Supply of Gas for the premises of the EPO Rijswijk

Nr. 2010/0490/Tgr

• 1. Awarding Authority:

  European Patent Organisation (EPO), through the European Patent Office: Headquarters, Erhardtstrasse 27, D-80469 Munich.

  The European Patent Organisation is an intergovernmental organisation set up pursuant to the European Patent Convention, which entered into force in 1977. It now has 37 member states (Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ellas, Estonia, Finland, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and United Kingdom). The executive body of the EPO is the European Patent Office, which is charged with the searching and examination of European patent applications and the granting of European patents. It employs approximately 6 700 staff at EPO headquarters in Munich, a branch at The Hague/Rijswijk (NL) and sub-offices in Berlin and Vienna. (The number of member states and staff members is subject to change.)

• 2. Award procedure:

  Geographically-limited open invitation to tender with pre-selection of bidders in a first phase, and award of contract in a second on the basis of price-only by means of an electronic auction procedure.

• 3. Description of the contract:

  • (a) Purpose of the contract:

    Supply of gas at the site of the European Patent Office, Branch at The Hague, Patentlaan 2, NL-2288 EE Rijswijk, the Netherlands.

    The forecast volume of gas required by the European Patent Office for the period specified is approximately 1,75 mln Nm³ per year.

  • (b) Division into lots:

    Not applicable

  • (c) Any deposits and guarantees required:

    None

  • (d) Main terms concerning payment:

    Payment shall be monthly in arrears.

  • (e) Qualifications required by law:

    The bidder shall adhere to the applicable regulations regarding the supply of gas as provided for in, amongst others, the Dutch Gas Act (‘Gaswet 2000’). In particular, the bidder shall be authorised by the relevant authority (‘Gas Transport Services’) to take over all the services for the transportation of the required gas through the national grid.

• 4. Place and period of performance:

  • (a) Place at which the contract is to be performed:

    European Patent Office, Patentlaan 2, 2288 EE Rijswijk (ZH), the Netherlands.

    The connection address and the EAN code are set out in the Procurement Documents.

  • (b) Duration of contract or time limit for delivery or completion of services/work:

    The gas shall be supplied from 01.01.2011, 06:00h until 01.01.2014, 06:00h.

• 5. Variants:

  Technical variants are not permitted.

• 6. Requests for the Procurement Documents and receipt of bids:

  • (a) Name and address of department from which the Procurement Documents and clarification of the Procurement Documents may be requested:

    European Patent Office

    Central Procurement The Hague (Log No 2010/0490/Tgr)

    Patentlaan 2,

    NL- 2288 EE Rijswijk, the Netherlands

    Postal address: P.O. Box 5818, NL-2280 HV Rijswijk, the Netherlands,

    Fax No. (+31) 70 340 3977

    e-mail dhtenderclarifications@epo.org

    Procurement Documents will be forwarded upon written or faxed request.

  • (b) Final date for receipt by the EPO of requests for the Procurement Documents:

    Tuesday 31 August 2010, 12.00 hrs (CET).

  • (c) Final date for receipt by the EPO of requests for clarification:

    Friday 10 September 2010, 12.00 hrs (CET).

    Questions must be submitted by letter or fax.

  • (d) Final date for receipt of bids/number of copies to be sent:

    Monday 27 September 2010, 12.00 hrs (CET).

    Two copies, in addition to the original bid to be marked as such.

  • (e) Address to which the requests for clarification and bids must be sent:

    See point 6(a).

  • (f) Language or languages in which requests for clarification and bids must be drawn up:

    English or, if the required document is not available in English, Dutch.

    The Procurement Documents will only be available in English.

• 7. Legal form of the grouping in the event of a joint bid:

  If several bidders submit a joint bid, one must be designated as prime contractor responsible for the performance of all obligations under the agreement.

• 8. Period during which the bidder is bound by his bid:

  For the initial bid (in the first phase) in response to invitation to tender letter (which shall not contain pricing information): from the final date for receipt of the request to participate in the tender procedure as indicated in point 6(a) until 28.02.2014.

  For the pricing bid in the second phase of the Tender Procedure: fifteen minutes from the date and time of the end of the electronic auction procedure.

• 9. Criteria for the award of contract:

  The contract shall be awarded to the short-listed bidder (selected to participate in the second phase of the Tender Procedure) whose bid is the cheapest one.

To qualify for the second phase, the bidder shall:

• comply with the provisions of the Procurement Documents;

• formally accept EPO requirements (limited to few articles) which shall prevail upon bidder's conditions;

• provide the EPO with proven minimum sales of at least 250 mln Nm³ in 2009.