Contract for the Provision of a Digital Asset Management System to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London SW7 2RL
Invitation to Participate – Volume 1 – Instructions to Applicants
VA/CON/34/16
28 July 2016
Digital Asset Management System Contract Reference: VA/CON/34/16
INSTRUCTIONS TO APPLICANTS
THE V&A MUSEUM
The Victoria and Albert Museum (“V&A”) is the world’s leading museum of art and design with collections unrivalled in their scope and diversity. It was established to make works of art available to all and to inspire British designers and manufacturers. Today, the V&A’s collections, which span over 2000 years of human creativity in virtually every medium and from many parts of the world, continue to intrigue, inspire and inform. Combined with a world-class temporary exhibition programme, they attract over 3.5m visitors to the Museum every year. The collections encompass architecture, books, costume, jewellery, textiles, metalwork, glass, furniture, fashion, photographs, prints, drawings, paintings, water colours, sculpture and extensive materials relating to live performance and childhood.
The V&A Museum is a “Non-Departmental Public Body” overseen by a Board of Trustees and its Chairman, and is also a charity exempt from registration. Its sponsor department is the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.
INTRODUCTION TO THE V&A’s REQUIREMENT
The V&A currently uses AssetIndex+ (known internally as VADAR; provided by System Simulation Ltd) as a Digital Asset Management System (“DAMS”). The system was introduced in 2005 as an image management system, and was managed by the Museum’s Photo Studio department. The Collections Management Department has since taken over the management of VADAR and the system is now used to manage and access assets across the entire organisation.
The V&A requires a solution to the challenges it faces in the management of its diverse collection of digital assets and objects. The current system used has been in place for over 10 years, and the Museum’s requirements have changed significantly during this timeframe. The V&A has consistently embraced innovation in its collecting practices and systems development, and needs a digital asset management solution that will deliver current requirements and look ahead to future ambitions.
The key aim of this procurement is to deliver a digital asset management solution that allows the V&A to address all areas of a digital asset’s lifecycle, from creation to publication. The DAMS must allow the Museum to pursue a flexible and adaptable approach to collecting digital objects & managing digital assets, support efficient publishing of content online and enable the use of digital assets for commercial purposes and be able to interact effectively with key museum systems such as the Collections Management System and website Content Management System.
THE CONTRACT
The initial Contract is for: • the supply, installation, and implementation of a Digital Asset Management System to the V&A to be hosted by the V&A; • the support and maintenance of the above system for three years.
The Contract has the option for: • The extension of support and maintenance services any number of times up to a total of a further four years; • Additional hosting options (if available)
DOCUMENTATION
All relevant documents for this procurement process can be found in the Delta-eSourcing ‘tender box’. You will see:
Document Purpose To be returned as part of the tender? Volume 1 – Instructions to Introduces the contract and No Applicants (this letter) sets out the process Volume 2 – Suitability Contains all the information Yes Questionnaire to be returned for the Request to Participate. The V&A to assess the Tender against the Suitability Criteria Volume 3 – Invitation to Contains the draft tender No Tender documents that will be issued to Applicants that are taken forward to the Tender stage. Includes the award criteria, the specification, and the minimum requirements to be met by all tenders. Provided for information only at this stage of the process
DEFINITIONS
“Applicant” is an organisation that submits a Request to Participate (whether it is a sole trader, single organisation, consortium or other type of legal body).
“Invitation to Participate” (“ITP”) is Stage 1 of the process, and further defined below.
“Request to Participate” (“RTP”) is an Applicant’s response to the Invitation to Participate.
“Tenderer” is an organisation that submits an Initial Tender, Subsequent Tender or Final Tender (whether it is a sole trader, single organisation, consortium or other type of legal body).
PROCUREMENT PROCESS
The procurement process is being conducted using the Negotiated Procedure as set out in the Public Contracts Regulations (2015). At this stage of the process, you are only required to fully complete the questionnaire at Volume 2 and submit it along with any attachments via the Delta e-Sourcing portal to be considered for future stages of the process.
The V&A has chosen to use the Negotiated Procedure based on its experience of tendering for software, where the number of options available mean that it proves useful to allow a discussion between the tenderer and the buyer. It is anticipated that the negotiation that takes place will centre on system functionality, in order for the parties to discuss the incorporation of any work-arounds, add-ons, integration, configuration and development required – and the costs associated with such options – to best meet the V&A’s Functional and Non Functional Requirements.
