Questions and Answers to the Call for Tender

Transcription

1 Subject: Invitation to Tender Call for tenders No ECHO/B1/SUP/2012/02 Ref.: Open procedure, 2012/S of 21 June 2012 Title: Establishment of the European Emergency Response Centre - provision, installation and maintenance of specialised equipment for crisis rooms Questions and Answers to the Call for Tender No Date Question Answer 1 29/06/2012 Is it possible to take part or take the lead in different consortia for lots 2 and 3? Please refer to point 2.6 Joint Offers (page 35 of the English version) of the tender specifications stating that "An economic operator can only participate once as a tenderer, whether as single tenderer, lead organisation in a consortium/joint bid or partner in a consortium. The economic operator may however agree to act as a subcontractor in a distinct bid from which it is participating as either of the aforementioned options. However, such a situation is not advisable for the high potential of conflicts of interest it may generate." Notwithstanding the possibility of submitting an offer for lot 1 and lot 2 or for lot /07/2012 Are phones and video appliances part of the tender or that of the Commission framework contract? and lot 3, an economic operator cannot be part of 2 different consortia. Please refer to chapter of this tender where the ERC minimal functionalities are mentioned. At the end of description of each ERC facility (i.e. Main OPS, OPS2, Auditorium, etc.) there is explained clearly what items will be provided outside this call for tender (by the Commission services). The future contactor shall come with a technical solution that meets the minimal functionalities. Therefore, all equipment, other than what is provided by the Commission services (see Appendix 2) and that is part of the proposed solution shall be provided by the contractor. For instance, if we take the minimal functionalities for the main OPS described in , the large digital video wall shall be provided by the contractor together with 1

2 3 24/07/2012 Shall tenderer assure cabling for the proposed equipment? 4 24/07/2012 Is the tender expected to link the ERC with the sensors from the early warning systems? 5 24/07/2012 Who provides extra interface connection? 6 24/07/2012 Shall ERC have a direct connection with the control rooms of the participating states? the management software necessary to moving (re-composing) images and information among the screens. The proposed software shall link all equipment in the main OPS, but also equipment installed in other ERC facilities. The required cabling, video switches, multipliers, adaptors, cameras, microphones, etc. are part of the tender. Specifically about the phones, they will be provided by DIGIT (Commission service). A special case is represented by the large TV screens (LDCs) that will be installed in different ERC facilities (rooms) for displaying purposes: media channels, presentations for complementing the video walls, etc. These devices + the mounting kits will be provided by the Commission. The future contactor will be responsible for the physical installation (mounting the devices on the walls or to the ceiling), integration (connectivity to the video signal feeder) and configuration. Please see also the point from the tender document. Yes, the proposed solution shall include all necessary fittings, adaptors, plugs, switches and the cabling necessary to integrate the parts of the proposed project with the equipment and works provide by the Commission services. Moreover, the cables must be mounted in cable channels, separated according to the category: high voltage, low voltage, data, etc. For more details about the technical requirements please refer to from the text of the document. No. ERC will not be linked directly to the sensors of specific early warning systems but will work with the information provided by different research and monitoring centres via normal web platforms, accessible via web browsers. The equipment provided by the Commission services will be connected to the Commission's networks. There will be no extra interface provided. If the solution proposed by the tenderer involves taking the signal from a device, he/she shall provide the proper interface and cabling. For the purpose of communicating with the participating states, ERC uses CECIS (Common Emergency Communication and Information System) which runs on a dedicated network of the Commission (stesta). Therefore, the future ERC does not foresee a direct connection with the control rooms 2

3 7 24/07/2012 Could a tenderer providing a technically more complete solution at a higher price still be selected? 8 24/07/2012 Should maintenance also include the equipment provided by the Commission? of the participating states. However, the ERC will directly interact with the participating states via video conferencing systems, whose codecs will be provided by the Commission. The complete methodology for assessment and award of contract is described in chapter 5 of the tender document. Basically, all tenders will have to be checked against a set of exclusion and selection criteria for financial and technical capacity. The tenders which passed the above criteria will go into the awarding phase where will be assessed against a set of qualitative criteria (based on a points system with the minimum threshold set up) and price. The final evaluation will take into account the most cost-effective offer (best value for money) by applying a standard formula for Commission tenders, which takes into consideration both the price and the total quality score. When referring to a "qualitative offer", one should bear in mind that this takes into account a wide range of parameters, not only the technical completeness of the solution but also the integration of services and supplies from the Commission, the technical support and maintenance, training of the users, manuals, etc. Please refer to point 5.3 from the tender document for more details. However, the tenders shall always remember that the maximum budget allocated to the contract is 1 million EUR see point As a general rule, maintenance mentioned in the tender document shall cover the equipment provided within the tender. For the equipment provided outside the tender, through Commission's contracts, the respective providers will ensure the maintenance. However, when speaking about the technical support and problem identification / solving, the clear distinction of the responsibilities may be difficult as the systems will be interconnected and the defect of one item could cause a failure in a larger system. In order to mitigate this process, one should look attentively at the user manuals, troubleshooting guides and trainings. 3

