Invitation to Tender for Satellite Laser Ranging Telescope System

Dnro:42/H29/2013
Invitation to Tender for Satellite Laser Ranging
Telescope System

Table of Contents
1. Introduction ........................................................................................................ 3
2. Contracting Authority ......................................................................................... 3
2.1. Contracting Authority’s contact person ....................................................... 3
3. General Information on the tender procedure .................................................... 3
3.1. Background of the tender ........................................................................... 3
3.1.1. Metsähovi research station .................................................................... 4
3.1.2. Existing instrumentation and software at FGI including requirements they
set for the new telescope system .......................................................................... 6
3.1.3. Possible approaches for this Invitation to Tender ................................... 7
Monostatic system ................................................................................................. 7
Bistatic system ...................................................................................................... 8
3.2. Purpose of the tender procedure.............................................................. 10
3.3. Time of delivery ....................................................................................... 10
3.4. Warranty .................................................................................................. 10
3.5. Compliance with EU procurement rules ................................................... 10
4. General requirements as to form and procedure.............................................. 11
4.1. Tenderer’s contact person ....................................................................... 11
4.2. Deadline for submission ........................................................................... 11
4.3. Address for submission ............................................................................ 11
4.4. Language ................................................................................................. 11
4.5. Fees ........................................................................................................ 11
4.6. Ownership of tenders received ................................................................ 12
4.7. Validity period .......................................................................................... 12
5. Grounds for exclusion ...................................................................................... 12
5.1. Tenderer’s affairs ..................................................................................... 12
5.1.1. Documentation ..................................................................................... 12
5.2. Financial and economic capacity ............................................................. 13
5.3. Technical capacity ................................................................................... 13
5.4. Consortium and subcontracting ............................................................... 13
6. Specifications for the layout of the tender ........................................................ 13
6.1. Compulsory tender documents ................................................................ 13
6.2. Additional documentation ......................................................................... 13
7. Lots ................................................................................................................. 14
8. Tender evaluation ............................................................................................ 14
8.1. Evaluating completeness ......................................................................... 14
8.2. Award criterion ......................................................................................... 14
8.2.1. Weighting ............................................................................................. 14
8.2.2. Description of sub-criteria .................................................................... 15
8.2.2.1. Price .................................................................................................... 15
8.2.2.2. Technical merit and quality of the telescope system............................. 15
9. Negotiation ban ............................................................................................... 15
10. Enquiries regarding the Invitation to Tender documents .............................. 16
10.1. Queries and replies .................................................................................. 16
10.2. Additional information and changes to the Invitation to Tender
documentation ..................................................................................................... 16
11. Practicalities ................................................................................................ 17
11.1. Opening of tenders .................................................................................. 17
11.2. Notification of the result ........................................................................... 17
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11.3. Confidentiality .......................................................................................... 17
11.4. Strictly confidentially for the tenderer ....................................................... 17
11.5. Contract ....................................................................................................... 18
12. Timetable for the tender procedure .............................................................. 18
13. List of tender documentation ........................................................................ 18
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1. Introduction
These instructions to tenderers apply to the Finnish Geodetic Institute
Invitation to Tender for offers for satellite laser ranging telescope system.
The instructions are in accordance with the Contract Notice sent for
publication on 7 th of March 2013 in www.hankintailmoitukset.fi and in the
Tenders Electronic Daily, a Supplement to the Official Journal of the
European Union.
2. Contracting Authority
The Contracting Authority is
Finnish Geodetic Institute
P.O. Box 15 (Geodeetinrinne 2)
FI-02431 Masala
Finland
The Contracting Authority is responsible for the preparation and
completion of the tender procedure, and will always be a party of the
contract.
The Finnish Geodetic Institute (FGI) is a research and expert institute
under the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. Tasks of the FGI are based
on legislation (law and bylaws on the Finnish Geodetic Institute). FGI takes
care of national reference systems and height systems and it carries out
research and development for geodesy and spatial data infrastructures.
