Request for Quotations: Legal Services EU4Moldova Startup City Cahul

RFQ Number:                    RFQ-StartupCityCahul-2020-001

Issuance Date:                  01.10.2020

Deadline for Offers:        15.10.2020

Description:                      Legal Services

For:                                     EU4Moldova Startup City Cahul

Funded By:                        European Union through Sweden

Issued by:                           National Association of ICT Companies (ATIC)

ATIC Point of Contact:    achirita@ict.md, Strategic Projects Director

Introduction: The Government of Sweden has entered into a delegated agreement with the European Delegation in June 2020 for the implementation of Startup City Cahul Project aiming to develop a regional ICT Innovation centre for the Cahul region.

The National Association of ICT Companies has entered into an agreement with Sweden on September 15, 2020 for the implementation of the project.

The project is in line with the Annual Action Programme 2019 in favour of the Republic of Moldova and its Action entitled ‘EU4Moldova: Startup City Cahul’, based on the Commission Decision ENI/2019/042-243.

The overall objective of the Action is to harness and strengthen the potential of the digital economy and enhance regional competitiveness, its business and its investment environment.

The specific objectives are:

Foster partnerships for innovation and entrepreneurship between the private sector, public sector and educational institutions in the region of Cahul.

Promote technology, problem solving and creative solutions in learning and make STEM topics (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) more attractive for women and men, girls and boys.

Facilitate the emergence of start-ups in innovative sectors, build their capacity and investment readiness.

The Action is aligned to the Eastern Partnership priorities, the revised Association Agenda and the objectives of the 2017-2020 Single Support Framework (SSF) for Moldova and Chapter 18 of the European Union – Moldova Association Agreement. It will also support the implementation of the Eastern Partnership’s ‘20 Deliverables for 2020’, as they relate to economic development. The proposed activities will support the implementation of the priorities identified in the European Joint Development Cooperation Strategy (Joint Programming Document) and the National Strategy for enhancing IT industry competitiveness ‘Digital Moldova 2020’.

Under the programmatic approach, the Action will contribute to the regional development of Cahul, in agreement with the Government of Moldova’s strategies for regional growth and well-being. The initiative will involve the major regional stakeholders and a general memorandum of understanding will be negotiated to seek commitment of the governmental authorities.

1.      Offer Deadline and Protocol: Offers must be received no later than October 15, 2020, 18:00  local Chisinau time email or by hard copy delivery to the ATIC office. Any emailed offers must be emailed to achirita@ict.md Any hard copy deliveries must be stamped and signed by the offeror’s authorized representative and delivered to the ATIC Office located at 9/11 Studentilor str, MD-2068, Tekwill.

Please reference the RFQ number in any response to this RFQ. Offers received after the specified time and date will be considered late and will be considered only at the discretion of ATIC.

2.      Questions: Questions regarding the technical or administrative requirements of this RFQ may be submitted no later than October 10, 2020 local Chisinau  by email to achirita@ict.md. Questions must be submitted in writing; phone calls will not be accepted. Questions and requests for clarification—and the responses thereto—that ATIC believes may be of interest to other offerors will be circulated to all RFQ recipients who have indicated an interest in bidding.

Only the written answers issued by ATIC will be considered official and carry weight in the RFQ process and subsequent evaluation. Any verbal information received from employees of ATIC or any other entity should not be considered as an official response to any questions regarding this RFQ.

Specifications: The following specifications are proposed:

• Revision of contract 13797 between ATIC and Sweden;

• Determining the types of contracts required (individual employment contract, consulting contract concluded with a local natural person, consulting contract concluded with a foreign natural person, construction contract, fixed price service contract, other types of contracts);

• Determining and dividing by types of contracts the additional clauses necessary to be included in each of the types of contracts identified;

• Completion of existing contracts with the necessary clauses mentioned in the agreement between ATIC and Sweden, as well as reference to EU legislation;

• Development of standard contracts in Romanian and English missing from ATIC’s portfolio of contracts with the respective provisions.

SPECIFIC DELIVERABLES:

1. List of types of contracts required under the terms of the agreement signed between ATIC and Sweden.

2. List of clauses divided into standard contracts required to be included.

3. The set of contracts with completions and / or elaborated in Romanian and English.

3.      Quotations: Quotations in response to this RFQ must be priced on a fixed-price, all-inclusive basis, all other costs. Pricing must be presented in MDL.  Offers must remain valid for not less than thirty (30) calendar days after the offer deadline. Offerors are requested to provide quotations on their official quotation format or letterhead; in the event this is not possible, offerors may complete the table in Section 3.

In addition, offerors responding to this RFQ are requested to submit the following:

·       Company capacity and relevant experience. Presentation of the company’s capabilities to perform the proposed services, describing in particular the experience in the field, the portfolio of services offered, etc. Similar experience with international donor organizations  will be considered an advantage

·       References. The company will include at least 3 references

·       Team: The company will include the CVs of the people involved

·       Price: the price for the provision of legal services with an indication of the estimated total volume. The price will be indicated in Moldovan lei or USD, and will not include VAT, because the project has a zero VAT rate.

·       Copy of the business license

4.      Delivery: The delivery location for the items described in this RFQ is Chisinau, Republic of Moldova. As part of its response to this RFQ, each offeror is expected to provide an estimate (in calendar days) of the delivery timeframe (after receipt of order). The delivery estimate presented in an offer in response to this RFQ must be upheld in the performance of any resulting contract.

5.      Eligibility: By submitting an offer in response to this RFQ, the offeror certifies that it and its principal officers are not debarred, suspended, or otherwise considered ineligible for an award.

6.      Evaluation and Award: The award will be made to a responsible offeror whose offer follows the RFQ instructions, meets the eligibility requirements, and according to the criteria:

Please note that if there are significant deficiencies regarding responsiveness to the requirements of this RFQ, an offer may be deemed “non-responsive” and thereby disqualified from consideration. ATIC reserves the right to waive immaterial deficiencies at its discretion.

Best-offer quotations are requested. It is anticipated that award will be made solely on the basis of these original quotations. However, ATIC reserves the right to conduct any of the following:

·        ATIC may conduct negotiations with and/or request clarifications from any offeror prior to award.

·        While preference will be given to offerors who can address the full technical requirements of this RFQ, ATIC may issue a partial award or split the award among various suppliers, if in the best interest of the Project.

·        ATIC may cancel this RFQ at any time.

7.      Terms and Conditions: This is a Request for Quotations only. Issuance of this RFQ does not in any way obligate ATIC or EU4Moldova Startup City Cahul to make an award or pay for costs incurred by potential offerors in the preparation and submission of an offer.

This solicitation is subject to ATIC’s standard terms and conditions. Any resultant award will be governed by these terms and conditions; a copy of the full terms and conditions is available upon request. Please note the following terms and conditions will apply:

(a)    ATIC’s standard payment terms are net 30 days after receipt and acceptance of any commodities or deliverables. Payment will only be issued to the entity submitting the offer in response to this RFQ and identified in the resulting award; payment will not be issued to a third party.

(b)    Any award resulting from this RFQ will be firm fixed price, in the form of a purchase order.

(c)    The title to any goods supplied under any award resulting from this RFQ shall pass to ATIC following delivery and acceptance of the services by ATIC.