The Conditions Set Forth Herein Or in Any Proposals Submitted by Bidders Shall Not Be

COMISIÓN NACIONAL DE LIBROS DE TEXTO GRATUITOS
(NATIONAL COMMISSION OF FREE TEXT BOOKS).
ADMINISTRATIVE COORDINATION OFFICE.
MATERIAL RESOURCES AND GENERAL SERVICES DEPARTMENT.
PROCUREMENT OFFICE.
INVITATION TO THE ELECTRONIC OPEN
PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL TENDER
LA-011L6J001-E168-2016
PROCUREMENT OF CARDSTOCK
PAPER FOR BOOK COVERS.
Tlalnepantla de Baz, Estado de México, December7,2016

1. General.

1.1Invitation

TheComisión Nacional de Libros de TextoGratuitos(National Commission of Free Text Books), hereinafter the Conaliteg,hereby issues this invitation for parties interested in participating in this electronicopen public international tender through the Procurement Office, which is part of the Material Resources and General Services Department, located on the first floor at calleMartín Luis Guzmán s/n, Colonia Nueva Ferrocarrilera, Tlalnepantla de Baz, Estado de México, C.P. 54030,pursuant to the provisions of articles 134 of the Mexican Constitution, 25, 26section I, 26 bissection II, 27, 28 section III, item a) and 29 of the Public Sector Procurement, Leasing and Services Act, hereinafterthe Act, aswell as the corresponding articles of the Regulations and other applicable provisions in the matter.

The conditions set forth herein or in any proposals submitted by bidders shall not be negotiable under any circumstances, pursuant to the provisions of paragraph seven of article 26 of the Act.

1.2Type of Procedure.

Thiscontracting procedure shall be carried out through an electronic open public international tender,which shall be published in the Electronic Public Government Information System called Compranet,hereinafter Compranet,on the website invitationmay also be consulted on the Conalitegwebsite which bidders may only participateelectronically at clarifications meetings, the submittal and opening of proposalsand the award,pursuant to the provisions ofarticles 26 bis, section II and 28 section III, item a)of the Act.

The Conalitegshall keep a printed copy at the officesof the Material Resources and General Services Departmentlocated on the first floor atMartín Luis Guzmán s/n, Colonia Nueva Ferrocarrilera, Tlalnepantla de Baz, Estado de México, C.P. 54030, exclusively for consultation.It shall be under no obligation to submit a printed copy to the bidder.

Mexican and foreign bidders may participate in this tender, notwithstanding the origin of thecardstock paperto be acquired.

Proposalssent by regular mail orcourier service shall not be accepted in this tender.

Bidders shall participate through CompraNet pursuant to the “Ruling setting forth provisions to be complied with in order to use CompraNet”.

Note: Bidders are hereby informed thatthe Conaliteg shall make an English language translation of this invitation available for bidders,for informative purposes,on the web pagewithin a timeframe of three business days following publication hereof at the latest.

In the event of any discrepancies between the content of this invitationand that of its English language translation, theinvitation published on CompraNet in Spanish shall have legal preference.

1.3.Process Number

The ID number of this bidding process isLA-011L6J001-E168-2016, as assigned by CompraNet.

1.4Requisition.

In order to hold this bidding process, it is considered that contracting will take place through order request number100042755.Said requestcovers the 2017 tax year.

1.5Submittal ofProposals.

Any proposalssubmitted by thebidderand any related documents must be drafted in Spanish or English. The forms may be reproduced by each bidderin whichever mode they deem convenient, provided they respect their content, preferably in the specified order. They must also contain therequested information and requirements in the specified manner and terms.Failure to fulfill any of thespecified requirements orto provide any information requested, therebyaffecting the solvencyof the proposals,shall constitute grounds for rejection.

1.6

1.7Budgetary Adequacy.

Budgetary authorization for the holding of the bidding process has been granted by way of official notice numberDRF/3355/2016, issued by the Financial Resources Department.

2PURPOSE AND SCOPE.

2.1.Description of the Goods.

The Conalitegshall perform the Procurement of 23,127units of 1,000of cardstock paperfor book covers, whose quantities and characteristics are outlined in Annexes VI andVII.

2.2.Conditions of Delivery.

