United Kingdom-Nottingham: Network equipment

Type of document: Invitation to tender
Country: United Kingdom
OJEU Ref: (15/S 231-419342/EN)
Nature of contract: Supply contract
Procedure: Open procedure
Regulation of procurement: EU – with participation by GPA countries
Award criteria: Most economic bid
Type of bid required: Global bid

Contract notice
Supplies
Directive 2004/18/EC
Section I: Contracting authority
I.1) Name addresses and contact point(s):
The University of Nottingham
King’s Meadow Campus, Lenton Lane
Nottingham
Postal code: NG7 2NR
United Kingdom
Contact points(s): Procurement Department
For the attention of: Jayson Tarr
Phone: +44 1158232230
Email: jayson.tarr@nottingham.ac.uk
Internet Address(es):
General address of the contracting authority:
Address of the buyer profile:
Further information can be obtained from: The above mentioned contact point(s)
Specifications and additional documents (including documents for competitive dialogue and a dynamic purchasing system) can be obtained from: The above mentioned contact point(s)
Tenders or requests to participate must be sent to: The above mentioned contact point(s)
I.2) Type of the contracting authority:
Body governed by public law
I.3) Main activity: Education
I.4) Contract award on behalf of other contracting authorities/entities:
The contracting authority is purchasing on behalf of other contracting authorities: No
Section II: Object of the contract:
II.1) Description:
II.1.1) Title attributed to the contract by the contracting authority/entity:
Firewall Infrastructure and Related Hardware and Services.
II.1.2) Type of contract and location of works, place of delivery or of performance:
Supplies
Type of supplies contract: Purchase
Main site or location of works, place of delivery or of performance: Nottingham and East Midlands.
Nuts code: UKF
II.1.3) Information about a public contract, a framework agreement or a dynamic purchasing system (DPS):
The notice involves the establishment of a framework agreement:
II.1.4) Information on framework agreement:
Framework agreement with a single operator
Duration of the framework agreement in years: 4
II.1.5) Short description of the specific contract:
The University of Nottingham wishes to replace its existing primary firewall infrastructure platform (UK) to meet the growing needs of the University’s core business functions for the next 3 years. The University is also looking to create a strategic relationship with the successful tenderer for the initial replacement but also through the formation of a framework agreement for ongoing requirements UK and International) for a period up-to 4 years.
For the procurement to be considered successful it must:
— Significantly improve the performance and resilience of our firewall infrastructure;
— Provide a range of threat protection capabilities to protect our security / risk position;
— Provide the ability to process traffic to the full potential of our network links without degrading performance or compromising the users experience;
— Provide capacity to handle exceptions such as external attacks;
— Migrate seamlessly from the current firewalls to the new infrastructure;
— Provide scalability in terms of additional capacity / performance;
— Minimise the environmental impact of the new installation;
— Provide alerting, reporting, capacity and performance management through existing Solarwinds functionality and / or new management interfaces;
— Successfully demonstrate adherence to our requirements through a rigorous demonstration / testing process;
— Provide a 3-year warranty on all provided hardware in the solution;
— Maintain a 4-year service agreement to provide future firewall infrastructure.
It is proposed that this Framework Agreement will operate initially for two years effective from 20.2.2016; however, the framework may be extended on an annual basis dependent upon performance up to a maximum of 4 years.
II.1.6) Common procurement vocabulary (CPV): 32420000
II.1.7) Information about Government Procurement Agreement (GPA):
The contract is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA): YES
II.1.8) Lots:
The contract is divided into lots: No
II.1.9) Information about variants:
Variants will be accepted: NO
II.2) Quantity or scope of the contract:
II.2.1) Total quantity or scope:
No business whatsoever is guaranteed under any resulting framework agreement or contract indeed there is no guarantee that any framework agreement or contract will be put in place in relation to this notice. No compensation etc. will be paid if a tender or resulting framework agreement is withdrawn for any reason. Bidders should take part in this process only on the basis that they fully understand and accept this position.
