Systematic literature review on interventions for communicable diseases prevention and control in prisons and other custodial settings
Contract Notice
Contract Award Notice
Invitation to Tender
Tender Specifications
Annex I - Draft Contract
Annex II - Exclusion criteria and non–conflict of interest declaration
Annex III - Legal entity form
Annex IV - Financial identification form
Annex V - Authorised signatory form
Annex VI - Curriculum Vitae template
Annex VII - Financial Proposal
Annex VIII - Confirmation of offer submission
Annex IX - Tender submission checklist
Annex X - ECDC Systematic review report template
Annex XI - ECDC Public health guidance template
Question 1
In the tender specifications under 1.12 it is indicated that ECDC wishes to conclude a framework contract. In addition specific contracts will be concluded.Does the framework contract cover all tasks of work packages 1, 2, 3 and 4 for all nine macro-areas Are the specific contracts concluded for every macro-area or for every work package
Answer
Yes, the framework contract is meant to cover all tasks for all work-packages and all macro-areas. As stated in the call “Signature of the framework contract imposes no obligation on the Centre to order services”: it means that not necessarily all work-packages and all macro areas will be included in specific contracts. Only specific contracts are binding to the Centre. The tenderer, however, must demonstrate the potential capacity to fulfil all work-packages and to deal with all macro-areas.
Question 2
Should the submitted proposal be provided for the framework contract and include all nine macro-areas and all work packages Or should the submitted proposal be provided for the specific contracts including only a selection of macro-areas
Answer
Yes, the submitted proposal should include all macro-areas nad all work packages. This process is described in paragraph 2.2.2.3: “The contractor should use a modular approach and address each macro-area listed under section 2.2.1 of Chapter 2 separately […]”
Question 3
Will ECDC assign the contractor for addressing all nine macro-areas or only for a selection of macro-areas
Answer
Yes, only one tenderer will be awarded the framework contract and will be responsible for all macro-areas
Question 4
If ECDC assigns the contractor with all nine macro-areas, should the editing of the macro-areas be concurrently or successively
Answer
As stated in paragraph 2.2.2.3 “ECDC may decide whether to request the contractor to perform the tasks listed under work package 3: evidence synthesis for one or more macro-area/s at a time (parallel or stepwise approach).” This decision will be taken together with the scientific panel, but it is very likely that more than one macro-area will be addressed at one time.
Question 5
Under 2.2.3, DL3.2 it is stated that the interim report is due approximately 7 months after the kick-off meeting and the final report 9 months after the kick-off meeting. Do all macro-areas have to be included in the interim report 7 months, respectively in the final report 9 months after the kick-off meeting or will the timelines be adapted, depending on the concurrently or successively editing of the macro-areas
Answer
No, this timeframe is indicative for the first block of activities that will be decided during the first kick-off meeting. The number of macro-areas covered by the first block of activities will be decided on a feasibility ground and according to budget availability.
Question 6
How often does the kick-off meeting take place At the beginning of the whole project for clarification of all nine macro-areas or successively per every single macro-area or for every specific contract
Answer
The kick-off meeting represents the start of each specific contract. It is not necessarily related to specific macro-areas.
Question 7
It is stated that the framework contract will be applicable for a period of up to twenty-four months, with possible renewals up to two times 12-month. What are the requirements and conditions for setting the period of up to twenty-four months and for the possible renewals up to two times 12-month
Answer
The initial duration of 24 months and the two subsequent renewals of 12 months each, correspond to expected future needs of ECDC for the services listed in the tender for a period of maximum 48 months. The renewals will be proposed depending on ECDC’s specific needs for ordering the services at the time of the requests for renewal.
Question 8
In the tender specifications it is indicated that the contractor should use a modular approach and address each macro-area separately (2.2.2.3) but also that macro-areas should be grouped on the bases of priority (2.2.1). Can the macro-areas be grouped (where reasonable) or should they be addressed separately
Answer
The contractor should use a modular approach addressing separately each macro-area when presenting the offer. Such macro-areas can be subsequently grouped to be object of a single specific contract once the ECDC, supported by the scientific panel, will define the priorities.