2.1. Contracting Authority’s contact person
All inquiries to the Contracting Authority prior to the submission of a tender
must be forwarded by email to:
Arttu Raja-Halli
Email: arttu.raja-halli@fgi.fi
3. General Information on the tender procedure
3.1. Background of the tender
Finnish Geodetic Institute seeks to purchase a satellite laser ranging
(SLR) telescope system to be installed at the Metsähovi Fundamental
Station. The system will include an optical subsystem (telescope) with the
receiving and transmitting optics; an azimuth-elevation gimbal and a
control system with control software.
The satellite laser ranging telescope will be used for transmitting and
receiving laser pulses to and from Earth orbiting satellites. The
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observations are performed with 2 kHz repetition rate both day and night
to satellites with orbits from 250 km (GOCE) to 25 000 km (GNSS).
Especially the low orbit and daytime observation requirement place
considerable demand on the pointing and tracking accuracy as well as the
tracking speed of the telescope system.
The ultimate aim for the Metsähovi SLR system is to become semiautomatic
in operation (operator present, but not solely operating SLR).
This should be considered in, e.g., the safety protocols of the proposed
telescope system.
The minimum requirements for the system in demand are listed in the
Appendix 2.
3.1.1. Metsähovi research station
The Metsähovi Fundamental Station (60°13'4"N 24°23'35"E) is a key
infrastructure of the Finnish Geodetic Institute and designated as a
Core Station in the Global Geodetic Observation System (GGOS) of
the International Association of Geodesy (IAG). Metsähovi is one of the
few geodetic stations in the world that have all major space geodetic
observing techniques at the same site. It is also one of the
northernmost geodetic core stations. Its long existence (operational
since 1978) has been and is important for stability and maintenance of
the global geodetic reference frames.
The station is located in the southern Finland approximately 20 km
from the sea, at an altitude of 60 m above the sea level, in a rural
environment. Due to both the local and global location of the station,
the SLR telescope system has to operate in a wide variety of weather
conditions. The weather conditions at Metsähovi show characteristics
of both maritime and continental climate: summer is humid and
relatively warm and winter is cold. The temperature varies between
-25° to +30° Celsius, with a yearly average temperature around 6°
Celsius. Seasonal snow normally covers the station from December to
April and yearly precipitation is around 700 mm with approximately 170
days with rain.
The mean relative humidity for an average year in Metsähovi is ~80%
and on a monthly basis it ranges from 60% in May, June to 90% in
December. The selected Metsähovi SLR telescope system shall be
able to operate in relative humidity range of 25%-95%. Fog arising from
the nearby small bog and from the Baltic Sea is relatively frequent
during cold summer mornings as well as during the sea-ice forming
and melting season. The station sees a few storms each year with wind
speeds up to 25 m/s, but mostly winds are around 0-10 m/s. The
telescope system should be at minimum operable and maintain
accurate positioning during 10 m/s wind speeds under a slit-type dome.
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Dust and pollen from the surrounding pine forest, especially during
spring, has the tendency to cover all surfaces and may, over time,
cause problems for unprotected optical and mechanical surfaces.
Thus, while the telescope is not required to be of a closed-tube design
with a front window, the Coudé path and also the possible optical path
inside the gimbal should be environmentally sealed (with access points
included in the design to allow for cleaning of the optical components)
or the ease of maintaining optical surface cleanliness otherwise
demonstrated.
The horizon of the site is

3.1.2. Existing instrumentation and software at FGI including
requirements they set for the new telescope system
The satellite laser ranging telescope system procured under this
Invitation to Tender will be integrated with the SLR instrumentation
already existing at Metsähovi Research Station. Hence it needs to fulfill
requirements set by the existing instrumentation. A brief description of
the major components is given here.
The laser to be used for the observations is a HighQ IC-532-800 ps
pulsed ND:VAN laser operating at 532 nm. The pulse energy at the
operating pulse repetition rate 2 kHz is 0.425 mJ with a total power of
< 1 W. Peak energy is below 0.7 mJ. The laser will be installed on an
optical bench at the ground floor of the observatory building from where
the beam is guided to the transmitting optics through the Coudé path
as described above.
