Call for Tender – Editorial services
FEPS – GENERAL INFORMATION
FEPS is the leading think tank of the European centre left political family. It works with almost 50 Member political Foundations and think tanks across Europe. It embodies a new way of thinking on the social democratic, socialist and progressive scene in Europe. It seeks to serve as a platform for innovative research, policy advice, training and debates to tackle the long- and short-term challenges that Europe and European integration faces today. It strives for more and better quality democracy in Europe.
To do so, it forges connections and coherence among stakeholders from local, regional, national, European and global levels, and fosters dialogue of between diverse stakeholders from the world of politics, academia and civil society.
FEPS’ work is in most cases carried out in the form of projects with its Members and partners. The outputs of said projects feed into the work of the broader progressive family – starting with the Party of European Socialists (PES), the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D), their constituents and Member parties, as well as in the broader public debate.
PURPOSE OF THE PRESENT TENDER
The purpose of this tender is to select service providers with experience in editorial work for two categories of publications.
Publication Category 1: Books
- proof-reading
- grammar and language revision
- implementation of FEPS Style Guide and standardized referencing
- copy editing
- proof-reading
- substantial revision of sentences and wording to improve readability
- content creation
- creation of short summaries on the basis of a longer documents
- elaboration of key messages
- formatting and layout of publications
- on the basis of a given template, formatting publications to ensure their consistency with FEPS Style Guide and visual guidelines
- management of the editorial production process from row word version to final quality PDF
- editing and layout of graphics and infographics
Publications Category 2:
Any relevant service pertaining to the editorial process – such as urgency fees and any other relevant charges required for the completion of high-end publication – is to be included in the budget proposal.
The tender is intended for editorial services in English language; providers can complement their offer and budget proposal with additional languages, if available.
Providers can respond to this tender with offers pertaining to minimum 3 of the above listed services. Providers with integrated services able to cover more than 3 of the above listed services will be given priority (see evaluation criteria).
If selected through the present call for tender, FEPS offers the possibility of signing a formal contract with no exclusivity and no minimum billing amount between May 2021 and April 2026 for editorial services.
MAIN NEEDS AND PLANNING
FEPS is committed to boost the quality of its publications and of the publication process. A revision of the different written outputs is ongoing and the services of the present tender can apply to, but are not limited to, the following publication lines:
- FEPS Policy Briefs / about 10 page each / about 12 per year
- FEPS Policy Studies / about 50 pages each / about 10 per year
- FEPS Brochures / 8 pages each / about 10 per year
- FEPS (Pocket) Books / about 120 pages each / about 4 per year
NB: FEPS (Pocket) Books can subject to a separate dedicated tender.
The services provided within the range of services listed in paragraph 2 of the present tender can be detailed in the offer according to the practices of the Tenderer. It is however understood that the tender should respond to the following needs:
- Detailed language check (grammar, punctuation, spelling, and terminology).
- Intensive editing, rephrasing restructuring
- Flexible editing in terms of topics covered (foreign policy, economics, migration, etc.) as well as in terms of phases (multiple revisions might be needed)
- Implementation of FEPS Editorial Style Guidelines to homogenise names, capital letters, bibliography and footnotes.
- Edit and transform research material, policy analysis and political commentaries into clear copies for effective communication
- Book editing and formatting
- Professionally format publications and their different components (e.g. covers, graphics, infographics, etc.) in line with FEPS’ graphic charter
PARTICIPATION IN THE TENDERING PROCEDURE
Tender Process
FEPS reserves the right to conduct the tender process and select the successful tender. FEPS is not bound contractually or in any way to a bidder to this request for tender until FEPS and the successful winner(s) have entered into a written contract.
The key dates of this call for tender are the following:
- Deadline for the submission of applications: receive the offer in writing via email by 14/06/2021
- Candidates selection: between 15/06/2020 and 02/07/2020
The offer must contain the total cost VAT included outlining separate sections dedicated to Publication Category 1 and Publication Category 2 (cf. Part 2 above).
Should the Tenderer deem it appropriate, he/she can choose to submit a tender only for Category 1 (I.e. Books) or Category 2 (I.e. Other publications)
Any other costs or additional fees that may be charged in exceptional situations should be detailed and include applicable conditions (e.g. premium fee for urgency or subcontracting fees).
