Call for Tender - AAC Secretariat Services

Call for Tender - AAC Secretariat Services

AAC - Aquaculture Advisory Council

Europe

PROCEDURE FOR THE SELECTION OF THE AAC SECRETARIAT

1. Introduction

The Aquaculture Advisory Council (AAC) was established in 2016 with the core objective to contribute to the development and promotion of the EU aquaculture sector. This objective will be achieved by preparing and providing recommendations on subjects and issues related to the above-mentioned topic on behalf of the aquaculture sector organisations (primary producers, veterinarians, traders, exporters, importers to/from third countries, processors, feed producers, employees, wholesalers, distributors, retailers, etc.), and consumers as well as other interest groups affected by the EU policies concerning aquaculture (environmental, consumers, animal welfare organisations, etc.) to the European Commission and the EU Member States.

The AAC prepares its recommendations through a series of consultative groups: the General Assembly, an Executive Committee, 3 Working Groups and a varying number of temporary issues-based Focus Groups. The General Assembly appoints the Executive Committee, which can have up to 20 members. The Executive Committee manages the activities and the recommendations provided by the AAC.

In the Executive Committee 60% of the seats are allocated to the sector organisations and 40% to the other interest groups. The Working Groups allow a wider participation of members, including any sort of experts relevant to the topic in discussion. 

The AAC is funded through its membership, a contribution from the European Commission and voluntary financial contributions from EU Member States’ administrations.

Further information regarding the AAC and its activities can be found here.

The AAC must sign a new contract for its secretariat services for a period of 3 years as of 1 November 2023. Applications from organisations based in all member states are welcome but a Brussels based secretariat would be an advantage.

The European Commission’s Financial Regulations require that any contracts in excess of €15 001 EUR must comply with public procurement rules. As such, a tendering process has been initiated. The role of the secretariat is set out in the AAC Rules of Procedure in article 15. The tasks to be fulfilled by the secretariat are detailed in annex A of this document.

The working languages of the AAC are English, French, Spanish and Italian.

2. Procedure

1. An invitation to tender will be published online. A document called ‘Tender Specifications for the Selection of a secretariat of the AAC (see Annex A)’ will be made available to all interested parties, as well as an explanatory note describing the background and the procedure. Interested parties will be expected to respond to the AAC Chair by the scheduled deadline;
2. In order to tender for this position, interested parties MUST fill out the template Application form (Annex B 1) and the other forms as provided under Annex B. The form with regard to the selection criteria Annex B.2 seeks relevant information from the organisation on what experience they have gained in similar roles. Only applicants who fulfil the selection criterion will be considered for further evaluation.
   Candidates must also fill the financial offer in Annex B.3;
3. The AAC Executive Committee will assess the applications at its meeting on 4 July 2023;
4. The organisation which scores the highest points after this assessment shall be put forward as secretariat of the AAC and shall be ratified by consensus by the Executive Committee;
5. If the Executive Committee cannot ratify a decision by consensus, a vote will be taking place as stipulated in the statutes of the AAC;
6. The Executive Committee’s recommendation will have to be approved by the General Assembly at its meeting on 26 September.

Annex A
Tender Specifications for the award of the contract for a secretariat of the AAC

A1. Object and submission

This is an open procedure for the selection of secretariat of the AAC.

Tenders must be submitted by e-mail no later than Friday 9 June 2023, 12.00 noon CET to brian@danskakvakultur.dk the tender must be titled: “AAC Tender - Confidential for the Attention of Mr Brian Thomsen, AAC Chair”.

Tenders must be submitted in English and in Word format.

A2. Task description

The tenderer should present a team, which shall include at least an Executive Secretary and a Financial Officer.

The AAC secretariat is tasked with the day-to-day running of the AAC. It is not responsible for policy decision-making, which is the preserve of the AAC's decision-making bodies.

More specifically:

18. The secretariat shall be appointed for an agreed term, in the first instance for three years, by the Executive Committee and shall act impartially and without bias in furthering the objectives of the AAC;
19. The secretariat shall be responsible for and lead the daily work of the AAC;
20. The secretariat, guided by the Chairperson of the AAC, receives nominations for new members of the General Assembly. The Executive Committee shall endorse any such nominations and present them to the General Assembly;
21. The secretariat shall keep the accounts of the AAC and prepare the accounts for the Annual General Assembly in conformity with the Belgian law. The secretariat shall also arrange for certified auditing of the accounts and for satisfying any reporting conditions laid down by providers of funds, in particular the European Commission;
22. The secretariat shall manage the annual membership fees renewal for its members;
23. The secretariat shall liaise with potential and factual funding sources, including the Member States’ administrations, to achieve funding of the AAC;
24. The secretariat shall arrange meetings of, every year:
    • 1 General Assembly;
    • 4 Executive Committee;
    • 3 AAC Working Group sessions;
    • 2 half-day thematic seminars.