The laser beam is expanded on the optical bench from 4 mm to
approximately 50 mm to prevent it from damaging the optics (TBD, the
final beamsize to be agreed between the Contracting Authority and the
winning tenderer). Depending on the optical setup the final transmitted
laser beam divergence and expansion are adjusted in the optical bench
or in the telescope sub-system.
A C-SPAD (Compensated Single Photon Avalanche Diode) detector
will be used to observe the returning pulses. The diameter of the active
area of the detector is 0.2 mm. The C-SPAD has integrated focusing
optics that accept 12 mm collimated beam. Hence the returning beam
path has to be very stable to keep the focus on the detecting optics.
Depending on the optical system provided by the tenderer the detector
will be installed in the climate controlled operator room, or in the case
of the bistatic system, it will be installed into an environmentally sealed
optical bench attached to the telescope structure.
Technical details on the HighQ laser and the C-SPAD detector can
be found from the procurement web page
http://www.fgi.fi/slr-procurement.
Existing hardware also includes range gate generator, event timer(s),
etc., which do not set requirements for the telescope system.
An SLR operating software has been written at the FGI. The software
is responsible for laser and detector control, timing, satellite orbit
retrieval, data analysis, etc. The software is written in Windows 7
environment using Visual C++. The telescope control system must be
able to work in a slave mode under the FGI SLR operating software,
accepting pointing commands (state vectors, Two Line Elements,
RA/DEC and/or AZ/EL) sent via TCP/IP interface. Operating in a slave
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mode entails that the telescope operates otherwise autonomously but
accepts pointing and speed commands from the SLR operating
software.
3.1.3. Possible approaches for this Invitation to Tender
There are currently two fundamentally different basic approaches for
the optical systems (telescopes) used by SLR stations worldwide: 1)
the monostatic system, where the transmitted and received laser
pulses both travel on the same optical path through the main aperture,
and 2) the bistatic system where a separate smaller telescope is used
for transmitting the laser pulse and a larger main telescope for
receiving the return pulse. Both approaches are used in the satellite
laser ranging community and both have some advantages and
disadvantages. Here the basic differences between the two different
optical setups and how they relate to this Invitation to Tender are
presented. Due to several fundamental differences in the design and
operation of the SLR system between the monostatic and the bistatic
approach, some minimum requirements as well as award criteria for
technical merit and quality are specific to the approach presented in the
tender.
Regardless of the optical system approach, to minimize the
background noise the field of view of the detector should be small
(compared to FoV's of astronomical systems). The receiving optical
system should have such a focal length / aperture ratio that forms a
field of view of a square arcminute or less on the detector (the final
value is TBD between the Contracting Authority and the winning
tenderer, and somewhat dependent on the optical system).
Monostatic system
In the monostatic system, both the laser and the detector are located in
the Coudé focus of the telescope, which is located on an optical bench
in a climate controlled room (which in Metsähovi will be located on
storey below the telescope). In this setup the received and transmitted
photons are transmitted to the required direction through the same
optical path. The direction of the beams can be accomplished either
outside of the telescope at the Coudé room, or in the optical system of
the telescope. Related to this, a major challenge for monostatic kHz
system is the amount of light originating from the transmitted pulse that
is backscattered from the telescope and related optics to the detector
where it acts as noise. This is especially the case when using 2 kHz
fire rate as multiple pulses are travelling through the telescope at the
same time. As a minimum requirement (cf. Appendix 2) the tenderer
offering a monostatic system shall describe a solution for the
separation of the transmitted and received paths. This can be
accomplished with supplementary documentation and with references
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to operational kHz systems similar to the one offered. The solution
should give a description of the hardware and software needed to allow
SLR operations with altered fire rate between 1 Hz to 2 kHz. While not
a minimum requirement to participate in this tender, the tenderer may
also provide the manufacturing (excluding instrumentation and
software already in place at Metsähovi as described in 3.1.2.) and
installation of this solution as a part of the tender (cf. Template D).
Having the detector (cf. 3.1.2) in the Coudé focus in a separate room
requires high optical stability on the Coudé path to keep the focus in
place on the detector’s active element with a diameter of 0.2 mm. The
tenderer must demonstrate the stability of the Coudé path with
supplementary documentation or by reference to an operational system
with the same design (cf. Appendix 2).
