Compliance requirements
The bidder must confirm that neither it nor its management, administrative or supervisory body members or representatives are subject to grounds for exclusion. The checks cover, among other things, participation in a criminal organisation, corruption, fraud, terrorism-related offences, money laundering or terrorist financing, illegal employment of children and human trafficking. The bidder must also have no outstanding tax or social security payment debt, except where permitted by law, including cases where the tax debt is below EUR 100 or its payment has been deferred.
The exclusion grounds also cover breaches of environmental, social and labour law obligations; bankruptcy, liquidation or another insolvency situation; an agreement with creditors; suspended business activities; serious professional misconduct; agreements restricting competition; conflicts of interest; an advantage arising from involvement in preparing the procurement; material breaches of previous contracts; and the submission of false information or failure to submit required documents. The bidder must also comply with rules concerning the unlawful employment of foreign nationals, international sanctions, tax offences and any restrictions based on the bidder’s place of establishment or residence.
Where an exclusion ground applies, the bidder may, where permitted by the tender documents and applicable law, submit evidence of measures taken to restore its reliability. The bidder must confirm payment of taxes and social security contributions or enable the contracting authority to verify this information. The bidder may not involve subcontractors or suppliers representing more than 10% of the contract value if they are Russian citizens, residents or entities established in Russia, are more than 50% directly or indirectly owned by such persons or entities, or act as their representatives or under their instructions.
Qualification criteria and exclusion grounds
Within the three years preceding the start of the procurement, the bidder must have completed at least one contract for marine environmental modelling in the Baltic Sea or under comparable conditions. The same contract must have included hydrodynamic modelling, modelling of changes in water quality and assessment of their environmental impact, and at least one of the following: modelling and impact assessment of suspended sediment dispersion, modelling and impact assessment of changes in biogeochemical processes, or modelling and impact assessment of oil-spill dispersion. The bidder must provide, in the ESPD, the client, main content, performance period, value and other required information for at least one reference contract; the reference number must also be provided if the contract was a public procurement contract.
The bidder must involve a lead expert responsible for the study who will participate personally and directly in performing the contract. The expert must hold at least a master’s degree or equivalent higher education in oceanography or a field related to the marine environment. The expert must have experience with a study comparable to this procurement, involving modelling and impact assessment of hydrodynamics and water properties, including water quality. This experience may have been acquired through participation in an approved environmental impact assessment procedure and/or research work. Research experience includes, among other things, authorship or co-authorship of at least one scientific article classified under ETIS 1.1 or an equivalent classification.
During the six years preceding the start of the procurement, the expert must have participated in at least two studies involving modelling of currents, waves or hydrodynamics in a marine or inland-water environment. During the same period, the expert must also have participated in at least one study involving modelling of suspended sediment dispersion and at least one of the following in an aquatic environment: changes in water quality, biogeochemical processes, nutrient dispersion or oil-spill dispersion. The expert must additionally have experience validating or verifying models against measurement data.
The bidder must submit the expert’s completed and signed CV using the contracting authority’s form and a copy of the document proving the expert’s education. A detailed free-form description of the study methodology must be included; it must comply with the technical specification and explain how the study objectives will be achieved. A power of attorney for joint bidders must be submitted where applicable. The tender must comply with all tender-document requirements, conditional tenders are not permitted, and the tender price must follow the prescribed structure. Where applicable, equivalence must be justified and supporting evidence must be provided.