RFP for the Establishment of Long Term Agreement for Engineering Consultancy Services in Europe and Central Asia

New clarification added: Q58: Due to the big amount of documentation and formating required if a company want to show experience and staff in many sector and services, we kindly reconsider to give at least one more week of extension of the deadline.A58: Deadline for submission of offers remains the same.Q59:We are a company from Western Balkans. If in our team we include experts from EU, how should we calculate the daily rates for them, considering that the daily rates in EU 3-4 times higher?A59: Please see Answer 29.

New amendment added #2: The tender is amended as follows:1. In Section "Criteria", "Stage: Qualification criteria" the following paragraph,"5. Technical capability: The offeror has experience successfully delivering at least 2 contracts for similar  services during the last three (3) years:  In case of Joint Venture, all joint venture members combined must meet this criteria"was modified as follows:"5. Technical capability: The offeror has experience successfully delivering at least 2 contracts for similar  services during the last six (6) years:  In case of Joint Venture, all joint venture members combined must meet this criteria"2. In Section "Documents", the document "02 RFP/2023/49108 Section II Evaluation Method and Criteria" was replaced by "02 RFP/2023/49108 Section II Evaluation Method and Criteria AMENDMENT 1 "  in order to reflect the above-mentioned changes.

New clarification added: Q52: a) In order to utilize local capacity and resources, if an offeror presents CVs for some of the disciplines from its sub-consultants, will sub-consultant’s CVs be considered?  b) In Section V, Schedule 3, Requirements of the Employer, under personnel requirements, Category 1: Core disciplines, it states “Bidders should offer as many disciplines as possible, and at least 4 of them should be offered in all 3 experience levels”. Kindly clarify whether it is  required to provide, at minimum, 12 experts (not counting repeat experts) composed of all 3 expert levels among 4 disciplines?  c) Regarding the Returnable Schedules, The RFP states that the provided templates may not be altered but also “Each of the returnable Schedules shall be signed” and “dated”. However, not all returnable schedules contain signature/date boxes including: Schedule 4 -Annex 1 (Matrix 1-4), Schedule 4 -Annex 2 (Matrix 5-6), Schedule 4.2 [Programme], Schedule 4.3 [Method Statement], Schedule 4.4 [Key Personnel], Schedule 4.5 [Organizational Structure], Schedule 4.6 [Sub-consultants], and Schedule 4.8 [Insurance Details and Insurances]. Could you kindly clarify if signature is needed on all the returnable schedules? d) The Returnable Schedules 0.3 Joint Venture Partner Information is mandatory to be uploaded on the eSourcing. We assume that if an Offeror does not have a joint venture partner, the mentioned form can be filled in as “ Not Applicable” and uploaded. Kindly clarify. e) The RFP reference number on the e-Sourcing portal is stated as RFP/2023/49108 whereas; in the RFP document it is RFP/2022/49108. We wanted to bring it up to your kind attention for correction and accuracy of reference for future records.A52: a) Please see Answer Nº45.b) Yes.c) Yes signature is required in all the schedules.d) Please see Answer Nº51.e) We confirm that the tender reference number is RFP/2023/49108.Q53: please can you confirm whether we can bid on future opportunities for services/ disciplines for which we do not provide a response at this point?For example, if we provide nominated staff and CVs for Structural Engineer, Mechanical Engineer, Electrical Engineer, Civil Engineer, Quantity Surveyor, Surveyor, Architect and Geotechnical Engineer at this point, would still be eligible to bid for future opportunities that require Water Engineers, Health & Safety specialists and/ or Renewable Energy Engineers?A53: There is no relationship among this tender an any other tenders that UNOPS could post in the future for similar requirements. So, no restriction for the suppliers to participate in them.Q54:Qualification criteria (pg. 3 "Evaluation method and criteria"), under point 5, statement of Consultant's Technical capability, states that the Consultant should submit information on experience successfully delivering at least 2 contracts for similar services during the last three (3) years. Moreover; in the clarifications in response to Question # 26, it has been stated that the contracts should have started and completed within the last 3 years previous to the deadline for submission of offers of this tender. As you can appreciate that most of the infrastructure projects are implemented