The width and divergence of the transmitted beam is adjusted
depending on the target to optimize the beam quality and echoes from
the satellite. This final expansion of the beam and its divergence can
be done within the telescope system or already at the Coudé room.
The tenderer is encouraged to offer the optical solution which carries
out the beam expansion and divergence adjustments (cf. Template D).
The solution should allow remote adjustment of the expansion with 2-
5X magnification and divergence within a few arcseconds.
Bistatic system
In the bistatic approach, the tenderer’s design needs to account for the
careful co-alignment of the two telescopes. The tender should include a
well described solution for detecting and fixing possible pointing
mismatches between the telescopes during the operation of the
system, even during daylight.
In this approach the remote adjustability of the beam expansion and
divergence of the transmitted pulse should be included in the transmit
telescope provided by the tenderer (cf. Appendix 2).
In the bistatic system an advantage over the monostatic system is that
the detector can be installed into a so-called detector box that is
attached directly to the receiving telescope, e.g., either to the
Cassegrain or the Nasmyth focus (the laser being in the Coudé of the
sending telescope). This allows for a simpler installation and negates
the need for a solution for separating the two beams. The detector box
is an environmentally sealed box with an optical bench inside that is
securely attached on to the receiving telescope with the prime focus
directed to a point inside the box. The detector can then be installed
together with other optical elements on the optical bench. While the
receiving optical system is used mainly to detect returning 532 nm
pulses from the satellite a part of the light is normally directed into a
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high sensitivity digital camera(s) which is used as an aid for tracking
and calibration purposes.
The tenderer offering a bistatic system shall include as a minimum
requirement in the receiving telescope design the possibility of a
payload of 30 kg to be located in a place where the focus is located. At
least a volume of 20cm(H)*35cm(W)*45cm(L) occupied by the box
should be also accounted for in the design. If the detector box can't be
fitted directly to the back of the telescope, the beam path shall be
extended and the focus directed to the place where the detector box
can be installed.
While not a minimum requirement to participate in the tender, the
tenderer may also provide the designing, manufacturing, and
installation of a detector box in the tender (cf. Template D). In this
case, the box shall include an optical bench where all the necessary
elements for kHz SLR operation are installed, these include (e.g.): the
C- SPAD detector (provided by FGI); a camera; an iris; a narrow
bandwidth filter; an ND filter; all the optical elements needed for
relaying the beam to the detector; an digital camera; and the
collimating optics needed for the detector. The detector box design
should allow remote alignment of the elements without using any
wireless transmitters (cf. Appendix 2), including all the necessary
software.
This Call for Offers is open to all optical solutions for kHz satellite
laser ranging. It is strongly advised that the tenderers provide
sufficient supplementary documentation to demonstrate the
suitability of their solution for kHz SLR operations.
References:
The International Laser Ranging Service
http://iIrs.gsfc.nasa gov/
Bistatic kHz systems:
Austrian Academy of Sciences Observatory of Lustbühel, Austria
http://www.iwf.oeaw.ac.at/en/research/solid-earth/slrtechnology/slr-station-graz-lustbuehel/
Natural Environment Research Council Space Geodesy Facility at
Herstmonceaux, UK
http://sgf.rgo.ac.uk/sysspec/slr.html
A monostatic 100Hz system:
University of Bern, Zimmerwald Observatory, Switzerland
http://cmslive3.unibe.ch/unibe/philnat/aiub/content/e14/e358/index
_eng.html
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3.2. Purpose of the tender procedure
The purpose of this open Invitation to Tender is to procure to Metsähovi
research station a telescope system capable of satellite laser ranging
operations that will be integrated into existing SLR hardware and software
described in Subsec 3.1.2. The telescope system shall consist of a
telescope, a gimbal, all the optical elements required for the Coudé path to
the instrument room as described in Subsec 3.1.1., control electronics,
control software, and the necessary cabling and all other equipment
needed for the installation. The contracted tenderer shall design, fabricate,
assemble, test, deliver, and install in Metsähovi station the telescope
system. Also, testing and producing proof of offered functionality after
completion of installation at Metsähovi is considered as part of the
Invitation.
