e Tenders e ESPD Module Buyer Tutorial Contracting

e. Tenders e. ESPD Module Buyer Tutorial Contracting Authority Guide to using the ESPD module as part of a tender competition Co-Financed by the Connecting Europe Facility of the European Union www. procurement. ie

2 e. ESPD Tutorial – Contracting Authority e. ESPD Module - Background, Introduction, Key Principles, Component Parts Module Section 1 - Completing the ESPD Request Section 2 – Accessing ESPD Responses www. procurement. ie

Background to ESPD • The European Single Procurement Document (ESPD) is a standard selfdeclaration form used in OJEU level public procurement procedures by contracting authorities (buyers) and economic operators (suppliers) across the EU • Its purpose is to remove some of the barriers to participation in public procurement, especially for SMEs • According to Regulation 59(7) of the Public Procurement directives from 18 April 2018 the ESPD shall be provided exclusively in electronic format – (e. ESPD) • The EESPD consists of an ESPD Request which is generated and issued by the buyers to which the suppliers submit an ESPD Response • The e. ESPD will act as a “business passport” for companies bidding for tenders anywhere in the EU • The e. ESPD replaces the paper version of the form issued with procurement documents Office of Government Procurement www. procurement. ie

Introduction to the e. Tenders e. ESPD Module • The OGP has developed the electronic ESPD form on the e. Tenders platform based on the EU Commission’s data exchange model • The e. ESPD will allow the buyer to create and reuse an ESPD Request template determining the exclusion and selection criteria for a specific contract type • Economic operators can create an e. ESPD profile which can be maintained, customised and reused for e. ESPD Responses, similarly the economic operator can complete the e. ESPD Response directly from within the tender response page • e. Tenders captures a full audit trail of the e. ESPD process • The e. ESPD includes functionality which allows consortia to submit a joint response and for main contractors to comply with ESPD requirements where sub-contractors are used Office of Government Procurement www. procurement. ie

e. ESPD – Key Principles • Integrated with buyer procurement checklists and supplier response pages on e. Tenders • Auto prefilling of Contracting Authority (buyers), Economic Operator (supplier) and tender information within ESPD form • Pre-defined ESPD templates can be associated with procedure types i. e. OJEU Restricted Procedure for Works • Satisfies ‘Once Only Principle’ for EO profile information and mandatory exclusion grounds • Global tick box for selection criteria also available in e. ESPD • Integrated with e. Certis (a mapping tool used to identify and compare certificates requested in public procurement procedures across the EU) www. procurement. ie 5

e. ESPD – Component Parts The ESPD includes the following Parts and Sections: Part I - Information concerning the procurement procedure and the contracting authority Part II - Information concerning the economic operator (only displays in the economic operator ESPD Response) Part III - Exclusion criteria Section A: Six Grounds relating to criminal convictions (Mandatory) Section B: Two Grounds relating to the payment of taxes or social security contributions (Mandatory) Section C: Fifteen Grounds relating to insolvency, conflicts of interests or professional misconduct (Optional) Part IV - Selection criteria (All Optional) Section A: Four Suitability Questions Section B: Eight Economic and financial standing Section C: Eighteen Technical and professional ability Section D: Two Quality assurance schemes and environmental management standards Part V - Reduction of the number of qualified candidates (Restricted two-step procedures only) Part VI - Concluding statements by economic operator www. procurement. ie 6

7 e. ESPD Module – Contracting Authority Section 1 – Preparing the e. ESPD Request www. procurement. ie

Section 1: Completing the e. ESPD Request The selected OJEU procedure competition checklist includes an ESPD Request www. procurement. ie Office of Government Procurement

Step 1: Autofill of Part I (Preliminary Data) • Two pre-defined ESPD templates will automatically link into the OJEU procedure checklist to cater for one step and two step competitions. Information about the CA and RFT competition will prefill into Part I. • The Notice number in the OJS will auto-fill when published in TED (after 48 hours). • Click Save and next to move to Part III – Exclusion Grounds Office of Government Procurement www. procurement. ie

Step 2: Part III (Exclusion Criteria) – Sections A&B The ESPD Part III contains three sections, labelled A, B and C. The exclusion grounds in sections A & B are mandatory and are pre-selected by default and cannot be excluded from the ESPD Request. It should be noted also that ESPD Regulation allows contracting authorities to request the evidence documentation to be submitted as part of the tender response so that functionality has been built into the e. ESPD The image across is a sample of the preselected questions which cannot be unticked www. procurement. ie

Step 2: Part III (Exclusion Criteria) – Sections A&B The ESPD Part III contains three sections, labelled A, B and C. There is a note at the beginning of the section to explain the process in relation to section C The exclusion grounds in section c are optional and can be selected if required Click save and next to move to Part IV www. procurement. ie

Step 3 : Part IV (Discretionary Selection Criteria) - Options Part IV of the ESPD relates to the discretionary selection criteria of the competition. There are two options which can be adopted; Option 1 – CA uses the Global Indication for all selection criteria which refers the Economic Operators to the RFT procurement documents containing the criteria – Click No Option 2 – CA uses the selection criteria outlined in Part IV of the ESPD service in sections A to D – Click Yes Office of Government Procurement www. procurement. ie

Step 3. 1: Part IV - Option 1, Global Indication Option If the CA does not wish to use the selection criteria in the ESPD Request they must 1. select “No” for Global Indication and 2. Click the RFT Document Reference Point button to enter specific instructions in the free text field where in the RFT Documents the Economic Operator can find details about the selection criteria used for this competition 3. Click Save and Next to continue Office of Government Procurement www. procurement. ie

Step 3. 2: Part IV - Option 2, Use inbuilt Selection Criteria The CA has the option to use the regulated selection criteria within the ESPD service, then they must check the ‘Yes’ option and all Part IV selection questions will appear. There are 15 selection questions in this section and the CA can choose as many as they wish to use for their procurement by checking the box for the required question. The CA can reference the RFT documents for criteria and evidence types. If these boxes are not checked by the CA they will not appear to the economic operators who are responding Click save and next to continue Office of Government Procurement www. procurement. ie

Step 4: Review ESPD Request Once the CA has completed the ESPD Request the form will be presented in full for review. If any further amendments are required, simply click into the relevant section panel to amend When amendments are complete, click the save and next button to move to the next section Office of Government Procurement www. procurement. ie

Step 5 : Finalise and Publish the ESPD Request When satisfied with the content the CA can click finalise to commit the ESPD Request to the RFT for publication. The Economic Operators can then access the ESPD via their tender response home page, once they have accepted the competition. www. procurement. ie

17 e. ESPD Module – Contracting Authority Section 2 – Accessing ESPD Responses www. procurement. ie

Section 2: Accessing e. ESPD Responses Once an Economic Operator has Included their ESPD Response as part of their submission documentation, a contracting authority can view ESPD Responses after opening the tender box for the competition Office of Government Procurement www. procurement. ie

Section 2: Accessing e. ESPD Responses • Once the CA clicks on the e. ESPD Response, the ESPD document will appear for download, it can be downloaded by clicking on the title of the ESPD www. procurement. ie 19

Section 2: Accessing e. ESPD Responses Once the e. ESPD Response is opened, the e. ESPD document can be printed via the print button or it can be saved as a PDF file if required www. procurement. ie 20

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