over a duration spanning a multi-year period. Limiting the start date of the contracts to last 3 years would result in restricting inclusion of many projects that may have started prior to that period. Therefore, we kindly request that the start date of the contracts be considered within the last 5 to 7 years or more as appropriate.A54: Please see Answer Nº49Q55: Could you please specify if we can put prices for the positions for which we do not propose CVs at this stage, but we might engage such experts during Call-offs?Could you please also clarify the following: if we do not propose a price for an expert at the LTA stage, but during subsequent call-offs there will be a need in such expert, how are we to approach the price formulation for this position? Would we be able to propose a price for this expert based on fee-rates for similar positions?A55: Only positions for which quotations and CVs were submitted in response to this tender will be considered for the evaluation of proposals and future Call of Order awards.Q56: This is with reference to our request for clarification submitted on November 28, 2023. It is requested that a reply to our queries may kindly be furnished in order to enbale us to complete our proposal.A56: All requests for clarifications are now answered.Q57: a): In the pre-bid meeting notes, in response to Q7, UNOPS stated that “As Long-Term Agreement Contracts shall be signed as a result of this tender exercise and there is not a specific requirement at the moment, offerors must submit a general approach that the company will take to do an infrastructure project.   This is what we do and how we do it.”  However, on Page 6 of section II: evaluation Method and Criteria, UNOPS indicates that a statement of up to 10 pages regarding the “detailed method statement” outlines five points that requirement, including:How [the bidder] proposes to provide services in a professional and properly staged manner.Demonstrates their commitment to sustainable and resilient infrastructure, covering, for example” [eight points listed]Diversity & Inclusion PlanDiscussion of methodology for quality managementDiscussion of quality management Risks as well as mitigation plan.As such, could UNOPS kindly confirm that the outline for section 4.2 on “methodology” should follow the points listed above from page 6 of Section II: Evaluation Method and Criteria. b)  In the first round of clarification, in response to Q13, UNOPS replied that “There is no template for the Programme.  A generic approach to the Programme that would be elaborated for a specific requirements should be provided at this stage.”  However, this appears to overlap substantively with the first two points list above, for the “methodology” section, i.e. How [the bidder] proposes to provide services in a professional and properly staged manner. Demonstrates their commitment to sustainable and resilient infrastructure, covering, for example” [eight points listed]c) Reference is made to schedule 4.8: Insurance Details and if you could please clarify ‘5. All-Risk insurance’.  Is this in relation to property? What type of All risk coverage?A57 a) Please follow the outline in the detailed method statement - Bidders can add other elements they deem relevant and important.b) For the “Methodology”, several topics are listed,  in the “Programme” offerors can structure it how they consider appropriate.c)This refers to the All risks insurance that the offeror has in place to cover its own operations. 

New clarification added: Q46: Please clarify if our financial reports are in our national language, other than English, do we need to provide the authorised translation?A46:  Please see Article 21 “Language of Proposals” in Section I “Instruction to offerors”. Supporting documents may be submitted in their original language. If such language is different from that set out in the Particulars (English), the supporting documents shall be submitted with a translation of the relevant excerpts. A “simple” translation is acceptable, however UNOPS reserves the right to ask for  the  translation made by a certified translator  at a later stage.Q47: This message is in response to our previous request for clarification (posted as Q44). The "red highlighted sheet" we were referring to is found on the Excel Sheet "05 Schedule 4 - Annex 1 (Matrix 1-4).xlsx". When you download the Excel template, Matrix 4's sheet is highlighted in red, whereas Matrix 1-3 are highlighted in green. We took that to mean we did not have to complete Matrix 4, and are asking for confirmation that our assumption is correct. The full Matrix 4 is titled "Matrix 004: Reference projects that supplier has been involved similar services." on the