Request for Proposal for Long Term Arrangement for Printing Services
Long Term Arrangement (LTA) for Printing Services
a) BACKGROUND
UNICEF Mongolia is leading the procurement process on behalf of the UN agencies in Mongolia (herein referred as “the UN “) to establish Long Term Arrangement (LTA) for the printing services for a period of two (2) years and may be subject to renewal for one additional year based on satisfactory performance. UN may further distribute the services to its Programme partners. The benefit of any warranties provided, and liabilities entered into with UN, shall be passed on by UN to its Programme partners and involved UN Agencies.
The United Nations has been working in Mongolia since 1963. It supports the national priorities in achieving sustainable, equitable and inclusive growth in Mongolia. UN works on a range of issues in the country including implementing the SDGs, protecting environment, building democratic governance, ensuring food security, protecting maternal and child health, promoting decent jobs, facilitating access to quality public services such as health, education, water and sanitation. Collecting evidence and documenting good practices to move forward the right agenda is paramount to the strategy of the the UN. To aid the production and dissemination of this data, recommendations and best practices, materials both print and digital need to be well written to communicate our messages in the most expedient way possible. To this end, we seek a reputable, capable agency with comprehensive graphic designing and printing services to undertake some or all of the assignments below on an as needed basis.
Definition of Long Term Arrangement (LTA)
Long Term Arrangement (LTA) represents an offer on the part of the supplier to provide the UN with the services at the established prices and under the terms and condition detailed therein for the duration of the arrangement and does not represent a contract or oblige the UN to spend any monies whatsoever. The UN in no way obligated to purchase any minimum value of equipment under a LTA.
Service Contract made pursuant to this LTA forms the only binding contract with the institution. By reference to this LTA, the Service Contract will incorporate all of the Terms and Conditions contained herein. UNICEF’s liability will be limited to the Service Contract only for the services stipulated herein and no increase in that total liability of the UN or in the price of services will be authorized or paid to the firm unless such increases have been pre-approved by the UN prior to any provision of services.
b) OBJECTIVES
This Long Term Arrangement is to facilitate and expedite the process by which the UN will engage Printers of national repute to deliver quality printing and delivery services on various requirements received from various UN Agencies. This arrangement is to carry out printing of Information and Communication (IEC) and visibility materials as outlined under “Services Requested” for the UN.
The purpose to establish the LTAs are:
a. To facilitate printing and distribution of best quality printed materials.
b. To shorten the turnaround time to complete printing assignments. The use of the LTAs for printing not only allows for shorter processing and procurement time but also facilitates expeditious delivery of finished product to the end user.
c. However, the UN reserves the right to discontinue the use of the LTA with a selected company if the service level or performance delivery level is not satisfactory to the UN or the pricing becomes uncompetitive in the market place.
c) DUTY STATION
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
d) SUPERVISOR
Operations Manager, UNICEF Mongolia Country Office.
6. SERVICES REQUESTED
The Printers will be requested to perform one or several of the following tasks:
Printing of the following documents including finishing and binding, lamination based on the UN requirements:
a) Reports / Manuals
b) Booklets / Brochures
c) Flyers / Leaflets
d) Posters
e) Flip charts
f) Namecards
g) Calendars: wall and desk types
h) Letterheads
i) Envelopes
j) Invitation cards and envelopes
k) Folders + Pockets
l) Certificates
m) Notepads
n) Bookmarks
o) Stickers
i. The quality of work will be inspected by an officer of user section of the UN office and / or by the UN appointed Inspection Agency, and if found to be of poor and/or sub-standard quality or not as per the terms and conditions of the contract, the finished product will not be accepted. The LTA contractor shall be responsible for any loss, damage etc which might be caused to the original materials or books of the UN.
ii. The LTA is liable to be cancelled without notice in the event the work is found to be unsatisfactory or any of the conditions of the contract are violated by the company.
iii. Providing the digital copy of final art work after printing free of cost;
iv. Follow the Branding Manual for the involved UN Agencies and rules related to the branding requirements.
v. Proposals must offer services for the total requirement.
PRE-PRESS:
· Wet proofs / machine proofs
· High Resolution PDF Files
7. END PRODUCT
At the end of each assignment, the contractor will deliver the printed materials within the agreed timeline within Ulaanbaatar free of charge as stipulated in the contract.
8. Qualification requirements
Professional requirements of the printing house will include:
- At least 5 years of experience in the commercial printing industry.
