Public procurement notice: Contract Notice
Published: 2019-12-09
Buyer: EirGrid plc
Country: IE
Contract type: Services
Procedure: Negotiated procedure
CPV classification: 72220000: Systems and technical consultancy services
Estimated value: 3500000 EUR
Submission deadline: 2020-01-09
Award criteria: The most economic tender

Technical requirements: Due to the requirements of I-SEM as well as existing service desk requirements, a market operations out of hours support desk is required. The out of hour’s service desk main function is to ensure the Limited Communication Failure (LCF) procedure is being followed. An LCF impacts participant’s (customers in the market) ability to submit offer data before gate closure.
EirGrid intends to establish a single supplier framework. The framework agreement period will be for an initial duration of three (3) years with the option to extend annually for up to an additional five (5) years, subject always to the satisfactory performance of the supplier.
EirGrid Group has implemented the Integrated Single Electricity Market (I-SEM) in October 2018, which is an all island wholesale electricity market. Due to the requirements of I-SEM as well as existing service desk requirements, a market operations out of hours support desk is required. The out of hour’s service desk main function is to ensure the Limited Communication Failure (LCF) procedure is being followed. An LCF impacts participant’s (customers in the market) ability to submit offer data before gate closure. Offer Data refers to Physical Notifications (PNs), Commercial Offer Data (COD) and/or Technical Offer Data (TOD) as appropriate. Participants can update their PNs, COD and TOD up to Gate Closure of the Imbalance Settlement Period. Gate closure is the time after which particular data transactions may no longer be submitted and accepted.
In instances where, 1 or more parties, experience an LCF which impacts the submission of Offer Data for the next scheduled gate closure, they must immediately notify the market operator via the designated communication channels. Upon receipt of an LCF notification the market operator will have a responsibility to assess the validity of the LCF notification and use reasonable efforts to submit Offer Data to the Balancing Market Interface before the next scheduled Gate Closure.
EirGrid intends to establish a single supplier framework. The framework agreement period will be for an initial duration of three (3) years with the option to extend annually for up to an additional five (5) years, subject always to the satisfactory performance of the supplier.
The initial contract period envisaged is 3 years with the possibility to extend annually up to a further 5 years, subject always to the satisfactory performance of the supplier.
The estimated spend of 3 500 000 EUR is taking into account the full duration of the contract including the possible extensions.
1) Interested parties must register their interest on the eTenders website (www.etenders.gov.ie) in order to be included on the mailing list for clarifications. All information relating to attachments, including clarifications and changes, will be published on the Irish Government Procurement Opportunities Portal (www.etenders.gov.ie) only. Registration is free of charge. The contracting authority will not accept responsibility for information relayed (or not relayed) via third parties;
3) The contracting authority will not be responsible for any costs, charges or expenses incurred by candidates or tenderers;
5) It will be a condition of award that candidates are tax compliant and are in a position to produce a valid tax clearance certificate or eTax Clearance from the revenue commissioners when requested;
6) If for any reason it is not possible to award the contract 1 or more of the tenderers invited following the conclusion of this competitive process, the contracting authority reserves the right to award the contract to the next ranked tenderer as appropriate;
7) At its absolute discretion, the contracting authority may elect to terminate this procurement process or any contract awarded;
8) Please note in relation to all documents, that where reference is made to a particular standard, make, source, process, trademark, type or patent, that this is not to be regarded as a de facto requirement. In all such cases it should be understood that such indications are to be treated strictly and solely for reference purposes only, to which the words ‘or equivalent’ will always be appended;
9) Without prejudice to the principle of equal treatment, the contracting authority is not obliged to engage in a clarification process in respect of questionnaires with missing or incomplete information. Therefore, candidates are advised to ensure that they return fully completed questionnaires in order to avoid the risk of elimination from the competition.
The contracting authority will not conclude this contract to which a standstill period applies in accordance with Council Directive 2014/25/EU, until after the expiry of the standstill period which commences on the day following the date of notification on concerned candidates and tenderers. The duration of the standstill period will be 14 calendar days where notifications are sent electronically or by fax and 16 calendar days where these are sent by any other means. The statutory instrument mentioned above provides that review procedures are available in the High Court to a person who has or has had an interest in obtaining the reviewable public contract and alleges that he or she has been harmed or is at risk of being harmed by an infringement of the law in relation in this contract.

Eligibility requirements: Please see information memorandum and pre-qualification questionnaire attached to this notice.

Award value: 3500000