Sample

Invitation to Tender

Managed Removals Relocation & Furniture Recycling Services

Contract Reference:



Date upon which the Invitation to Tender period began:
Final date for submission of queries:
Tender Return Date:



Company details










CONTENTS PAGE

SECTION 1: INSTRUCTIONS FOR TENDERERS

1. General Information
2. Points of Clarification
3. Confidentiality
4. Tender Preparation
5. Tender Submission
6. Award Criteria
7. Tender Timetable
8. Award Process
9. Tenderers Warranties
SECTION 2: SPECIFICATION

1. Introduction/Background
2. Outline of the requirements
3. Method statements



SECTION 1: INSTRUCTIONS FOR TENDERERS

1. General Information
1.1Who is seeking seeking tenders for the provision of a Managed Removals,
Relocation & Furniture Recycling Services as further detailed in Section 2 in
accordance with this Invitation to Tender and in particular the draft contract
contained in section 3. Who is managing this procurement process in
accordance with the Public Contracts Regulations 2006 (the Regulations). This
is a services Agreement being procured under the open procedure.
1.2 The purpose of the tender is to find a provider of commercial removal, relocation &
recycling services for Name. The type and scale of projects is variable. Projects may
include the movement of large departments with several hundred staff and associated
equipment to new premises or the movement of a small number of staff within the same
building. The majority of work takes place within Name administrative borders. We
favour the recycling of furniture that is surplus to the organisation requirements and the
disposing of surplus materials in land fill to be kept to a minimum. Further details are
given in Section 2.
1.3 Tenderers must comply with the terms of this Invitation to Tender and should therefore
read all of the document carefully and take any independent financial or legal advice, if
necessary as early as possible in the process.
1.4 Prior to commencing formal evaluation, Tender Responses will be checked to ensure
they are fully compliant with the conditions of Tender. Non-compliant Tender Responses
may be rejected by the organisation. Tender Responses which are deemed by the
Council to be fully compliant will proceed to evaluation. These will be evaluated using
the selection criteria and weightings detailed in the table set out at paragraph 6 below.
1.5 Following evaluation of the compliant Tenders and approval of the outcome the Council
intends to appoint the successful Provider to enter into a Services Agreement.
1.6 The Council reserves the right not to conclude any Agreement as a result of the current
procurement process.
2. Points of Clarification
2.1 Tenderers should read these instructions carefully before completing the Tender
documentation. Failure to comply with these requirements for completion and
submission of the Tender response may result in the rejection of the Tender.
Tenderers are advised therefore to acquaint themselves fully with the extent and
nature of the services and contractual obligations. These instructions constitute the
Conditions of Tender. Participation in the tender process automatically signals that
the Tenderer accepts these Conditions of Tender.
2.2 Tenderers shall ensure that each and every sub-contractor, consortium member and
adviser abides by the terms of these instructions and the Conditions of Tender.
2.3 Any general queries about the tender process which may affect the preparation of
your tender should be raised without delay. These should be made in writing with the
Contact Officer, Name address contact and e-mail address
2.4 Any specific points of clarification, or areas of concern regarding the Specification or
Draft Contract must be notified in writing to the Contact Officer on or before the final
date for submission of queries specified on the front cover page of this Invitation to
Tender. At this stage, the organisation will consider all such requests received from
tenderers. All requests for clarification about the requirements or the process of this
procurement exercise shall be made in accordance with these Instructions.
2.5 The organisation will endeavour to answer all questions as quickly as possible, but
cannot guarantee a minimum response time. The Regulations require that
contracting authorities respond to any request for clarification at least 4 days before
the deadline for receipt of Tenders. In order to satisfy this requirement, the Council
has designated a specific window of time to deal with clarification requests from
Tenderers
2.6 Clarification requests can be submitted [via e-mail only] to the Contract Officer at the
address in paragraph 2.3 above.
2.7 No further requests for clarifications will be accepted after Tender submission date