Excel. Do we need to complete this?A47: Yes, all sheets must be completed.Q48:  In Schedule 4 - Annex 2, Matrix 5 "Key Expert CVs", we do not see a "Cost Estimator" as one of the key disciplines. When UNOPS writes "Financial Specialist / Economist", does this include a "Cost Estimator"?A48:  Yes, the Cost Estimator, shall be included in the category “Financial Specialist/Economist”Q49: considering that the COVID-19 Pandemic has significantly slowed down and in some cases stopped (for almost 1 year) the completion of international projects, we kindly request an extension of the validity period for completed projects up to 6 years, instead of 3 years. Thank you for your understanding.A49: It is acceptable to submit completed projects up to 6 years to demonstrate the previuos experience. Please see Amendment Nº 2.Q50: a) This is with reference to Q11 of the document “Pre- Bid Meeting Minutes RFP_2023_49108”.As per the said document, it is mentioned that the offeror must submit all documents related to sub-contractor/sub-consultants at the time of proposal submission in order for the LTA proposal to be substantially compliant. Please note that it may not be possible to associate with sub-contractors/ sub-consultants in all the countries, for the various disciplines the offeror is submitting the proposal for, at this stage due to the fact that multiple disciplines, sectors and countries are involved, and one sub-consultant/sub-contractor is more likely to provide services in one or two sectors involved.  Moreover, as per our understanding, the requirement of association with a sub-consultant/sub-contractor was not a part of other LTA RFPs by UNOPS for other regions such as South-asia or the Pacific etc. Hence, it is requested to please re-consider this requirement as the sub-consultants may be provided at the time of submitting proposal for a particular assignment/COO (secondary bidding).b) This is with reference to Q13 of 'Revisions' posted on UNGM portal on 27.11.2023 which states that firms can only offer design services in countries where they are registered. Following are the queries related to said reference; If the offeror associates with a sub-consultant (or has a plan to associate with a sub-consultant at the time of secondary bidding), will that make the offeror eligible to provide design services in those countries?Does the requirement of being registered in the project country also apply to supervision services?c) As per our understanding, ‘Schedule 4.4’ and ‘Matrix 5’ have similar requirements (key personnel details). Accordingly, please clarify whether both the documents have to be uploaded separately, or Matrix-5 shall suffice for both heads on the UNGM portal? d) ‘Category 2: Additional disciplines’ on page 8 of 21 in RFP document ‘Section V: Requirements’ states that: "These are not mandatory..."  However, Clause 3.3.2 of ‘Table 3.3: Key Personnel proposed’ on page 7 of 9 in RFP document ‘Section II: Evaluation Method and Criteria’ carries 10 points for ‘Category 2: Additional disciplines’. Though it’s not mandatory requirement we understand that the offeror shall get additional 10 points if he applies for this category. Please confirm.e) If the detailed CVs have been prepared according to Schedule 0.5: Format for Resume of Proposed Key Personnel, should the offeror upload the same set of CVs be uploaded on the document checklist page of the UNGM portal, under both the heads namely,  "Proposed personnel CVs", and "Schedule 0.5: Format for Resume of Proposed Key Personnel"?A50: a) Proposed subcontractor/subconsultants must be mentioned in Returnable Shchedule “4.6 Sub-consultants” and submitted with the proposal in order to UNOPS evaluate the technical capacity of the offeror to provide the services.b) For both design and supervision services the consultant needs to demonstrate that they or their subcontractor are legally allowed to provide those services in the country.c) Both documents must be completed and uploaded in the appropriate field.d) Yes, additional points could be scored for offerors that propose professionals in those categories. But those are not mandatory categories, so it means that offerors could choose not to quote for any of those categories when submitting their offers.e) Please see Answer Nº 18. Each document must be uploaded in the appropriate field.Q51: We need to know how we can proceed is a document is mandatory but it is not aplicable for our proposal, for example the 0.3 Joint Venture Partner Information, because we are a sole tender. It will remain "Pending" if we don´t submint any document in that field.A51: Form 0.3 Joint Venture Partner Information shall be uploaded in blank  in case the offeror is a sole company. 

