Compliance requirements
The bidder must confirm that neither the company nor its representatives or controlling persons are subject to exclusion grounds. These include final convictions within the last five years or an ongoing exclusion period for participation in a criminal organisation, corruption, fraud, terrorism-related offences, money laundering or terrorist financing, and the use of child labour or other forms of human trafficking.
The bidder must also confirm that it has no outstanding tax or social security payment obligations, insolvency, bankruptcy, liquidation or comparable proceedings, suspended business activities, serious professional misconduct, competition-distorting agreements, unavoidable conflicts of interest, or improper involvement in preparing this procurement. Exclusion grounds also cover serious or repeated breaches of previous public contracts, submission of false or incomplete information, failure to provide requested documents, attempts to obtain confidential information or improperly influence the contracting authority, and breaches of environmental, social or labour-law obligations.
The notice also includes national exclusion grounds concerning unlawful employment of foreign nationals, international sanctions and convictions for tax offences. Where an exclusion ground exists, the bidder may provide evidence of remedial measures restoring its reliability where permitted by applicable law or the tender documents. The bidder must provide the required declarations and, where applicable, supporting evidence.
Qualification criteria and exclusion grounds
The bidder must provide the declarations required in the European Single Procurement Document concerning the absence of exclusion grounds, payment of taxes and social security contributions, and the bidder’s legal and financial status. The machine-readable procurement passport does not specify a particular turnover, previous experience or staffing qualification requirement.
The bidder must submit the participation application using Annex 4, Form II. In a joint tender, the bidders must submit the authorisation of the joint bidders and the confirmation of joint and several liability using Annex 4, Form I.
The tender must comply with the technical requirements in Annex 1. The completed Annex 1 must be submitted in Excel format and must state, for each product, its name, manufacturer, product code, description and unit price in euros to two decimal places. Prices must include all delivery and unloading costs. The bidder must also state the VAT-exclusive basket price and the discount percentage for other office supplies using the structure specified by the contracting authority.
For copying and drawing paper, the bidder must submit an EU Ecolabel certificate or an equivalent Type I ecolabel under EN ISO 14024. If the paper has no ecolabel, a conformity assessment or audit by an impartial auditor must be submitted. The bidder must also prove the legal origin of the wood fibres and provide a certificate or conformity audit showing that the paper manufacturer has implemented ISO 9001, ISO 14001, EMAS or an equivalent system. The technical requirements for copying paper must be submitted in accordance with Annex 2.
The bidder must hold stock of the goods listed in the basket in Annex 1 and submit a stock confirmation. The bidder must also operate a web-based ordering environment that can be adapted to the contracting authority’s needs and must provide its web address.