FAQs - EU-OSHA/CPU/2013/T1
‘Pan European Communication services’
Corrigendum1-Please note that the contract notice states a wrong date :the opening session will take place on 30/07/2013, 11:00 in EU-OSHA premises (instead of 31/07/2013)
A corrigendum has been published in the EU Official Journal on 25/06/2013 under the reference 2013/S 121-206341.
2-In line 78 of Annex 6.4, appears the post of the Community Manager (consultant) whichfalls under the scope of the Lot 3.
We apologise for this mistake. A new excel sheet will replace the wrong one (11/07/2013)
Frequent Asked Questions
related to tender EU-OSHA/CPU/2013/T1
Question 1:Tenderers who submit a tender for lot 1 may not submit a tender for other lots. Could you please confirm if our understanding is correct?
ANSWER 1:We can confirm that a tenderer who would present an offer for the lot 1 (Strategic communications advice and monitoring assistance) will not be allowed to present an offer for any other lots.
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Question 2:Do we understand correctly that creative/design services are not requested for this FWC, but the tenderers should know about the constellation? Or is this a hidden part of the tasks? (Lot 1 and 3).
ANSWER 2:Regarding lot 1 and 3, no design work is requested.
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Question 3:Link to the flyer on p. 24 is invalid. Could you please provide us a valid link?
ANSWER 3:The link is valid. Nevertheless we had a couple of disruptions on our website due to maintenance and migration tasks. Please try again.
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Question 4:In Scenario 4, Lot 3, a private online environment to manage the campaign partnerships is mentioned. Does such an environment already exist or would it have to be developed as part of the contract/scenario? If such an environment does exist, could we please receive further information about the content, mechanisms, etc. of the ongoing partnership management or get access for the time of the tender period?
ANSWER 4:As explained in the technical specifications – page 15:
The contractor might use already existing environments (EU-OSHA’s own communication and project management tools, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, other online tools dedicated to community and project management, etc.) and/or also offer ad hoc created environment(s), which EU-OSHA should be able to continue to use after the end of any contractual relationship with the tenderer.
So, based on this description we suggest you make your own proposal to develop the scenario.
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Question5:For each scenario, an overall budget and a budget breakdown is requested. Could you please confirm that this refers to a detailed budget table, listing all agency fees and external costs (if applicable) related to the execution of the scenario as described by the tenderer and the total sum? If any further information or specification is required, could you please clarify?
ANSWER 5: We can confirm that the budget should be detailed, containing all the costs as shown in the Annexes 6 (excel tables that have to be completed for each scenario).
No further information than those requested in the annexes 6 is needed.
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Question6:The scenario for LOT 2 indicates the organisation of meetings on the stand with key stakeholders and members of the media.
As there is a lot (LOT 3) in your call for tender dedicated to public relations and the media, is our understanding correct that to answer to this scenario, the contractor for LOT 2 can rely on cooperation from the contractor for LOT 3 which actually identifies stakeholders and journalists, contacts them and secures their participation in the event?
We are unsure indeed of how to consider media services requested within LOT2.
ANSWER 6:Yes, your understanding is correct. We wanted the tenderer to take into account that such meeting/encounters could take place at the stand and to ensure necessary practicalities and supporting facilities. But, media and public relations as the ones you describe in your message (identifies stakeholders and journalists, contacts them and secures their participation in the event) would be under responsibility of contractor for Lot 3.
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Question7:We reviewed the content for Lot 1 and have questions on the final preparation of a strategic concept:
You mentioned on Page 5 as follows:
-A campaign is running 2 years and involves two years of preparation work. In 2014 and 2015 the campaign is focusing the topic “work-related psychosocial risk”
On Page 21 you mentioned another topic for a communication campaign:
-Scenario 1: the campaign should focus the European Year 2014 with the topic “Reconciling Work and Family Life”
As far as we understand, these are two different themes.
Question:
-What topic we need to focus on (“work-related Psychosocial Risks” or Reconciling Work and Family Life)?
-Or does the implementation of the campaign “Reconciling Work and Family Life starts in 2015 and we have to consider two years preparation work?
ANSWER 7: Regarding Scenario 1, you should prepare, as mentioned on Page 21, a communication plan for promoting EU-OSHA’s activities within the frame of the 2014 European Year for Reconciling Work and Family life, which is not an EU-OSHA initiative, that capitalises on the Agency’s own activities including its next Healthy Workplaces Campaign on work related psychosocial risks.
The communication plan should focus on describing how EU-OSHA might best use its planned communications actions, such as the Healthy Workplaces campaign, to support the goals of the European Year while at the same time seeking to increase its communication reach by promoting its own activities within the actions developed elsewhere under the European Year umbrella.
For more information on the 2014 European Year for Reconciling Work and Family life, you can visit this site 2014 European Year for Reconciling Work and Family life.
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Question8:We have questions concerning Scenario 6 – Lot 4: Production of an info-graphic:
1)In the specifications, it reads “Tenderers should conceive and produce an info-graphic about the questions and related data displayed on in the category General health and safety management in the establishment”. Would you expect such an info-graphic to be based on data from one question only, e.g. question MM1501? Or would tenderers be free to select data from several questions and combine these in one info-graphic?
