDON SW1Y 5HX

IN STRICT COMMERCIAL CONFIDENCE

Invitation to Tender

For the provision ofNetwork Equipment to the Commonwealth Secretariat

May 2018

Reference Number: / 454-2018
Return Date: / 12:00 Noon, Wednesday 06th June2018
Contract Award: / June 2018
Contact Email: /

Contents

1.Introduction

2.Purpose

3.Instructions to Bidders

4.Evaluation Weightings

5.Tender Timeline

6.Information for Bidders

7.Specification

Part 1 – Bidder Details

Part 2 - Suitability Assessment Questions

Part 3 – Technical

Part 4 – Commercial

Appendix 1 - Standard Terms and Conditions

Appendix 2 - Code of Ethics

1.Introduction

The Commonwealth Secretariat is an inter-governmental agency of the Commonwealth member countries with its HQ on Pall Mall, London. The Commonwealth Secretariat implements decisions agreed by Heads of Government and Ministers through advocacy, coalition–building, information sharing, analysis, technical assistance, capacity-building, and advice on policy development.

2.Purpose

The purpose of this tender is to find and appoint a suitable supplier for the provision of Network Equipmentto the Commonwealth Secretariat. The appointed supplier shall be awarded a contract that will be effective for 3 years.

See Specification in Section 7for details on the services required.

3.Instructions to Bidders

This is a one stage tender process with a written submission to this Invitation to Tender (ITT) only. Bidders’ submission will be evaluated, as detailed in Section 4.

Bidders must submit all documents as set out in Part1 – Part 4 no later than the return date.

The tender documents are to be returned by post and email to the Commonwealth Secretariat.

Post:

Procurement

Tender Response (454-2018)

Commonwealth Secretariat

Marlborough House

Pall Mall

London

SW1Y 5HX

Email:

All queries must be in writing via the email address above.

Following all stages of the tender process, the bid received that is deemed the most economically advantageous tender (MEAT) shall be awarded the contract based on theevaluation weightings below.

4.Evaluation Weightings

The information supplied in the ITT response by each Bidder will be checked for completion and submission compliance with the requirements of the ITT.

Failure to provide the required information, make a satisfactory response to any question, or supply documentation requested/ referred to in responses may mean that the response is non-compliant and the Bidder will be disqualified from the tender process.

The scoring methodology that will be applied is as follows:

Information only – the information provided will not be scored, but failure to provide it may result in the ITT submission being disqualified from the tender process.

Pass/ fail – responses to the questions that are scored as a "fail" will result in disqualification from the tender process and the remaining sections of the response will not be evaluated further.

Scored – responses will be awarded a score as described below and at the beginning of each section.

Part 2 - Suitability Assessment – Pass/Fail

You will be excluded from the tender process if there is evidence of convictions relating to specific criminal offences including, but not limited to, bribery, corruption, conspiracy, terrorism, fraud and money laundering, or if you have been the subject of a binding legal decision which found a breach of legal obligations to pay tax or social security obligations.

In addition, there are mandatory pass/fail questions.

Part 3 - Technical20%

Scored– 20%

The following scoring mechansim will be used to score each question in these sections:

Score / Description
0 / Does not meet the specification or has not responded to the question
1 / Low Fit – Meets most of the specification, but is missing in areas
2 / Fit – Meets the specification as required
3 / Good Fit – Meets all of the specification well and exceeds expectations in some areas
4 / Excellent Fit – Exceeds expectations in most or all areas

The following formula will be applied for each question:

Points Scored ÷ Points Available × % weighting
The scores for each of the questions will be added to give a total Technical/Quality Score

Unanswered questions or sections that are left blank shall be awarded a 0.

Questions that exceed the word count shall be awarded a 0.

Part 4 - Commercial – Pass/Fail & 80%

Mandatory Minimum Requirements – Pass/fail

Within the Commercial section, there are mandatory pass/fail requirements.

Pricing - Scored – 80%

For the scored element of this criteria, the lowest price bid shall be awarded the full points, all other bids shall be awarded a percentage from the benchmark. E.g. (lowest price/other bid)*weighting = Score.

