Call for expressions of interest
2013/S 184-316778
Section I: Contracting authority
I.1) Name, addresses and contact point(s):
European Environment Agency, attention: Mr Olivier Cornu, Kongens Nytorv 6, 1050 Copenhagen K, DENMARK. Tel. +45 33367246. Fax +45 33367273. E-mail: olivier.cornu@eea.europa.eu
Internet address(es):
General address of the contracting authority: http://www.eea.europa.eu
Electronic access to information: http://www.eea.europa.eu/about-us/tenders
Further information can be obtained from:
The abovementioned contact point(s).
Specifications and additional documents can be obtained from:
The abovementioned contact point(s).
I.2) Type of the contracting authority:
European institution/agency or international organisation.
I.3) Main activity:
Environment.
I.4) Contract award on behalf of other contracting authorities:
The contracting authority is purchasing on behalf of other contracting authorities: no.
Section II: Object of the call for expressions of interest
II.1) Title attributed to the call for expressions of interest:
Provide assistance to the EEA in the production of the new Corine land cover (CLC) inventory, including the support to the harmonisation of national monitoring for integration at pan-European level.
II.2) Type of contract and location of works, place of delivery or of performance:
Services.
Service category: No 27 Other services.
Main site or location of works, place of delivery or of performance:
Main place of performance will be specified in the tender documents for each service contract.
II.3) Description of the field or fields covered by the call for expressions of interest:
This call for expression of interest (CEI) invites economic operators (experts) to put themselves forward as candidates in advance of public procurement operations. Any interested candidate may submit an application at any time during the period of validity of this CEI, with the exception of the last 3 months of that period. The EEA will draw up a list of candidates meeting the criteria outlined in the terms of reference applicable to this CEI available at the following address: http://www.europa.eu/about-us/tenders
The list resulting from this CEI will be used exclusively for public contracts of the following types:
— service contracts under Annex IIA to Directive 2004/18/EC, except for research and development contracts in category 8 and telecommunications services in category 5 of that Annex, worth a maximum of 130 000 EUR,
— research and development service contracts in category 8 and telecommunications services in category 5 of Annex IIA to Directive 2004/18/EC, worth a maximum of 200 000 EUR.
Candidates included in the list, if successful during the specific procurement procedures launched under this CEI, may be offered several contracts but the value of each of them may not exceed the abovementioned threshold.
The European Environment Agency (EEA) is a European Union public body governed by Regulation (EC) No 401/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23.4.2009. The EEA's role is to support the European Union in the development and implementation of environmental policy by providing relevant, reliable, targeted and timely information on the state of the environment and future prospects. The EEA also provides the necessary independent scientific knowledge and technical support to enable the Union and the member countries to take appropriate measures to protect and improve the environment as laid down in the Treaty and by successive Community action programmes on the environment and sustainable development.
The EEA is the hub of the European environment information and observation network (Eionet), a network of around 350 organisations across Europe through which it collects and disseminates environment-related data and information, including European topic centres. The EEA and Eionet contribute to the European shared environmental information system (SEIS), a distributed, integrated, Web-enabled information system based on a network of public information providers sharing environmental data and information. It builds on existing e-infrastructure, systems and services in the Member States and EU institutions.
The main aim of this CEI is to provide a 'proof of concept' that will allow the theoretical considerations implemented in the data model and matrix to be tested in real applications.
This CEI covers the implementation of the following tasks:
— develop explanatory documentation for the EAGLE concept (model/matrix) — description of content details of the data model elements and production of guidelines having in mind the possible role in the context of a future European land monitoring framework,
— fine-tune the draft EAGLE data model towards established existing approaches,
— describe the EAGLE concept by using the universal markup language (UML) as a technical implementation language, in line with the conceptual data model of Inspire and taking into account relevant ISO standards,
— perform a semantic testing of the EAGLE data model and matrix against the nomenclatures of current European inventories (e.g. CLC, high-resolution layers (HRLs), LUCAS , Urban Atlas) and several national or regional inventories and land cover/land use (e.g. LCCS (FAO), SIOSE (Spain), DLM-DE (Germany), LISA (Austria), AR50 (Norway), LCM (UK), Slices (Finland)),
— create and implement a database that can be filled with vector or raster data containing land cover/land use information. This database should allow the storage of data from national or international data sets on land cover/ land use and be based on the EAGLE concept data model,
— test the EAGLE database against real data from test sites where national data, CLC and HRL data exist, which allows for comparison of approaches as well as the derivation of European data from national data sets following the concept of bottom-up approach,
— revise the CLC nomenclature guidelines and propose the guidelines' enhancement by analysing the CLC nomenclature regarding semantic gaps, overlaps or inconsistencies in the definitions of classes by applying the decomposition method within the EAGLE matrix,
— create a commonly agreed set of rules for data generalisation and aggregation methods of vector or raster data, which allows for the derivation of coarser resolution European data sets from high-resolution national data sets (following a bottom-up approach),
— analyse commonalities and differences in interpretation or implementation of CLC guidelines of land monitoring initiatives in neighbouring countries and propose a strategy for harmonisation of the different initiatives,
— assess advantages and disadvantages of the 'grid approach', with the aim to find out how feasible it is to store land cover information in a regular grid, taking into account different scales of level of details,
— revise the high-resolution layer (HRL) concept by applying the EAGLE data model and make a proposal for the enhancement of the HRL technical specifications,
— develop a Web-based online tool for: populating the EAGLE matrix using the bar coding method to decompose land cover classes in an easy to understand and easy to handle way; for comparing the land cover classes with each other; and for extracting reports regarding what kind of components, attributes and characteristics are present for a specific class or a collection of classes,
— develop an online tool for implementing a common European generalisation and aggregation rule set,
— elaborate other possible connections and cross-reference to other existing code lists and nomenclatures (EUNIS habitats, LUCAS, etc.) or standards and also cross-check differences and commonalities with ISO LCML. Collect the user requirements of main European stakeholders (e.g. EEA, Eurostat, JRC, DG AGRI, DG ENV). Set up cases to assess what information on landscape is needed and which can be extracted from existing data sets.
For the purpose of the proper implementation of the tasks listed above, it is required that applicants have access to commonly used off-the-shelf GIS software, GML/UML editors and standard office software packages.
II.4) Information about lots:
This call for expressions of interest is divided into lots: no.
II.5) Information about subcontracting:
The subcontracting is accepted: no.
II.6) Common procurement vocabulary (CPV):
72200000, 72300000.
II.7) Additional information:
All documents and any additional information are available for consultation and download from EEA's external website at the following address: http://www.eea.europa.eu/about-us/tenders.
Section III: Legal, economic, financial and technical information
III.1) Legal form to be taken by the grouping of suppliers, contractors or service providers to whom a contract might be awarded:
Please refer to Section 8 of the terms of reference applicable to this call for expression of interest available at: http://www.europa.eu/about-us/tenders
III.2) Economic and financial standing:
Please refer to Section 9.2.2 of the terms of reference applicable to this call for expression of interest available at: http://www.europa.eu/about-us/tenders
III.3) Technical competence:
Please refer to Section 9.2.3 of the terms of reference applicable to this call for expression of interest available at: http://www.europa.eu/about-us/tenders
III.4) Professional competence:
Please refer to Section 9.2.3 of the terms of reference applicable to this call for expression of interest available at: http://www.europa.eu/about-us/tenders
Section IV: Procedure
IV.1) Type of procedure:
Restricted.
IV.2) Grounds for exclusion:
Applicants shall be excluded from participating in a contract if:
(a) they are bankrupt, being wound up or have suspended business activities, their affairs are being administered by the court, they have entered into an arrangement with creditors or similar measures or are the subject of any proceedings of that nature, or are in any analogous situation arising from a similar procedure provided for in national legislation or regulations;
(b) they have been convicted of an offence concerning their professional conduct by a judgment which is not open to appeal;
(c) they have been guilty of grave professional misconduct;
(d) they have not fulfilled obligations relating to the payment of social security contributions or taxes;
(e) they are guilty of serious misrepresentation in supplying the information required by the authorising department;
(f) other: they are a subject of the administrative penalty for being guilty of misrepresentation in supplying the information required by the contracting authority as a condition of participation in the procurement procedure or failing to supply information, or being declared to be in serious breach of their obligation under contract covered by the budget.
IV.3) Selection criteria:
Please refer to Section 9.2 of the terms of reference applicable to this call for expression of interest available at: http://www.europa.eu/about-us/tenders
IV.4) Administrative information
IV.4.1) File reference number:
EEA/SES/13/005-CEI.
IV.4.2) Period of validity of the list resulting from this call for expressions of interest:
Expiry date of the list resulting from the call for expressions of interest: 31.12.2014.
IV.4.3) Time limit for the submission of applications:
30.9.2014.
IV.4.4) Language(s) in which applications may be submitted:
Any EU official language.
Please note the working language of EEA is English.
Section VI: Complementary information
VI.1) