CERTIFICATE OF TENDER FOR THE SUPPLY OF GAS TO METERED SITES
1. I/We* have read the documents listed below and subject to and upon the terms and conditions contained in the said documents, I/We* offer to provide the supplies described in the said documents for the sums or at the rates or prices which I/We* have quoted in the attached schedule. These prices are to be held firm for the duration of the agreement. Terms and Conditions - I/We* agree that this tender and any agreement which may result therefrom shall comprise this tender, any supplementary tender, and any acceptance by Scottish Borders Council of the tender and the documents listed below, namely: a) b) c) d) e) f) g) h) i) Letter of Invitation to Tender Schedule of Requirement Declaration of Bona Fide Offer Confidentiality/Disclosure Agreement Guidance Notes Certificate of Tender Instructions & guidelines for Submission of Tenders Specification for the Supply of Natural Gas Schedule of Sites and Consumption Data
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I/We* understand that Scottish Borders Council reserves the right, unless the tenderer stipulates to the contrary in his/her tender, to accept such portion thereof as the Council may decide. The Council does not bind itself to accept the lowest priced, or any, tender. Law - I/We* agree that any contract that may result from this tender shall be subject to the Law of Scotland. I/We* have obeyed the rules about confidentiality and non-collusion of tenders and will continue to do so as long as they apply. Dated this ….............. day of 2008..........
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In the capacity of........................................................... (State official position, e.g. Director, Manager, Secretary, etc) being a person duly authorised to sign tenders on behalf of: Tenderer’s Name....................................................................... Tel. No. .......................................... Fax No. .......................... Postal Address............................................................................ ..................................................................................................
*Please delete as necessary
INSTRUCTIONS AND GUIDELINES FOR SUBMISSION OF TENDERS
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Tenders must be submitted using the label template provided, to be received by Director of Corporate Resources at Scottish Borders Council, Council Headquarters, Newtown St Boswells, Melrose TD6 0SA by 2pm on Friday 22 August 2008. Tenders will be received up to the time and date stated, and it is the responsibility of the tenderer to ensure that his tender is delivered not later than the appointed time. Tenders forwarded by Courier must be handed into Corporate Resources, Council Headquarters, Newtown St Boswells, Melrose, before the due time. Late tenders may not be considered. Tenders submitted by facsimile transmission or e-mail are not acceptable. Tenders will be opened as soon as possible after expiry of the time appointed for their receipt, in the presence of senior officers of the Council. Tenderers should note that no useful purpose is served by enquiring the result of competitive tendering, and that tenderers will be notified as soon as possible. Further information regarding this tender can be obtained from: Mr L Douglas, Energy Officer,
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Confidentiality – Any information supplied to the Council by the Provider pursuant to this Contract shall, unless otherwise agreed, be kept confidential by the Council. This undertaking shall not apply to information in the public domain or which the Council is obliged to disclose by law but shall continue to apply after termination hereof. Tender documents issued by the Council to a prospective tenderer must not be passed onto a third party without the express permission of the Council. The essence of competitive tendering is that tenderers submit tenders without making reference to any other company on any matter regarding the tender. Accordingly, tendered prices must not be disclosed to anyone prior to the closing date for tenders. The only exception to this is if an insurance quotation is needed to calculate the tender, and the details need to be discussed with an insurance company/broker. Details of the intention to tender, or of any other company’s intention, or of any other company’s prices, must not be discussed prior to the closing date for tenders.
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The following conditions should be noted, and the Council will regard tenderers’ submissions as being in accordance with these conditions. a) The enquiry/tender documentation does not constitute an offer of contract and Scottish Borders Council is under no obligation to accept the lowest, or any, tender. Scottish Borders Council reserves the right to accept any tender for individually or jointly as may be desired. It is intended that following receipt of tenders there will be a period of clarification of tenders, and of confirmation of all aspects associated with the criteria on which the final evaluation will be made (see paragraph 10 for the criteria).
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In relation to all sums payable by Scottish Borders Council the Service Provider shall produce a single monthly consolidated invoice. This must be validated by individual site statements containing financial and consumption information with appropriate meter readings, actual or estimated. Evidence of this provision is required and if either consolidated invoicing or the ability to accept and utilise customer meter readings cannot be achieved the supplier will automatically be excluded from any further part of the evaluation.
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The attached “Specification” details the technical and additional commercial requirements against which tenderers should base their tenders. All rates, totals, conditional clauses or any other endorsements entered on the tender by the tenderer must be made in ink or be typewritten. It is anticipated that after the expiry of the contract sought, the paperless billing solution towards which the Council is presently working will become operational. Accordingly, in the context of the evaluation criterion “Innovation” tenderers are invited to indicate how they envisage the consolidated invoice that features in their tender might in future interface with: (1) The Council’s Procure to pay system known as Proactis, (2) The Council Properties and Facilities Management Information system known as Technology Forge. (3) The Council’s Financial Information system known as FIS, All for the purpose of facilitating internal charging to the relevant budget holders within the Council.
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Evaluation of Tenders: The choice of the successful tenderer, if any, will be awarded on the basis of the most economically advantageous tender, taking into account the following criteria, which will be used to evaluate the tenders received. o o o Cost Continuity of Supply Added Value (Made up of the following) o Quality of Billing o Administration o Innovation 70% 20% 10% 5% 3% 2%
The Council is required to continually seek competition for the supply of goods and services in order to obtain optimum value for money; however this does not mean accepting the lowest tender. All tender submissions will be evaluated in terms of the most economically advantageous offer. Tenderers are reminded that in choosing a successful bidder the Council must abide by its duty to achieve best value as required by the Local Government in Scotland Act 2003. To enable a comprehensive evaluation to be made in accordance with the above criteria, tenderers are required to include the following in their tenders: References with contact names/telephone numbers, relating to previous and/or current supply agreement or contracts for the supply of gas Named point(s) of contact i.e. account manager, deputy account manager and billing contact. Lead in times to ensure sites are transferred to the successful tenderer by 1 December 2008 (note paragraph 10) Billing Methodology Procedure for dealing with New Supplies, Additional Loads and Termination of Supplies.
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Period of Supply Agreement: The contract shall be for a period of 18 months from 1 December 2008 to 31 May 2010 with the option to extend for a maximum of 9 months.
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Delays in the Transfer of Sites At the expiry of this contract, in order to facilitate the changeover to a new supplier the current supplier must allow an overrun period for any sites which have for whatever reason not transferred to the new supplier. Such overrun period will be for 6 months from the expiry date of the current contract and any sites requiring this overrun period will be supplied on the same terms and conditions and at the contract price.
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General Tenderers must be properly licensed by the Director General of the Office of Electricity & Gas Markets (OFGEM) and a copy of the licence must be available for inspection if required.
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Tender documents must not be altered by a tenderer. Any clause, conditions, amendments to specification or any other qualifications which a tenderer may wish to make conditional to their offer with regard to the information requested in paragraphs 9, 10 and 11, MUST be entered on a “Supplementary Page” incorporated in the tender. The person or persons signing the “Certificate of Tender” or any other document forming part of the tender on behalf of the tenderer personally warrants that he has authority to bind the tenderer. If the authority of the person so signing is not supported by satisfactory evidence to the Council enclosed with the tender or the tenderer denies, disputes or fails to confirm that person’s authority within five working days of written notice from the Council requiring such confirmation, then the Council may without prejudice to other civil and criminal remedies cancel the contract or terminate the agreement and hold the signatory personally liable for all costs and damages suffered by the Council. Should tenders be incomplete with respect to any of the above requested information/ requirements, the Council reserves the right to reject the tender from evaluation, or may approach tenderers for additional information or clarification prior to final evaluation of tenders.
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SPECIFICATION FOR THE SUPPLY OF GAS
1. The Requirement Scottish Borders Council requires the provision of metered gas to various premises within the Borders region. The schedules on the attached document list site location details, meter point reference numbers (MPRN) and an indicative annual consumption for all supply points. Any quantities entered in the schedules are indicative quantities only and are not to be held as binding by the Council in any way. The database remains the property of the Council and is to be used for the sole purpose of submitting a tender. Hard copy is available on request. Consumption figures are based on historic records over a minimum of 12 months, where available. The information contained in the appendices constitutes the sum total of the information available for each of the sites. 2 Contract Scope The contract shall run for a period of 18 months from 1 December 2008 to 31 May 2010. Before expiry of said 18 months period and at the sole discretion of the Council the contractor may be offered an extension of the contract for a period of up to 9 months. Such extension, if awarded, shall be conditional upon the council being satisfied (1) with the contractor’s performance of the contract and (2) that an appropriate method of pricing to apply during said extension has been agreed. Commercial With regard to the commercial and administrative aspects relating to the supply of gas, there are several points which must be considered by each tenderer when submitting a tender and which the Council will wish to see incorporated into any agreement and complied with throughout the duration of any contract. These are as follows: 3.1 Conditions of Contract - the Council’s Standard Conditions of Contract which accompanies this specification shall apply. Without prejudice to said generality:
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Invoices should be submitted on a monthly basis for all sites that have monthly meter readings and must be based on the actual meter readings. All other sites should be invoiced quarterly and must include at least 2 actual meter readings per year. Invoices, which have been submitted for payment and subsequently cancelled, must have a CREDIT note issued. This credit note allows the consumption as well as the cost to be credited when processed. Customer meter readings must be used if, and when supplied. In relation to all sums payable by Scottish Borders Council the Service Provider must produce a single monthly consolidated invoice substantiated by meter readings, actual or estimated.
The price submitted has to be based on the NBP price of gas at 14:00 hours on Tuesday 14th August 2008, this price will then be adjusted to reflect the NBP price of gas at the time of acceptance.
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Adjustment to Contract - Premises may be added to or deleted from the contract schedule as circumstances dictate (see also 3.4 below). Reductions in gas consumption due to the implementation of energy saving measures shall not be penalised by changes to the contracted rates. Increases/reductions in consumption due to building alterations shall not be penalised by changes to the contract rates.
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Payment Arrangements - Payment on any invoices/statement shall be within 30 days from receipt of the statement or invoice. Any VAT invoice or monthly statement sheet deemed a VAT invoice must have VAT applied at the appropriate rate and be arithmetically correct before it can be processed for payment. It is the tenderers responsibility to ensure that any VAT invoice/statement is correct. Where a VAT invoice does not add up arithmetically the invoice will be returned to the sender to be cancelled / amended and re-issued for payment.
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Additional Developments - It will be a requirement of any agreement that the contractor selected for the supply of gas will agree to supply any additional sites with gas as required. Full details of any development will be supplied to the selected contractor as early as possible and in advance of the date of actual requirement of gas. Period of Supply Agreement:
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a) The contract shall be for a period of 18 months from 1 December 2008 to 31 May 2010 with the option to extend for up to a further 9 months. Price The tendered rates shall remain fixed for the full 18 month period of the contract. The price must include all of the supplier costs (including without prejudice said generality metering and data collection) other than Government applied levies. Any government-applied levies, i.e. Climate Change Levy & VAT, must be shown separately on each invoice/statement and are the only costs not to be incorporated into the unit costs. With reference to para 3.4 above where due to the adjustment of the contract or to additional developments, premises are added to the contract it shall be at the discretion of the Council to require invoices to be issued separately in respect of such site for an initial period while the site details are incorporated into the consolidated invoice. The base price offered shall apply to such sites from the point when each site is added to the contract irrespective of whether its supply of gas is invoiced separately or as part of the consolidated invoice. 3.6 The successful tenderer must supply a 24 hour emergency contact number applicable to the tenderer and in addition to the usual gas emergency number of 0800 111 999.