Published notice: International open invitation to tender no. 2012/0063/Tp (NL - The Hague)

The purpose of the contract is the sale, installation and maintenance of Firewall equipment by the Contractor 

  1. Awarding Authority:

    The 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. At present it has 38 Member States (Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Serbia, 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 6700 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 indicated may change).

  2. Award procedure:

    International open invitation to tender with discretionary award of contract.

  3. Description of the contract:

    1. Purpose of the contract:

      The purpose of the contract is the sale, installation and maintenance of Firewall equipment by the Contractor.

    2. Division into lots:

      Not applicable.

    3. Any deposits and guarantees required:

      Not applicable.

    4. Main terms concerning payment:

      Purchase: at receipt of the invoice, in arrears within 30 days of acceptance of the delivered equipment.
      Maintenance: payments will be made yearly in advance.

    5. Qualifications required by law:

      Not applicable.

  4. Place and period of performance:

    1. Place at which the contract is to be performed:

      Hardware, software and maintenance services will be provided at EPO location in Rijswijk, The Netherlands. Installation services will be provided at EPO locations in Rijswijk, The Netherlands, in Munich, Germany and in Vienna, Austria.

    2. Duration of contract or time limit for delivery or completion of services/work:

      Duration of the contract is three years with two possible extensions of one year each, at the EPO's discretion. All hardware, software and installation services are to be delivered ready for operations by 30th June 2012.

  5. Variants:

    Proposals for variants, the effect of which would be to reduce significantly the rights and safeguards of the EPO, are not allowed.

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

    1. Name and address of department from which the Procurement Documents and clarification of the Procurement Documents may be requested:

      European Patent Office
      Central Procurement 4.8 (2012/0063/Tp),
      Patentlaan 2,
      2288 EE Rijswijk,
      The Netherlands

      E-Mail: dhtenderclarifications@epo.org

      Procurement Documents will be forwarded upon written or E-Mail request.

    2. Final date for receipt by the EPO of requests for the Procurement Documents:

      13 March 2012, 12.00 hrs (CET)

    3. Final date for receipt by the EPO of requests for clarification:

      20 March 2012, 12.00 hrs (CET)
      Questions must be submitted by letter or E-Mail.

    4. Final date for receipt of bids/number of copies to be sent:

      3 April 2012, 12.00 hrs (CET)
      Bids must be submitted in original.

    5. Address to which the requests for clarification and bids must be sent:

      As in point 6(a).
      Please submit bids by post only and not by fax or E-Mail. Bids submitted by fax or E-Mail will be excluded.

    6. Language or languages in which requests for clarification and bids must be drawn up:

      English.
      The Procurement Documents will be available in English only.

  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 performance of all the obligations under the contract.

  8. Information and evidence concerning the bidder's financial and economic standing and technical and professional competence:

    Customer and bank references.

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

    Six months following the final date for receipt of bids indicated in point 6(d).

  10. Criteria for the award of contract:

    The EPO is free to choose the bid it considers the most advantageous, by taking in account:

    • in first instance, the technical quality of the support and of the maintenance, and the delivery time (70%);
    • the price (30%);

  11. Other information:

    Contract award is expected to take place in the 2nd quarter of 2012.
    Following a thorough investigation on the EPO's firewall environment it has been decided to only consider Contractors supplying equipment and services from Checkpoint Software Technologies or Palo Alto Networks and holding either a Gold or Platinum partnership status with one of these manufacturers for this Contract.

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