A summary of the procurement process is shown in the diagram overleaf, with further detail set out below it. Please note that despite the potentially large number of steps in the process the V&A will ensure that the process is not any longer than is required to get clarity from tenderers. At this stage we do not anticipate more than one negotiation phase (i.e. we will probably skip stage 4) but we reserve the right to use additional stages if they are required. This intention is represented on the diagram by the route that follows the solid arrows, with options shown as dashed arrows.
V&A Applicant/Tenderer
Issue advert & Complete and submit Invitations to Request to Participate Stage Participate 1
Assess Requests to Ptiit
Invite 3 – 5 RTP Complete & submit Initial Applicants to submit Tender an Initial Tender
Assess Initial Tender Stage and potentially reduce 2 number of participants
Decide whether to award immediately or begin Negotiation Phase
Negotiation
Stage Decide whether to 3 invite Final Tenders or invite Subsequent Tenders & negotiate
Invite Subsequent Complete and submit Subsequent Tender
Assess Subsequent Tenders and potentially reduce number of Stage applicants 4 Negotiation
Decide whether to invite Final Tenders or invite Subsequent Tenders and negotiate
Invite Final Tenders Complete and submit Final
Stage Assess Final Tenders 5
Award Contract
Stage 1: Invitation to Participate (“ITP”)
1. Applicants that are interested in participating are required to submit a Request to Participate by completing Volume 2 and submitting it to the Delta tendering system them along with any attachments. The ITP process will conclude with the selection of between three and five Participants to be invited to Tender. The Requests to Participate will be assessed based on the criteria set out in this document.
Stage 2: Invitation to Submit an Initial Tender (“ITSIT”)
2. Those three to five Participants that are selected from Stage 1 shall be invited to submit an initial tender. This will then be reviewed by the V&A prior to the negotiation phase.
3. The V&A reserves the right to award a contract based on the initial tenders without negotiation. If this is the case, then the following steps will not apply.
4. The V&A will assess Tenders by applying the Award Criteria with a view to identifying which tenderers should be taken forward to the next stage. The criteria for the assessment are set out in this document. Once the assessment has taken place, the V&A will inform tenderers if they have been selected to continue with the Negotiation Phase. Those tenderers that are not selected to continue with the Negotiation Phase will be deemed unsuccessful and will not be considered any further, and will take no further part in any remaining steps in the process.
Stage 3: Negotiation Phase (Optional)
5. The V&A will then negotiate with remaining tenderers the tenders submitted by them to improve their content. This will take place in the form of one or more meetings with the option for further discussion and/or correspondence. The initial meeting will be held at the V&A’s offices, and subsequent discussion and/or correspondence will be in the form of either meetings held at either the V&A’s offices, conference telephone calls, webinars, or emails.
6. The V&A may then choose to either issue tenderers with an Invitation to Submit a Subsequent Tender (“ITSST”), in which case it will proceed to Stage 4, or issue Tenderers with an Invitation to Submit a Final Tender (“ITSFT”), in which case it will proceed to Stage 5.
Stage 4: Invitation to Submit a Subsequent Tender & Negotiation Phase (Optional)
7. If required, the V&A shall invite all remaining tenderers to submit a Subsequent Tender. Upon receipt of Subsequent Tenders, the V&A may choose to reduce the number of participants as set out in step 4 above.
8. Following any reduction in number, the V&A shall enter into a Negotiation Phase with the remaining tenderers as set out in steps 5 and 6 above.
9. The V&A may choose to repeat steps 6, 7 and 8 as many times as is required.
Stage 5: Invitation to Submit a Final Tender
10. The V&A shall invite tenderers to submit a Final Tender. At this stage in the process no further negotiation is permitted.
11. The V&A will evaluate the final tenders against the Award Criteria and award the contract to the Most Economically Advantageous Tender.
COMPLETING THE REQUEST TO PARTICIPATE For your Request to Participate we require that you complete the Suitability Questionnaire at Volume 2 and submit it along with all other documentation and supporting information via the Delta e-Sourcing portal at http://www.delta-esourcing.com/respond/SJ8NYY7BFZ
The closing date for the submission of Requests to Participate is 12:00 NOON on 29 August 2016
N.B All correspondence relating specifically to this project must be made using the Delta eSourcing system. E-mail and paper returns will not be accepted. We regret that to meet audit requirements we are not able to accept late Tenders.
The anticipated timetable for the known parts of the tender process is set out below; these dates are indicative only and are subject to change.
