Open call for tender for the choice of a "Coordinating expert"

Transcription

1 Open call for tender for the choice of a "Coordinating expert" The EFBWW (European Federation of Building and Woodworkers) started a project entitled European Construction Mobility Information Net (ECMIN), financed by the European Commission - DG EMPL budget line Innovative Projects for Worker Mobility in the EU. The top priority of the project is to provide possible migrant workers within the EU with precise, concise and easily-accessible information about the most important sectorspecific working conditions in the most important countries of destination. The major instruments to do this are a website in several languages (first Polish, then Romanian, later other major migrant languages), printed information and the provision of the contact data of persons who speak the native languages of the migrant workers and are well-informed about the specific construction working conditions in the countries of destination. The web-site will contain the most important sector-specific conditions such as construction wages, working hours, overtime payments, daily and weekly allowances, rules on accommodation, construction-specific holiday and pension-schemes and some other points of interest for the affected workers. You will find attached herewith a detailed description of the project, which will run until August In order to help us in undertaking this project, we are looking for a "Coordinating expert" who will, among other things, gather, streamline and edit information on the most important sector-specific conditions (such as construction wages, working hours, overtime payments, daily and weekly allowances, rules on accommodation, construction-specific holiday and pension-schemes and some other points of interest) which will be used in the paper publications, website and database. In this respect, please find attached herewith the tender specifications for the choice of the "Coordinating expert". Should you consider applying for this role, we should be grateful if you would kindly send your tender to the EFBWW Secretariat no later than Friday 9th January 2009 according to the specifications indicated in the attached call for tender. On the basis of the answers received EFBWW will award the contract according to the criteria laid down in the attached tender specifications.

2 TENDER SPECIFICATIONS FOR SUBCONTRACTING EXTERNAL EXPERTISE Coordinating Expert In the framework of the EFBWW project European Construction Mobility Information Net (ECMIN), financed by the European Commission under grant agreement VS/2008/0417 SI Tender Specifications 1. Background description While the internal markets in finances, goods and services are on the way to become a reality, and the political integration within the EU has been deepened, the mobility of workers across borders within the EU is still rather the exception than the rule. Even though this pattern has started to change in the process of the EU enlargement, there are still some obstacles which hinder even young, mobile and trained workers from seeking and obtaining work abroad. One of the most important factors is the lack of precise and at the same time concise information about the specific working conditions in specific sectors in the other Member States in a language the potential migrant worker is able to understand. There are some institutions such as EURES and also some websites and brochures which already provide information in various languages on the general and crosssectoral living and working conditions and about jobs in other MS. But by its nature EURES cannot be too sector-specific. There are also websites of several sectoral unions in possible countries of destination which provide information on sector-specific working conditions. Alas, in most cases this information is provided only in the local language or in English. There is also a database website run by FIEC and the EFBWW about the posting of workers conditions in English, French and German, but it is on the posting conditions only and designed to be a reference tool for companies and union experts. Furthermore, this and other existing information often consists of collective agreements and legal texts, etc. and is even difficult to understand for native speakers of the language in which EFBWW-FETBB : Bank: ING 1000 Brussel n Rue Royale 45, Boîte 3 Fax: IBAN: BE B Bruxelles info@efbh.be BIC: BBRUBEBB Ondernemingsnummer