Bidders must submit their proposals considering that cardstock paper shall be delivered under the following conditions:

DDP (delivery duty paid, Incoterms 2010)at the addresses and in the quantities set forth inAnnexVII.

The contracting of transportation, any import duties and expenses incurred and the insuring of cardstock paperup to the destination shall be conducted on behalf and to the order of thebidder.

2.3.Identification of Mexican Official Standards, Mexican Standards, International Standards or, as applicable, the reference Standards or specifications.

The deliverable goods must comply with the TAPPI standards set forth in AnnexVI.

2.4.Contract Modality.

This procurement shall be conducted under the closed contract modality.

2.5.Contract.

The draft contractpresentedinAnnexXII: Draft Contract (informative form) and the effective term thereof shall last until such time as each and every clause therein has been complied with in full to the complete satisfaction of the Conaliteg oruntil December 31, 2017, whichever occurs first.

2.6.The rights and obligations derivedfrom the contracts may not be assigned, either in part or in full, in favor of any other natural person or legal entity, except for collection rights, in which case the prior and written consent of the Conaliteg shall be required.

2.7.Any acts, contracts andagreements executed in breach of the Legal provisions shall be completely null and void, following the determination of the judicial or administrativeauthorities performing jurisdictional duties, pursuant to the provisions of article 15 of the Act.

1. BIDDING PROCESS EVENTS.

3.1.Bidding Process Timeframes

This process shall be fast-tracked pursuant to the provisions ofarticles 32,penultimate paragraph, of the Act, and 43, second paragraph, of the Regulations thereof.

3.2.Calendar of Events.

EVENT / DATE
Clarifications meeting / December13, 2016
At09:00 hours.
Submittal and opening of proposals / December20, 2016
At10:00 hours.
Award announcement / December21, 2016
At16:00 hours.
Venue of events / CompraNet.

Bidders must considerthat the times of the events are MexicoCity GMT.

3.2.1.Clarifications Meeting.

The clarifications meeting shall be part of the content of the invitationto tender, and is where replies will be given to any economic, technical, legaland administrativedoubts and queries submitted by bidders in writing in Wordformat throughCompraNet, provided they are sent 24 hours before the clarifications meeting is held. Anybody wishing to seek clarification regarding the aspects contained in the invitationmust submita simple letterstating their wish to participate inthe invitationto tender, on their own behalf or on behalf of a third party, in all cases providing general details of the interested party and, as applicable, of the representative, pursuant to the provisions ofarticles 33 Bisof the Act; 45, 46 and 48 section V of the Regulations.Said letter must contain the details specified in AnnexI:Letter of intentto participate (this form is mandatory for anybody wishing to ask questions regarding the invitation).

The Conalitegshall resolve any doubts and queries submitted bybidders sending, via Compranet,answers to the requests for clarification received, as from the time and date specified in the first paragraph of this point.

The timeframe for bidders to ask any necessary questions regarding the answers issued by the Conaliteg shall be six hoursfrom the moment the Conalitegprovides the clarification, and the continuation of the meeting shall therefore be subsequent to this time.

Minutes of the event will be drafted and, once they have been signed by the public officials in attendance on behalf of the Conaliteg, published on CompraNet.Biddersshall accept that they have been duly notified of the minutes issued once the minutes have been made available to them on CompraNet.

3.2.2.Submittal and Opening of Proposals.

a)Participants must register on CompraNet before the deadlinespecified in point 3.2.

b)Once the proposals have been received,they cannot be withdrawn or annulled, and they shall therefore be deemed valid in this bidding process until it ends, pursuant to articles 26,third to last paragraph, of the Act and 39, section III, item d) of the Regulations thereof.

c)Development. The submittal and openingof proposals shall take place pursuant to articles 34, 35 sections I and III of the Act, 47 and 48 of the Regulations thereof, at the time specified in point 3.2,from which moment the public official chairing the event shall be the only person authorized to make decisions during the event, pursuant to the terms of the Act and the Regulations thereof.Furthermore, only proposalssubmitted via CompraNetprior to the specified time of this event shall be received, for which purpose the proposal reception time shall be the time registered by Compranet.The proposals registered in this system shall be opened.

In view of the foregoing,proposalsmust be submitted pursuant to the provisions of the “Ruling setting forth provisions to be complied with in order to use CompraNet”, published in the Official Gazette of the Federationon June 28, 2011.