TABLE 1 – INDICATIVE TIMETABLE Date Activity 28 July 2016 Issue OJEU Notice and make procurement documentation available on Delta 22 August 2016 Last date for questions from suppliers 31 August 2016 Deadline for return of Requests to Participate 12:00 16 September 2016 Evaluation complete and Applicants notified of the outcome 19 September 2016 Invitation to Submit Initial Tender 19 October 2016 Deadline for submissions of Initial Tenders 26 - 28 October Meeting with Suppliers – please keep free (if 2016 Negotiation Phase required) 04 November 2016 Initial negotiation concludes 07 November 2016 Invitation to Submit Final Tenders (provided no subsequent tenders are invited) 18 November 2016 Deadline for submission of Final Tenders 25 November 2016 Award of Contract 05 December 2016 10 day alcatel standstill period concludes
REIMBURSEMENT OF EXPENSES
We regret that you will not be entitled to claim from the V&A any costs or expenses which you may incur in the preparation and submission of your tender, and any attendance for site visits and interviews during the tender process.
EVALUATION PROCESS OF REQUESTS TO PARTICIPATE Evaluation of Requests to Participate (“RTP”) will be carried out by a suitably competent team from the V&A. The evaluation process is designed to be demonstrably objective and transparent and based solely on the published criteria. This will be achieved by the use of a scoring system based on all the relevant weighted criteria indicating a comparative assessment of tenders under each criterion.
Every RTP shall be subject to an initial assessment to determine compliance with the requirements of the documentation. RTPs that fail to provide the required information or comply with the mandatory requirements may be rejected, and RTPs where any of the requested information, templates or conditions have been altered may be rejected as non-compliant.
Following the initial assessment, those RTPs that have been assessed as compliant will be evaluated against the Suitability Criteria based on the response to the Suitability Questionnaire. Applicants must pass all of the pass/fail questions and must score a minimum total score of 60% to proceed to the next stage of the process. Those RTPs which fail a section or do not score a total of 60% or higher will not be considered any further, and may not receive any feedback on the rest of their RTP. The V&A also reserves the right to not consider any further any RTP that scores below 50% for any one criterion, regardless of the overall score.
TABLE 2 – SUITABILITY CRITERIA Suitability Criteria Weighting 1 Supplier Information N/A 2 Grounds for Mandatory Exclusion Pass/Fail 3 Grounds for Discretionary Exclusion – Pass/Fail Part 1 4 Grounds for Discretionary Exclusion – Pass/Fail Part 2 5 Economic and Financial Standing Pass / Fail 6 Technical and Professional Ability: 60% (20% per relevant experience supported by experience references statement) 7 Additional Modules A1 – Technical and Professional Ability: 20% Capacity 10% A2 – Technical and Professional Ability: Communication with clients 10% A3 – Technical and Professional Ability: Quality Assurance Pass/Fail B – Insurance Pass/Fail E – Health and Safety Total 100%
EVALUATION AND SCORING MECHANISM
It is envisaged that the Evaluation Panel will consist of the following V&A staff:
• Marion Crick – Head of Collections Management • Arran Rees – Collections Information and Systems Manager • Michaela Petermann – Business Support Partner (IT) • Duncan Gough – Digital Media Technical Lead • David Osborne – Head of Procurement and:
• Michael Selway - System Simulation Ltd (only evaluating integration requirements with the V&A’s VADAR Collection Management System during the tender stages)
Please note that any attempt to contact or influence the above staff outside of the official Delta tendering system unless specifically invited will be considered canvassing and will result in your tender being rejected.
For any submissions made as part of this tender process the information provided by Applicants noted as “Pass/Fail” in Table 2 above will be marked on a pass fail basis. If an Applicant fails any of these criterion, the V&A reserves the right to not to evaluate the rest of the Applicant’s submission and drop the Applicant from the evaluation process. An Applicant will be deemed to have failed a section if: • It has not supplied the required information; • It meets one of the grounds for mandatory exclusion; • It meets one of the grounds for discretionary exclusion and the V&A exercises its right to exclude the Tender on this basis; • It is unable to demonstrate economic and financial standing that is deemed acceptable in terms of exposing the V&A to risk when entering into a contract (subject to no suitable parent company guarantee being offered as a means to mitigate such risk). Please note that the V&A follows government guidance for supplier financial appraisal, whereby it does not set arbitrary minimum requirements but suppliers are required to demonstrate sound economic and financial standing for a contract of this size and nature.
