CONTRACT NOTICE – OFFICIAL JOURNAL
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Section I: Contracting Authority
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I.1)
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Name, Address and Contact Point(s)
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Accent Group Limited |
Charlestown House, Acorn Park Industrial Estate, West Yorkshire |
Shipley |
BD17 7SW |
UK |
Angela Clayton |
+44 1274536143 |
audittender@accentgroup.org |
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http://www.accentgroup.org
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I.2)
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Type of contracting Authority and Main Activity or Activities
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Section II: Object of the Contract
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II.1)
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Description
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II.1.1)
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Title attributed to the contract by the contracting authorityContract for the supply of External Audit Services to Accent Group. |
II.1.2(a))
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Type of works contract
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II.1.2(b))
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Type of supplies contract
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II.1.2(c))
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Type of service contract9 |
II.1.2)
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Main site or location of works, place of delivery or performance
Main place of performance will be Charlestown House, Acorn Park Industrial Estate, Charlestown, Shipley, West Yorkshire, BD17 7SW.
UKE41 |
II.1.3)
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This notice involves
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II.1.4)
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Information on framework agreement (if applicable)
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Number of participants to the framework agreement envisaged
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Duration of the framework agreement
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Justification for a framework agreement the duration of which exceeds four years
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Estimated total value of purchases for the entire duration of the framework agreement
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Frequency and value of the contracts to be awarded |
II.1.5)
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Short description of the contract or purchase(s)
External Audit Services for Accent Group Limited and its subsidiaries.
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II.1.6)
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Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)
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79212100 |
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II.1.7)
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Contract covered by the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) |
II.1.8)
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Division into lots No |
II.1.9)
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Will variants be accepted
No |
II.2)
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Quantity or Scope of the Contract
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II.2.1)
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Total quantity or scopeAccent Group own or manage over 20,000 homes and have assets of more than GBP 700 million. As part of its procurement strategy, Accent is committed to delivering value for money services and wishes to procure an External Audit Services provider.
Accent requires the following specific audit services that will constitute the basis of the audit fee:
— To form an opinion on the consolidated financial statements of Accent Group Limited;
— To form an opinion on the individual statutory financial statements of the subsidiaries of Accent Group Limited;
— To provide an audit on approximately 46 individual service charge accounts from across the Groups subsidiaries;
— To provide a covenant compliance letter for one of the Group's funders;
— Liaising with the internal audit and assurance team and place reliance on their work where appropriate;
— Attendance at the Group Audit Committee and the preparation and presentation of comprehensive reports and findings documents to the Committee.
The audit firm must have the capacity to deliver this size of contract and to evidence experience of similar sized housing associations.
Accent's turnover for the year ending 31.3.2014 was GBP 95.6 million with 7 trading subsidiaries across the Group.
It is expected that the tenderer will be a specialist in the Registered Provider sector and have knowledge of the current issues that are impacting on the sector and the impact that this will have on Accent. It is also expected that the tenderer will have an insight on whatever other issues that are being considered by the stakeholders in the sector, for example the regulator and the SORP working party, to ensure that Accent is best prepared for any upcoming changes to accounting rules or financial legislative changes.
Although there is an expectation that the tenderer will have the specialist knowledge of the Registered Provider sector, it must not be limited to this.
The auditor will be engaged for a period of 3 years with an option to extend by a further 2 years, with the first year of engagement being Accent's financial year ending 31.3.2015. |
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II.2.2)
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Options |
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Provisional timetable for recourse to these options
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Number of possible renewals2 |
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In the case of renewable supplies or service contracts, estimated time frame for subsequent contracts
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II.3)
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Duration of the contract or limit for completion36 |
Section III: Legal, Economic, Financial and Technical Information
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III.1)
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Conditions Relating to the Contract
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III.1.1)
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Deposits and guarantees required
Details of any deposits and guarantees required by the contracting authority will be set out in the contract documents.
