Overview
INVITATION TO BID (Deadline Extended)
Identification number of the ICB is: ICT2023-01
The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has received financing from the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) in an amount equivalent to US$460,276 towards the cost of the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Equipment for the Pilot for Strengthening Gender-Responsive Planning and Reporting on Gender Statistics Regional Project and intends to apply a portion of the proceeds to eligible payments under this contract. Payment by CDB will be made only at the request of CARICOM and upon approval by CDB, and will be subject, in all respects, to the terms and conditions of the Grant Agreement. The Grant Agreement prohibits a withdrawal from the Grant Account for the purpose of any payment to persons or entities, or for any import of goods, if such payment or import, to the knowledge of CDB, is prohibited by a decision of the United Nations Security Council taken under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations. No party other than CARICOM derive any rights from the Loan Agreement or have any claim to the proceeds of the Loan.
The CARICOM Secretariat is the Executing Agency for the Project, and is responsible for the overall implementation of the project. The Procurement Sub-programme of the CARICOM Secretariat intends to invite sealed bids from eligible and qualified bidders for the supply of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Equipment for Lots 1 to 3. The bidder may bid for any individual Lot or any combination of Lots, as further defined in the bidding document:
(a) Lot 1 – Laptop Computers
(b) Lot 2 – Tower Desktop Computers
(c) Lot 3 – Tablets
Bidders wishing to offer discounts in case they are awarded more than one contract will be allowed to do so, provided those discounts are included in the Letter of Bid.
The bidding process is conducted according to the procedures specified in the Procurement Policy for Projects Financed by CDB (November, 2019) and the Procurement Procedures for Projects Financed by CDB (January, 2021), as published on CDB’s website and is open to all bidders from eligible countries.
Eligibility
Eligible countries are member countries of CDB. Bidders are advised to review the relevant eligibility criteria detailed in Section 4 and conflict of interest provisions in Section 5 of the Procurement Procedures for Projects Financed by CDB (January, 2021), as published on CDB’s website.
Firms whether applying individually or in the form of a Joint Venture, shall:
(a) be legally incorporated or otherwise organised in, and have their principal place of business in an Eligible Country;
(b) be more than fifty (50) percent beneficially-owned by a citizen or citizens and/or a bona fide resident or residents of an Eligible Country, or by a body corporate or bodies meeting these requirements, as far as the ownership can be reasonably determined; and
(c) shall have no arrangement and undertake not to make any arrangement whereby the majority of the financial benefits of the contract, i.e. more than fifty (50) percent of the value of the contract, will accrue or be paid to sub-contractors or sub-consultants that are not from an Eligible Country.
Eligible bidders will be required to submit full qualification information with their bids establishing their eligibility to bid and qualification to perform the contract if the bid is accepted. Qualification requirements include, inter alia:
(a) The Bidder shall furnish documentary evidence that they are able to cover cost of at least twenty percent (20%) of the contract.
(b) Must be a manufacturer or an authorised distributor of similar type of equipment.
(c) Have supplied at least two (2) similar equipment within the last five (5) years.
Bidder shall furnish documentary evidence to demonstrate that the Goods it offers meet the usage requirement of the contract outlined in the Bidding Document.
Instructions
Bidding and qualification information are to be submitted in the English Language on the prescribed forms inserted in the Bid Documents. Submissions that do not provide the information required or that do not demonstrate the prospective supplier’s ability to perform satisfactorily, will not qualify and will not be considered for further evaluation.
Bid documents will be available for first inspection at the first address below, from Monday, 25 September 2023. Requests may be made by personal application or in writing to procurement.tenders@caricom.org. Written applications must be clearly marked: “Request for Bid Documents for the Supply of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Equipment for the Pilot for Strengthening Gender-Responsive Planning and Reporting on Gender Statistics - Regional Project”. Applicants should also state in their request the official email address to which the bidding documents should be sent. The full set of bidding documents will be dispatched within 24 hours of a confirmed receipt of the application to the email address provided. Applicants who do not receive the bidding documents should contact the Programme Manager, Procurement at the contact information provided below. Under no circumstances will the CARICOM Secretariat be held responsible for emails that were not delivered if the email provided was incorrect, does not have enough capacity, or forwards the email to the receiver’s junk mail.
The electronic Bidding submission procedures shall be:
- The Bidder must make submissions to the specified email address in the Bidding Document at procurement.tenders@caricom.org
- The Bid document must be submitted in the form of an encrypted or password protected document.
- In case of encrypted bids, the bidder should indicate that only the Procurement Sub programme, CARICOM Secretariat shall open the bid and the “password key” for opening the Bidding document. The password key shall be submitted via email at the time of submission deadline (Monday, 20 November 2023, at 10:00hrs, Guyana Time) for the respective encrypted bids. The email title must include the name of the bidder and the title of the procurement.
- Submissions must be made via PDF formats only and submitted with a size limit of 20 MB.
- Bidders should not assume successful delivery of the bid without an acknowledgement response from the CARICOM Secretariat of receipt of the bid.
Hard copies of Bids must be submitted in sealed envelopes, with the name and address of the bidder, and be clearly marked “Bid for Supply of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Equipment for the Pilot for Strengthening Gender-Responsive Planning and Reporting on Gender Statistics - Regional Project” and must be delivered to the second address below no later than Monday, 20 November 2023, at 10:00hrs. Bids will be opened publicly immediately after the deadline for submission of bids, in the presence of Bidders' representatives who choose to attend at the first address below. The Bid Opening process will also be done via Microsoft Teams. The link to the Microsoft Team meeting can be requested by writing to procurement.tenders@caricom.org by the last day before the bid opening specified in the ITB.
Qualification information only must be submitted simultaneously to the third address below.
Late bids will be rejected.
The CARICOM Secretariat reserves the right to accept or reject any bid, and to annul the process and reject all bids, at any time prior to award of contract, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected prospective bidder(s) or any obligation to inform the affected prospective bidder(s) of the grounds for the CARICOM Secretariat. The CARICOM Secretariat not defray any costs incurred by any bidder in the preparation of bids.
Contact
1. For information for Inspection, Collection and Clarification of Bidding Documents:
Caribbean Community Secretariat
Railway Embankment, Turkeyen
Greater Georgetown
GUYANA
2. Address for Bid Submission and Bid Opening:
Caribbean Community Secretariat
Railway Embankment, Turkeyen
Greater Georgetown
GUYANA
3. Caribbean Development Bank:
Dr. Maria Ziegler
Caribbean Development Bank
P.O. Box 408
Wildey
St. Michael
BARBADOS
maria.ziegler@caribank.org