The information provided for all of the criteria with a weighting in Tables 2 and 4 (except for “Pricing” in Table 4) will be reviewed and each criterion will be scored a number between zero and ten using the following scoring mechanism:
TABLE 3 – SCORING MECHANISM Scoring Key No Response Match to specification 0 Absent response No information provided 1 Very poor response Too poor for consideration 2 Poor response Little evidence available 3 Significantly below Some evidence but far too old / poor to average meet requirement Below average 4 Does not / barely meets requirements response Will meet ‘basic’ requirements but not any 5 Average response others 6 Above average Will meet ‘basic’ requirements and some response suggestion of others but not all 7 Good response Will meet ‘all’ requirements As 7 but ‘some’ additional value above the 8 Very good response basic requirement 9 Excellent response As 7 but ‘significant’ added value As 7 but ‘exceptional’ added value above 10 Outstanding response all expectation
Each of the evaluation criteria will be scored out of 10, then this score will be applied to the weighting to reach a weighted percentage, e.g.: If a tender scores 7 out of 10 for Capacity which is worth 20% of the overall marks for the Suitability Criteria, this will equate to a weighted score of 14% (7 ÷ 10 x 20). If a tender scores 10 out of 10 on the same question, the final weighted score will be 20% (10 ÷ 10 * 20) and so on.
Finally, Price will be scored on the basis of the Total Sum of all the items in the pricing schedule for that Lot. These Total Sums shall be compared to each other, with the lowest Total Sum receiving the full 20% and each other Total Sum receiving a proportion of the score based on its relationship to the lowest Total Sum.
Please refer to the following guidance on the type of responses which often receive low scores:
1. General Marketing or Tender material not purposely focussed on actual Tender bidding for 2. Mass reference to lists of attached Appendices in each area, especially when usually they refer to documents as 1. above. 3. Documents / responses with a weak relation, e.g. responses which are out of date (old projects) or from a distant partner company or sub- contractor which has little relation to actual office/team which may carry out the project or 4. Very brief answer not covering the full elements of the question and so lacking the detail required for the score available.
The V&A can only conduct its evaluation from the information that you supply. A common reason for Applicants failing to progress through the Suitability Criteria process is due to incomplete information, unsubstantiated statements or information presented in a manner not reasonably obvious to those evaluating. It is the Applicant’s responsibility to provide all the answers and information requested in a clear, concise and logical manner and at the appropriate points within the document. Cross-referencing and reliance on attachments (other than where specifically requested) should be avoided.
REFERENCES
Provided the Applicants does not fail sections 1 – 5 of the Suitability Criteria, the Museum will contact each Applicant’s nominated referee to obtain references. References will form a key part of the evaluation as they will be used to verify the responses given in Section 6 of the RTPs.
Applicants must therefore ensure that their referees are willing to provide a written reference in English within seven days of being called upon to do so. References obtained will be considered confidential and exempt from the Freedom of Information Act 2000 under section 41 (“Information provided in confidence”), and will not be disclosed to the Applicant.
======INFORMATION ONLY SECTION BEGINS ======
EVALUATION PROCESS OF TENDERS The information in this section is for information only and relates to subsequent stages of the procurement process. The V&A reserves the right to make amendments to the information in this section, and such amendments will appear in the documentation issued to Tenderers.
Evaluation of Initial Tenders, Subsequent Tenders and Final Tenders (“Tenders”) will be carried out by a suitably competent team from the V&A. The evaluation process is designed to be demonstrably objective and transparent and based solely on the published criteria. This will be achieved by the use of a scoring system based on all the relevant weighted criteria indicating a comparative assessment of tenders under each criterion.
Every Tender shall be subject to an initial assessment to determine compliance with the requirements of the documentation. Tenders that fail to provide the required information or comply with the mandatory requirements may be rejected, and Tenders where any of the requested information, templates or conditions have been altered may be rejected as non-compliant.
Following the initial assessment, those RTPs that have been assessed as compliant will be evaluated against the Award Criteria detailed in Table 3 below. For the Quality criteria, scores above 50% in each section are recommended as the minimum standard required. The V&A reserves the right to reject any Tender that scores below this threshold for any one criterion, regardless of the overall score.
The evaluation of Tenders against the Award Criteria is a discrete process. The scores from the Suitability Criteria do not ‘carry over’ in any way.
Reductions in the number of participants will be based on the following: 1. A Tenderer has failed to meet the required minimum mandatory criteria or has not scored above 50% in each section; 2. A Tenderer has scored so low for Price that their full marks for Quality scores would not still not result in them placing first in the evaluation process. 3. The V&A has stated in the Invitation to Tender that they reserve the right to reduce the number of tenderers by only taking through the top [] scoring suppliers, and opt to take this right.