New clarification added: Q35: a) Due to the size and the importance of this tender, we kindly request to postpone the deadline for additional two weeks.b) Under Financial Capability please kindly clarify if instead of Audited Financial Statments can we submit Certified Financial Statements by Certified Accountant. c) Do Consotrtium or JV agreements have to be noterized by Notary Public?A35: a) Please see Amendment Nº 1b) Yes, it is possible.c) It is not necessary at this stage. In case the offer is awarded the contract, the agreement shall be notarized.Q36: In the document "05 RFP_2023_49108 Section VI - Returnable Schedules", the section "3.4 Programme Requirements" states : " (DO NOT COMPLETE) Will be agreed in advance and outlined in the Call Off Order"Howerver, in the VENDOR SUBMISSION page the following document is requested:- Schedule 4.2 [Programme]We kindly suggest that an schedule is not required in this stage, in consideration that it will be defined in each Call off Order. Otherwise, please clarify what information should be included in Schedule 4.2 [Programme]. A36: Please see Answer Nº13Q37: The sheet "Matrix 004: Reference projects that supplier has been involved similar services" (from the excel document "05 Schedule 4 -Annex 1 (Matrix 1-4)") and "Schedule 0.7 [Performance Statement]" (from the Vendor Submission page) both ask for the same information. Which one should be sent by the bidder in order to avoid repeating information in the proposal?A37: Both documents should be sent.Q38: Question: In the VENDOR SUBMISSION page the following documents are requested:- Proposed personnel CV- Schedule 0.5 [Format for Resume of Proposed Key Personnel]Also, the following information is required in "05 Schedule 4 -Annex 2 (Matrix 5-6)"- Matrix 5 Expert  CVsPlease clarify where the CVs should be presented.A38: All CVs should be uploaded in the “Proposed personnel CVs” field.Q39: Can you please explain if we need to fill the Matrix 5-Expert CVs for all diciplines or only for: LTA Director and LTA Focal Point ?From the template that you provided we can only choose three options: LTA Director, LTA Focal Point and N/A?Please clarify.A39: The matrix shall be filled in with the information of all the proposed experts. In the “LTA role” column it should be selected “N/A” in case the professional shall not be designated as LTA focal point or LTA Director. Q40: Please can you confirm how many companies you anticipate awarding a LTA?A40: As mentioned in the tab “Tender Particulars” on eSourcing, “UNOPS will use the results of this solicitation process to establish non-exclusive Long Term Agreements with a number of Consultant Firms (maximum 15 companies)  for a period of three years with a possible extension of a further two years.  UNOPS reserves the right to award more than 15 LTAs in case this will result in wider geographical coverage.”Q41: Could you please kindly clarify the following regarding Dispute Details Returnable Schedule: is it possible to limit the disputes disclosed to significative current litigations (ie with no insurance or which are above a cap)?A41: All formal dispute proceedings shall be included.Q42: a) Could you please kindly clarify the process of shortlisting in terms of geography/sectors/services: if we select for example Uzbekistan, but we will not provide reference projects for one of the selected sectors or services specifically in this country, will our company be still eligible for subsequent call-offs in Uzbekistan for this kind of services?b) Also please specify is it necessary to provide reference projects from selected countries/countries with a similar infrastructure context or whether worldwide experience could be considered eligible?A42: a) Project references from other countries rather than from those selected for this tender shall be acceptable By the time of the secondary bidding process,  the offeror could be selected for an assignment for a country where the company has no experience as long as they have the required sector and service experience.b) Worldwide experience shall be considered.Q43: We are seeking clarification regarding the mandatory submission of CVs for Category 2: Additional Disciplines.If CVs are not required, we propose a modification to Matrix 5 to include the following information:Relevance of Personnel's Education Relevance of Personnel's Past Experience Relevance of the Proposed Team with Service and Sector Offered Team's Experience in Countries Where Services are Offered by BidderA43: The information required in Matrix 5 shall be provided.Q44: Is it required to complete the red-highlighted sheet, entitled, "Matrix 4: Relevant Experience" in Schedule 4 - Annex 1 (Matrix 1-4) Excel?A44: Could you please provide more details about the “red-highlighted sheet” you are referring to?Q45: Can you please clarify the exclusivity of subcontractor participation. Is allowed that one subcontractor to participate in two different joint ventures?A45: Yes, it is allowed the  inclusion of an entity as a sub-consultant in more than one proposal, but it is not acceptable that an entity is the offeror in one proposal and a sub-consultant in another. Please see Article 4 Offeror Eligibility in Section I “Instructions to offerors”.