3 the information is provided. While academics often speak two or three of the most important European languages, skilled workers often do not understand complicated pieces of information in foreign languages. Thus, the labour market across the EU in the sector is not transparent enough. In many MS most jobs in the construction sector and certain other sectors open to migrant and mobile workers are of a short-term nature and/or project-based. It means that migrant workers will often not stay long enough in the country to learn the language intensively and to be able to inform themselves properly in the official language of the MS. In an EU with over 20 official languages, no one can expect even from highly skilled workers to speak many of these languages. That is why many of these workers are hesitant to look for employment abroad. Others turn to labour agents or posting companies in their country who often do not provide correct information about the general conditions in the sector in other countries, because their business model is relying on a lack of information vis-à-vis the side of the worker. Or workers without proper prior information accept direct job offers from the other country which later turn out to be sub-standard or even below the legal minimum in the sector. This may create a negative effect on the working conditions of the domestic workforce and thus does not lead to more general acceptance of foreign workers. In such cases, the generally acknowledged rule same wage for the same work at the same working-place is violated on the back of the affected workers. But it will often take months before they get aware of that. When they find out eventually that they could have earned much more from the beginning of the work contract - had they been informed properly and prior to their employment in the other country - many feel general disappointment and will not think positively about their experiment to go abroad for work. When and if at all they turn to the courts they often will find that they should have claimed their wages earlier, etc. Many of these negative side-effects could be avoided if workers would know exactly - before they go and sign work contracts - about the usual working conditions in their sector in the different possible destination countries and whom they could address, who understands their language and are able to give further advice without charging high fees etc. For instance, even though migration is nothing new in the European construction sector, there still is no transparency for interested workers about working conditions in the European construction labour market. Since the sector itself is not the most attractive one for young people with good formal and language knowledge, the percentage of construction workers who speak one of the major European languages is low. Thus, they would be in need of more information about the sector-specific conditions in the other MS in their own language. EFBWW-FETBB : Bank: ING 1000 Brussel n Rue Royale 45, Boîte 3 Fax: IBAN: BE B Bruxelles info@efbh.be BIC: BBRUBEBB Ondernemingsnummer

4 Since labour mobility has always been prevalent in the construction sector, and since all the problems described above for workers as well as trade unions are presently existing, the European Federation of Building and Woodworkers (EFBWW) and its affiliates in the sending and receiving countries of migrant workers, want to build up an information network for construction workers to get better information prior to a possible migration 2. Subject matter of the project The top priority of the project is to provide possible migrant workers within the EU with precise, concise and easily-accessible information about the most important sector-specific working conditions in the most important countries of destination. The major instruments to do this are a website in several languages (first Polish, then Romanian, later other major migrant languages), printed information and the provision of the contact data of persons who speak the native languages of the migrant workers and are well-informed about the specific construction working conditions in the countries of destination. Because mobility in construction today may also mean for instance to work as a Pole on a London site for four months and then work with a different company in Berlin without returning to Poland in between, we also want to build up a network amongst those people giving advice to construction migrants in the countries of destination. At the same time we also want to involve the EFBWW affiliates in the MS countries of origin of the migrants within the EU and other institutions as a further information channel. The web-site will contain the most important sector-specific conditions such as construction wages, working hours, overtime payments, daily and weekly allowances, rules on accommodation, construction-specific holiday and pension-schemes and some other points of interest for the affected workers. 3. Description of tasks to be performed by the Coordinating exeprt - Coordination, gathering and verifying of all relevant information, extracting information from existing data bases about basic working conditions for construction workers, and bringing this information into a language understood by non-specialists - Collect information from EFBWW affiliates about basic applied working conditions in the countries-of destination and about collective agreements content - Identify trade union experts in the countries-of destination with knowledge of Polish and Romanian languages, and setting up a network consisting of these experts. - Validation of the information received; consultation with the responsible persons of the unions in the destination countries - Put the information into a web page format accessible to workers EFBWW-FETBB : Bank: ING 1000 Brussel n Rue Royale 45, Boîte 3 Fax: IBAN: BE B Bruxelles info@efbh.be BIC: BBRUBEBB Ondernemingsnummer

