Public procurement notice: Contract Notice
Published: 2020-11-13
Buyer: Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute AFBI
Country: UK
Contract type: Services
Procedure: Open procedure
CPV classification: 34500000 | 34510000 | 34512000 | 34513000 | 34513100
Estimated value: 1750000 GBP
Submission deadline: 2020-12-08
Award criteria: The most economic tender

Technical requirements: ID 3182015 AFBI — Supply of Naval Architecture for the Design and Construction of a Marine Research Vessel
AFBI wish to engage a suitable qualified and experienced naval architecture consultancy firm to provide design, procurement and project management support for the construction of a new Research Vessel. The current Research Vessel (RV) Corystes, owned and operated by AFBI, currently undertakes the at-sea scientific work programme to support the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) statutory and policy responsibilities in the marine fisheries and marine environmental areas. AFBI require a replacement for RV Corystes which has reached the end of its service life, and through a public procurement competition, wishes to engage naval architect services for the design and construction of a new Research Vessel which is specifically tailored to meet AFBI’s marine fisheries science requirements and be capable of technological update over a service life of 30 years minimum.
AFBI wish to engage a suitable qualified and experienced naval architecture consultancy firm to provide design, procurement and project management support for the construction of a new Research Vessel for AFBI. This support will be required to be provided in three phases. It is anticipated that AFBI will award a contract incorporating each phase sequentially, commencing with Phase 1 and with an option to proceed to Phase 2 and/or 3 on successful award of the build contract. There is no guarantee that AFBI will extend the contract for either phase 2 or 3.
The successful contractor’s performance on this contract will be managed as per the specification and regularly monitored (see Procurement Guidance Note 01/12 — Contract Management — Procedures and Principles). Contractors not delivering on contract requirements is a serious matter. It means the public purse is not getting what it is paying for. If a contractor fails to reach satisfactory levels of contract performance they will be given a specified time to improve. If, after the specified time, they still fail to reach satisfactory levels of contract performance, the matter will be escalated to senior management in CPD for further action. If this occurs and their performance still does not improve to satisfactory levels within the specified period, it may be regarded as an act of grave professional misconduct and they may be issued with A notice of unsatisfactory performance and this contract may be terminated. A central register of such notices for supplies and services contracts will be maintained and published on the CPD website. Any contractor in receipt of a notice of unsatisfactory performance will be required to declare this in future tender submissions for a period of 3 years from the date of issue of the notice. It may also result in the contractor being excluded from all procurement competitions being undertaken by Centres of Procurement Expertise on behalf of bodies covered by the Northern Ireland Procurement Policy. Insert appropriate reservations of rights and disclaimers of liability here consider — e.g. ‘The Authority expressly reserves the rights:
(i) not to award any contract as a result of the procurement process commenced by publication of this notice;
(ii) to make whatever changes it may see fit to the content and structure of the tendering competition;
(iii) to award (a) contract(s) in respect of any part(s) of the (services) covered by this notice; and
(iv) to award contract(s) in stages and in no circumstances will the authority be liable for any costs incurred by candidates.’
Also consider: this project will be used to progress the Government’s wider social, economic and environmental objectives.
CPD will comply with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 and, where appropriate, will incorporate a standstill period (i.e. a minimum of 10 calendar days) at the point information on the award of contract is communicated to tenderers. That notification will provide full information on the award decision. This provides time for the unsuccessful tenderers to challenge the award decision before the contract is entered into.


Award value: 1750000