- Staffing: At least 3 years of experience in design/layout and offset printing.
- Internal quality control system in place
- Relevant work experience with UN & other multilateral organizations will be an asset.
- Own pre-press, press equipment, binding & finishing, specialty equipment
- Environmental certificate will be an asset.
9. ESTIMATED DURATION OF LTA
The assignment under this Long Term Arrangement is expected to have a duration of 24 + 12 months. The initial LTA would be for two years (2020-2022) with an option for renewal for a subsequent year subject to satisfactory performance evaluation and continuing need for the service.
10. LTA CONTRACTING MODALITY
The LTA to be signed will have a fixed fee rate for two years; however, the UN does not warrant that any quantity of services will be purchased during the term of the LTA as this will depend on forthcoming needs. An increase on the fee would, if justified, be agreed at the end of second year at the time of extension of the LTA for up to one more year.
Once the specified services are completed and have been approved by the responsible UN agency staff, the Printer will print the material and send the printed material to the address specified by the UN. The invoices against each contract should be raised separately and send to respective officer at the UN as per the contractual terms for payment purposes along with a one sample printed copy and contract for the assignment.
The UN is not obligated to order any minimum quantity from the Contractor, pursuant to this LTA.
The UN shall not be liable for any cost in the event that no Contract is made under this LTA; and
This Arrangement is non-exclusive, and UNICEF is entitled to procure the same or similar Goods from other Contractors, as it sees fit.
The UN outsources the commercial printing company exploring the possibility of utilizing the services up to 3 (three) printing companies on a recurrent basis as needs arise.
11. Evaluation criteria
Bidders will be evaluated by the UN evaluation committee based on criteria as per Annex A. Cumulative analysis of Technical and Financial proposals will be used: the maximum score assigned to the financial proposal is allocated to the lowest financial proposal. All other price proposals receive scores in inverse proportion according to the following formula:
Score for price proposal A = (Maximum score for price proposal (e.g. 40) * Price of lowest priced proposal)/Price of proposal A.
Technical proposal scoring below 60% of the available technical points will be considered non-compliant and will be rejected and not considered further (e.g. the passing score should be 60 points and above). Companies shall be responsible for the completeness of their submission and ensuring that submission include all details, supporting documentation, samples, etc. required for proper evaluation of the technical proposals.
The evaluation committee will open the financial proposals of bidders that only qualified in technical evaluation stage. Bidders that disqualified in technical evaluation stage will be removed from the bidding.
12. SITE VISIT
The Contractor shall permit UNICEF, or any other representative as may be designated by UNICEF, to have access to the manufacturing facilities, at all reasonable times to inspect the manufacturing site and processes for the production, quality control, quality assurance and packing of the printed materials. The Contractor shall provide reasonable assistance to the representative for such appraisal, including copies of any documentation as may be necessary. UNICEF reserves the right to reject any Goods that do not conform to the required specifications.
The inspection may be carried out in conjunction with the appropriate National Authority.
UN will visit and assess the printing and other related premises as part of the assessment process and prior to any award recommendation. Before deciding on the awarded companies, UN will conduct a site visit to assess the companies’ operations, premises and equipment. UN will also assess the financial viability of the company as part of its risk management policy. Companies failing to meet the requirements of those assessments may not be considered for the LTA award, despite of the outcomes of the proposal evaluation phase.
All companies invited to bid must be willing to provide last 2 years audited financial statements for financial evaluation.
13. LIQUIDATED DAMAGES
For late delivery of items or for items which do not meet the specifications/quality and are therefore rejected by the UN, the UN shall be entitled to claim liquidated damages from the successful bidder and deduct 0.5% of the value of the items pursuant to a Contract, per additional day of delay, up to a maximum of 10% of the value of the Contract. The payment or deduction of such liquidated damages shall not relieve the successful bidder from any of its other obligations or liabilities pursuant to any Contract.
14. PRICE PROPOSAL AND SCHEDULE OF PAYMENTS
Please see Annex B – Financial Schedule.
Financial proposals shall be submitted for the identified printing requirements, using the form in Annex B. The prices provided in the financial proposal will be the basis for the financial assessment and shall become part of the LTA printing requirements.
Prices must be quoted in MNT excluding VAT and must be valid for at least 24 months from the date of the proposal. The awarded companies will have to maintain prices for the initial duration of the LTA (2 years) with possibility to review every for another 1 year.