VOLUNTARY EX ANTE TRANSPARENCY NOTICE

Section I: Contracting Authority/Entity

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

Section II: Object of the Contract

II.1)

Description

II.1.1)

Title attributed to the contract by the contracting authority

Official Controls Services for Shellfish Sample Analysis.

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

Scotland.

II.1.3)

This notice involves a framework agreement

II.1.4)

Short description of the contract or purchase(s)

The provision of official controls services for shellfish sample analysis as follows; Marine Biotoxin Programme Management and Analysis; Phytoplankton Programme Management and Analysis; E-coli Programme Management and Analysis; Chemical Contaminants Analysis; Mouse Bioassay Analysis; Technical Advice and Guidance and Management of Classification. The services are required for the period 1.4.2017 until 31.3.2018.

II.1.5)

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)

II.1.6)

Contract covered by the government procurement agreement (GPA)

II.2)

Total final value of the contract(s)

II.2.1)

Total final value of the contract(s)

Section IV: Procedure

IV.1)

Type of procedure

IV.1.1)

Type of procedure

IV.2)

Award criteria

IV.2.1)

Award criteria

IV.2.2)

An electronic auction has been used

IV.3)

Administrative information

IV.3.1)

File reference number attributed by the contracting authority

IV.3.2)

Previous publication(s) concerning the same contract

Other previous publications

Section V: Award of contract

Contract No:

 Lot Number: 

 Title: 

V.1)

Date of contract award decision:

V.2)

Numbers of offers received:

V.3)

Name and address of economic operator to whom the contract has been awarded

V.4)

Information on value of contract

V.5)

The contract is likely to be subcontracted

Short description of the value/proportion of the contract to be subcontracted

Section VI: Complementary Information

VI.1)

Contract related to a project and/or programme financed by community funds?

VI.2)

Additional Information

(SC Ref: 440441).

VI.3)

Procedures for appeal

VI.3.1)

Body responsible for appeal procedures

Body responsible for mediation procedures

VI.3.2)

Lodging of appeals

The deadline for appeal is midnight on Monday 18.4.2016. Appeals should be made known to the contact identified within this notice in the first instance outlining the grounds for the appeal.

VI.3.3)

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

VI.4)

Dispatch date of this Notice

Annex D1 – General procurement

Justification for the award of the contract without prior publication of a contract notice in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU)
Directive 2004/18/EC

a) No tenders or no appropriate tenders in response to:

	Open procedure
	Restricted procedure

b) The products involved are manufactured purely for the purpose of research, experiment, study or development under the conditions stated in the Directive (for supplies only).

c) The works/goods/services can be provided only by a particular tenderer for reasons that are:

	Technical
	Artistic
	Connected with the protection of exclusive rights

d) Extreme urgency brought about by events unforeseeable by the contracting authority and in accordance with the strict conditions stated in the Directive.

e) Additional works/deliveries/services are ordered under the strict conditions stated in the Directive.

f) New works/services, constituting a repetition of existing works/services and ordered in accordance with the strict conditions stated in the Directive.

g)Service contract awarded to the successful candidate or one of them after a design contest.

h) For supplies quoted and purchased on a commodity market.

i) For the purchase of supplies on particularly advantageous terms:

	from a supplier which is definitely winding up its business activities
	from the receivers or liquidators of a bankruptcy, an arrangement with creditors or a similar procedure.

j) All tenders submitted in reply to an open procedure, a restricted procedure or competitive dialogue were irregular or unacceptable. Only those tenderers were included in the negotiations which have satisfied the qualitative selection criteria.

Other justification for the award of the contract without prior publication of a contract notice in the OJEU:

k) The contract has as its object services listed in Annex B of Directive 2004/18/EC or in Annex XVII B of Directive 2004/17/EC

l) The contract falls outside the scope of application of the relevant directive.

In addition to the box(es) ticked above please explain in a clear and comprehensive manner why the award of the contract without prior publication of a contract notice in the OJEU is lawful, stating in any case the relevant facts, and, as appropriate, the conclusions of law in accordance with the articles in the relevant Directive (500 words maximum):

There are high level discussions ongoing with Food Standards Agency (FSA) and at EU Commission level with regard to what the current legal framework can allow Food Standards Scotland (FSS) to flex on, as well as to explore what future delivery can look like. It is likely these discussions and exploratory work will take FSS beyond the current contract period ending on 31.3.2017.

Essentially, the official controls delivery landscape is in a period of considerable change and there is a need to develop FSS' thinking further without constraining to a particular contract specification in the short term. Work is currently ongoing at a strategic level to consider:

— FSS Regulatory Strategy;

— Exploring the financial and compliance benefits from deploying Earned Recognition and 3rd party assurance / audit schemes;

— Sharing veterinary services with other government departments;

— Exploring shared services and alternative laboratory and sampling arrangements with other agencies in Scotland to secure greater efficiencies;

— Potential for inspection services to transfer from government to industry;

— Alternative delivery systems within the poultry sector;

— Potential for reduction in official veterinary attendance;

— Centralising animal feed controls;

— Potential for FSS undertaking more on-farm work through welfare certification work;

— Potential for other Local authority activity to transfer to FSS.

FSS Operations therefore require to explore these issues and to develop thinking around Scotland's future delivery strategy and deferring an Official Controls Delivery tender for 1 year beyond the current contract end date will allow the development of a contract specification that reflects the potential efficiencies described above and to have some future-proofing around contract deliverables.