4 9 24/07/2012 What is required within highreliability? 10 24/07/2012 What are the specifications of the large digital displayers for the for the main operations room? 11 25/07/2012 You told us about a forum where all the questions will be available, where can I find that forum? 12 25/07/2012 What resolution are the 23" screens? 13 25/07/2012 Where will the workstations be installed? Under the desks, in the IT room or in the technical room behind the video wall? 14 25/07/2012 What kind of application will there be shown on the video walls (more videos or more static images?) 15 25/07/2012 Who provides the cabling between the workstation and the 23" screens? 16 25/07/2012 For recording audio and video: What are the minimum requirements? (How many video/audio channels does Training programmes for ERC staff shall be designed in a way to distinguish between normal users and "super-users" that could be involved in the problem identification / solving process. There is no specific indication about the reliability of the systems in the ERC overall. This shall come with the solution proposed by tenders. However, it's mentioned in the tender document at that the availability of the Main OPS at its full operational capacity shall not be less than 99%. The technical specifications are mentioned in Appendix 1 of the tender document. One should bear in mind that the Main OPS ceiling will be raised to ca. 4.5 m height. The large amount of cabling will be managed through double flooring or false ceiling in most of ERC facilities. Please also see the ERC minimal functionalities for each facility, chapter The website can be found here: The screens are Dell P2311H and will be provided by the Commission. The used resolution will be 1920x1080@60Hz. The workstations will be installed under the desks in a special insulated cabinet. On the video walls will display a mixture of images, moving and static. The Commission will provide the cables between the workstations and the 23" screens on the monitoring desk. The systems should be able to record audio and video: - a video conference that is taking place in the auditorium and the crisis committee room. - the meeting itself with discussions and presentations in the auditorium and the crisis 4

5 he have to record simultaneous? What capacity must be provided?) committee room via the video cameras and the sound system (microphones). The technical solution proposed by the tender (number of video cameras, sound system, etc.) will determine the technical capabilities of the recording systems /08/2012 How does the TV signal come in? (coax, iptv,..?) 18 01/08/2012 Briefing room: Can we assume that the power PC has 4 video outputs? 19 01/08/2012 Transport and logistics: Who controls the video matrix? 20 01/08/2012 What dimensions are the TV screens? However, the systems should be able of recording a minimum of 50 hours audio and video at a quality similar to DVD quality (MPEG-2 compression, 10 Mbit/s, 25 fps, 720 x 480 px.). The systems should have options for less qualitative recording. The TV signal as well as the TV codec / tuner shall be provided under the present call for tender. The TV signal may come, for instance, from a Belgian TV provider. The tender should come with a technical solution to display 4 different channels simultaneously on the 4 large TV screens in the operational rooms (i.e. to have channel A to TV1, channel B to TV2, etc.) but also on the video walls or to the video projectors in the crisis committee room. See for more details , and from the tender document. All power PCs and high performance PCs will be equipped with a video card capable of delivering 4 video outputs having DVI-I / VGA HD15 female connectors. The video matrix shall be manually controlled by one of the operators from the transport and logistics room (i.e. he/she will select the input PC and the output source (TV)). The large TV screens will have different dimensions ranging from 46" to 55". Please note that the large TV screens + the mounting kits will be provided by the Commission. The future contactor shall be responsible for the physical installation (mounting the devices on the walls or to the ceiling), integration (connectivity to the video signal feeder) and configuration. Please see also the point from the tender document /08/2012 Who controls the images displayed on television screens? The display management shall be done by the normal operators on-duty. This includes the images displayed on the TV screens /08/2012 Is it allowed to offer options? Yes, variants are allowed, provided they fulfil the minimum requirements from the 5

6 technical specifications and ensure the minimal functionalities of the ERC facilities. Tenderers may submit a maximum of 2 variants. Please see also provisions from chapter from the tender document /08/2012 What shall be recorded audiovideo and at what quality? The recording systems should be able to record audio and video (please see also Q&A_16): - any video conference that is taking place in the auditorium and the crisis committee room, including DuoVideo. - any live event (i.e. a meeting with discussions and presentations) in the auditorium and the crisis committee room via the installed video cameras and the sound system (microphones), without necessarily being engaged in a video call. The recording systems should feature a friendly interface with one-push button start recording. The recorded file shall be downloadable, editable and streamed over the internet. In terms of quality, the minimum requirements are resolution 720 x 480 at 25 fps. The systems shall feature the possibility of multiple recording formats and quality, i.e. low / medium / high quality. The bit rate mentioned at Q&A_16 of 10 Mbit/s shall be considered indicative. However, lower bit rates are also allowed /08/2012 Is it possible to build a (wooden) storage place on the site itself? The purpose is to store the material (Videowalls during approximately a week). About 20m² (4x5m). Yes. In principle, as this action will probably take place towards the end of the construction process, there will be certain rooms available that have been finished (meeting rooms, offices, etc.) and can be used for this purpose. So the future contractor can use one of these rooms as storage facility for a limited time. However, the Commission cannot take the responsibility against theft, fire or any kind of similar risk. It shall be the contractor's responsibility to make sure that the goods are secured and ensured against any potential risk. 6