Tender documentation
The following documents must be submitted in the application:
- List of the editorial services that the Tenderer can provide, in line with part 2 of the present Tender.
- Budget proposal per each of the services listed in point 1, with a detailed and comprehensive description of the different pricing method (daily rate, word-count rate, etc.)
- Comprehensive detail of extra charges that may be applicable through any given service, such as urgency fees or any other applicable charges.
- Description of the internal processes carried out by the Tenderer to ensure quality of the services and of the process (reliability, responsiveness, respect of deadlines).
- List of additional other services available with the Tenderer and their relative budget proposal.
- List of the software and methods used in the provision of different services.
- A list of at least six examples of previous projects completed by the Tenderer.
Evaluation criteria
Criteria 1: A cost proposal – Most economically advantageous tender(s) per each of the services listed in paragraph 2.
Criteria 2: Quality of the work already carried out by the Tenderer and of the assurance mechanisms proposed by the Tenderer to ensure quality in products and processes.
Criteria 3: Ability of the Tenderer to deliver integrated services
Contacts
If the above request is of interest to your company, we invite you to liaise with Roberto Paredes, FEPS Head of Finance and Audit, to request further information and submit your application.
All written offers must be submitted to roberto.paredes@feps-europe.eu (FEPS Head of Finance & Audit) and put in copy to johan.robberecht@feps-europe.eu (FEPS Director of Operations).
Offers not provided in writing via email will not be considered.
TERMS OF PAYMENT
Prices must be fixed amounts in Euro.
The amount of VAT must be disclosed on the price offer and invoice.
Services and items charged should be broken down as much as possible in the invoices order to have a comprehensive overview of the different unitary costs.
Costs incurred in preparing and submitting tenders are borne by the tenderers and cannot be reimbursed.
The payment will only be processed following the signature of a Framework Agreement.
RULES FOR SUBCONTRACTING
In the case of subcontracting services to external service providers at global scale for geographical coverage, the procurement process followed to select external service providers must be disclosed. If selected, FEPS and the candidate will formalise its relationship in a framework agreement followed by subsequent mission.
For any subcontracting services to be eligible, the procurement process followed by the selected candidate must result in a minimum of three written offers from potential subcontracting parties and result in a signed contract with a maximum duration of five years between the selected candidate and the subcontracting party.
QUALITY ISSUES
In delivering the service the tenderer shall ensure the highest quality standards of which FEPS shall be the sole judge.
CONFIDENTIALITY AND CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The Tenderer undertakes that they will not at any time, either before or after the termination of this service, use or disclose or communicate to any person confidential information relating to the affairs of FEPS.
This restriction shall continue to apply after the termination of the service without limit in point of time.
To ensure the independence of terms of their contract, the winning tenderer will sign a declaration certifying that they have no conflict of interests in relation to the tasks to be undertaken and undertake to inform FEPS’ Director of Operations should this status change
TERMS AND CONDITIONS
FEPS reserve the right to reject any and all proposals, in whole or in part, to advertise for new proposals, to abandon the need for services, and to cancel or amend this call for tender at any time prior to the execution of the written contract. FEPS reserves the right to waive any formalities in the call for tender process. FEPS may respond to questions or provide information from tenderers, and is under no obligation to provide such responses or information to all other tenderers.
By submitting a proposal, the tenderer agrees that:
- FEPS may copy the proposal for purposes of facilitating the evaluation of the proposal and agrees that such copying will not violate the rights of any third party
- It will not bring any claim or have any cause of action against FEPS based in any misunderstanding concerning the information provided or concerning FEPS’ failure, neglect or otherwise, to provide the bidder with pertinent information as intended by this call for tender
The accomplishment of a tendering procedure imposes no obligation on the FEPS to award the contract. Should the invitation to tender cover several items or lots, FEPS reserves the right to award a contract for only some of them. FEPS shall not be liable for any compensation with respect to tenderers whose tenders have not been accepted. Nor shall it be so liable if it decides not to award the contract.
CONTRACTING AUTHORITY
Foundation of European Progressive Studies (FEPS)
Avenue des Arts 46
1000 Brussels
EUPF 4 BE0896.230.213
www.feps-europe.eu
The submission deadline was 14 June 2021. This call for tender is now closed.