Bidders shall also send the file containing a simple copy of both sides of their valid official ID with a photograph of the personwho signed theproposal.

Once the submittal and opening of proposalsis under way, the digital envelopes containing the technical and economic proposals, along with the legal documentation, shall be opened, the information they contain downloaded and the documentation submitted by eachbidderput on record for subsequent evaluation.

Minutes of the event shall be draftedindicating the place, date and time at which the result of the tender will be announced.These minutes shall be initialed and signed by all the attendees, and made available to bidders as of that date on CompraNet. Failure by any of the participants to sign the minutes shall not invalidate the content thereof.

If, during the event, for reasons beyond the control of the Conalitegor for failures involving CompraNet orthe remoteelectronic means of communication, it is not possible to open the files containing the proposals sent via CompraNet, the event shall be resumed once the circumstances that gave rise to the interruption have been remedied.

Proposalsshall be held as not submitted if the files containing the proposal information do not come in word, excel or pdfformats, contain a virus or cannot be opened for any reason due to technical issues imputableto their computer software or hardware.

d)Signing of proposals. Technical proposals shall be signed on the last page, while economic proposals must be signed on every page by whichever public official is designated by the public official chairing the event.The foregoing is pursuant to the provisions of article 35 section II of the Act.

3.2.3.Decision.

The announcement of the decision will begin with the reading out of the decision. Then the corresponding minutes will be drafted, specifying the names of the biddersto whom the contracts have been awardedand containing the signatures of the public officials in attendance.Bidders shall accept that theyshall be held as duly notified of the minutes issued once the minutes have been made available to them on CompraNet, pursuant to the provisions ofarticle 37 of the Act.

The deadline for announcing the decision may be deferred, provided the new deadline is no morethan 20 calendar days after the original deadline, pursuant toarticle 35 sectionIIIof the Act.

3.3.Modification to the Invitation.

The Conaliteg may modify aspects set forth in the invitation, provided this is not intended to limitthe number ofbidders, no later than the seventh calendar day prior to the date of submittal and opening ofproposals.Any such modifications must be announced on CompraNet on the following business day at the latest.

Modifications shall not under any circumstances involve substitutions of the originally required goods, the addition of any different items or any substantialchanges of the characteristics thereof,pursuant to the provisions ofarticle 33 of the Act.

3.4.Joint Participation.

3.4.1.Pursuant toarticles 34, third paragraph, of the Act and 44 of the Regulations thereof, two or more bidders may group together to submit a jointproposal.

3.4.2.In addition to the provisions ofpoint5,they must submit a signed letter in which the group’s common representative states that the proposalis being submitted jointly, pursuant toarticle 34 of the Act, as well as giving the names of the natural persons or legal entities comprising the group.

3.4.3.All the parties comprising the group must execute an agreement on the terms of the applicable legislation accurately providing the following details:

a)Name, address and federal tax code of all the parties comprising the group, including, as applicable, details of the public deeds evidencing the legal existenceof the legal entities and theiramendments and modifications, if any, along with the names of the shareholders appearing therein.

b)Name and address of the representatives of each of the parties comprising the group,including, as applicable, details of the public deeds evidencing theirpowers of representation;

c)The appointment of a common representative, who shall have a broad and sufficient power of attorney to attend to any matters relating to the proposal in the bidding process, and who shall sign the proposal.

d)A description of the parties subject to the contractthat must be complied with by each party, as well as an explanation of how compliance with the obligations shall be demanded.

e)An express provisionwherebyeach signatory shall be bound jointly and severally with the other parties comprising the group to accept liability derived from any contractsigned.

f)Natural persons and legal entities submitting a joint proposal may not submit another proposal individually.

3.5.Submittal of theProposal.

Parties interested in participating in this tender may only submit a proposalwith the items they wish to participate in.

3.6.Obligations.

Once the decision has been announced, the obligations derived therefrom shall become enforceable, notwithstanding the parties’ obligation to sign the contract on the date and terms set forth in the announcement of the decision.

The decision shall not be subject to appeal. However, complaints may be submitted pursuant to Title Six, Chapter One of the Act.

3.7.Execution of the Contracts.

3.7.1.Any undertakings derivedfrom this invitation shall be formalized with the signing of the corresponding contract.