II.2.2) Information about options:
II.2.3) Information about renewals:
II.3) Duration of the contract or time limit for completion:
Starting 20.2.2016Completion 19.2.2018
Section III: Legal, economic, financial and technical information
III.1) Conditions relating to the contract:
III.1.1) Deposits and guarantees required:
Participants will be advised within the procurement documents if this is necessary. Parent company and/or other guarantees of performance and financial liability may be required by the Contracting Authority or proposed by participants if considered appropriate.
III.1.2) Main financing conditions and payment arrangements and/or reference to the relevant provisions governing them:
Please see published procurement documents.
III.1.3) Legal form to be taken by the group of economic operators to whom the contract is to be awarded:
No special legal form is required but if a contract is awarded to a consortium, the Contracting Authority may require the consortium to form a legal entity before entering into the contract. Any consortium to have a designated lead organisation, all members will have joint and several liability in respect of the obligations and liabilities to the contract.
III.1.4) Other particular conditions:
III.2) Conditions for participation:
III.2.1) Personal situation of economic operators, including requirements relating to enrolment on professional or trade registers:
Information and formalities necessary for evaluating if the requirements are met: Candidates will be assessed in accordance with Section 5 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (as amended), on the basis of information provided in response to the procurement documents.
III.2.2) Economic and financial ability:
Information and formalities necessary for evaluating if the requirements are met: Candidates will be assessed in accordance with Section 5 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (as amended), on the basis of information provided in response to the procurement documents. The procurement documents can be accessed at: using the instructions detailed in III.2.1). The Contracting Authority may take into account any of the following information:
(a) A copy of the audited accounts for the most recent 2 years;
(b) A statement of the turnover, profit and loss account, current liabilities and assets, and cash flow for the most recent year of trading for this organisation;
(c) A statement of the cash flow forecast for the current year and a bank letter outlining the current cash and credit position;
(d) Alternative means of demonstrating financial status if any of the above are not available (e.g. Forecast of turnover for the current year and a statement of funding provided by the owners and/or the bank, charity accruals accounts or an alternative means of demonstrating financial status);
(e) Where the Contracting Authority has specified a minimum level of economic and financial standing and/or a minimum financial threshold within the evaluation criteria of the procurement documents for this procurement.
III.2.3) Technical capacity
Information and formalities necessary for evaluating if the requirements are met: Candidates will be assessed in accordance with Section 5 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (as amended), on the basis of information provided in response to the procurement documents.
III.2.4) Information about reserved contracts:
III.3) Conditions specific to services contracts:
III.3.1) Information about a particular profession:
III.3.2) Staff responsible for the execution of the service:
Section IV: Procedure
IV.1) Type of procedure:
IV.1.1) Type of procedure:
Open
IV.1.2) Limitations on the number of operators who will be invited to tender or to participate:
IV.1.3) Reduction of the number of operators during the negotiation or dialogue:
IV.2) Award criteria:
IV.2.1) Award criteria:
The most economically advantageous tender in terms of the criteria stated below:
1. Service and support. Weighting 30
2. Functionality and features. Weighting 30
3. Value for money and commercial. Weighting 30
4. Sustainability. Weighting 10
IV.2.2) Information about electronic auction:
An electronic auction will be used: no
IV.3) Administrative information:
IV.3.1) File reference number attributed by the contracting authority/entity:
PROC JT ITT/719
IV.3.2) Previous publication(s) concerning the same contract:
No
IV.3.3) Conditions for obtaining specifications and additional documents or descriptive document:
Time limit for receipt of requests for documents or for accessing documents:06.01.2016 – 14:00
Payable documents: No
IV.3.4) Time limit for receipt of tenders or requests to participate:
13.01.2016 – 12:00
IV.3.5) Date of dispatch of invitations to tender or to participate to selected candidates:
IV.3.6) Language(s) in which tenders or requests to participate may be drawn up:
EN
IV.3.7) Minimum time frame during which the tenderer must maintain the tender:
In days: 60 (from the date stated for receipt of tender)
IV.3.8) Conditions for opening of tenders:
13.1.2016 – 13:00
Place:Nottingham.