The award of contract will be made to the top-scoring supplier against the Award Criteria for the Final Tender stage, unless the V&A exercises its right to award the contract following receipt of Initial Tenders, in which case the award of contract will be made to the top-scoring supplier against the Award Criteria for the Initial Tender stage.
The Museum does not envisage that the Award Criteria will change throughout the tender process.
TABLE 4 – AWARD CRITERIA Award Criteria Weighting Quality Technical proposal to meet the 20% requirements Design and Usability of Solution 20% Integration and interaction with other 15% systems Maintenance proposal including SLAs, customer service, technical advice and 15% account management Installation programme and product lead 10% time Price Price and lifetime cost 20% Total 100%
For the avoidance of doubt, this section is for information only and you are not required to respond to the award criteria at this stage.
======INFORMATION ONLY SECTION ENDS ======
CONDITIONS APPLYING TO THIS PROCESS
The V&A reserves the right to: • Cancel the project, the procurement, the selection and/or the evaluation process at any stage; • Require an Applicant to clarify its response in writing and/or provide additional information; • Amend the terms, conditions and/or requirements of the tender process including the ITP process; • Re-visit the selection decision at any point if the information provided by an Applicant materially changes or if there are any changes to the consortium members or significant sub-contractors. Applicants must notify the V&A if at any point there are any changes to the information supplied.
The V&A reserves the right to amend the enclosed documents at any time prior to the deadline for receipt of RTPs. Where amendments are significant, the V&A may at its discretion extend the deadline for receipt of tenders.
The Tender documents are provided for ‘information only’ and the V&A reserves the right to amend these documents at any time prior to the issue of these documents to shortlisted Applicants.
Any clarification requests together with the V&A’s response will be copied to all Applicants where the response contains information that would be beneficial for all Applicants.
All submissions, questions, clarifications and communications of any kind must be submitted/conducted in English and all pricing and other financial information shall be provided in £ pounds sterling.
All information supplied by the V&A to you must be treated in confidence and not disclosed to third parties except insofar as this is necessary to obtain sureties or quotations for the purposes of submitting the tender. All information supplied by you to the V&A will similarly be treated in confidence, save where disclosure is required by law.
Freedom of Information – In submitting a response, the Applicant acknowledges that the V&A is subject to the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. The V&A undertakes to hold confidential, any information provided by you in your RTP subject to disclosure of the information specified for release to the public. You are asked to consider if any of the information supplied by you in your tender should not be disclosed because of its sensitivity. If this is the case, you should, when providing the information, identify same and specify the reasons for its sensitivity. The Authority will consult with your nominated contact about sensitive information before making a decision on any Freedom of Information request received. If you consider that none of the information supplied by you is sensitive, please make a statement to that effect and include this statement as an appendix to your RTP submission. Such information may be released in response to an FOI request. All information supplied by the V&A to you must be treated in confidence and not disclosed to third parties except insofar as this is necessary to obtain sureties or quotations for the purposes of submitting your tender.
Government Transparency Agenda - As a supplier / organisation looking to bid for public sector contracts you should be aware that as part of the government’s transparency agenda tender documentation issued by government departments for contracts over £10,000 will be published on a single website from September 2010, and made available to the public via a Government portal. You should also be aware that if your bid is successful, the resulting contract between you and the Museum will also be published. In some circumstances, limited redactions will be made to tender documentation and/or contracts before they are published in order to comply with existing law, to protect commercial interests, and for the protection of national security.
Yours sincerely,
David Osborne, Head of Procurement
Appendix 1 - Delta Simple User Guide
1. Sign in: If you are not registered with Delta you will first need to register as a supplier. Please note that you do not need to complete anything more than the minimum information required to register
2. Enter the Response Manager: Once signed in, click on the link in the section.
3. Locate the opportunity: If you have clicked through the advert, then the relevant tender box should be listed below. Click on to continue. If the relevant tender box is not visible then please
enter the Access Code 6JERWATVQF & click
4. Accept the opportunity: You now have 3 choices: – to view details and begin completing your response
– to decline to respond & be removed from the opportunity
– to return to the Response Manager page
5. Respond – You need to fully complete all 3 stages to fully submit your response:
Stage 1 – Overview: Download the ITP/tender documents Stage 2 – Prepare Response: Upload your response and click
(or click to return to your response later)
Stage 3 – Submit Response: Click . Your browser will pop up a message box asking you to confirm that you wish to submit your response. Click ‘OK’ to confirm, and you will see the below message:
IMPORTANT MESSAGE FOR APPLICANTS: A common error made by suppliers is to upload all their documents, click through to Stage 3 and then not click the button. In this situation, the Museum is unable to view any of your uploaded documents and therefore unable to complete its evaluation.