5.Tender Timeline

Please note the following timeline may be subject to change if required.

Activity / Date
ITT published / 30thMay 2018
Deadline for questions for be asked / 04th June 2018
Return ITT to Commonwealth / 12 Noon 06th June 2018 (UK Time)
Preferred Bidder Selected / 13th June 2018
Contract award / 26th June 2018

1.1

1.2

6.Information for Bidders

Unless indicated otherwise, all prices should be quoted in Pounds Sterling. Prices quoted should exclude VAT but must indicate clearly where VAT is applicable and where items might be zero-rated.
The bidder must ensure that they have all the information required for the preparation of the tender submission and that they are satisfied about the correct interpretation of terminology used in this documentation. The bidder must also ensure that they are fully conversant with the nature and extent of the obligations should thetender be accepted.
Tenders are to be valid for a minimum of 120 days from the closing date for the submission of the tenders.
The Commonwealth Secretariat reserves the right to cancel the tender at any time during the process.
Bidders shall bear all costs in completing a tender submission.
Bidders shall not disclose details of the ITT to third parties without prior agreement from an authorised officer of the Commonwealth Scretariat.
Bidders are required to submit transparent pricing with no hidden costs or charges.
The Secretariat will carry out an evaluation of the tender bids using the weighted criteria method as described. Following both stages the Secretariat will select a preferred bidder which will be taken forward to contract award. The Secretariat reserves the right to appoint a reserve preferred bidder which the Secretariat would take forward to contract award if any contract negotiations with the preferred bidder are unsuccessful.

By taking part in this tender all bidders commit to the following:

Bidders certify that they have not canvassed or solicited any officer or employee of the Secretariat in connection with this tender submission and that no person employed or acting on behalf of the bidder has done any such act.
Bidders will not canvas or solicit any officer or employee of the Secretariat in connection with this tender submission.
Bidders confirm that they shall automatically be subject to termination on grounds of misrepresentation and failure of duty to disclose.

7.Specification

1.Purpose

The Commonwealth Secretariat intends to replace some of its network infrastructure in order to build resilience, take advantage of up to date technologies and to improve service provision.

2.Background

The Commonwealth Secretariat has its main office as Marlborough House, a Grade 1 listed mansion located in central London. The Secretariat has other offices located at the Commonwealth House in Pall Mall London, in New York and Geneva.

Due to the historical nature of Marlborough House – there are a number of restrictions on physical installations in the building.

The current networking provision comprises of 1GB fibre backbone links and a mix of Cat 3 and Cat 5 cabling. A non-optimal, serially linked topology has been implemented.

The current networking equipment is:

Core Interconnects: 1 x 4 core single mode 62.5/125um backbone fibre limited to 1Gb/s
Access Cabling: Mixture of Cat3 copper 10Mb/S UTP and Cat5e copper 1Gb/s UTP
Core Switches: Cisco Catalyst 3750G-12S Switch Series and Cisco Catalyst 3750 Series Switches
Access Switches: HP ProCurve Switch 5400 series Intelligent Edge (J8697A)

3.Scope of Work

The scope of work shall include the following deliverables:

3.1 Supply and Installation

The supplier will deliver, install and participate in the configuration of the items in the table below. Configuration must be undertaken by a CISCO certified specialist and the configurations done documented and provided in electronic format.

S/No / Description / Quantity
3.1.1 / Cisco Catalyst C9300-48P-E / 14
3.1.2 / Cisco Catalyst C9300-48T / 2
3.1.3 / Cisco Catalyst C9300-24UX / 2
3.1.4 / Cisco C9300-NM8X Network Module / 10
3.1.5 / Cisco GLC-SX-MMD / 8
3.1.6 / Cisco SFP-10G-SR / 16

3.2 Support and Maintenance (Time frame = 3 years)

Shall provide remote maintenance and provide On-Call support of the items delivered in 3.1 above.