In Appendix 2 minimum requirements of the system are given. It is
mandatory that the set requirements are complied with. Tenders that do
not fulfill the minimum requirements will be rejected.
3.3. Time of delivery
Tenderers must be able to guarantee delivery and installation of the
telescope system to Metsähovi Research Station in 24 Months.
Gimbal mounting and base footprint details, as well as the Coudé path
design are to be agreed with the Contracting Authority within 90 days of
the contract award.
Preliminary software documentation shall be provided 6 months prior to
acceptance tests to allow the Contracting Authority to begin software
development.
The ultimate deadline is calculated from the day of signing the contract.
3.4. Warranty
Following installation at Metsähovi, all mechanical, optical and electronic
parts as well as software must have at least two (2) years of warranty. The
performance of the telescope system must conform with the specifications
in the winning tender two (2) year afters successful acceptance tests.
3.5. Compliance with EU procurement rules
The procedure will be effected according to the rules for open procedures
under the Public Procurement Directive (Directive 2004/18/EC of the
European Parliament and of the Council 31 March 2004 on the
coordination of procedures for the award of public works contracts, public
10

supply contracts and public service contracts), implemented into Finnish
Law 348/2007.
4. General requirements as to form and procedure
4.1. Tenderer’s contact person
The tenderer must state a contact person. The Contracting Authority will
direct any communication during the tender procedure to the Person
indicated by the tenderer.
4.2. Deadline for submission
Tenders must be received by the Contracting Authority by 10 th of June
2013, at 16:00 pm (GMT+2).
4.3. Address for submission
Tenders must be delivered to the following address:
Finnish Geodetic Institute
Attn: Arttu Raja-Halli
P.O. Box 15 (Geodeetinrinne 2)
FI-02431 Masala
Finland
and shall be submitted in
• two (2) hard copies (one signed original and one copy)
• one (1) electronic copy (PDF files) on a non-copyrighted CD-ROM,
DVD or on a USB memory stick.
A receipt stating the date and time of delivery can be issued upon request.
Tenders shall be dispatched in double envelope. The inner envelope shall
be sealed and shall be without indication of origin but marked with the
definition ”Purchase of a satellite laser ranging telescope – to be opened
by Arttu Raja-Halli only”.
4.4. Language
The language of the tender must be English.
4.5. Fees
The tenderers will not be entitled to any fees for participation in this tender
procedure.
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4.6. Ownership of tenders received
All documents submitted will be deemed the property of the Contracting
Authority. On the topic of confidentiality, cf. Sec 11.3 of this document.
4.7. Validity period
Tenders must be binding for 6 months after expiry of the deadline for the
submission of the tender.
5. Grounds for exclusion
5.1. Tenderer’s affairs
Any tenderer will be excluded from the participation where the tenderer:
a. has been the subject of a conviction by final judgment concerning
participation in a criminal organisation, corruption, fraud or money
laundering;
b. is bankrupt or being wound up, where his affairs are being
administered by the court, where he has entered into an arrangement
with creditors, where he has suspended business or is in any
analogous situation rising from a similar procedure under national laws
and regulations;
c. is the subject of proceedings for a declaration of bankcruptcy, for an
order for compulsory winding up or administration by the court or of an
arrangement with creditors or of any other similar proceedings under
national laws and regulations;
d. has been convicted by a judgment which has the of res judicita in
accordance with the legal provisions of the country of any offence
concerning his professional conduct;
e. has been quilty of grave professional misconduct proven by any means
which the Contracting Authority can demonstrate;
f. has not fulfilled obligations relating to the payment of social security
contributions in accordance with the legal provisions of the country in
which he is established;
g. has not fulfilled obligations relating to the payment of taxes in
accordance with the legal provisions of the country in which he is
established; or
h. is quilty of serious misrepresentation in supplying the information
required under this clause or has not supplied such information.
5.1.1. Documentation
In order to prove that one or several of the aforesaid grounds for
exclusion do not exist, the tenderer must make a solemn declaration in
the form of Template A attached to these instructions to tenderers
concerning the ground for exclusion mentioned in paragraphs a.-d. and
f.-g. above. The grounds for exclusion mentioned in paragraphs e. and
h. above shall not be documented.