For these meetings, the secretariat shall produce and notify the members about the agenda and working documents in due time. The secretariat will also prepare minutes in a timely manner.

Additional AAC meetings of a length of 1-2 hours to be organised by the secretariat, including online Focus Group meetings, ExCom WGs and meetings between DG MARE and the AAC Management Team, will be informal and shall be limited to a number of 35 per year.

25. The secretariat is responsible for following up on the decisions taken during the AAC meetings, in cooperation with the Working Group and AAC Chairs and Vice-Chairs;
26. The secretariat shall liaise with the Chairperson of the AAC and the Chairpersons of Working Groups to produce timely and accurate reports on the AAC’s activities;
27. To further the objectives of the AAC the secretariat shall maintain a register of members;
29. The secretariat shall comply with all Commission's financial and administrative rules and guidelines, including the preparation of annual reports, prepare the application form for the renewal of DG MARE’s Annual Grant and submit them to the Commission under the contractual delays;
30. The secretariat shall prepare draft work programmes to be approved by the members;
31. The secretariat drafts letters, compiles members’ contributions and prepares short reports;
32. The secretariat shall relay any information received from the Commission and other players to the AC members in a timely manner;
33. The secretariat shall prepare a weekly monitoring sent to all AAC members including the EU institutions’ activities related to EU aquaculture policy and 2 other monitoring topics, to be identified at a later stage on the basis of the Work Programme. This monitoring will allow the secretariat to identify areas of potential focus for the AAC’s work;
34. The secretariat shall reply to requests received from the Commission and the Member states - after consultation with the AC members;
35. The secretariat works in liaison with representatives of other organisations, Member States, the European Commission, the European Parliament, other statutory authorities and relevant experts;
36. The secretariat manages applications for membership and takes appropriate measures to promote applications from underrepresented members;
37. The secretariat shall manage and update regularly the AAC website, Linked In account and Twitter to secure a strong AAC presence on social media;
38. The secretariat organises activities and produce materials for the promotion and dissemination of the AAC activities and recommendations;
39. The secretariat shall attend relevant national and international fora to contribute to the dissemination of the AAC recommendations, upon request of the AAC Chair and approval of the ExCom;
40. The secretariat may, with the approval of the Executive Committee, engage and pay fees to professional and technical advisors or consultants to assist in the work of the AAC;
41. The secretariat will organise and facilitate the review of the AAC performance by an external consultant every 5 years.

The work of the secretariat will be evaluated periodically by the AAC members. It is expected that the secretariat seeks to adapt its work accordingly.

A3. Selection Criteria (see templates provided under Annex B.1 and B.2)

In order to tender for this position, interested parties must fill out the Application form in Annex B.1. Furthermore, the candidates must fill out the template as provided under B.2. This application form seeks relevant information from the candidates on what experience they have in similar roles.

Organisations must be legal entities with experience in management of tasks required. Only applicants who fulfil the selection criteria will be considered for further evaluation.

A4. Award Criteria (see templates to be provided Annex B.3. and B.4)

The contract will be awarded to the tenderer offering the best value for money having regard to quality and price, based on the following award criteria.

A.4.1. Quality of the tender

A maximum of 100 points will be awarded for the quality of the tender. The criteria for the assessment of the quality are:

Only the tenders having reached a minimum number of points required for each of the criteria for the assessment of the quality will be considered for the financial evaluation.

A.4.2. Financial evaluation

The financial value of the tenders that passed the quality examination will be determined by calculation of the price index as follows: (lowest price tender/price of the tender in question) x 100.

A.4.3. Overall Evaluation of Tenders

The calculation to assess the candidate offering the best quality/price ratio, with a weighting between technical capacity and financial value will be achieved by multiplying:

• the result of the technical evaluation (number of points) by 0.7;
• the result of the financial evaluation (price index) by 0.3.

The two results will be added together and the candidate with the highest score at the end of the process will be put forward to the Executive Committee for approval.

To find Annex B Tender Application Form and Tender Templates please click on the apply button.

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