CONTRACT NOTICE – OFFICIAL JOURNAL

Section I: Contracting Authority

I.1)

Name, Address and Contact Point(s)

I.2)

Type of contracting Authority and Main Activity or Activities

Ministry or any other national or federal authority, including their regional or local sub-divisions National or federal agency/Office Regional or local Authority Regional or local Agency/Office Body governed by public law European Institution/Agency or International Organisation

General public services Defence Public order and safety Environment Economic and financial affairs Health Housing and community amenities Social protection Recreation, culture and religion Education Other (Please specify) Audit Services

Section II: Object of the Contract

II.1)

Description

II.1.1)

Title attributed to the contract by the contracting authority

II.1.2(a))

Type of works contract

II.1.2(b))

Type of supplies contract

II.1.2(c))

Type of service contract

II.1.2)

Main site or location of works, place of delivery or performance

Throughout Wales

II.1.3)

This notice involves

A public contract
The setting up of a Dynamic Purchasing System
The establishment of a framework agreement

II.1.4)

Information on framework agreement (if applicable)

Framework agreement with a single operators
Framework agreement with several operators

Number of participants to the framework agreement envisaged

Duration of the framework agreement

Justification for a framework agreement the duration of which exceeds four years

Estimated total value of purchases for the entire duration of the framework agreement

Frequency and value of the contracts to be awarded

II.1.5)

Short description of the contract or purchase(s)

The Wales Audit Office is looking for three to five providers to be appointed for contracts for the supply of financial audit and related services to support the Auditor General for Wales.

The contracts will be split into three Lots covering the whole of Wales.

Lot 1- single provider, predominantly covering North and West Wales

Lot 2 - single provider, predominantly covering South and Mid Wales

Lot 3 - two to three providers, covering the whole of Wales.

Lots 1 and 2 include a mix of audits for a number of public sector organisations as determined by the Auditor General (which may include a mix of Unitary Authorities, Local Government Pension Funds, Fire Authorities, Central Government, Welsh Government sponsored bodies and National Health Service (NHS) bodies) to include financial audit and grants certification but with scope to cover the whole of Wales at the Authority's and the Auditor General's discretion.

Lot 3 includes a mix of community and town council audits across Wales.

All Lots also include an element of work across a range of other related services as required.

NOTE: To register your interest in this notice and obtain any additional information please visit the Sell2Wales Web Site at http://www.sell2wales.gov.uk/Search/Search_Switch.aspx?ID=10514.

The buyer has indicated that it will accept electronic responses to this notice via the Postbox facility. A user guide is available at http://www.sell2wales.gov.uk/sitehelp/help_guides.aspx.

Suppliers are advised to allow adequate time for uploading documents and to dispatch the electronic response well in advance of the closing time to avoid any last minute problems.

II.1.6)

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)

II.1.7)

Contract covered by the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)

II.1.8)

Division into lots

one lot only

one or more lots

all lots

II.1.9)

Will variants be accepted

II.2)

Quantity or Scope of the Contract

II.2.1)

Total quantity or scope

II.2.2)

Options

Provisional timetable for recourse to these options

Number of possible renewals

In the case of renewable supplies or service contracts, estimated time frame for subsequent contracts

II.3)

Duration of the contract or limit for completion

Section III: Legal, Economic, Financial and Technical Information

III.1)

Conditions Relating to the Contract

III.1.1)

Deposits and guarantees required

III.1.2)

Main Terms of financing and payment and/or reference to the relevant provisions

III.1.3)

Legal form to be taken by the grouping of suppliers, contractors or service providers to whom the contract is to be awarded

III.1.4)

Other particular conditions to which the performance of the contract is subject

The Auditor General for Wales has prepared a Code of Audit Practice which prescribes the way in which auditors are to carry out the Auditor General's functions, and embodies what appears to the Auditor General to be best professional practice. Providers will be required to agree to and follow the Auditor General's Code and related guidance, and will be required to co-operate with his systems for quality monitoring and controls.

III.2)

Conditions for Participation

III.2.1)

Personal situation of economic operators, including requirements relating to enrolment on professional or trade registers

(1) All candidates will be required to produce a certificate or declaration demonstrating that they are not bankrupt or the subject of an administration order, are not being wound-up, have not granted a trust deed, are not the subject of a petition presented for sequestration of their estate, have not had a receiver, manager or administrator appointed and are not otherwise apparently insolvent.

(2) All candidates will be required to produce a certificate or declaration demonstrating that the candidate, their directors, or any other person who has powers of representation, decision or control of the candidate has not been convicted of conspiracy, corruption, bribery, or money laundering. Failure to provide such a declaration will result in the candidate being declared ineligible and they will not be selected to participate in this procurement process.

(3) All candidates will be required to produce a certificate or declaration demonstrating that they have not been convicted of a criminal offence relating to the conduct of their business or profession.

(4) All candidates will be required to produce a certificate or declaration demonstrating that they have not committed an act of grave misconduct in the course of their business or profession.

(5) All candidates must comply with the requirements of the State in which they are established, regarding registration on the professional or trade register.

(6) Any candidate found to be guilty of serious misrepresentation in providing any information required, may be declared ineligible and not selected to continue with this procurement process.

(7) All candidates will have to demonstrate that they are licensed, or a member of the relevant organisation, in the State where they are established, when the law of that State prohibits the provision of the services, described in this notice, by a person who is not so licensed or who is not a member of the relevant organisation.