Please outline the service levels and the methodology you would use to deal with the following kinds of incidents:

i. Critical – Priority 1 – Service or Services unavailable – A critical incident which preventscontinuation of business, or which causes significant operational difficulties such that immediate or continuous corrective action is required.

ii. Major Faults – Priority 2 – Service Fault – A major incident which causes significant operational difficulties but which does not prevent a continuation of business and does not require immediate or continuous corrective action.

iii. Minor – Priority 3 – All other Faults – or faults with workarounds – An incident affecting a small number of users with little affect to business objectives.

iv. Information – Priority 4 – Information required by the Client

3.3 Training (Time frame = within one week of completion of installation)

The supplier shall provide a one-day onsite training session on configuration, administration and basic support tasks. Bidders to provide a detailed response for this requirement.

3.4 Disposal

Removal of and safe disposal of networking equipment that will be replaced.

Time frame for removal is within 1 week of installation of the replacement equipment.

4.Contract Management

The Head of IT will be the primary contact at the Secretariat.

Tender Submission Documents (454-2018)

Note - Bidders must complete and return all tender submission documents below:

Part 1 – Bidder Details

Part 2 – Suitability Assessment Questions

Part 3 – Technical

Part 4 – Commercial

Part1 –Bidder Details – for information

Please provide details relating to your registered offices, legal status and date of incorporation.

Company Name / Company Number
Company Address / Date of incorporation
Post Code
Contact Name / Job
Title
Telephone / Email
In the event of utilising a third party, on your behalf for any part of the services, please provide the full details of the secondary supplier:
Company Name / Duration of working relationship,
Company Address / Reason for use
Post Code
Please provide audited annual turnover for the past three years:
Previous year / Year 2 / Year 3
Annual Turnover / £ / £ / £
Please provide the contact details of two reference clients. The referees will not be contacted until the final stage of the tender process. Please provide references from similar international organisations or public sector bodies if possible.
Reference 1 / Reference 2
Company Name
Company Address
Post Code
Telephone
Email

Part 2 - Suitability Assessment Questions

Grounds for Exclusion

Within the past five years, has your organisation (or any member of your proposed consortium, if applicable), Directors or Partner or any other person who has powers of representation, decision or control been convicted of any of the following offences?

Please Mark ‘X’ In The Relevant Box / Yes / No
(a)Conspiracy as defined by the legislative or judicial bodies in your jurisdiction.
(b)Corruption as defined by the legislative or judicial bodies in your jurisdiction.
(c)Bribery as defined by the legislative or judicial bodies in your jurisdiction.
(d)The offence of cheating the Revenue as defined by the legislative or judicial bodies in your jurisdiction.
(e)The offence of conspiracy to defraud as defined by the legislative or judicial bodies in your jurisdiction.
(f)Fraud as defined by the legislative or judicial bodies in your jurisdiction.
(g)Theft as defined by the legislative or judicial bodies in your jurisdiction.
(h)Fraudulent trading as defined by the legislative or judicial bodies in your jurisdiction.
(i)Fraudulent evasion as defined by the legislative or judicial bodies in your jurisdiction.
(j)Destroying, defacing or concealing of documents or procuring the execution of a valuable security as defined by the legislative or judicial bodies in your jurisdiction.
(k)The possession of articles for use in frauds as defined by the legislative or judicial bodies in your jurisdiction.
(l)Any offence considered to be Counter Terrorism as defined by the legislative or judicial bodies in your jurisdiction.
(m)Money laundering as defined by the legislative or judicial bodies in your jurisdiction.
(n)Any Sexual Offences as defined by the legislative or judicial bodies in your jurisdiction.
(o)Drug trafficking as defined by the legislative or judicial bodies in your jurisdiction.

Within the past three years, please indicate if any of the following situations have applied, or currently apply, to your organisation. – Pass/Fail

Please Mark ‘X’ In The Relevant Box / Yes / No
(a)your organisation is bankrupt or is the subject of insolvency or winding-up proceedings, where your assets are being administered by a liquidator or by the court, where it is in an arrangement with creditors, where its business activities are suspended or it is in any analogous situation arising from a similar procedure under the laws and regulations of any State;
(b)your organisation is guilty of grave professional misconduct, which renders its integrity questionable;
(c)your organisation has entered into agreements with other economic operators aimed at distorting competition;
(d)the prior involvement of your organisation in the preparation of the procurement procedure has resulted in a distortion of competition;
(e)your organisation has shown significant or persistent deficiencies in the performance of a substantive requirement under a prior contract with a contracting entity, or a prior concession contract, which led to early termination of that prior contract, damages or other comparable sanctions.