We understand how much time and effort it takes to complete a RTP. Please don’t repeat the mistakes of others and fall at the final hurdle having worked so hard to compile a response.
Please therefore ensure that you have clicked the button. If you wish to double check, go to the Response Manager on the portal.
If the response manager shows “Yes (Submitted) as per the image below, your response has been successfully submitted.
If the response manager shows “No”, your response has not been successfully submitted and you must click the button in Stage 3 to ensure the V&A receives your submission.
Appendix 2 – Notes on completing the Suitability Questionnaire
The Suitability Questionnaire is located at Volume 2. It is based on standard questions set by the Cabinet Office, and as a result you will be able to re-use your answers for other public procurement processes. The following notes are provided by the Cabinet Office to accompany the questions.
1. The “authority” means the public sector contracting authority, or anyone acting on behalf of the contracting authority, that is seeking to invite suitable Suppliers to participate in this procurement process.
2. “You”/ “Your” or “Supplier” covers any economic operator as defined by the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 and could be a registered company; charitable organisation; Voluntary Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE); Special Purpose Vehicle; or other form of entity.
3. This Suitability Questionnaire is the information for qualitative selection that accompanies the Tender and has been designed to assess the suitability of a Supplier to deliver the V&A’s contract requirement(s). The document has been designed to ensure that, in the main, responses are brief and factual.
4. Please ensure that all questions are completed in full, and in the format requested. Failure to do so may result in your submission being disqualified. If the question does not apply to you, please state clearly ‘N/A’.
5. Should you need to provide additional Appendices in response to the questions, these should be numbered clearly and listed as part of your declaration. A template for providing additional information is provided at the end of this document.
6. It is recognised that some supplementary information will be required but it is emphasised that general marketing brochures are not required. Supporting information should be referenced to the relevant question.
Verification of Information Provided
7. Whilst reserving the right to request information at any time throughout the procurement process, the V&A may enable the Supplier to self-certify that there are no mandatory/ discretionary grounds for excluding their organisation. When requesting evidence that the Supplier can meet the specified requirements (such as the questions in section 7 of this Suitability Questionnaire relating to Technical and Professional Ability) the V&A may only obtain such evidence after the final tender evaluation decision i.e. from the winning Supplier only.
Sub-contracting arrangements
8. Where the Supplier proposes to use one or more sub-contractors to deliver some or all of the contract requirements, a separate Appendix should be used to provide details of the proposed bidding model that includes members of the supply chain, the percentage of work being delivered by each sub-contractor and the key contract deliverables each sub-contractor will be responsible for.
9. The V&A recognises that arrangements in relation to sub-contracting may be subject to future change, and may not be finalised until a later date. However, Suppliers should be aware that where information provided to the authority indicates that sub-contractors are to play a significant role in delivering key contract requirements, any changes to those sub-contracting arrangements may affect the ability of the Supplier to proceed with the procurement process or to provide the supplies and/or services required. Suppliers should therefore notify the authority immediately of any change in the proposed sub-contractor arrangements. The authority reserves the right to deselect the Supplier prior to any award of contract, based on an assessment of the updated information.
Consortia arrangements
10. If the Supplier completing this Suitability Questionnaire is doing so as part of a proposed consortium, the following information must be provided;
● names of all consortium members; ● the lead member of the consortium who will be contractually responsible for delivery of the contract (if a separate legal entity is not being created); and ● if the consortium is not proposing to form a legal entity, full details of proposed arrangements within a separate Appendix.
11. Please note that the V&A may require the consortium to assume a specific legal form if awarded the contract, to the extent that a specific legal form is deemed by the V&A as being necessary for the satisfactory performance of the contract.
12. All members of the consortium will be required to provide the information required in all sections of the Suitability Questionnaire as part of a single composite response to the V&A i.e. each member of the consortium is required to complete the form.
13. Where you are proposing to create a separate legal entity, such as a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), you should provide details of the actual or proposed percentage shareholding of the constituent members within the new legal entity in a separate Appendix.