2)On the link indicated: category General health and safety management in the establishment appear in a drop-down menu. However, this menu does not show all questions in the visible part of the screen and the menu cannot be scrolled. Is there another location where the full set of questions and answers is available with the same information?
ANSWER 8:
1)EU-OSHA would welcome the possibility of meaningfully combining data in one infographic; however, is would be sufficient to propose an infographic where data relate to one question only
2)Unfortunately we were experiencing a bug in the correct display of . We have fixed this problem and you should be able to scroll down and see the whole set of questions.
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Question9:Concerning the point 1.4 participation in the tender you state that:
“…, tenderers who wish to submit an offer for lot 1 will not be able to present an offer for the other lots.”
From that, we understand anyway that two different firms, with two different status and two different mission statement, but belonging to the same group or to the same investor can provide:
·for the first company one offer for Lot 1,
· for the second company offers for lots 2, 3, 4 without being automatically excluded?
Can you please tell us if our understanding is correct?
ANSWER 9: EU-OSHA decided to keep a clear separation between the lot 1 and the other lots to avoid any conflict of interestbecause of the nature of the tasks required for the lot 1.
Therefore, two companies pertaining to the same group or to the same owner would probably fall into a situation of conflict of interest and it could result in the exclusion of one or all companies.
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Question 10: On page 39 of the tender specifications is stated that “each subcontractor should present proof of exclusion criteria, economic, technical and professional capacity”, this sentence is followed by a list of documents.
On Page 53 of the tender specifications, Annex 1-3 – Checklist Lot 3, you mention that the same list of documents has only to be submitted by subcontractor who will carry out more than 10% of the work.
In this light, could you please clarify for us the following: in case of subcontracting of LESS THAN 10% OF THE WORK, could you please indicate if the subcontractor should be mentioned and if so, which documents should be provided by the subcontractors?
ANSWER 10:In the case the subcontractor(s) cover(s) less than 10% of the work for the specified lot, the annex 4 (subcontracting form) with the name and signature of the subcontractor(s) would be enough.
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Question 11:On page 37-38 of the tender specifications is stated that tenderers for Lot 3 should provide 4-6 Project/Activity Reference Form (PARFs) for each contract or project.
But on page 63, Annex 5 – PARF, is stated under point 3 that the tenderer has to provide “a minimum of two PARFs and a maximum of four PARFs”.
Could you please clarify how many PARFs a tenderer has to provide for Lot 3?
ANSWER 11:As requested on page 37-38, 4 to 6 PARFs should be presented for the lot 3.
We apologize for the discrepancy between the call and the Annex 5.
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Question 12:If a company is participating in the tendering process for Lot 1 as a main tenderer, can the same company also be proposed as a subcontractor to Lot 2, 3 or 4?
ANSWER 12:EU-OSHA decided to keep a clear separation between the lot 1 and the other lots to avoid any conflict of interest because of the nature of the tasks required for the lot 1.
Therefore, even as a subcontractor, the company would fall into a situation of conflict of interest if proposed as subcontractor in another of the lots. It could result in its exclusion in all lots.
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Question 13:
If a company is participating in the tendering process for Lot 2, 3 or 4 as main tenderer, can the company also be proposed, as a subcontractor for the same Lot, of another tenderers’ offer?
ANSWER 13:As long as the lot 1 is not concerned, a company could be main tenderer in an offer and subcontractor in another offer.
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Question 14:Lot 3,Scenario 3:Could you please provide us with information on how many good practice example cases are presented to the FOPsper yearand how many are selected by the FOPs per year?
ANSWER 14:The number of good practice examples presented vary very much from one country to the other. For the successful completion of scenario 3 it is not necessary to develop a tailor-made approach for each country.
The FOPs can nominate a maximum of two entries for selection at the European level: one from an organisation employing fewer than 100 workers and one employing more.
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Question 15:Lot 3,Scenario 3:Could you please provide us with information on how the winners communicate themselves when they receive the award? For instance, are they provided a tool box?
ANSWER 15:There are no rules as to how the winners communicate on having received the Good Practice Award, except that they must not do it before the official award ceremony. The Agency does not provide a tool box to them.
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Question 16:Lot 3, scenario 3:Could you please provide us with information on how the GPA is currently promoted(targets, channels, message), before (to attract candidates) and after (to promote the winners)?
ANSWER 16:This is publicly available information, please consult the Agencry’s corporate and campaign website for further information.
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Question 17: Lot 3, Scenario 4:Could you please provide us with the campaigns’ website ( statistics?
ANSWER 17:Thisinformation is not necessary for the successful completion of scenario 4.
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Question 18: Lot 3, Scenario 4:Could you please clarify how many partners are registered on the existing collaborative online platform you are mentioning on page 26?
ANSWER 18:All current campaign partners are registered on the existing collaborative online platform. For the full list of partner see
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Question 19: Lot 3, Scenario 4: Could you please provide us with further information on the collaborative online platform? Does the private platform allow for commenting/discussing/rating/posting/sharing information?