Question 9
In the tender specifications, it is indicated that the systematic review should build on the methodology used by ECDC during the scoping phase of the project “Guidance on prevention of infectious diseases in penal institutions” (chapter 2.2.2.3). Would it be possible to receive detailed information about the scoping phase of that project from ECDC (e.g. search strategy, search terms, applied databases, geographical considerations, time line of search, etc.) for the calculation of the systematic literature review for the submitted proposal
Answer
Pubmed and Embase have been searched during the scoping phase. Some details on the search strategy are available in this document: Question - Search strategy details
Question 10
It is indicated that the systematic review should not have any language or geographical restriction (chapter 2.2.2.3). Should the literature search be performed in all EU Member States languages or is it adequate to perform the search in a selection of the most common languages (e.g. English, French, German) Or should the search be performed in English and the selection of full texts should be done regardless of the language of it
Answer
The search should be performed with no language restriction, meaning that the selection of full texts should be done regardless of the language of the article.
Question 11
Concerning the expert panel, the contractor should support ECDC in different matters (e.g. taking minutes, presenting findings of the systematic review; chapter 2.2.2.2). Would the search for relevant experts and formation of the expert panel also be part of the support or will these tasks executed exclusively by ECDC
Answer
No, the ECDC will take care of selecting the experts to serve on the panel according to the ECDC procedure on expert panels (application to the expert database, evaluation of expertise, absence of conflict of interest, etc.)
Question 12
Why is the financial proposal form divided into 1. UNIT COSTS and 2. IMPLEMENTATION SCENARIO and what is the difference between these two sections
Answer
In Section 1 “Unit Costs” the unit prices quoted by the tenderer will be used by ECDC to order the services during the actual implementation of the Framework Contract. Section 2 “Implementation Scenario” is an estimate that will be used by ECDC only for evaluation purposes to compare the received tenders (the same unit prices need to be quoted by the tenderer in this section as in section 1). The actual ordering of the services in the framework contract may differ from the implementation scenario.
Question 13
Should the costs for one macro-area be specified under section 1. UNIT COSTS
Answer
Yes, the price proposed for each deliverable under Workpackages 3 and 4 (tables 3 and 4 of Section 1. Unit Costs) should be calculated for one macro-area.
Question 14
Should the costs for the whole framework contract be specified under section 2. IMPLEMENTATION SCENARIO
Answer
No, only the unit prices for each deliverable listed under Section 2. Implementation Scenario need to be quoted by the tenderer. The total price of the tender for the scenario will be calculated automatically by the formulas in the table.
Question 15
In Table 7 and Table 8, Scenario description it says: “It is foreseen that at least eight macro-areas (as described in the tender specification Ch 2.2.1) will be covered by the contract”. In the tender specifications under 2.2.1, nine macro-areas are listed. Does that mean, that only eight macro-areas has to be covered in the submitted proposal and in the report
Answer
No, the submitted proposal should cover all the indicated macro-areas of relevance listed in Ch.2.2.1; moreover, the list of macro-areas described is not exclusive, since the ECDC could request during the implementation of the project to cover additional macro areas eventually indicated by the panel of experts. The awarded tenderer may be asked by ECDC during the implementation of the Framework Contract to provide deliverables for additional macro-areas. In the Implementation Scenario only eight macro-areas will be used for evaluation purposes to calculate the indicative total price of the tender.