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Please note that the solemn declaration must be completed by ticking
(marking) the boxes and subsequently signed.
The tenderer is obliged to provide further documentation that one or
several of the aforesaid grounds for exclusion do not exist if the
Contracting Authority finds it necessary.
5.2. Financial and economic capacity
There are no requirements to the financial and economic capacity of the
tenderer.
5.3. Technical capacity
The tenderer shall provide proof of technical capacity in the form of at
least one reference to an existing high-end telescope system built by the
tenderer, c.f. Appendix 2.
5.4. Consortium and subcontracting
The contract shall be concluded with the supplier (enterprise) in whose
name the tender has been submitted. The supplier in question is
responsible for all the obligations laid down in the contract, also when
using subcontractors.
Tendering as a consortium is permitted. In this case, however, concluding
a contract with a consortium requires that the enterprises belonging to the
consortium undertake with joint liability to fulfill the obligations and
responsibilities of the contract concerning the provision of the products
and services.
If the tenderer is a consortium Template B must be completed.
6. Specifications for the layout of the tender
6.1. Compulsory tender documents
Tenders are made by filling out Appendix 1 – Tender Form as well as
enclosing other relevant information.
The tenderer must also complete, sign and enclose Appendix 2 and
Template A.
6.2. Additional documentation
Tenders may be accompanied by documentation other than that listed
under clause 6.1.
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Such documentation must be clearly marked as additional material and
separated from the compulsory documentation.
7. Lots
This Invitation to Tender does not contain any lots.
8. Tender evaluation
8.1. Evaluating completeness
The Contracting Authority will check that the tender is conforming, i.e., that
it fulfils the following requirements:
• The tender is received within the deadline
• The tender is submitted to the right address
• The tender complies with all form and procedure specifications
• The tender is accompanied by all required documentation
• The Minimum Requirements declared in Appendix 2 are met
• The tender does not contain provisos.
8.2. Award criterion
Tenders will be evaluated according to the award criterion ”the most
economically advantageous tender”.
Tenders received will be evaluated according to a number of sub-criteria.
All tenders will be ranked according to the points allocated to them based
on the extent to which the specifications for each sub-criterion are fulfilled.
8.2.1. Weighting
The most economically advantageous tender will be identified
according to the sub-criteria below, where the weighting of each subcriterion
is stated.
Sub-criteria Percentage of weighting
Price 60%
Technical merit and quality of
the telescope system 40%
The winning tender is the one with highest amount of total points
received. In case of two tenders receiving the same amount of points,
the one with the lower price wins.
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8.2.2. Description of sub-criteria
8.2.2.1. Price
Tenderers must state the total price in Appendix 1. The tender with
the lowest price will receive the maximum score of 60 points.
The others will be ranked relative to the lowest tender according to
the following formula:
([Lowest price]/[Tenderer’s price]) × 60
The price is evaluated in EUR as indicated in Appendix 1.
8.2.2.2. Technical merit and quality of the telescope system
In Template D, the criteria according to which points in this subcriterion
are awarded are presented. These criteria are selected
with the aim that compliance with them increases the technical
merit and the quality of the offered telescope system over the
minimum requirements. The Contracting Authority evaluates the
compliance of the tender to each criterion based on the provided
supplementary documentation. It is highly recommended that all
relevant calculations, references (especially to existing kHz SLR
systems of similar design), and extensive discussion on the
technical details are included in the documentation in order to
facilitate the evaluation of the tender.
A total of 100 quality points may be awarded in this sub-criterion as
described in Template D.
The tender evaluation points are then calculated using the following
formula:
([Tenderer's quality points]/[Highest quality points]) × 40
The tender with highest amount of quality points receives the
maximum score of 40 evaluation points.
9. Negotiation ban
It is emphasized that negotiation between the Contracting Authority and
tenderers is not permitted.
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10. Enquiries regarding the Invitation to Tender documents
10.1. Queries and replies
Queries concerning the Invitation to Tender must be submitted no later
than on 5 th of April 2013, at 4:00 pm (GMT +2). Queries submitted later
than this date will be answered if possible.