Employment and Human Rights– Pass/Fail

For organisations working outside of the UK please refer to equivalent legislation in the country that you are located. Please delete ‘Yes’ / ‘No’ as applicable.

(a) / In the last three years, has any finding of unlawful discrimination been made against your organisation by an Employment Tribunal, an Employment Appeal Tribunal or any other court (or in comparable proceedings in any jurisdiction other than the UK)? / Yes/No
(b) / In the last three years, has your organisation had a complaint upheld following an investigation by the Equality and Human Rights Commission or its predecessors (or a comparable body in any jurisdiction other than the UK), on grounds or alleged unlawful discrimination?
If you have answered “yes” to one or both of the questions, please provide, as a separate Appendix, a summary of the nature of the investigation and an explanation of the outcome of the investigation to date.
If the investigation upheld the complaint against your organisation, please use the Appendix to explain what action (if any) you have taken to prevent unlawful discrimination from reoccurring. You may be excluded if you are unable to demonstrate to The Commonwealth’s satisfaction that appropriate remedial action has been taken to prevent similar unlawful discrimination reoccurring. / Yes/No
(c) / If you use sub-contractors, do you have processes in place to check whether any of the above circumstances apply to these other organisations? / Yes/No/
NA

Environmental Legislation– Pass/Fail

For organisations working outside of the UK please refer to equivalent legislation in the country that you are located. Please delete ‘Yes’ / ‘No’ as applicable.

(a) / Has your organisation been convicted of breaching environmental legislation, or had any notice served upon it, in the last three years by any environmental regulator or authority (including local authority)?
If your answer to this question is “Yes”, please provide details in a separate Appendix of the conviction or notice and details of any remedial action or changes you have made as a result of conviction or notices served. The Secretariat will not select bidders that have been prosecuted or served notice under environmental legislation in the last 3 years, unless The Commonwealth is satisfied that appropriate remedial action has been taken to prevent future occurrences/breaches. / Yes/No
(b) / If you use sub-contractors, do you have processes in place to check whether any of these organisations have been convicted or had a notice served upon them for infringement of environmental legislation? / Yes/No/
NA

Health and Safety legislation– Pass/Fail

For organisations working outside of the UK please refer to equivalent legislation in the country that you are located. Please delete ‘Yes’ / ‘No’ as applicable.

(a) / Please self-certify that your organisation has a Health and Safety Policy that complies with current legislative requirements. / Yes/No
(b) / Has your organisation or any of its Directors or Executive Officers been in receipt of enforcement/remedial orders in relation to the Health and Safety Executive (or equivalent body) in the last 3 years?
If your answer to this question was “Yes”, please provide details in a separate Appendix of any enforcement/remedial orders served and give details of any remedial action or changes to procedures you have made as a result. The Secretariat will exclude bidder(s) that have been in receipt of enforcement/remedial action orders unless the bidder(s) can demonstrate to The Commonwealth’s satisfaction that appropriate remedial action has been taken to prevent future occurrences or breaches. / Yes/No
(c) / If you use sub-contractors, do you have processes in place to check whether any of the above circumstances apply to these other organisations? / Yes/No/
NA

Policies – Pass/Fail

Please delete ‘Yes’ / ‘No’ as applicable.

(a)

Do you have a Health & Safety Policy

Yes/No

(b)

Do you have an Environmental Management Policy

Yes/No

(c)

Do you have a Data Protection / GDPR Policy

Yes/No

Code of Ethics– Pass/Fail

Please delete ‘Yes’ / ‘No’ as applicable.

(a) / Please confirm that your organisation agrees to and has signed, dated and attached the Code of Ethics (Appendix 2) / Yes/No

Part 3 –Technical –20%