5 - Co-operate with a web-master in the setting-up of a web page with basic working conditions in the host countries for migrant workers coming from Poland and Romania (in the first phase of the project) - Thematic organisation of meetings These tasks will be undertaken in close consultation with the Steering group. 4. Guidance regarding performance of the tasks and regarding the methodology Performance of the tasks will have to be carried out within the contract period specified in the contract European Commission - EFBWW and with due regard to the order indicated in the description of the above-mentioned tasks and the schedule of the project activities enclosed. 5. Methods of work The general supervision and evaluation of the project will be carried out by a Steering Committee, which will be composed of 4 representatives of the EFBWW and the project partners. 6. Time schedule and reporting The schedule of activities and of reporting shall be the one laid down in an annex of the contract. The Coordinating expert shall finalise the project within the maximum period in line with Commission instructions. 7. Contract The Contract between EFBWW and the Coordinating expert will take into consideration the financial regulations of the European Commission and obliging the consultant to respect the obligations laid down in the contract European Commission- EFBWW. The Coordinating expert must not conclude any sub-contract without the written prior consent of EFBWW. Any such subcontract must contain the back to back obligations as well as the interdiction of further sub-contracting. The successful Coordinating expert will submit to the EFBWW a draft contract EFBWW-Coordinating expert which includes back to back obligations from the contract European Commission-EFBWW also in the relationships consultant-subcontractors. EFBWW-FETBB : Bank: ING 1000 Brussel n Rue Royale 45, Boîte 3 Fax: IBAN: BE B Bruxelles info@efbh.be BIC: BBRUBEBB Ondernemingsnummer

6 8. Payment Payment shall be made on the basis of detailed invoices, once the tasks have been performed and the results of the work have been accepted by the Steering Committee and the European Commission. 9. Selection criteria The Coordinating expert will be selected on the basis of the following criteria (as mentioned in the public procurement directive 2004/18, Articles 45, 47 and 48): a) personal situation of the tenderer b) economic and financial standing c) technical and/or professional ability Tenders failing to satisfy all the criteria will be excluded from the further procedure. 10. Award criteria The contract will be awarded to the bidder whose bid represents the economically most advantageous tender taking into account the following criteria: 1. Social scientist with academic qualifications (40%) 2. Experience of direct contact with shop floor trade union activists (15%) 3. Experience of organizing activities at local trade union level (15%) 4. Languages: English, and preferably German and French (15%) 5. Basic understanding of website construction, able to communicate with webmaster on technical issues (15%) Considering that this project is co-financed by the EU-Commission, it will not be possible to award the contract to a bidder whose tender exceeds the amount approved by the EU Commission for this task. 11. Content of the tenders All interested parties must at least present the following requirements: a) comments on the proposed structure and methodology of the project; b) the detailed offer/prices. The content of the tender presented must correspond to the specifications indicated in the award criteria here above (points 1 to 5). EFBWW-FETBB : Bank: ING 1000 Brussel n Rue Royale 45, Boîte 3 Fax: IBAN: BE B Bruxelles info@efbh.be BIC: BBRUBEBB Ondernemingsnummer

7 12. Evaluation procedure The economically most advantageous tender will be identified by the evaluation of each award criterion on a scale between 0 and 10 (10 being the top score). These results will then be added using the relative weight of each criteria as indicated in % in item 10 here above. 13. Submission of tenders The tender must be sent or delivered in duplicate, under a sealed cover. The envelope should be marked appel d offres à ne pas ouvrir par le service du courrier. If self-adhesive envelopes are used, they must be sealed with adhesive tape and the sender must sign across the tape. Interested parties should send their bid : a) either by registered mail posted no later than Friday 9 th January 2009 (date as postmark), to the following address : EFBWW Rue Royale Brussels Belgium b) or delivered by hand, i.e. by delivery in person or by an authorised representative (including private courier services) not later than 4 p.m. on 9 th January 2009 to the same address. Late delivery will lead to the exclusion of the tender from the award procedure for this contract and such tender will be sent back, unopened, immediately. For tenders submitted by private courier services and hand delivered requests, EFBWW secretariat will sign a receipt stamped on the date of reception, which will serve as proof of delivery. EFBWW-FETBB : Bank: ING 1000 Brussel n Rue Royale 45, Boîte 3 Fax: IBAN: BE B Bruxelles info@efbh.be BIC: BBRUBEBB Ondernemingsnummer