14. The V&A recognises that arrangements in relation to a consortium bid may be subject to future change. Suppliers should therefore respond on the basis of the arrangements as currently envisaged. Suppliers are reminded that the V&A must be immediately notified of any changes, or proposed changes, in relation to the bidding model so that a further assessment can be carried out by applying the selection criteria to the new information provided. The authority reserves the right to deselect the Supplier prior to any award of contract, based on an assessment of the updated information.
Confidentiality
15. When providing details of contracts in answering section 6 of this Suitability Questionnaire (Technical and Professional Ability), the Supplier agrees to waive any contractual or other confidentiality rights and obligations associated with these contracts.
16. The V&A reserves the right to contact the named customer contact in section 6 regarding the contracts included in section 6. The named customer contact does not owe the V&A any duty of care or have any legal liability, except for any deceitful or maliciously false statements of fact.
17. The V&A confirms that it will keep confidential and will not disclose to any third parties any information obtained from a named customer contact, other than to the Cabinet Office and/or contracting authorities defined by the Public Contracts Regulations.
Appendix 3 – Checklist for Applicants
I have ensured that the individuals that I am proposing as referees in Section 6 of the Suitability Questionnaire are expecting a reference request from the V&A by email and are willing to respond in English within seven days;
I have read “Appendix 1 – Delta Simple User Guide” and will ensure that I click “submit response” at stage 3 in the process;
I have completed all the relevant parts of the Suitability Questionnaire;
I have ensured all my attachments are clearly labelled and refer to the relevant question in the Questionnaire;
I have attached the signed Declaration with the Suitability Questionnaire;
I have noted that I must inform the V&A if any of the information changes during the procurement process.
Please note that this Appendix is provided for your convenience. The Museum does not require you to submit this document with the rest of your submission.
Richard Warren 24th June 2019 British Library 96 Euston Road London Ref: 4600.101/19/56 NW1 2DB
Dear Richard Warren,
British Library - Improved Access
Thank you for contacting us about this interesting project, which I confirm that we would be pleased to act as your consulting engineers for the design, calculations and drawings of the structural elements of the improved access proposals adjacent to the public main entrance.
Provision of Engineering Services This fee is based upon the architectural information and programme provided to us on the 14th June 2019. We understand our involvement to be structural design services relating to the access improvement to the main public entrance, which consists of: • Design checks of existing structure to support weight of proposed build-ups • Design of reinforced concrete base to support balustrades • Design of reinforced concrete base to support umbrella sockets based on loading provided by others • Assist in co-ordinating supporting details and provide guidance on structural matters including fixings to and forces applied to the primary structure for the smoke vents and balustrades. • Production of computer aided drawings of the reinforced insitu concrete based on the setting out information provided by the Architect. This assumes setting out information of the existing structure will be provided via record drawings or the Architect. • Production of indicative temporary works outline proposals for complex areas to help inform contractor's pricing and detailed design. • Single review and comments on Contractor tender returns • Production of reinforcement detailed drawings and bar bending schedules • Structural review of subcontractor drawings • Structural review of Contractor's temporary works proposals for both demolition and construction • Responding to reasonable structural queries from the contractor during the construction works. • Attendance at 8 half day site meetings or visits throughout the works.
It is clear that most of our involvement will be in the production of drawings for the reinforced insitu concrete and subsequent reinforcement details and schedules, which will require
meticulous attention to detail due to its complex and ad-hoc arrangement (e.g. lots of steps, trenches and cast-ins, etc.)
Appointment Details and Fee Having studied the information you provided, I propose: • Our appointment will be in accordance with the ACE’s Professional Services Agreement 2017, for the relevant services and core deliverables listed in Part 2 of the Schedule of Services as a Civil and Structural Engineering Non-lead Consultant. We will also produce reinforcement drawings, which is usually an additional service. Our appointment would be direct with British Library.
• The services we are providing are as described here and shown in the attached proposed Scope of Services
• A lump sum fee of £23,500 split into the stages shown below.
• Our fee is divided, in line with the standard ACE or RIBA work stages, as follows: Stage 0-2 15% Stage 3 25% Stage 4 30% Stages 5 30% (RC details & schedules) Further splitting of our fee can be agreed later.
Our fee is inclusive of reasonable travel and printing expenses but exclusive of VAT and a single design iteration of the reinforced insitu concrete drawings, reinforcement details and schedules.
Our fee is based upon continuous working to the provided programme and the construction works being split into three distinct phases.
We normally invoice at monthly intervals or at the completion of various stages of the work.
Warranties will be accepted subject to acceptable wording.