(8) All candidates will be required to produce a certificate or declaration demonstrating that they have fulfilled obligations relating to the payment of social security contributions under the law of any part of the United Kingdom or of the relevant State in which the candidate is established

(9) All candidates will be required to produce a certificate or declaration demonstrating that they have fulfilled obligations relating to the payment of taxes under the law of any part of the United Kingdom or of the relevant State in which the economic operator is established.

All candidates must be eligible, being a company auditor 'firm' under Part 42 of the Companies Act 2006.

III.2.2)

Economic and financial capacity

III.2.3)

Technical capacity

III.2.4)

Reserved contracts

The contract is restricted to sheltered workshops
The execution of the contract is restricted to the framework of sheltered employment programmes

III.3)

Conditions Specific to Service Contracts

III.3.1)

Is provision of the service reserved to a specific profession?

III.3.2)

Will legal entities be required to state the names and professional qualifications of the personnel responsible for the execution of the service?

Section IV: Procedure

IV.1)

Type of Procedure

Open		Restricted
Accelerated restricted		Negotiated
Accelerated negotiated		Competitive dialogue

Justification for the choice of accelerated procedure

IV.1.1)

Have candidates already been selected?

IV.1.2)

Limitations on the number of operators who will be invited to tender or to participate

Objective criteria for choosing the limited number of candidates

The Authority considers that a minimum of 10 and maximum of 13 operators will be sufficiently wide to enable meaningful competition to assess the most economically advantageous tenders and to allow for contingency if bidders withdraw mid-process.

IV.1.3)

Reduction of the number of operators during the negotiation or dialogue

Recourse to staged procedure to gradually reduce the number of solutions to be discussed or tenders to be negotiated

IV.2)

Award Criteria

IV.2.2)

An electronic auction will be used

IV.3 Administrative Information

IV.3.1)

Reference number attributed to the notice by the contracting authority

10514

IV.3.2)

Previous publication(s) concerning the same contract

Prior Information Notice
Notice on a Buyer Profile

Other previous publications

IV.3.3)

Conditions for obtaining specifications and additional documents

IV.3.4)

Time-limit for receipt of tenders or requests to participate

IV.3.5)

Date of dispatch of invitations to tender or to participate to selected candidates

IV.3.6)

Language or languages in which tenders or requests to participate can be drawn up

IV.3.7)

Minimum time frame during which the tenderer must maintain the tender 

IV.3.8)

Conditions for opening tenders

Section VI: Other Information

VI.1)

Indicate whether this procurement is a recurrent one and the Estimated timing for further notices to be published

VI.2)

Does the contract relate to a Project/Programme financed by Community Funds?

VI.3)

Additional Information

(WA Ref:10514)

VI.4)

Procedures for appeal

VI.4.1)

Body responsible for appeal procedures

Body responsible for mediation procedures

VI.4.2)

Lodging of appeals
Precise information on deadline(s) for lodging appeals:

VI.4.3)

Service from which information about the lodging of appeals may be obtained

VI.5)

Dispatch date of this Notice

ANNEX B

Information About Lots

1)

Short Description

Single provider Lot undertaking financial audit and related services predomominantly covering North and West Wales. Work includes a mix of audits for a number of public sector organisations as determined by the Auditor General (which may include a mix of Unitary Authorities, Local Government Pension Funds, Fire authorities, Central Government, Welsh Government sponsored bodies and NHS bodies) to include financial audit and grants certification but with scope to cover the whole of Wales at the Authority's discretion.

2)

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)

3)

Quantity or scope

The Lot covers financial audit and related services predominantly in North and West Wales as the primary service (with an estimated 6 audits which may include pension and associated grants work). Other services will be on an as required basis.

4)

Indication about different contract dates

5)

Additional Information about lots

Lot 1 will provide backup services to Lot 2.

The estimated Wales Audit Office fees applicable to this lot is in the region of 1 million GBP per annum based on current fee scales.

ANNEX B

Information About Lots

1)

Short Description

Single provider Lot undertaking financial audit and related services predomominantly covering South and Mid Wales. Work includes a mix of audits for a number of public sector organisations as determined by the Auditor General (which may include a mix of Unitary Authorities, Local Government Pension Funds, Fire authorities, Central Government, Welsh Government sponsored bodies and NHS bodies) to include financial audit and grants certification but with scope to cover the whole of Wales at the Authority's discretion.

2)

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)

3)

Quantity or scope

The Lot covers financial audit and related services predominantly in South and Mid Wales as the primary service (with an estimated 8 audits which may include pension and associated grants work). Other services will be on an as required basis.

4)

Indication about different contract dates

5)

Additional Information about lots

Lot 2 will provide backup services for Lot 1.

The estimated Wales Audit Office fees applicable to this Lot is in the region of 1 million GBP per annum based on current fee scales.

ANNEX B

Information About Lots

1)

Short Description

Lot 3 will have two to three suppliers and includes a mix of community and town council audits across the whole of Wales. Work includes undertaking financial audit of accounts and considering the adequacy of internal controls for community and town councils and other small bodies as applicable, and a small amount of grant certification work.

2)

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)

3)

Quantity or scope

The Lot will be split evenly (as much as possible) between the suppliers, taking account of both number of audits and their fees. There is an estimated 740 small audited bodies in total. The lot will also include other related services on an as required basis.

4)

Indication about different contract dates

5)

Additional Information about lots

Suppliers within this lot will provide backup for each other.

The estimated Wales Audit Office fees applicable to this lot is in the region of 190,000 GBP per annum in total across all audits based on current fee scales.