8 Annex Working programme and timetable: 1) Kick-off meeting project team Selection of the co-ordinating expert for the research and web design expert 2) Network partners host countries: Establishment of a network with cooperation partners in the construction sector in EU Member States. This will concentrate on the main countries facing labour migration. The network requires: a) officials responsible for the provision and continuous updating of the country-specific information b) persons within the trade unions who speak certain languages and are willing to provide information to migrants in their mother tongue 3) Network partners Poland: Establishment of a network with cooperation partners in Poland who will promote the project among Polish construction workers 4) Editorial work: Compilation, standardization and web-enabled processing of countryspecific information on working conditions in the construction sector. Consultation with the responsible persons within the trade unions to monitor the information. Translation into Polish and English, at a later stage translation into Romanian (Phase 2) and into other languages required (Phase 3) 5) Designing the Pilot-Website: Programming, conception, design and content 6) Meeting with experts from host countries: Presenting the trial website. Advertising and broadening the project concept and aims among the unions 7) Workshop Poland: Meeting between the Polish speaking secretaries of the affiliated unions and the partners in Poland 8) Publishing the website in Poland: Target group-specific launch of the site in Poland in cooperation with local partners. Distribution of leaflets/brochures. Polish part of the Website is going online. EFBWW-FETBB : Bank: ING 1000 Brussel n Rue Royale 45, Boîte 3 Fax: IBAN: BE B Bruxelles info@efbh.be BIC: BBRUBEBB Ondernemingsnummer

9 9) Evaluation of the pilot phase: Improve, upgrade and expansion of the site. 10) Evaluation meeting trial phase 11) Start phase 2: Extension of the project to Romania. Completion, extension and improvement of the contents of the site. 12) Meeting with experts from host countries Presenting the trial website. Advertising and broadening the project concept and aims among the unions 13) Workshop Romania Meeting between the Romanian speaking secretaries of the affiliated unions and the partners in Romania 14) Publishing the website in Romania: Target group-specific launch of the site in Romania in cooperation with local partners. Distribution of leaflets/brochures. Romanian part of the Website is going online. 15) Evaluation of phase 2 16) Evaluation meeting phase 2 + identifying other target countries 17) Phase 3: Extension of the project to other target countries Completion, extension and improvement of the contents of the site extending it to other target countries. Tasks Responsibilities 1. Kick-off meeting project team 11/08 Project management 2. Network partners host countries 11/08 continuously Coordinating expert 3. Network partners Poland 12/08 continuously Coordinating expert 4. Editorial work 12/08 03/09 Coordinating expert continuously 5. Designing of the pilot website 12/08 until 8/09 Web design specialist 6. Meeting with experts from the host countries 7. Meeting experts host countries and of the Polish Network 4/09 Project management 5/09 Project management EFBWW-FETBB : Bank: ING 1000 Brussel n Rue Royale 45, Boîte 3 Fax: IBAN: BE B Bruxelles info@efbh.be BIC: BBRUBEBB Ondernemingsnummer

10 8. Publishing the pilot site in Poland 9/09 continuously Coordinating expert 9. Evaluation of the pilot phase 9/09 Project management 10. Evaluation meeting pilot phase 9/09 Project management 11. Start phase 2: Romania 11/09 Coordinating expert 12. Meeting with experts from host 11/09 Project management countries 13. Meeting experts host countries and 5/10 Project management Romanian network 14. Publishing the website in Romania 6/10 continuously Coordinating expert 15. Evaluation phase 2 7/10 Project management 16. Evaluation meeting phase 2 7/10 Project management 17. Start phase 3 8/10 Coordinating expert EFBWW-FETBB : Bank: ING 1000 Brussel n Rue Royale 45, Boîte 3 Fax: IBAN: BE B Bruxelles info@efbh.be BIC: BBRUBEBB Ondernemingsnummer

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28