Queries must be sent by e-mail to:
Finnish Geodetic Institute
Attn.: Arttu Raja-Halli
Email: arttu.raja-halli@fgi.fi
Tenderers are strongly advised to send queries or questions if something
in this Invitation to Tender seems ambiguous, unreasonable or impossible.
E-mails containing queries must be marked ”Queries regarding tender for
a satellite laser ranging telescope system”.
All queries must start with a clear reference to the section of the Invitation
to Tender or appendices to which they refer.
All inquiries and replies will be available to all tenderers in anonymous
form no later than on 12 th of April 2013, at 4:00 pm (GMT+2) and will be
accessible at http://www.fgi.fi/slr-procurement.
It is the responsibility of tenderers to keep themselves up to date with any
additional information that may be made public in the answers to queries.
Tenderers are strongly advised not to forward queries that are already
answered in this Invitation to Tender.
The Contracting Authority will not forward this Invitation to Tender, the
appendices or any other document to tenderers by mail or e-mail.
10.2. Additional information and changes to the Invitation to
Tender documentation
In the event of changes to the original Invitation to Tender documentation,
the changed documents will be made available no later than 12 th of April
2013, at 4:00 pm (GMT+2) and will be accessible at www.fgi.fi/slrprocurement
It is the responsibility of tenderers to keep themselves up to date with any
additional information and changes to the Invitation to Tender
documentation that may be made public.
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11. Practicalities
11.1. Opening of tenders
Tenders will not be opened until the expiry of the deadline for submission.
Tenderers are not entitled to attend the opening of the tenders or
otherwise receive information about the contents.
11.2. Notification of the result
All participants in the tender procedure will be advised simultaneously and
in writing of the result.
Notification to the winning tenderer that the tender has been successful
will lead to contract negotiation between the Contracting authority and the
winning tenderer. The contract shall not be considered finally awarded
until the final contract has been signed by all parties.
Notification of the result of the tender procedure will be published in the
Official Journal of the European Union in accordance with the applicable
rules.
11.3. Confidentiality
The Contracting Authority undertakes to observe confidentiality with
respect to any information supplied by tenderers involving business
secrets. The confidentiality undertaking will not apply where the
Contracting Authority is required by law or ordered by a competent
authority to disclose information to a third party.
Any information submitted which the tenderer deems to be particularly
sensitive should be clearly marked to this effect in the tender opposite the
relevant information. The Contracting Authority will then seek to prevent
disclosure of such information.
The total price of the winning tender will be disclosed.
11.4. Strictly confidentially for the tenderer
The tenderer as well as the tenderer’s staff, sub-suppliers and advisors
must observe strict confidentiality with respect to any information about the
Contracting Authority which they may receive in connection with the
submission of the tender.
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11.5. Contract
The final contract shall be drawn up based on this Invitation to Tender
document(ation), specifically on the Draft Contract (Appendix 3) and also
on the General Terms of Public Procurement in Supply Contracts
(JYSE 2009 SUPPLIES, Appendix 4) by the Finnish Ministry of Finance.
12. Timetable for the tender procedure
The following timetable shows the most important milestones in the tender
process.
Date Milestone
7 th of March 2013 Publication of contract notice and
access to Invitation to Tender
documents
5 th of April 2013 Final deadline for submission of
written queries to Invitation to Tender
documents
12 th of April 2013 Replies to written queries from all
tenderers will be available at the
Contracting Authority’s webpage
10 th of June 2013 Final deadline for receipt of tenders at
4:00 pm (GMT+2)
28 th of June 2013 Expected contract award and stand
still period
October 2013 Expected contract signing
13. List of tender documentation
The following lists the tender documents to be included in the tender:
• Template A, a solemn declaration concerning the tenderer’s
personal affairs, must be enclosed in completed form.
• Template B, Statement regarding consortium, must be enclosed in
the completed form if relevant.
• Appendix 1, Tender form, must be enclosed in completed form
with all relevant documentation. Supplementary documentation may
be submitted.
• Appendix 2, List of minimum requirements, must be enclosed in
completed form with all relevant documentation.
• Supplementary documentation may be submitted.
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