INVITATION TO TENDER Public Coastal Transport Service Bergen – Kirkenes For the period 1 January 2005(-6) – 31 December 2012 CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................................... 1 2. GENERAL INFORMATION ...................................................................................................................... 2 2.1 DEFINITIONS ............................................................................................................................................ 2 2.2 LEGAL BASIS............................................................................................................................................ 2 2.3 BACKGROUND.......................................................................................................................................... 2 3. TENDER PROCEDURE AND SELECTION CRITERIA ....................................................................... 4 4. ORGANISATION OF THE TENDER........................................................................................................ 7 4.1 THE ESA REQUIREMENTS FOR THE TENDERING PROCEDURE.................................................................... 7 4.2 UNITS FOR TENDER .................................................................................................................................. 7 5. CONDITIONS FOR PARTICIPATION ....................................................................................................9 6. THE CURRENT SERVICE....................................................................................................................... 10 6.1 THE PRESENT HURTIGRUTEN AGREEMENT ............................................................................................. 10 6.2 THE COASTAL ROUTE AND SERVICE ....................................................................................................... 10 6.3 TRAFFIC VOLUMES AND REVENUES........................................................................................................ 13 7. REQUIREMENTS FOR THE TRAFFIC SERVICE DURING THE CONTRACT PERIOD ........... 16 7.1 TIMETABLES AND REGULARITY.............................................................................................................. 16 7.2 PASSENGER TRANSPORT AND CARRYING CAPACITY............................................................................... 16 7.3 PASSENGER TRANSPORT – FARES AND OTHER CONDITIONS.................................................................... 16 7.4 FREIGHT................................................................................................................................................. 17 7.5 ORGANISATIONAL REQUIREMENTS ........................................................................................................ 17 7.6 CONCESSIONS AND THIRD PARTY CONSIDERATIONS............................................................................... 17 8. COMPLETION REQUIREMENTS .........................................................................................................19 8.1 TIMETABLES AND REGULARITY.............................................................................................................. 19 8.2 CREW REQUIREMENTS ........................................................................................................................... 19 8.3 VESSEL REQUIREMENTS ......................................................................................................................... 19 8.4 REGULAR CHECKS AND MAINTENANCE .................................................................................................. 20 8.5 THE AGE OF THE VESSELS ...................................................................................................................... 21 8.6 IMPLEMENTATION, DOCUMENTATION AND CONTROLS ........................................................................... 21 9. CONTENTS OF THE TENDER – SUBMISSION FORMS................................................................... 22 10. PAYMENT AND REGULATION OF GOVERNMENT PURCHASING AND RENEGOTIATION23 11. OBLIGATIONS FOR CONTROL AND INFORMATION ................................................................... 24 12. OTHER ITEMS.......................................................................................................................................... 25 APPENDIX 1: Summary of TØI-report 609/2002 APPENDIX 2: To/from-matrix for passenger traffic 2003 APPENDIX 3: Details of the current ships in service APPENDIX 4: Calendar for round-trips 2005-2012 APPENDIX 5: Forms APPENDIX 6: Draft advertisement APPENDIX 7 Contract form APPENDIX 8. Statistics 1 Coastal Service Bergen-Kirkenes Page 1 1. INTRODUCTION The Ministry of Transport and Communications is inviting competition through open tender for the public coastal transport service between Bergen and Kirkenes, in accordance with the Norwegian Government’s White paper (St. meld. no. 16 (2003-2004)) and the Parliamentary Committee recommendation (Innst. S. no. 125 (2003-2004)). The Ministry of Transport and Communications hereby invites interested shipping and transportation companies to tender for operating traffic on the coastal service, as described in more detail in this document. The coastal service will be operational for the period 1 January 2005 to 31 December 2012. The starting date for operating may be delayed by up to one year in the event that an operator needs to procure new vessels. The invitation to tender is advertised in DOFFIN, in Norsk Lysingsblad and in the Official Journal and the EU for the European Economic Area under the reference 2004-12085. The invitation to tender is also advertised in Aftenposten and TradeWinds. The text of the advertisement is attached to this document. Tender documents are available for downloading at http://odin.dep.no/sd. Last day tender documents are available is 25 August 2004. Inquiries should be addressed to The Ministry of Transport and Communications, Road and Sea Transport Section (tlf. +47 22248241, mailto:[email protected].) Contact persons for the tender are: Arne Stenberg, tel. +47 22 24 82 47 mailto:[email protected], alternatively Dag Namtvedt tel. +47 22 24 82 49 mailto:[email protected], or Arnfinn Øen, tel. +47 22 24 82 63 mailto:[email protected] All inquiries relating to the detailed requirements must be made in writing. Inquiries will be replied to in writing, with copies sent to all Suppliers and other interested parties who have received or otherwise acquired tendering documents. The Ministry of Transport and Communications will hold an information meeting for interested suppliers at: 11 am, Thursday 8 July 2004. This meeting will be held at the Radisson SAS Radisson Hotel at “Bryggen” in Bergen. The Royal Ministry of Transport and Communications, Oslo, 28 July 2004. 1 Page 2 Ministry of Transport and Communications 2. GENERAL INFORMATION 2.1 Definitions The Ministry of Transport and Communications is referred to as “the Contractor” in the following. The Ministry’s executive agent is the Road and Sea Transport Section of the Transport Division. “Supplier” refers to a shipping company or other provider of transport services who wishes to be considered as the service provider for the coastal service between Bergen and Kirkenes, on the basis of a submitted proposal and under contract and concession for the route from the Ministry of Transport and Communications. ”Service provider” refers to a shipping company or a provider of transport services with whom the Ministry enters a contract for service delivery as a result of the tender procedure. 2.2 Legal basis The most important legislation regarding professional transport in Norway is: 2.2.1 Professional Transport Act (”yrkestransportloven”) of 21 June 2002 no. 45 2.2.2 Regulations on domestic professional transport with motor vehicle or vessel of 26. mars 2003 no. 401 2.2.3 Regulations on tenders in local scheduled transport of 26. March 2003 no. 400 with amendments 21 June 2004. 2.2.4 Competition and Mergers Control Act of 5 March 2004 no. 12 2.2.5 Shipping Act of 24 June 1994 no. 39 with regulations. 2.2.6 Work and Rest Hours on Ships Act no. 50 av 3. juni 1977 2.2.7 State Control of Ships’ Seaworthiness Act no. 7 of 9 June 1903 It is the obligation of Suppliers to acquire necessary knowledge regarding acts and regulations. Regulations regarding shipping is particularly comprehensive. The regulations are collected and published by the Directorate of Shipping at InfoMediaHuset publishers (www.infomediahuset.no). Last edition of Rules for passenger and cargo ships (”Regler for passasjer- og lasteskip m.v.”) is dated July 2003 (ISBN-82-07-02057-1). New edition is expected to be issued during the summer of 2004. 2.3 Background We refer to the parliamentary papers as listed below. These are available and can be accessed electronically from the Ministry’s and the Parliament’s web-sites: http://odin.dep.no/sd/engelsk/bn.html and http://www.stortinget.no/english/index.html St. meld. nr. 16 (2003-2004), White Paper on transport standards and the procurement of transport services for the coastal route from Bergen to Kirkenes. Innst. S. nr. 125 (2003-2004) Recommendation from the Parliamentary Committee for Transport and Communications to the Norwegian Parliament, for transport standards and procurement of transport services for the Bergen-Kirkenes coastal route. St. meld. nr. 24 (2003-2004) White Paper, National