2.8 In order to ensure equality of treatment of Tenderers, the organisation intends to
publish the questions and clarifications raised by Tenderers together with the
organisation responses (but not the source of the questions) to all participants on a
regular basis.
2.9 Tenderers should indicate if a query is of a commercially sensitive nature where
disclosure of such query and the answer would or would be likely to prejudice its
commercial interests. However, if the organisation at its sole discretion does not
either; consider the query to be of a commercially confidential nature or one which all
Tenderers would potentially benefit from seeing both the query and Councils
response, the organisation will:
2.9.1 invite the Tenderer submitting the query to either declassify the query and
allow the query along with the organisation response to be circulated to all
Tenderers; or
2.9.2 request the Tenderer, if it still considers the query to be of a commercially
confidential nature, to withdraw the query.
2.9.3 The organisation reserves the right not to respond to a request for clarification
or to circulate such a request where it considers that the answer to that
request would or would be likely to prejudice its commercial interests.
2.9.4 The Tenderer shall not make contact with any other employee, agent or
consultant of the Council who are in any way connected with this procurement
exercise during the period of this procurement exercise, unless instructed
otherwise by the Council.
2.9.5 The organisation reserves the right to amend, add to or withdraw all, or any
part of this ITT at any time during the procurement exercise.
2.9.6 The organisation is prevented from undertaking negotiation of any terms of
this Invitation to Tender including, without limitation the Draft Contract.
Consequently, it is vital that tenderers utilise the opportunity of raising points
of clarification on the content of the Specification and Draft Contract on or
before the date referred to in paragraph 2.7.
3 Confidentiality and Freedom of Information
3.1 This ITT is confidential and it is a condition of your continued involvement in
this tender process that you undertake to keep confidential this Invitation to
Tender and all other information, whether written or oral, concerning the
business and affairs of the organisation which you have received or obtained
as a result of the information supplied to you in connection with this ITT, or in
discussion relating to it, other than any such information which is in the public
domain other than by breach of this obligation or other act or omissions of the
Tenderer . You shall not disclose you have been invited to bid, nor discuss
the bid that you intend to make nor canvass for its acceptance, other than with
professional advisers who need to be consulted. In particular bids shall not
be canvassed or discussed with any other tenderer or member or officer of
the organisation.
3.2 The condition referred to in paragraph 3.1 above shall apply equally to any
sub-contractor or professional advisor consulted by you and it shall be your
responsibility to ensure that any such subcontractor or professional advisor
abides by the terms of this Invitation to Tender.
3.3 If a tenderer fails to observe its undertakings under this paragraph 3, or in any
other way, does not treat this Invitation to Tender as confidential, the will
organisation without limitation to any other remedies it may have, reject their
tender and may decide not to invite the tenderer to tender for future work.
3.4 Tenderers should note that the organisation is subject to the provisions of the
FOIA and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004. This means that
information may be subject to disclosure to the public unless an exemption
applies. This includes such things as (not exclusively):
3.4.1 information in any tender submitted to the organisation;
3.4.2 information in any contract to which the organisation is a party;
3.4.3 information about costs, including invoices submitted to the
organisation; and
3.4.4 correspondence and other papers.
3.5 In the event that a Tenderer considers that any information supplied by it is
either commercially sensitive or confidential in nature, this should be
specifically highlighted with the reasons for its sensitivity given and an
explanation of the grounds for exempting that information from disclosure.
The Tenderer should note that even where they have indicated that they
consider the information to be commercially sensitive or confidential in nature,
the organisation may be required to disclose it under the FOIA if a request is
received. Please note that information marked as commercially sensitive or
confidential by the Tenderer should not be taken to mean that the organisation
accepts any duty of confidence by virtue of that marking.