Question 16How does ECDC deal with a consortium, where the lead consortium member fully qualifies for the financial and economic capacity requirements, yet the intended consortium partner is a relatively new organisation and therefore cannot provide balance sheets for at least two years for which accounts have been closed and cannot supply a statement of turnover concerning the last three years nor a minimal annual turnover of at least 100 000 euro Is there alternative documentation the consortium partner can provide to satisfy requirements Is qualification by the lead consortium partner sufficient in this case
Answer
Yes, the financial capacity of the consortium as a whole, rather than individually for each consortium member will be assessed to meet the tender requirements for minimum annual turnover. Thus if the consortium leader meets the requirements for financial capacity set in the tender specifications that will be considered as sufficient for the consortium. The consortium member, on its turn, may submit the financial statements available to the entity at the time of submission and state in the offer the reasons for not being able to comply fully with the tender requirements set in section 3.2.2 “Economic and financial capacity”.
Question 17
One of the deliverables of the project is the draft of a scientific manuscript: “DL 3.4 Draft manuscript for scientific paper; The contractor has provided ECDC with a draft manuscript of the systematic literature review covering one or more macro-area, as decided by ECDC and the contractor. To be delivered at the end of the specific contract period. In the tender specifications this is further described: “In addition to the final reports, a draft for one or more manuscripts to be published in a peer-reviewed journal should be prepared, with shared authorship between ECDC co-authors and the contractor taking into account the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals. The contractor is responsible for submission of the manuscript/s to an agreed journal and for the open access publication fee.” A draft manuscript and a manuscript ready for submission are not quite the same thing, e.g. authors’ comments need to be processed and integrated. Does ECDC intend this deliverable to be a draft manuscript or a final version manuscript including authors’ & reviewers’ comments
Answer
The contractor will be responsible for drafting a clean version of a manuscript to be suitable for submission; since the paper will be most probably co-authored with ECDC experts and other potential co-authors (coming eventually from the expert panel), elaboration of the final draft to be submitted to the journal will be done in a collaborative way sharing the burden among all co-authors. Potential comments coming during the reviewing process will be also shared among all co-authors in a collaborative way. Moreover the contractor will be responsible for paying the open access publication fee.”
Question 18
In the Tender Specifications, Chapter 3.2.2 Economic and financial capacity it is indicated, that a statement of overall turnover and turnover concerning services/supplies covered by the contract during the last three financial years is required. For which contract is a statement required Should any projects (e.g. EU-projects) with a minimum annual turnover of at least 100 000 € be indicated Which information is required in detail, only the overall turnover/turnover concerning services and supplies or also content-related descriptions of the projects
Answer
The contract referred to in section 3.2.2 Economic and financial capacity is the framework service contract subject to the present tender specifications.
The financial capacity of the organization as a whole will be assessed. Thus the candidate may give details of its overall turnover and also list the total turnover received from projects of any value related to the services subject of the tender (no minimum threshold applies to the value of a project). The content-related descriptions of the projects are not required.
Question 19
Would you wish to include ex-offenders in the systematic literature reviews, or just include populations currently detained in prisons and other custodial settings
Answer
The main scope of the project is to better understand infectious disease circulation patterns within penal institutions in order to better plan prevention and control measure. Ex-offenders are not primary target of the research as a separate population. As an example, risk of infectious disease or impact of infectious diseases in a population of ex-offenders is not in the scope of the research. On the contrary, if a paper analyses a population of ex-offenders in order to investigate if they contracted infectious diseases in prison (i.e chronic diseases like TB or HIV), that may be a paper of interest of our search.
Question 20
We noted that the tender mentions two kick-off meetings - one at the beginning of the project and one at the beginning of renewal. Please would you let us know if the kick-off meeting at time of renewal will be a teleconference, or would we need to include costs for travel to Stockholm, as with the kick-off meeting at the beginning of the project
Answer
Cost for face-to-face kick off meeting shall be provided as per unit cost. In the implementation scenario it is suggested that two kick off meetings are probably needed, but the tenderer may propose that the second kick off meeting will be replaced by a teleconference and justify this option on a technical basis (i.e. most of the main issues have been already discussed and solved during the first kick-off meeting; less complex discussion is foreseen during the second kick-off meeting; etc.). In any case a meeting report shall be provided for the second kick-off meeting as well and should be considered in the cost calculation.