Persons authorised to be present at the opening of tenders: no.

Section VI: Complementary information
VI.2) Information about European Union funds:
The contract is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds: No
VI.3) Additional information
The duration specified in section II.1.4) is made up of an Initial Framework Period of 2 years with the contracting authority reserving the right to extend for any period or periods up to a maximum of 24 months in total from the expiry of the Initial Framework Period (the Extension Framework Period).
This procurement has not been subdivided due to the requirement of interoperability between the solution and requirement for firewalls to be compatible.
This procurement will be managed electronically via the Contracting Authority’s e-Tendering Site. To participate in this procurement, participants must first be registered on the e-Tendering Site. If you have not yet registered on the e-Tendering Site, this can be done online at by following the link ‘Register’. Full instructions for registration and use of the system can be found at
Once you have registered on the e-Tendering Site, a registered user can Express Interest for a specific procurement. This is done by login into the e-Tendering Site, selecting Tenders > Current from the top navigation bar, locating the specific procurement you wish to Express Interest in, select View Details and then scroll down to the bottom of the page and click Express Interest on the right hand side. As a user of the e-Tendering Site you will have access to In-Tend email messaging service which facilitates all correspondents sent to you and from you in relation to any specific procurement event. To make sure you receive our email notifications and to ensure our emails reach your inbox please add our e-Tendering Site host email domain @in-tend.co.uk to your safe senders list and check your spam filter settings. Please note it is your responsibility to access these emails on a regular basis throughout the procurement to ensure you have sight of all relevant information. For technical assistance (only) on e-Tendering Site please contact In-Tend Support Desk email: support@in-tend.co.uk or via Telephone +44 1144070065. Responses must be published by the date in IV.3.4).
All correspondence and expressions of interest relating to this procurement must be made through the contracting authority’s e-Tendering Site: Non-compliant expressions of interest will not be considered or acknowledged.
The contracting authority expressly reserves the right:
(i) not to award any contract as a result of the procurement process related to the publication of this notice; and
(ii) to make whatever changes it may see fit to the content and structure of the procurement (limited to the extent permitted under the Public Contracts Regulation 2015); and in no circumstances will the contracting authority be liable for any costs incurred by the candidates. Any expenditure, work or effort undertaken prior to contract award is accordingly a matter solely for the commercial judgement of the candidate. Electronic ordering, invoicing and payment may be used by the contracting authority under this contract.
In the event that this notice relates to the formation of a framework agreement, the value entered in Section II.1.4) this is only an estimate, we cannot guarantee to candidates any business through the resulting agreement. If the contracting authority decides to enter into a framework agreement with the successful supplier, this does not mean that there is any guarantee of subsequent contracts being awarded. Any orders placed under this framework agreement will form a separate contract under the scope of this framework agreement between the supplier(s) and the contracting authority. The contracting authority utilising the framework reserve the right to use any electronic portal during the life of the agreement. The contracting authority reserves the right to procure some of their needs covered by this notice outside of this procurement exercise.
VI.4) Procedures for appeal:
VI.4.2) Lodging of appeals:
Precise information on deadline(s) for lodging appeals:Precise information on deadline(s) for lodging appeals: in accordance with Regulation 86 and 87 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, the contracting authority will incorporate a minimum 10 calendar day standstill period starting from the day when contract award was notified to the bidders. Unsuccessful bidders will be provided with a de-brief in the award decision at the start of the standstill period including details of their bid in relation to the winning bid comprising the reasons for the decision, the characteristics and relative advantages of the successful tender, the score of the economic operator and the name of the economic operator to be awarded the contract. Tenderers have a right to appeal provided for within the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. Any such proceedings must be brought in the High Court of England and Wales.
VI.5) Date of dispatch of this notice:
26.11.2015