4 Tender Preparation
4.1 Tenderers not complying with any mandatory requirements that are contained
in this ITT will be rejected. Mandatory requirements are denoted where the
words shall or must are used.
4.2 If, at any time after receipt of the ITT, a tenderer decides it does not wish to
complete the tendering process the Contract Officer must be notified of this
decision without delay. In such circumstances the tenderer must destroy the
ITT and all other documentation it has received in connection with this ITT
together with any copies it has made. Failure to comply with this paragraph
4.2 may mean the tenderer is not invited to tender for future work.
4.3 No alteration or addition shall be made by tenderers to any part of the ITT to
Tender. Any attempt by a tenderer to make changes to any part of this ITT
may result in the organisation considering that their tender submission fails to
comply with the rules of this tender process and reject the tender as a non-
compliant bid.
4.4 Tenderers attention is drawn to the fact that the Form of Tender requires an
unequivocal offer to be made to the Council to provide the services and enter
into the terms of the contract contained in section 3. Consequently tenders
shall not be qualified or accompanied by statements that might be construed
as rendering the tender equivocal. The organisation decision as to whether or
not a tender is in an acceptable form will be final.
4.5 A fully compliant bid must be submitted.
4.6 Tenderers must obtain for themselves at their own responsibility and expense
all information necessary for the preparation of their tender. Information
supplied to tenderers by the organisation or contained in the organisation
publications is for general guidance. Tenderers must satisfy themselves by
their own investigations as to the accuracy of any such information and no
responsibility is accepted by the organisation for any loss or damage of
whatever kind and howsoever caused arising from the use by tenderers of
such information in so far as is permissible by law.
4.7 Tenderers should note that they shall be responsible for all of their own costs
and expenses in connection with or arising out of their response to this
Invitation to Tender and the preparation of the bid submissions and other
requirements of this Invitation to Tender. The organisation shall not accept
liability for any costs incurred by the tenderer in preparation or submission of
their bids.
4.8 It is the organisation(s) policy to ask for a parental guarantee where the
tenderer is a subsidiary undertaking as defined by Section 736 of the
Companies Act 1985. Such guarantee would require the parent company to
carry out the obligations of the successful tenderer under the contract if the
tenderer failed to do so. If you are a subsidiary undertaking but do not believe
that in your circumstances it is appropriate for a parental guarantee to be
given, you must provide the Council with the full reasons why in the Form of
Tender. It will be in the organisation absolute discretion whether, following a
review of the tenderers submission, it requires a parental guarantee or not. If
a guarantee is required, the form of the guarantee will be forwarded by the
organisation and it will be a requirement of the contract award that such a
guarantee is executed.
4.9 Any decision made in connection with paragraph 4.8 above shall have no
effect on any other guarantee required by the organisation under the Contract
Documents.


5 Tender Submission

5.1 All tender submissions shall be made in accordance with the terms of this ITT,
otherwise the bid may be rejected.
5.2 In order to evaluate the tender, the following documents must be completed
and submitted:-
5.2.1 Form of Tender;
5.2.2 Pricing Schedule;
5.2.3 Contract Questionnaire;
5.2.4 Method Statements
5.2.5 CVs of key personnel; copies of accreditations, e.g Investors in
People, ISO accreditation etc; and copy of company policies, e.g Equal
Opportunities, Health and Safety, Training]
For the avoidance of doubt there is no requirement to return any other parts of
this Invitation to Tender and if you do so the organisation may dispose of any
such documents received without reviewing them.
5.3 All submissions shall be in hard copy loose-leaf format (showing the name of
the tenderer with all pages numbered). Tenderers shall supply two copies of
the hard copy submission. All copies of the Tender, on what ever medium
supplied, must be identical. It is the Tenderers sole responsibility to ensure
that all copies of the Tender it supplies are identical and in submitting a
Tender it warrants, represents and undertakes that they are identical.
5.4 All tenders shall be returned either in the envelope provided or an envelope
without marks or signs or any reference which may indicate who the tenderer
is. The envelope shall be marked: Tender for Removal Services Contract
Tender Ref, and addressed to:

Full address and location







and shall arrive there by Time spec on the submission date given on the front
page of this Invitation to Tender.

