Is it possible for a company to be subcontractor of several consortia?
Yes.
Date : 09/10/2017
Consider a company with different subsidiaries in Europe, is the qualified subsidiary the one which would be awarded with a contract or could it be another subsidiary of the same company?
It will be the qualified subsidiary that will be awarded with the contract.
Date : 09/10/2017
Consider a company with different subsidiaries in Europe, which qualify as a consortium, would it be possible to award the contract to a single subsidiary?
If the different subsidiaries qualify together as a consortium, the contract will be awarded to the consortium. If the company would like the contract to be awarded to a single subsidiary, the single subsidiary may take part in the tender on its own. It will still be able to request that the capacities of other subsidiaries are taken into account for assessing its financial, technical and professional capacities.
Date : 09/10/2017
If a brand has different companies in different countries, which company should apply to the tender?
There will be no requirement for a company to be registered in a specific country to be awarded the contract, therefore it is the decision of the company to identify its preferred subsidiary for the contract with regards to the requirement of the tender (technical, professional and financial capacities requested).
Date : 09/10/2017
Is it possible to change a supplier during the procedure?
Yes.
Date : 09/10/2017
Do the rules for forming supplier consortia apply on a per lot basis?
Based on the discussion during the ODE, we are considering to be the case. It will be confirmed in the contract notice expected to be published in April 2018.
Date : 18/10/2017
May several candidates/consortia subcontract a part of the public contract to the same company?
Yes, but subcontracting during the performance of each lot must be compliant with the rules set in the local contract (mentioned in the tendering rules).
Date : 18/10/2017
Do all subcontractors have to be declared up-front, i.e when qualifying for the procedure?
In case an economic operator would like to rely on a subcontractor to establish its capacities at the qualification stage, it will have to declare such subcontractor during the qualification stage.
Date : 18/10/2017
Can several subsidiaries of the same group take part independently in the procurement procedure, each for a different lot?
Yes. In this case, a local subsidiary may refer to the capacities of one or several companies of its group to establish that it meets the technical, financial and professional requirements of the tender. The company wanting to refer to the capacities of one or several companies of its group will have to justify the capacities of this/these company/ies and demonstrate that it will be able to resort to such capacities during the performance of the contract. However, the public procurer will have to assure that this set up does not lead to an agreement to distort competition.
Date : 18/10/2017
Companies A and B form the consortium A plus B to submit a proposal for Lot #1. Is it correct that company A or Company B cannot submit separately a bid for Lot #1?
This information cannot be disclosed at this point of time. It will be provided in the contract notice expected to be published in April 2018.
Date : 18/10/2017
Companies A and B form a consortium A plus B to submit a proposal for Lot #1. Is it correct that each Company A and Company B can separately submit a bid for Lot #2?
This information cannot be disclosed at this point of time. It will be provided in the contract notice expected to be published in April 2018.
Date : 18/10/2017
Will the subcontractors' name have to be explicitly named in the proposal submitted by the candidates?
In case an economic operator would like to rely on a subcontractor to establish its capacities at the qualification stage, it will have to declare such subcontractor during the qualification stage.
Date : 18/10/2017
Will the subcontractors' tasks or actions have to be explicitly specified in the proposal submitted by the candidate?
Yes, but subcontracting during the performance of each lot must be compliant with the rules set in the local contract (mentioned in the tendering rules).
Date : 18/10/2017
Company A subcontracts Company S for Lot #1 and Company B subcontracts Company S for Lot #1. Will this be allowed following the rules?
Yes.
Date : 18/10/2017
Company A subcontracts Company S for Lot #1 and Company S submits a proposal (as a stand-alone company) for Lot #1. Will this be allowed following the rules?
Yes. However, the public procurer will have to assure that this set up does not lead to an agreement to distort competition.
Date : 18/10/2017
How can a company recently incorporated take part in the procurement process? Can the process facilitate incentives to integrators/manufacturers to embrace new start-ups?
The qualification criteria will be related to and proportionate to the object of the supply or its performance. A company recently incorporated that meets the qualification criteria will be qualified. If it not the case, the company recently incorporated is encouraged to join a consortium or act as a subcontractor.
Date : 18/10/2017
Can the procurement process define preferred consortium compositions?
The economic operators are free to decide whether they would like to take part in the procurement either as an individual candidate or as a consortium. The procurer is not allowed to impose a specific legal form for the participation of consortium in the procurement process. However, we anticipate that for the Spanish lot, the entity which will perform the contract must be a legal entity.
Date : 18/10/2017
Can a consortium be formed after qualifying as sole economic operator?
The composition of the consortium shall not be modified between the date of the submission of the request to participate and the date of the signature of the local contract. However, in the case of a company restructuring operation, in particular of repurchase, merger or acquisition or, if the consortium provides the proof that one of its members is not able to perform its task for reasons which are not of its own, he may ask the public procurers the authorization to continue to participate in the procedure by proposing one or several new members of the consortium.
Date : 18/10/2017
Would it be possible to qualify as sole economic operator as well as a member of a consortium?
This information cannot be disclosed at this point of time. It will be provided in the contract notice expected to be published in April 2018.
Date : 18/10/2017
Would it be possible to qualify as consortium of subsidiaries and would it later to be possible to bid as individual subsidiary?
The entity signing the contract, whether as a consortium or as a sole operator, should be the one that submitted its request to participate in the tender. However, a company may also rely on another company to establish that it meets the technical, financial and professional requirements of the tender, whatever the contractual links between this third company and the company wishing to participate. In this case, it will not be a consortium contract that will justify taking into account the technical, financial and/or professional capacities of a separate company but rather the capitalistic and structural links of companies between the same group. The company wanting to rely on the capacities of one or several companies of its group will have to justify the capacities of this/these company/ies and demonstrate that it will be able to resort to such capacities during the performance of the contract.