New clarification added: Q25: Dear UNOPS Team, actually I cannot see in the section "Documents" the MoM of the pre-bid meeting. In addition, the Amendment No. 1 seems not be available. Can you check please?A25: All documents are already available in the “Documents” tab and the Amendment in the “Revisions” tab.Q26: We would kindly ask for the following clarifications:a)In order to meet the Qualification criteria (pg. 3 "Evaluation method and criteria"), under point 5, statement of Consultant's Technical capability, the Consultant should submit information on experience successfully delivering at least 2 contracts for similar services during the last three (3) years. Can you please clarify whether contracts started within the last three years, i.e. on-going, but not yet fully finished contracts for similar services will be taken into consideration for proving the Technical capability of the Consultant? Further to this, please confirm our understanding that projects started earlier than the last three years and ended within the last three years are accepted.b). Please clarify where Amendment No.1 can be found as it is not visible in the Section "Revisions".c) Please clarify if the mentioned presentation and MoM will be visible anytime within the next days as it currently is not visible.A26: a) Complete contracts will be considered. Yes, your appreciation is correct: contracts should have started and completed within the last 3 years previous to the deadline for submission of offers of this tender.b) Amendment can now be found in the “Revisions” tab.c) Pre-bid meeting Minutes and Presentation are already available in the “Documents” tab.Q27: a) We kindly ask for an extension of the submission deadline date of two weeks in order to proper collect, elaborate and finalize the overall set of documentation required.b) We also ask clarification about how to proceed in case of JV concerning the completion of DRIVE questionnaire, since this is to be filled directly on UNOPS eSourcing platform. How each of the two or more companies part of the JV can compile its own questionnaire? A27: a) Please see Amendment Nº1b) Please see Answer 14.Q28: a) Could you please confirm, that projects performed by entities-subcontractors, belonging to the same major Group could be taken into consideration?b) Also, could you please confirm that you will accept as evidence certificates issued by the parent company, which subcontracted this entity?A28: a) No, only projects performed by the offeror will be considered.b) Yes, it is acceptable as long as the service provided is the company that is submitting the proposal (the offeror).Q29: Could you please clarify the following:From our experience, experts' fees in Serbia, Poland, Ukraine, Caucasus and Central Asia differ significantly.If one company will include maximum fees for i.e. Switzerland or Austria, and another company is to only show fees for Ukraine (which are 6 times less), how are you to compare these financial proposals?A29:  As this is a regional tender and future requirements could come from any country within the region, price comparison will be done considering average prices as mentioned in the tender documents. For each specific requirement, secondary bidding process will be conducted among the awarded offerors and at that time, they shall propose a final fee based on the specific country, requirements and deliverables. Q30: Can you please clarify if the proposed expert experience is count from the official graduation or first professional experience?A30: It counts from the official graduation.Q31: Dear Sir / Madam, In your clarifications dated November 16, 2023, you mentioned that there would be an Amendment No. 1 relative to the extension of the deadline to submit proposals. However, we could not find any such Amendment in the "Revisions" or "Documents" section.A31: Amendment can now be found in the “Revisions” tab.Q32: In your clarifications dated November 16, 2023, you mentioned that the presentation and minutes of the prebid meeting can be found in the Section “Documents”. However, we could not find these documents in the "Documents" section.A32: Pre-bid meeting Minutes and Presentation are already available in the “Documents” tab.Q33: In the Financial Proposal form, can you please confirm that the "Category 1 Average Price" at the end of the "Category 1 (Core)" table, is the average of row averages?A33: The average price for Category 1 (Core) is the average of row averages but considering only  the Core Disciplines that the consultant is offering in the 3 levels of experience,  as stated in “Section II Evaluation Method and Criteria”.Q34: In addition to our previous questions, we would also like to ask you the following:a)In the case of a Joint-Venture, could you please clarify how the answers to the "Supplier Forms" (64 questions) should be answered? Please confirm that the answer should be "cumulative", i.e. all policies, statements etc. of every member of the JV would be considered as held by the JV as a whole.b)In the case of a Joint-Venture, and referring to the "Returnable Schedules", could you please specify which forms should be filled separately by every partner of the JV and which forms should be filled only once by the JV as a whole? A34: a) In case of Joint Ventures, Consortiums or Associations, the “Supplier Form” tab should be completed with information of the designated entity to act as the contact point to deal with UNOPS.b) All Schedules referred to the Eligibility, Qualification, Background and Technical expertise of the companies shall be provided by each member of the consortium.The Schedules related to the technical proposal and elaborated for this particular tender (such as Key Personnel, Programme, Method Statement, etc) should be send by the “offeror”, it is the Joint Venture, Consortium or Association.