5.5 Subject to Paragraph 5.9 under NO CIRCUMSTANCES will Tenders be
accepted which arrive after Time Spec on the Tender Return Date given on
the front page of this Invitation to Tender. It is the Tenderers responsibility to
ensure the arrival of a complete set of documents on time. An incomplete set
of documents, or a tender submitted in part will result in the tender submission
being invalid.
5.6 Where tenders are delivered by courier or by any other method than by Royal
Mail they must be delivered to Location of delivery during normal working
hours (9.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m. Monday to Thursday and 9.00 a.m. to 4.30 p.m.
on Friday excluding statutory holidays). Tenders shall not be handed to any
other organisation employee or Member. Tenders delivered by hand to any
other location will not qualify and will be rejected.
5.7 Whichever method of delivery is used, Tenderers shall endeavour to ensure
that the envelope or any franking thereon does not bear any marks or signs or
any reference which may indicate who the tenderer is.
5.8 Tenders shall not be sent and will not be accepted by fax or electronic mail.
5.9 Any queries about the tender submission process can be made to the
Contract Officer whose details are set out in paragraph 2.1 above.
5.10 Date Tenders or incomplete tenders may be accepted where a Tenderer
identifies to the absolute satisfaction of the Contract Officer (whose decision
shall be absolute and final) extraordinary circumstances beyond the
reasonable management and control of the Tenderer prevented the Tender
from being delivered by the time specified at Paragraph 5.5.
5.11 If there appears to be an error in a tender submission or supporting
information the Contract Officer shall seek clarification and shall at their
discretion permit manifest or minor errors to be corrected, otherwise the
tenderer will be invited to confirm or withdraw its bid.
5.12 The organisation may require Tenders to respond to written questions in order
to clarify any tender submissions. Details of such questions will be provided to
each tender if required.
5.13 The Form of Tender, Pricing Schedule and Contract Questionnaire shall be
signed in the manner prescribed on the forms.
5.14In order to prepare for the evaluation process, tenderers are required to
identify nominated key personnel who may be contacted with all queries. The
organisation reserves the right to request additional information from tenderers if it
considers, in its sole discretion, such information is required to enable the
organisation l to understand the bid submission for the purposes of the evaluation
process. During the course of the evaluation process tenderers shall be required
to make available key personnel.
5.15The organisation reserves the right in exceptional circumstances and after the
opening of tenders to enter into discussion with any tenderer.
5.16Your Tender should remain open for acceptance for a period of sixty (60)
days. A Tender valid for a shorter period may be rejected.
5.17If, pursuant to the Transfer of Undertakings Protection of Employment
regulations 2006, staff may transfer to the successful tenderer following award,
you will need to include a paragraph dealing with this point. In particular before
information on such staff Tenders can be transferred to Tenderers they will need
to enter into a Data Transfer Agreement which you can obtain from legal
services.

6 Award Criteria

6.1The Tender process will be conducted to ensure that Tenders are evaluated
fairly.
6.2 Account will also be taken of any factors which may impact on the Tenderers
suitability that emerge from the tendering process. If the Tenderers circumstances
change significantly at any time during the tender process from the position stated in
the contract questionnaire this may lead to the Tenderer no longer being able to
participate further in the Tender process. Tenderers must immediately inform the
Council of any such changes.
6.3 Tenderers response to the ITT and any other information, specifically related to
the evaluation of Tenders and requested by the Council in this ITT will be evaluated
against the evaluation criteria, details of which can be found in the table below:

6.4 Prices must be fixed for the initial 2 years of the contract, thereafter prices will be
subject to a contract review that will take place not later than 3 month before
November 2012. In any event any price agreed will be no greater than the prevailing
RPI at the time of application.





EVALUATION CRITERIA WEIGHTING MARKS

Price
Labour
Transport
Packages & Containers

40%



30 marks
5 marks
5 marks


Method Statement

45%


10 points will be given
for question A, 5
points each for the
questions B - E
mentioned in section
2

Question F will hold
15 marks


Company Questionnaire


15%


Capacity to undertake
work of the nature
indicated in the
tender documents.
This will be taken
from the answers
given to financial
capacity, references
from work carried out
of similar nature and
staff employed.
Please see sections
2, 6 & 7 of company
questionnaire.
5 points will be given
to each area.


