QUALIFICATION SYSTEM - UTILITIES

Section I: Contracting Entity

I.1)

Name, Address and Contact Point(s)

I.2)

Main activity or activities of the contracting entity

	Production, transport and distribution of gas and heat
	Electricity
	Exploration and extraction of gas and oil
	Exploration and extraction of coal and other solid fuels
	Water
	Postal services
	Railway services
	Urban railway, tramway, trolleybus or bus services
	Port-related activities
	Airport-related activities

Section II: Object of the qualification system

II.1)

Title attributed to the qualification system by the contracting entity

FA1300 Professional Services.

II.2)

Type of contract

II.3)

Description of the works, services or goods to be procured through the qualification system

Thames Water Utilities Limited (TWUL), by this Notice, is setting up a new qualification system (which is referred to below as the ‘Register’), being a new Register (FA1300) for Professional Services which has been split into Lots as listed below. This replaces the current qualification system (reference 2015/S 108-197093) but only in respect of Lots no 19, 22, 27. Anyone qualified on that qualification system or any other qualification system is required to reapply for qualification under this new qualification system if they wish to be considered for framework agreements or contracts in relation to the Lots listed below.

The total spend on Professional Services listed against each Lot has been estimated over the remainder of AMP6. AMP6 is the current Asset Management Plan underway within the water sector in England and Wales and runs from 1.4.2015 to 31.3.2020. The exact proportion of spend that will be sourced via this Register is currently unknown.

Applications are invited for any or all of the following lots. Core scope includes, but is not limited to the services described under each lot:

Lot 1 — Engineering Consultancy (3 000 000 – 5 000 000 GBP): Scope of work will vary from project to project, and may include any or all of the initial investigation/study, feasibility studies, preliminary design, detailed design, construction phase design support, planning/cost/project management, commissioning and post construction phases across various disciplines including, but not limited to, civil, mechanical and electrical engineering, control & instrumentation design, process design, architecture building, structural engineering, building services, site surveys/geotechnical investigations, hydrological, hydrogeological & water resource services, reservoir services, wastewater and clean water network and process modelling and the like;

Lot 2 — Commercial Consultancy (3 000 000 – 5 000 000 GBP): Scope of work will vary from project to project, and may include any or all of the commercial strategy development/review, Quantity Surveying Services which cover initial cost studies, cost estimating, detailed estimating, cost and planning, agreement of final accounts and valuations. Services required may also include planning and project management resource, cost auditing, procurement services and the like;

Lot 3 — Environmental Consultancy (5 000 000 – 7 000 000 GBP): Scope of environmental consulting work will vary from project to project and may include any or all of odour impact assessments, environmental impact assessments, ecological surveys, flow monitoring, groundwater level measurement, water quality sampling and analysis, drought planning, planning/project management resource and the like;

Lot 4 — Dispute Resolution (5 000 000 – 10 000 000 GBP): Provision of commercial and/or contractual management and review of contracts and support and assistance to TWUL in relation to contractor/ supplier claims and contractual and/or commercial disputes. This will include preparation of mitigation strategies, front line analysis, contract management, preparation for adjudication, arbitration, expert determination or court proceedings and assisting in the negotiation and settlement of contractual and/or commercial disputes and the like, working alongside TWUL's business and in conjunction with TWUL's external legal advisers and/or other third party consultants.

Lot 5 — Business Consultancy (20 000 000 – 30 000 000 GBP): Provision of management and business consulting, strategy consulting, transformation, cultural change, audit and assurance, financial services and the like (Please note the scope of FA1264 Technology and Transformation Alliance (2015/S 187-340119) may include an element of business consultancy). Lot 5 will be subdivided into the following sub-lots:

— Strategy Definition & Business Process Re-engineering.

— Business Transformation & Business Change.

— Project & Programme Management.

— Technical Advisory and Assurance.

— Strategy.

and applicants to Lot 5 will be assessed for qualification to Lot 5 as a single lot and also assessed on whether they also qualify to be entered onto any or all sub-lots based on their level of experience relevant to that sub-lot. An applicant may qualify to Lot 5 with a sufficient breadth of experience across the Lot, but may not have sufficient experience in any one area to qualify into any sub-lot. An applicant with sufficient experience to qualify within a sub-lot, will automatically quality into Lot 5 as a whole. In using the Register to procure services falling with a particular sub-lot or sub-lots, Thames Water may use for its initial selection of candidates to tender or negotiate either (1) those qualified onto the relevant sub-lot(s) or (2) those qualified onto Lot 5 as a whole.

Thames Water requires a minimum latest annual Professional Services-related financial turnover of:

— GBP 20 000 000 for qualification into Lots 1 and 2;

— GBP 2 000 000 for qualification into Lots 3 and 4;

— GBP 20 000 000 for qualification into Lot 5

In addition to the turnover criteria set out above, applicants will also be assessed on other criteria against their responses set out in the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ).

Successful applicants will become part of the Thames Water Professional Services Register. Being on this Register does not give the supplier any guarantee of work, but may enable the supplier to bid for framework agreements, and contracts for individual projects, to be set up through the Register from time to time. Framework agreements set up from this Register may be available for use by Thames Water's Alliances partners or others authorised by Thames Water.

The Register has no set expiry date.

To be considered for the first phase of awards from this Register, a PQQ to apply for acceptance on the Register (as referred to below) requires completion by 12:00 hrs, 14.12.2015.

First phase of Framework Agreement competition for Lots 1 — 4 under this Register will commence in January 2016.