New clarification added: Q13: a) Can you please clarify what is meant by Programme under section 4.2? Is there a form or template for it?b) Can you please also clarify if it will be possible to upload a company portfolio, or where would be the best place to share more information about the company?A13: a) There is no template for the Programme. A generic approach to the Programme that would be elaborated for a specific requirement should be provided at this stage.b) Documents related to the company profile, could be uploaded as attachments of “Schedule 0.2 [Offeror’s Information]”.Q14: In case of Joint Venture composed by 2 or more engineering companies: shall the tender be submitted by the JV Leading firm? If yes, how to manage the submission of the DRIVE Questionnaires of the JV partners?A14: As it is stated in Article 4 Offeror Eligibility of Section I “Instructions to offerors”, the entity designated to act as the contact point to deal with UNOPS shall have the authority to make decisions binding upon the Joint Venture, consortium or association during the proposal process”, it includes the submission of the proposal.Regarding the Drive Questionnaire under “Supplier Forms” tab, should be completed by the designated entity.Q15: Given the great number of CVs to be prepared, we would kindly ask you to consider to extend the tender's submission deadline of almost 2 weeks.A15: Please, see amendment Nº1Q16: It is recognised that Design Services may only be possible to be offered in countries in which the firm is registered, but other services such as technical review, feasibility studies and technical advisory services may be selected in other similar countries."From the referred above, we understand that Design Services can be offered only in the country where the firm is registered ("registered" meaning legally established and allowed to operate in the country). For example, an Austrian company can provide Design Services only for projects located in Austria.It is also understood that other services such as technical review, feasibility studies and technical advisory services can be offered and provided for projects located in countries where the firm is not registered. For example, an Austrian company can provide technical review, feasibility studies and technical advisory services for projects located in countries like Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, etc.Please confirm our understanding is correct, otherwise please clarify.A16: It is correct that firms can only offer design services in countries where they are registered and legally permitted to operate. This is due to issues of legal liability for undertaking the role of designer or design author or designer of record in different countries. Where design review services are being provided or other advisory services these do not necessarily create legal liability for a design or the advice provided, so these services can be provided. There could be instances where the services still have to be provided in accordance with the legal requirements of a country. For example In Ukraine there is a law covering Damage Assessments that has to be followed.Q17: Some of the answers published today refer to "Amendment Nº1". Please clarify where Amendment Nº1 is available to download (it is not published in the Documents section)A17: Answers to Requests for clarifications and Amendments are in the “Revisions” tab.Q18: In the VENDOR SUBMISSION page the following documents are requested:- Proposed personnel CV- Schedule 0.5 [Format for Resume of Proposed Key Personnel]What is the difference between them?A18: In Schedule 0.5 highlights of the professional profile and experience related to this specific tender should be provided. The CVs include the complete profile of the professional.Q19: In the VENDOR SUBMISSION page, the bidder must upload only one document (for example a pdf that compiles all the requested CVs) or is it allowed to upload compressed RAR or ZIP files (for example, a compressed RAR folder that includes several PDF files)?A19: More than one document can be uploaded  against each document checklist if needed.It is within the discretion of the offeror to upload one compressed file or several separate files. Please see the “UNOPS eSourcing Vendror Guide” in the Documents sections for more details.Q20: There are 17 Core Disciplines in the Excel "06 Financial Proposal". In the submission of the FINANCIAL OFFER page (ESOURCING platform) only one "Unit price" must be entered. We understand that the "Unit price" number must be equal to the "Category 1 Average Price" indicated in the excel "06 Financial Proposal". Please clarify how the "Category 1 Average Price" should be calculated. Should the average only consider the prices of the Core Disciplines that the consultant is bidding for or should the average consider the 17 Core disciplines (equal to the sum of the "Average prices" divided