Contractors must demonstrate how
they possess BS8522 or
equivalent

Pass/fail

A fail mark in this
area will lead to non-
consideration if the
tender
Contractors Must be members of
the British association of
Removers Commercial Moving
Group (CMG
Pass/Fai A fail mark in this
area will lead to non-
consideration if the
tender


7 Pricing Schedule
For the purpose of evaluation of the price element only, we will score price on 8
days where the following criteria are taken in to account.

Day project x 6 vans ( 7.5 tonne ) per day
x 3 foreman per day
x 7 drivers per day
x 7 packers per day
x 1 project manager per day
2720 standard lidded crates
All work carried out during normal office hours.
Mileage during project 5600 miles



8 Tender Timetable

Set out below is the proposed procurement timetable. This is intended as a
guide and whilst the Council does not intend to depart from the timetable it
reserves the right to do so at any stage. However all tenderers will be notified in
advance where there are any changes to the tender submission date, or the last
date for submission of tender clarification queries. The timetable is as follows:
.




DATE STAGE
XXXXX ITT to be issued to Tenderers by the Council
XXXXXX Clarification period opens
XXXXXXX Clarification period closes
XXXXXXXXX Closing date and time for receipt by the Council of Tenderer Responses to the ITT
XXXXXXXXXX Evaluation of ITT Responses commences
XXXXXXXXXX Appointment of Provider(s) to Frameworks(s)
XXXXXXXXXX Commencement Date of Framework Agreement

9 Award Process
9.1 The organisation shall not be committed to any course of action as a result of:
issuing this ITT or any invitation to participate in this procurement exercise;
an invitation to submit any response in respect of this procurement exercise;
communicating with a Tenderer or a Tenderers representatives or agents in
respect of this procurement exercise; or
any other communication between the organisation (whether directly or by its
agents or representatives) and any other party.
9.2 Tenderers shall accept and acknowledge that by issuing this ITT the
organisation shall not be bound to accept any Tender and reserves the right
not to conclude an Agreement for some or all of the services for which
Tenders are invited.
9.3 This ITT does not constitute an offer and the organisation does not undertake
to accept the lowest or part, or all of any Tender, even if all the requirements
are met. The organisation reserves the right to abandon the tender process
at any time for any reason whatsoever.
9.4 All contracts let shall be in writing based on the Draft Agreement.
9.5 All tenderers shall be notified in writing whether their tender submission has
been successful or unsuccessful. The written formal acceptance of a
tenderers offer will obligate the organisation and the successful tenderer in
accordance with the terms and conditions set out in the Agreement. The
acknowledgement of receipt of any tender submission shall not constitute any
actual or implied agreement between the Council and the tenderer.
9.6 Tenderers must not undertake to perform or deliver any services without
prior written notification from the organisation
10 Tenderers Warranties

In submitting its tender, the tenderer warrants, represents and undertakes to the
organisation that:

10.1 all information, representations and other matters of fact communicated
(whether in writing or otherwise) to the organisation by the tenderer, its staff
or agents in connection with or arising out of the tender are true, complete
and accurate in all respects, both as at the date communicated and as at the
date of submission of the tender;
10.2 it has made its own investigations and research and has satisfied itself
in respect of all matters (whether actual or contingent) relating to the tender
and that it has not submitted the tender and will not be entering into the
contract (if the same be awarded to the tenderer by the organisation) in
reliance upon any information, representation or assumption which may have
been made by or on behalf of the organisation
10.3 it has full power and authority to enter into the contract and perform the
obligations specified in the Contract and will, if requested, produce evidence
of such to the organisation; and
10.4 it is of sound financial standing and has and will have sufficient working
capital, skilled staff, equipment and other resources available to it to perform
the obligations specified in the Contract.
11 Right to reject/disqualify
11.1 The organisation reserves the right to reject or disqualify a Tenderer where:
(a) the Tenderer fails to comply fully with the requirements of this Invitation to
Tender or is guilty of a serious misrepresentation in supplying any information
required in this document; or expression of interest; or Contract Questionnaire
and/or
(b) the Tenderer is guilty of serious misrepresentation in relation to its Tender;
expression of interest; the Contract Questionnaire and/or the Tender process;
and/or
(c ) there is a change in identity, control, financial standing or other factor impacting
on the selection and/or evaluation process affecting the Tenderer
- End of SECTION 1
SECTION 2: THE SPECIFICATION