3.7.2.Any contractderived from this bidding process shall be signed at the Contracts Departmentof the Conaliteglocated on the ground floor of Martín Luis Guzmán s/n, Colonia Nueva Ferrocarrilera, Tlalnepantla de Baz, Estado de México, C.P. 54030, within 15 calendar daysfollowing the announcement of the decision.

3.7.3.If the awardedbidderdoes not show up to sign the contractwithin the specified timeframe for reasons imputable thereto, they shall be penalized pursuant to the terms of articles 59 and 60 of the Act, and the contractin question shall be awarded to the second best proposalsubmitted in the bidding process and so forth in the orderof preferenceof the evaluation, provided the differencewith regard to the economic proposal to which the contract was initially awarded is not greater than 10% and does not exceed the amount set forth in the requirements, pursuant to the provisions of article 46, second paragraph of the Act.

3.7.4.If the awarded bidderis Mexican, they must submit the following documentation to the Contracts Departmentprior to the signing of the contract:

a)Deeds and amendments of the bidding company’s articles of incorporation, with their corporate purpose in accordance with the specified requirements for this bidding process.

b)Up-to-date Federal Taxpayers’ Code (RFC) specifying the tax domicile.

c)Notarized power of attorney for the legal representative evidencing their standing to bind and contract on behalf of their principle.

d)ID of legal representative.

e)Legal Status Form, AnnexII (this form is mandatory for the awardedbidder)

f)Proof of address.

3.7.4.1.If the awarded bidder is foreign, they must submit the following documentation to the Contracts Department prior to the signing of the contract:

a)Deeds and amendments of the bidding company’s articles of incorporation orequivalent documentationin their country of origin, which must be legalized or apostilled by the corresponding authoritiesand be accompanied by a Spanish language translation or the corresponding translation. In addition, the power of attorney must be duly notarized. All the foregoing is pursuant to the following:

APOSTILLE: Mandatory for foreign bidders from signatory countries for which the “CONVENTION ABOLISHING THE REQUIREMENT OF LEGALISATION FOR FOREIGN PUBLIC DOCUMENTS” (Hague Convention October 5, 1961) published in theOfficial Gazette of the Federationon August 14, 1995, is still in force.

LEGALIZATION: Foreignbidders from countries that are not signatories to the abovementioned Convention must perform the corresponding consular legalization.

TRANSLATION: By expert translators duly authorized by the Tribunal Superior de Justicia de la Ciudad de México (Superior Court of Justice of Mexico City).

NOTARIZATION: This must be performed with a Mexican Notary Public. Bidders may go to the corresponding Mexican Consulwho performsthe functions of a Mexican Notary Public.

We point out that foreign bidders are responsible for ensuring that the textof each documentcomplies with each requirement set forth in the invitation.

Original documents shall be returned after the contract has been signed.

3.8.Performance Bond.

3.8.1.The awardedbiddermust guarantee performance of the contract with a bond issued by a Mexicanbonds and sureties company legally authorized for such purpose,for an amount equal to 10% of the total value of the awarded contract, before Value Added Tax (VAT),issued in favor of the Conaliteg.

3.8.2.Said bond must be issued in adivisible manner, pursuant to the provisions ofarticle 81 section II of the Regulations of the Act, and state that the bonding company expressly states:

a)that the bond is issued in compliance with all the contract’s provisions.

b)that the bond guarantees any extensions and stays that may be granted to the provider.

c)that the releasing of the bond shall require the expressand written consent of the Conaliteg.

d)that the bondshall be valid during the processing of any legal motions or trials filed and until such time as a final resolution is passed by the corresponding authorities; and

e)thatit submits to the execution procedures set forth in articles 95 and 95 bisof the Federal Surety Companies Act for the enforcement of the bonds, including if interest is payableas a result of the extemporaneous payment of the amount of the required bond.

3.8.3.The bond must be submitted within thirty calendar daysfollowing the signing of the contractin the Contracts Departmentfor validation, on the understanding that failure to do so by the agreed deadlineshall be construed as noncompliance with the contractas from that moment, and the provisions of articles 59 and 60 of the Act shall be complied with, and the Conalitegshall therefore notify the Ministry of PublicAdministration (SFP) of said noncompliance with the obligation, thereby rendering the Conalitegfree to award the contract to the next bidder, pursuant to the terms ofarticle 46 of the Act.