by 17)?A20:  The average price should be calculated only considering the Core Disciplines that the consultant is offering in the 3 levels of experience. The unit price to be entered in eSourcing field could be the average mentioned before or just “1 Euro”. Given that, for evaluation purposes the Evaluation Team will consider the whole “06 Financial Proposal” table but not the eSourcing financial proposal that, in this case, should be completed only in order  the system to allow the submission of the proposal.Q21: Please clarify approximately how many pages must be developed for the "4.3 Method Statement"A21: No specific number of pages is required.Q22: a) For this LTA, how many Call Off Orders can be awarded to one of the selected consultants?b) Is there a maximun budget that can be awarded a consultant during the duration of the LTA?A22: a) No estimated number of Call of Orders (CoO) are foreseen as it shall depend on the future needs of UNOPS projects. b) There is no maximum budget to be awarded a consultant. The use of the LTA will entirely depend on the future needs in the region and the number of CoOs awarded to aconsultant shall also depend on its capacity.Q23: We kindly request an extension of the date of the submission deadline. Preferably an extension of 2 weeks. ThanksA23: Please, see amendment Nº1Q24: You indicated that you did some amendment. But, we haven't finding these revisions in amendment tab. Could you please give information about this?A24: Amendment was posted under tab “Revisions” in the eSourcing platform. 

New amendment added #1: The ITB is hereby amended as follows:Deadline for submissions (General tab) is extended to 12 December 2023 at 18:00 (UTC). Deadline for clarifications (General tab) is extended to 5 December 2023 at 18:00 (UTC).Expected contract award date (Particular tab) is updated to 26 January 2024.The Pre-bid Meeting minutes and the Pre-bid Meeting presentation are uploaded in the Section "Documents"

New clarification added: Q5: Due to amount of information and documents needed to be gathered for this proposal, we would like to kindly ask you to consider an extension of the submission deadline for 2 weeks (till 12th fo December).A5: Plese see Amendment Nº1Q6: Could you please kindly confirm, that project references submitted could come from a sub-contractor of the JV, included in the proposal?A6: Project references could belong to a member of  Joint Venture/Consortium/Association, but not to a Sub-contractor. If an offeror does not have all the expertise required for the provision of the Services described in the RFP, the offeror may submit a proposal in association with other entities. In the case of a Joint Venture, Consortium or Association all parties shall be jointly and severally liable to UNOPS for any obligations arising from their proposal, and if the contract is awarded, it shall be awarded to the Joint Venture/Consortium/Association (Please refer to Article 4 of Section I “Instruction to offerors”). In case of subcontractors, if the contract is awarded, it shall be awarded to the offeror itself, and  the offeror shall be responsible and liable to the Employer for the services of its Sub-contractors (Please refer to Section III: Conditions of Contract and to Section V: Requirements/Subcontracting).Q7:  a) Can we propose one expert in more than two positions?b) Is there any limit for how many companies can be in a joint venture?c) Is it allowed to propose subcontractors and fulfill one country licences with them?d) Do we need to submit at this state of procurment  the  CVs for: Consultancy Firm Authorized Signatory, Consultancy LTA Coordinator, Assignment Manager?e) If we are a LTA winner does this mean we can not apply for upcoming tenders published by UNOPS offices that are part of this contract?A7: a) Yes, as it is stated in “Section V- Requirements” paragraph “Personnel Requirements”:  “Different disciplines might be covered by the same person, provided that the person has the relevant experience and qualification as outlined in the CV and aligns with the Terms of Reference”b) There is no limit. Please take into account that when a proposal is submitted by a Joint Venture/association/consortium,  the Joint Venture/association/or Consortium itself (i.e. all its members) is the “offeror” and potentially awarded contractor.c) Yes, it is possibled) No, only awarded bidders shall be requested to assign those key roles.e) The award in this tender does not imply restricting the participation of the same supplier in future UNOPS tenders for any office.Q8: I wanted to attend the PB meeting scheduled for today at 13:00 Unfortunately I wasn't able to attend as I was not admitted to the meeting by the organization. Maybe something went wrong with the registration or I miss something?Could you please clarify? Can I know if the Minutes of the meeting will be uploaded on the UNOPS e-sourcing platform?A8: All people who requested to enter the meeting were allowed to do it at 13:00 UTC as indicated in the tender documents, and unfortunately we did not receive your request. The presentation and minutes of the meeting can be found in the Section “Documents”.Q9: Considering that this is a Long Term Agreement and request a lot of experts and services to be coverd we would like to request to extend the deadline submission for 2 weeks in order to prepare a quality proposal.A9:  Plese see Amendment Nº1Q10: Dear Sirs, yesterday I attended the PB meeting on-line. May I kindly ask you if the UNOPS' presentation as well as the MoM will be uploaded on the esourcing platform? A10:  The presentation and minutes of the meeting can be found in the Section “Documents”.Q11: With reference to Section II: Evaluation Method and Criteria point 3.1.1,states that "For each of the service selected, an assessment of the bidder’s experience inprojects of relevant type, complexity and technical specialty as the types of servicesselected will be made". Please clarify whether the assessment will be made by UNOPS on the basis of the tenderer's experience in fulfilling schedule 0.7?A11: Yes, the bidder´s experience will be evaluated with the information provided in Schedule “0.7 Performance Statement”, in its supporting documents (i.e Copies of contracts, letters from clients, or Certificates of reception) and in “Matrix 4: Reference projects that supplier has been involved similar services”.Q12: Could you please clarify whether we need to provide Performance Statements (certificates of completion, contracts etc) for every project we intend to use as reference or only some part of these references need to be substantiated with some kind of an evidence?Thank you in advance!A12: For each previous experience submitted by the offeror, at least one supporting document should be provided.

New clarification added: Q4: Is there any Pre-Proposal Meeting to be attended as per mentioned in the Particulars?A4:  The pre-bid meeting will be hold online via Google Meet on  Tuesday, 14 November  from 13:00 UTC to 14:00 UTC, as indicated in the “Clarifications/pre-bid meeting details” paragraph of the tab “Tender Particulars” on eSourcing. The suppliers interested in participating in the pre-bid meeting, should register at: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1VbUhz_rs7rnGwMQQq8RMbeaoAAnc0RuPY-8WwZuF1JU/edit

New clarification added: Q1: Question: Dear Sir/Madam,We have an ongoing LTA  with UNOPS in order to perform services regarding the provision of Infrastructure Design and Review Services in English.As our understanding this LTA will not raise a conflict of interest and we are eligible for this tender. Please confirm.A1: Having an ongoing contract with UNOPS does not imply that an offeror has a conflict of interest in this procurement process, provided that the offeror meets all the eligibility criteria in “Section I -Article 4 OFFEROR ELIGIBILITY”.Q2: Could you please clarify, who will be the signatory for the subsequent call-offs, Head Office of UNOPS or local representative offices?A2: The award and signature of the Call of Orders (CoO) shall vary depending on the CoO amount and on the requesting unit.Q3: Can you please let us know what are the requirements for the following types of engineers and what are the differences?:The Structural Engineer and Civil Engineer? Water Engineer, Hydrology/Hydrological Engineer and Hydraulic Engineer?A3: The naming of engineers does vary from country to country and there may be overlaps in what the different disciplines cover but in general the following technical skills are required under the categories in question:Structural Engineer - specifically covers the design and construction of structural elements of any structure such as bridges, buildings, culverts etc.Civil Engineer - covers the planning, design, supervision, construction and maintenance of buildings and general infrastructure projects. This may include facilities, bridges, roads, tunnels, and water and sewage systems.Water Engineer - covers a broad range of subjects, such as water and wastewater treatment, water infrastructure and water processing and distribution systems.Hydrological Engineer - usually civil or environmental engineer who specialises in projects that involve using, conservation of water sources, as well as water quality, diagnoses and improvement processes for water resource management. Their area of work could include watersheds, floodplains and reservoirs.Hydraulic engineering: Designs, calculates, projects, directs and controls the execution and operation of hydraulic works and installations for the use and control of water resources, treatment and evacuation of effluents, including health and safety issues (Pipes, plumbing systems, sewer systems, drainage, hot and cold water supply systems, rainwater collection, waste disposal, wastewater treatment, etc.)