Date : 18/10/2017
What does it mean that consortium is not a legal entity?
It means that it is not necessary for the consortium to be a registered company.
Date : 18/10/2017
Does the bid have to be submitted by the consortium leader?
This information cannot be disclosed at this point of time. It will be provided in the tender documentation.
Date : 18/10/2017
Does the budget split between vendor and subcontractor have to be specified?
Yes. We anticipate that the budget split between vendor and subcontractor will have to be specified at the latest in the final proposal.
Date : 18/10/2017
Is there a maximum amount of ‘work’ that may be subcontracted by a bidder to subcontractors during the performance of the contract?
For some lots, there is a maximum amount of work that may be subcontracted by a bidder to subcontractors in accordance with the rules set in the local contract (mentioned in the tendering rules).
Date : 18/10/2017
What is the measure of such an amount of ‘work’? Consider the following example:
Bidder A subcontracts subcontractor S1 for a work amounting to ZEUR ;
Bidder A subcontracts subcontractor S1 for doing some work (and how this work is measured for evaluation the maximum amount of work)
This information cannot be disclosed at this point of time. It will be provided at in the earliest in the contract notice expected to be published in April 2018.
Date : 18/10/2017
In the quotation submitted by a bidder, the share of each subcontractor(s) should be visible/stated? Consider the following example: Vendor A submits a proposal for 100 EUR to Lot#1 and states that subcontractor S1 is doing job J1, subcontractor S2 is doing job J2. In such a proposal, should it be explicitly stated that Vendor A contribution’s amounts to 50 EUR, subcontractor S1 contribution’s amounts to 20 EUR, subcontractor S2 contribution’s amount to 30 EUR?
If a subcontractor is explicitly named in the offer submitted by the candidate during the dialogue, its tasks and its quotation will have to be specified in the offer. We anticipate that the budget split between vendor and subcontractor will have to be specified at the latest in the final proposal. There is a maximum amount of work that may be subcontracted by a bidder to subcontractors in accordance with the rules set in the local contract (mentioned in the tendering rules).
Date : 18/10/2017
Can the consortium leader ask a consortium member to become contract party?
The composition of the consortium shall not be modified between the date of the submission of the request to participate and the date of the signature of the local contract. However, in the case of a company restructuring operation, in particular of repurchase, merger or acquisition or, if the consortium provides the proof that one of its members is not able to perform its task for reasons which are not of its own, he may ask the public procurers the authorization to continue to participate in the procedure by proposing one or several new members of the consortium.
Date : 18/10/2017
What entity should participate at the qualification stage, assuming that different entities/subsidiaries will be bidding for the different lots (typically the local entity) later on in the process?
The entity signing the contract, whether as a consortium or as a sole operator, should be the one that submitted its request to participate in the tender. The composition of the consortium shall not be modified between the date of the submission of the request to participate and the date of the signature of the local contract.
Date : 18/10/2017
Is it an option to participate at the qualification stage as a consortium and use different entities/subsidiaries to bid for the different lots later on or do we have to bid for the lots with the consortium that participated at the qualification stage?
The entity signing the contract, whether as a consortium or as a sole operator, should be the one that submitted its request to participate in the tender. The composition of the consortium shall not be modified between the date of the submission of the request to participate and the date of the signature of the local contract.
Date : 18/10/2017
Will it be possible to participate with different entities/subsidiaries at the qualification stage (e.g. one local entity/subsidiary participates for Lot 1, another local entity/ subsidiary participates for Lot 2) and use the same subcontractors for each entity/subsidiary to proof the financial and economical capacity?
Yes, a company may be subcontractor of several consortia.
Date : 18/10/2017
Consider a company that has local subsidiaries in some or each of the countries where a lot is to be attributed. This company would like to proceed with the competitive dialog as a single unit but to sign the local contract and perform the local deliveries under the legal identity of our local subsidiary. According to the answers received so far, we see two ways of doing this:
1. Proceed to the competitive dialog with a consortium with our global legal entity, as representative, and relevant local legal entities for each lot, and then to sign the local contract with this consortium, each lot being carried out by the relevant local legal entity, as a member of the consortium. Is this scheme compliant with your objectives?
2. Having each of our local legal entities answer participating in the initial selection phase?
The entity signing the contract, whether as a consortium or as a sole operator, should be the one that submitted its request to participate in the tender. The composition of the consortium shall not be modified between the date of the submission of the request to participate and the date of the signature of the local contract.
Date : 18/10/2017
Do you expect in case of consortium this to be composed of companies of different countries to bid for one or several lots or do you expect a consortium composed by companies located in the same country to bid for the Lot of that country?
The composition of a consortium is freely determined by the economic operators that would like to take part in the tender procedure together.
Date : 18/10/2017
In case of consortium: May the leader of the consortium delegate to another member part or all of its obligations (e.g., during dialogue phase or during contract performance)?
The composition of the consortium shall not be modified between the date of the submission of the request to participate and the date of the signature of the local contract. The repartition of the obligations between the consortium members is freely determined by the consortium members.
Date : 18/10/2017
Is there a limit to the subcontracted activities?
Subcontracting during the performance of each lot must be compliant with the rules set in the local contract (mentioned in the tendering rules).
Date : 18/10/2017
In case of subcontracting : Is the subcontractor to be declared by using the standard French standard administrative document (DC) or is the usual country document for subcontracting acceptable?
The list of the administrative documents for the application phase will be provided in the contract notice expected to be published in April 2018. In any case, French law sets the rules applicable to the tender procedure for all the lots.
Date : 18/10/2017