These Framework Agreements will cover the remainder of AMP6 and will have the potential to extend the arrangements to the AMP7 and AMP8 periods respectively.

II.4)

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)

II.5)

Contracts covered by this qualification system are covered by the government procurement agreement (GPA)

Section III: Legal, economic, financial and technical information

III.1)

Conditions for participation

III.1.1)

Qualification for the system

Please refer to PQQ and additional information in Section VI.2 below.

Please refer to PQQ and additional information in Section VI.2 below.

III.1.2)

Reserved contracts

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

Section IV: Procedure

IV.1)

Award Criteria

IV.1.2)

An electronic auction will be used

Thames Water reserve the right to use an electronic auction.

IV.2)

Administrative information

IV.2.1)

Reference number attributed by the contracting entity

FA1300

IV.2.2)

Duration of the qualification system

IV.2.3)

Renewal of the qualification system

An annual call for expression of interest for this Register will be published in the Official Journal of The European Union. Applicants may apply to join the Register at any time.

Section VI: Complementary Information

VI.1)

One of more contracts covered by the qualification systems are related to a project and/or programme financed by community funds

VI.2)

Additional Information

Conditions to be fulfilled by economic operators in view of their qualification:

This Notice is a request for expressions of interest for places on the Register.

All suppliers who wish to respond to this OJEU notice must request a pre-qualification questionnaire (PQQ) by emailing procurement.support.centre@thameswater.co.uk providing the following details:

— Company Name.

— 2 x Contact Name.

— 2 x Contact Email.

— 2 x Contact Telephone.

Project being applied for (i.e. Register (FA1300) for Professional Services).

Thames Water's Procurement Support Centre will then send you an email (to the email address provided by you) setting out login details for Thames Water's eSourcing system (IASTA Smartsource).

To view the PQQ you will need to login to Thames Water's eSourcing system (IASTA Smartsource). Should you wish to compete for the first phase of framework agreements as referred to in section II.3 above, you must complete and submit a PQQ on Thames Water's eSourcing system by 12:00 hrs, 14.12.2015. Further instructions for applicants are set out within the PQQ.

Applicants will be assessed for a place on the Register based on their responses to the PQQ.

Failure of an applicant to provide the required information, make a satisfactory response to any question, or supply documentation referred to in its response to the PQQ or any clarification requested may render the applicant ineligible to join the Register and a failure to do so within the date and time stated in section II.3 above may render the applicant ineligible to be considered for the first phase of Framework Agreements.

TWUL reserves the right to require further information or clarification from an applicant before considering its response.

TWUL reserves the right to limit the number of parties that proceed in the competition for the first phase of Framework Agreements, or any other procurement process from the Register, by the application of objective rules and criteria.

Additional Information:

Applications are invited for one or more Lots. Thames Water may use the Register for framework agreements or contracts which combine services from different Lots, in which case those eligible to compete for the framework agreement or contract must have qualified in all relevant Lots; but in such circumstances if an applicant has qualified in a Lot which is to be combined with another Lot or Lots for which he has not expressed interest, Thames Water may ask (but is not obliged to do so) the applicant if he wishes to express interest in the Lots being combined for which he had not previously expressed an interest subject to the process outlined for Lot 5 at II.3.

Responses to this Notice will be evaluated. Successful applicants will be placed on the Register. When a competition for a particular framework agreement or contract from the Register is launched registered applicants may be taken through a further pre-qualification process to determine those to be invited to tender or negotiate.

Applicants should note that this qualification to the Register (and any further qualification from the Register as may be required for a framework agreement or contract) might require references to be provided and verified, attendances at meetings, talks and presentations at no cost to Thames Water Utilities Limited.

The successful contractor(s) will be required to actively participate in the achievement of social and/or environmental objectives. Accordingly contract performance conditions may relate in particular to social, environmental or other corporate social responsibility considerations. Further details of these conditions will be set out in the contract documents.

Any framework agreement or contract resulting from this Notice may be modified to include further similar requirements at any site under the management of Thames Water Utilities Limited or its associated companies (subsidiaries, sister, parent company) within the EU.

This Notice does not preclude Thames Water Utilities Limited or its associated companies (subsidiaries, sister, parent companies etc.) from issuing other contract notices for specific requirements from time to time, including procurements outside the Register for services falling within the scope of the Lots in this Register.

Unless specifically stated otherwise, Thames Water Utilities Limited shall not be responsible for any costs, charges or expenses incurred by applicants and does not accept liability for any costs, charges or expenses incurred by applicants, irrespective of the outcome of the competition, or if the competition is cancelled or postponed.

Thames Water Utilities Limited reserves the right to terminate any competition from this Register (or part of it), to change the basis of and the procedures for the bidding process at any time, or to procure the project or services by alternative means if it appears that the project or services can be more advantageously procured by those alternative means. The most economically advantageous or any tender will not automatically be accepted.

VI.3)

Procedures for appeal

VI.3.1)

Body responsible for appeal procedures

Body responsible for mediation procedures

VI.3.2)

Lodging of appeals

Precise information on deadline(s) for lodging appeals: Thames Water Utilities Limited will incorporate a standstill period at the point information on the award of the contract is communicated to tenderers. That notification will provide full information on the award decision. The standstill period, which will be for a minimum of 10 calendar days, provides time for unsuccessful tenderers to challenge the award decision before the contract is entered into.

The Utilities Contracts Regulations (SI 2006 No 6) provide for aggrieved parties who have been harmed or are at risk of harm by a breach of the rules to take action in the High Court (England, Wales and Northern Ireland).

VI.3.3)

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

VI.4)

Dispatch date of this Notice