Compliance requirements
The bidder must confirm that the company, its management or supervisory board members, procurist, and other persons authorised to represent, control or make decisions on its behalf are not subject to exclusion grounds. These include, among other matters, final convictions within the last five years or an ongoing exclusion period for participation in a criminal organisation, corruption, fraud, terrorism, money laundering or terrorist financing, and illegal use of child labour or human trafficking. The contracting authority will also check payment of taxes and social security contributions; compliance with environmental, social and labour-law obligations; bankruptcy, liquidation or other insolvency situations; asset management by a liquidator or court; suspended business activities; serious professional misconduct; competition-distorting agreements; conflicts of interest; involvement in preparing the procurement; material breaches of previous public contracts; false statements; and failure to provide required information or documents. National exclusion grounds are also checked, including facilitating unlawful employment, conflicts with international sanctions, tax offences and restrictions on the bidder’s right to participate. Where an exclusion ground exists, the contracting authority may assess remedial measures taken to restore the bidder’s reliability where this is required or permitted. The bidder must be able to provide proof of payment of taxes and social security contributions and must identify, for verification purposes, authorised persons not visible to the commercial register, or confirm that no such persons exist.
Qualification criteria and exclusion grounds
The bidder must nominate a person responsible for contract performance who will personally participate in the work. This person must hold at least a master’s degree or equivalent qualification in ichthyology or fisheries and must have participated in at least three fisheries surveys during the 60 months preceding the start of the procurement, acting as the responsible person, project manager or responsible expert. Experience gained through studies or internships is not counted. The tender must include the responsible person’s CV describing the education and experience in sufficient detail. Upon request, the bidder must provide a copy of the document proving the qualification and any additional explanations or evidence. The bidder must have the responsible person’s written consent to processing personal data and to being nominated, together with confirmation of participation in contract performance. The responsible person must have sufficient Russian-language and fisheries terminology skills to prepare and conduct a meeting of the fisheries commission; if the language skills are insufficient, the bidder must provide interpretation at its own cost. The bidder must have the equipment necessary for the surveys or be able to purchase, rent or otherwise lawfully obtain it by the start of contract performance. The tender must comply with all procurement-document requirements, be unconditional, and state the price in the required structure. Where relevant, an explanation and evidence of equivalence must be provided. During the surveys, the bidder must use an environmentally sustainable test-fishing method where possible, reduce the transport impact of meetings, submit reports in Word and PDF formats and cost reports in MS Excel and PDF formats, avoid unnecessarily large digital files, delete redundant digital materials after contract performance, and prefer products bearing a Type I ecolabel when printing. During contract performance, only subcontractors and suppliers established in Estonia, an EU Member State, an EEA contracting state or a country party to the WTO Government Procurement Agreement may be used. Subcontractors or suppliers who are Russian citizens, residents, Russian-established entities, entities controlled by such persons, or their representatives or instructed entities may not account for more than 10% of the contract value. In a joint tender, a power of attorney for the joint tenderers must be included. Trade secrets must be identified and justified; the tender price and other numerical figures corresponding to service award criteria may not be classified as trade secrets.