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III.1.2)
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Main Terms of financing and payment and/or reference to the relevant provisions
Details of any financial conditions and payment arrangements required by the contracting authority will be set out in the contract documents.
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III.1.3)
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Legal form to be taken by the grouping of suppliers, contractors or service providers to whom the contract is to be awarded
Joint and several liability
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III.1.4)
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Other particular conditions to which the performance of the contract is subject
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III.2)
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Conditions for Participation
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III.2.1)
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Personal situation of economic operators, including requirements relating to enrolment on professional or trade registers
Any specific information and formalities necessary for evaluating the requirements are set out in the Invitation to Tender (ITT).
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III.2.2)
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Economic and financial capacity
Any specific information and formalities necessary for evaluating the requirements are set out in the Invitation to Tender (ITT).
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III.2.3)
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Technical capacity
Any specific information and formalities necessary for evaluating the requirements are set out in the Invitation to Tender (ITT).
Any specific information and formalities necessary for evaluating the requirements are set out in the Invitation to Tender (ITT).
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III.2.4)
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Reserved contracts
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III.3)
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Conditions Specific to Service Contracts
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III.3.1)
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Is provision of the service reserved to a specific profession? Yes
Must be a Statutory Auditor. |
III.3.2)
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Will legal entities be required to state the names and professional qualifications of the personnel responsible for the execution of the service?
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Section IV: Procedure
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IV.1)
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Type of Procedure
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Justification for the choice of accelerated procedure
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IV.1.1)
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Have candidates already been selected? No |
IV.1.2)
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Limitations on the number of operators who will be invited to tender or to participate |
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Objective criteria for choosing the limited number of candidates
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IV.1.3)
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Reduction of the number of operators during the negotiation or dialogue
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IV.2)
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Award Criteria
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No
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No
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Yes
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Qualitative |
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Pricing |
30 |
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IV.2.2)
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An electronic auction will be used No
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IV.3 Administrative Information
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IV.3.1)
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Reference number attributed to the notice by the contracting authority
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IV.3.2)
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Previous publication(s) concerning the same contract
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Other previous publications
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IV.3.3)
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Conditions for obtaining specifications and additional documents
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IV.3.4)
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Time-limit for receipt of tenders or requests to participate 30-09-2014
12:00 |
IV.3.5)
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Date of dispatch of invitations to tender or to participate to selected candidates
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IV.3.6)
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Language or languages in which tenders or requests to participate can be drawn up
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IV.3.7)
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Minimum time frame during which the tenderer must maintain the tender 6
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IV.3.8)
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Conditions for opening tenders
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Section VI: Other Information
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VI.1)
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Indicate whether this procurement is a recurrent one and the Estimated timing for further notices to be published
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VI.2)
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Does the contract relate to a Project/Programme financed by Community Funds? No
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VI.3)
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Additional Information
Expressions of interest and requests for additional information, including invitation to tender documents, should be emailed to email: angela.clayton@accentgroup.org before midday on 29.9.2014.
Please title your email "External Audit Services" and provide the following contact details: company name, contact name, telephone, email address and postal address.
Save for any mandatory periods, the timescales indicated in this notice are approximate and the contracting authority reserves the right to amend the same.
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VI.4)
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Procedures for appeal
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VI.4.1)
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Body responsible for appeal procedures
High Court of England and Wales |
Royal Courts of Justice, Strand |
London |
WC2A 2LL |
UK |
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+44 2079476000 |
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Body responsible for mediation procedures
High Court of England and Wales |
Royal Courts of Justice, Strand |
London |
WC2A 2LL |
UK |
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+44 2079476000 |
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VI.4.2)
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Lodging of appeals
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VI.4.3)
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Service from which information about the lodging of appeals may be obtained
Cabinet Office |
1 Horse Guard's Road |
London |
SW1A 2HQ |
UK |
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+44 8450004999 |
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VI.5)
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Dispatch date of this Notice 31-07-2014 |