Our fees exclude the services of various support specialists associated with our work. • Intrusive Investigations • Non-intrusive techniques such as; ferro or GPR scanning, etc. We would act as agents for the client in procuring the non-intrusive investigation services.
Additional Work Additional work would be charged at our current hourly rates:- Partners , Associates to , Engineers and CAD Technicians to depending on salary. Printing, travel and other direct project expenses, and VAT are additional.
I confirm that our limitation of liability for this project is £1 million and we have Professional Indemnity Insurance up to this amount. This excludes any claims for terrorism, asbestos, pollution or contamination.
I would be grateful if you could complete and return the attached form with your contact and invoicing details to confirm that this arrangement is acceptable.
Yours sincerely, for Price & Myers
Andrew Stearn MEng CEng MIStructE [email protected]
enc. Scope of Services.
PROJECT FILE NOTE
Client Contract and Contact Details
Project Name British Library - Improved Access 4600.101/19/56
Contact Name
Company Name If applicable Include details – e.g. Partnership, LLP, Ltd. etc Address
Postcode Phone No
Invoice Information – required where this is different to the contact information above
Company Name If applicable
Addressee
Address
Postcode Phone No
Invoices will be sent by e-mail only unless you note otherwise here
Payment Details: Where possible please pay by electronic payment transfer:
Standard Conditions Payment is due within 28 days. Interest will be charged at 8% above HSBC Bank base rate on accounts outstanding after 28 days.
Contact Details Price & Myers LLP is a Limited Liability Partnership registered in England and Wales No. OC303989 Registered Office 37 Alfred Place London WC1E 7DP VAT Registration No. 232 0609 06
Data Protection – GDPR Any personal information provided to Price & Myers on this form will be stored, processed and deleted as required in line with our Privacy Policy Queries: Please notify us of any queries on invoices within 7 days of receipt.
I / We confirm my / our acceptance of the proposed agreement to work on this project outlined in Price & Myers letter dated 24th June 2019
Signed Position Date If applicable
THE BRITISH LIBRARY Supply Chain Management Boston Spa Wetherby West Yorkshire LS23 7BQ www.bl.uk
Andrew Stearn Associate PRICE & MYERS 37 Alfred Place London WC1E 7DP 24 October 2019
Dear Andrew
APPOINTMENT LETTER FOR: STRUCTURAL SERVICES FOR THE BRITISH LIBRARY MAIN ENTRANCE ACCESS IMPROVEMENTS PROJECT CONTRACT REFERENCE NUMBER: 001436 PURCHASE ORDER NUMBER: TBA LENGTH OF CONTRACT: WORK TO START IMMEDIATELY AND BE COMPLETED BY 31 MAY 2020
Further to your recent correspondence with Richard Warren I am pleased to confirm on behalf of the British Library that you have been appointed to undertake the above work at the Fixed Price of £23,500.00 + VAT. This work is to be undertaken in full and complete accordance with this appointment letter dated 24 October 2019.
The applicable Conditions of Contract will be the British Library Conditions agreed under the previous contract 001230 and already in your possession. These Terms and Conditions are to be read in conjunction with the British Library Site Procedures for St Pancras.
Please note that no other terms or conditions of business will be acceptable; any pre-printed conditions on your own stationery must be deleted and the deletion signed by you.
SCOPE OF WORK, FEES AND TIMESCALES
Provide the structural design for the British Library Main Entrance Access Improvement Project as set out in your proposal Ref: Ref: 4600.101/19/56 dated 24 June 2019 (Appendix 1 below) and as discussed and agreed with the British Library Representative.
The work is to be completed by 31 May 2020. Exact dates to be discussed and agreed with the British Library Representative.
THE BRITISH LIBRARY REPRESENTATIVE (BLR)
The British Library Representative for this Contract is Richard Warren, Building and Project Manager ([email protected]). Please liaise with Richard if you have any queries regarding our requirements.
APPOINTMENT LETTER - 001436
INVOICING
All invoices must bear the Purchase Order Number (to be provided shortly) and are to be emailed to [email protected]
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Please complete the section below and return a copy of the signed letter to [email protected] no later than 1 November 2019.
On behalf of the British Library On behalf of Price & Myers
Signed Signed
Name Janet Parnaby Name
Title Supply Chain Officer Title
Date 24th October 2019 Date:
APPOINTMENT LETTER - 001436
APPENDIX 1
APPOINTMENT LETTER - 001436
APPOINTMENT LETTER - 001436