Introduction/Background
The purpose of the Agreement is to contract with a provider of commercial removal
and relocation service fo organisation . The type and scale of projects is variable.
Projects may include the movement of large departments with several hundred staff
and associated equipment to new premises or the movement of a small number of
staff within the same building. The majority of work takes place within organisation
administrative borders. We favour the recycling of furniture that is surplus to the
Council requirements and the disposing of surplus materials in land fill to be kept to a
minimum.

Outline of the requirements

The Provider will provide a Contract / Project manager.
The Contract / Project Manager will provide a project specific Health and Safety
action plan and Risk Assessment.
Safe storage should be provided during transport or for offsite storage.
Insurance will be required to cover Goods in Transit, Premises and Public Liability.
The Contractor should supply all resources and equipment to carry out the project.
Sack trucks, trolleys, hand tools for dismantling of items, protective cover, webbing
and crates for the safe transport and packaging of all items.
Undertake site surveys, and provide advice, schedules and estimates on crate
provision, the size of labour force required and the number and size of vehicles that
will be necessary.
Provide proof of previous experience in this field of work.
Provide reusable crates for packaging and transportation. Crates suited to the
transport of files, IT equipment will be required.
Transport travel distance from the base to site should be as short as possible.
Start and travel times should be calculated from start on project site.
Crate hire, duration of hire to be agreed for each project and should cover from
delivery for packing, over the removal period and for an agreed period for
unpacking. Supplier responsible for collection.

The following projects are typical projects that are currently scheduled to take place
in the next 2 years.
The actual programme of work will be the work ordered.

The Scope of Projects

Project discription:
Location

Write about a project


Free text about the project describe sites and requirments

Recycling and Disposal:

We favour the recycling of furniture that is surplus to the Locations requirements,
preferring that Type of furniture and equipment is allocated to overseas development
and charities. Similar preferences exist with the reuse of office furniture and
equipment where it is preferred that it will be used in community or charity based
projects either in the UK or as part of an overseas aid scheme.
Unwanted furniture should be transported from site prior to dismantling. The re-
machining of timber components and the recycling of steel frames is preferable to
materials going to land fill.
The dumping of surplus waste materials in land fill should be kept to a minimum and
carried out in a safely & responsible auditable route.

Method Statement

Tenderers are required to prepare a method statement indicating their
approach to key areas of work and identifying what procedures and resources
it has, or will put in place to demonstrate its ability to deliver the contract.
The Method Statement will be a fundamental part of the agreement between
the parties and is to be incorporated as a contractual document. For
example, where the Method Statement outlines resources or timescales then
these must be provided or achieved, as the case may be, or the Supplier will
be in breach. For this reason, it is vital that the Method Statement is realistic
and thorough but does not contain promises as to levels of service which
cannot be achieved or maintained.
Please address the following:
Tenderers should use the Method Statement as an opportunity to
demonstrate their skill and experience in this field.
a. how they would manager performance of their obligations under the
Contract
b. staffing issues personnel employed, qualifications and
experience. How would you continue to provide the service as a
result of holidays and sickness
c. vehicles number, age, type, specification, documentation. How
you would continue to provide the service as a result of breakdown
or accident, employee sickness and holidays
d. tenderers should set out how they would ensure ongoing
performance of the contract in the event of the cessation for
whatever reason of their depots ability to meet requirements (e.g. in
the event of major fire)
e. an implementation plan of service handover at the commencement
of the contract
f. state how you would meet requirements in terms of recycling and
disposal of furniture








- End of SECTION 2