Invitation to tender for External audit services (Certificate of Financial Statements)

Invitation to tender for External audit services (Certificate of Financial Statements)

1. General information

EIUC – European Inter-university Centre is fostering a community of scholars, researchers and professionals to promote democracy and the implementation of human rights worldwide. EIUC advances innovative programmes and projects (masters, summer schools, and training seminars) that contribute to policy formation and assistance to democracy and good governance, promotion of the rule of law, and overseas development cooperation.

Having started by organising the European Master's Degree in Human Rights and Democratisation, EIUC is now coordinating the Global Campus of Master's Programmes and Diplomas in Human Rights and Democratisation whose activities cover all continents.

EIUC is the Beneficiary of the FP7 Research Project FRAME “Fostering Human Rights among European Policies” (Grant Agreement 320000)

The project’s implementation period is from 01 May 2013 to 30 April 2017.

2. Scope

This invitation to tender is addressed to reputable audit firms or individuals, hereon referred to as the tenderers, to deliver the Certificate on Financial Statements according to the Terms of Reference set out in Annex 1 (which is Annex VII, Form D to the Grant Agreement).

In particular the tenderer must respect one of the following conditions:

• The Auditor is a Competent Public Officer for which the relevant national authorities have established the legal capacity to audit the Beneficiary and has not been involved in the preparation of the financial statements.

• The Auditor is qualified to carry out statutory audits of accounting documents in accordance with the Directive 2006/43/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 May 2006 on statutory audits of annual accounts and consolidated accounts, amending Council Directives 78/660/EEC and 83/349/EEC and repealing Council Directive 84/253/EEC or similar national regulations. 

3. Time frame of the Assignment and technical aspects

The approximate total costs of the project amount to 810,000 euros and the European requested contribution to approximately 730,000 euros.

The report is expected to be provided before 20 June 2017. 

4. Exclusion criteria

Tenderers will be excluded from participation in this procurement procedure if:

(1) they are bankrupt or being wound up, are having their affairs administered by the courts, have entered into an arrangement with creditors, have suspended business activities, are the subject of proceedings concerning those matters, or are in any analogous situation arising from a similar procedure provided for in national legislation or regulations;

(2) they have been convicted of an offence concerning their professional conduct by a judgment which has the force of res judicata;

(3) they have been guilty of grave professional misconduct proven by any means which the Beneficiary can justify;

(4) they have not fulfilled obligations relating to the payment of social security contributions or the payment of taxes in accordance with the legal provisions of the country in which they are established or with those of the country of the Beneficiary or those of the country where the contract is to be performed;

(5) they have been the subject of a judgment which has the force of res judicata for fraud, corruption, involvement in a criminal organisation or any other illegal activity detrimental to the Communities' financial interests;

Exclusion from award of contracts

Contracts may not be awarded to tenderers which, during the procurement procedure:

(a) are subject to a conflict of interests;

(b) are guilty of misrepresentation in supplying the information required by the Beneficiary as a condition of participation in the contract procedure or fail to supply this information.

Tenderers must certify that they are not in one of the situations listed above filling in the declaration of honour attached to this invitation.

5. Submission Requirements

The tender must be submitted in English specifying the technical and financial offer and attaching the following documents:

1. the CV of the person that will be engaged on this assignment including qualifications, professional experience, dated and signed.
2. Proof of past audit assignments in connection with EU funded projects (if any);
3. Declaration of honour (Annex 2).

The tender (including the documents listed above – points 1/2/3) must be submitted to both:

• luigi.comacchio@eiuc.org (electronic copy) in pdf format
• eiuc@pec.it

The deadline for the submission of the tender is 29 May 2017 at 12:00 a.m. (CET)

Any tender received after the time stated will be rejected.

6. Award criteria and requirements

Technical evaluation: The tenderer must prove an excellent track record in auditing EU-funded projects. A mark of 100 is given in cases where such requirement is met. The mark given may be increased up to 120 in cases where such requirement is more than fully met. The mark given may be lowered down to 80 in cases where such requirement is not fully covered, provided that the tender has been considered acceptable and the deviations have been considered minor.

Financial evaluation: The tender offering the lowest price will be given a mark of 100. The other tenders will be given a mark calculated as follows:

C= (financial offer of the lowest bidder/Evaluated financial offer)*100 

Finally tenders are ranked in decreasing order of their aggregate mark L, obtained by applying the formula below:

L=T*n + C*(1-n)

T= the tender’s technical evaluation mark

C=the relative cost of the financial offer

n= the weighting factor used to weight the technical value of the contract against the price offered (in this case the weighting factor is 20%) 

7. Timetable

 

Opening of the call	15 May 2017
Closing data for submission of tender	29 May 2017, 12:00 a.m. CET
Notification of tender awarded	By 5 June 2017

 

8. Contact Details

Questions regarding particular aspects of this Invitation to Tender or any other matter relating to the tender should be directed to: luigi.comacchio@eiuc.org

9. Annexes

Annex 1 – Form D – Annex VII to the Grant Agreement

Annex 2 - Declaration of honour