ANSWER 19:As explained in the technical specifications the contractor might use already existing environments (EU-OSHA’s own communication and project management tools, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, other online tools dedicated to community and project management, etc.) and/or also offer ad hoc created environment(s), which EU-OSHA should be able to continue to use after the end of any contractual relationship with the tenderer. We do not give further details about the currently used tools, in order not to constrain or limit tenderers in the creative development of the scenario.
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Question 20:Lot 3, Scenario 4:Could you please provide us with figures on how many of the registered partners on the interactive platform interact with each other (frequency, number, type of interaction)?
ANSWER 20:This information is not necessary for the successful completion of scenario 4.
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Question 21: Lot 3Scenario 4:Is there a possibility to get access to the platform or could we have access to print screens of the current platform functionalities?
ANSWER 21:No. Please see response to question 19.
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Question 22:On pg. 30, par. 5.4.2 – Date for submission, it is stated: “The offer should be postmarked not later than the date indicated in the timetable section 1.8 …”.The latter quotes 24.07.2013 at 16.00 local time as deadline for submission of tender. Do we understand correctly that, if sending the tender by courier, the deadline for dispatch is 24.07.2013 at 16:00 - as would be evidenced by the courier receipt?
ANSWER 22:The deadline for submission is 24/07/13 if you send you offer by mail or courier.
This deadline is the same but before 16:00 if you submit the offer by hand (see section 5.4.2 on page 30)
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Question 23: On page 35 of the terms of reference, requirement e) calls for a “network of national partners […] in the EU and EFTA countries and providing coverage for the Western Balkans and Turkey”.
This is complemented on page 36 with the necessity to provide “a list and short description of the nature of network members (national branches) […] as well as the CV of the responsible person (per national branch)”.
Does this imply that the tenderer must have a network member in each and every country of the EU and EFTA zones as well as the Western Balkans?
Or is it acceptable to work with a smaller network of national partners, covering each several countries?
ANSWER 23:Regarding the necessity of a network of national partners in each country, we confirm it is needed at least for the EU-28.
Therefore, for the other countries, any other alternative proposal would acceptable, including sub-contracting.
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Question 24 (lot 2): We take good note that the two parts of the technical proposal (Project management and quality assurance as well as our approach to the scenario) should not exceed each 5000 words.
Due to this restriction, will you allow bidders to add annexes with illustrative tables, quality management plan, etc. to substantiate our explanations ?
Or should these documents be considered as part of the 5000-word limit?
Would you also allow concise introductory paragraphs in our technical proposal before we actually start to answer to each of the two parts for the award criteria?
ANSWER 24:We confirm the length of 5000 words for each part of the technical proposal.
Any document should enter in this constraint.
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Question 25: On pg. 27 – scenario 5, it is stated: “The video must use a story-telling approach and include the following elements: at least one interview…”. Does the interview have to be authentic, i.e. with a real interviewee telling an authentic story or can the interviewee be an actor telling a fictitious story relevant for EU-OSHA’s campaign messages?
Also concerning the same matter: Does the interview situation have to be shown on screen or can the interview be audio-only, i.e. can the interview happen off-screen?
ANSWER 25: The interviewee could be an actor telling a fictitious story around the EU-OSHA campaign.
The interview could happen off-screen as well, and therefore, it could be recorded in audio only.
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Question26: In the film business it is very common to rely on freelancers for AV productions, e.g. director, actors etc. Please define the difference between freelancers and subcontractors and how we should handle freelancers in our proposal.
ANSWER 26: Subcontracting is the situation where a contract is to be established between EU-OSHA and a contractor and where the contractor,in order to carry out that contract, enters into legal commitment (contract) with other entity (company, legal person…) for performing part of the work, service or supply.
In that case, EU-OSHA has no direct legal commitment with the subcontractor.
Please refer to section 3.3 of the technical specifications for more information about how to handle with subcontractor in your offer.
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Question27:OSHA asks the tenderer to design and produce a36 m2 stand. Are we free to propose any possible length-widthcombination or does the space rented by OSHA impose a specific combination on us?
ANSWER 27: The description of the scenario clearly indicates the stand must have 3 sides open. The organizer of the Exhibition area mentions 3 types of booths, being the maximum wall height of 250 cm and maximum column height of 400 com. Otherwise, tenderer is free to propose any design.
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Question 28: The terms of reference assume that the space for the stand has already been rented from the Frankfurt Fair. Does OSHA take the mandatory Civil Responsibility Insurance available from the organisers or should we foresee this insurance in our budget?
ANSWER 28: EU-OSHA takes the “Compulsory exhibitor's public liability insurance” requested by the organisers.
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Question 29: Does the supplier have to take charge of the transport and accommodation for the speakers/experts and/or the European Commission representatives during the 4 days of the fair?
ANSWER 29: No, the tenderer does not have to take care of that.
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Question 30: OSHA asks for a full concept including graphic creation, production of posters, etc. Who is responsible for the content of the stand, posters, etc? OSHA or the supplier? How many languages will appear on the stand and its components?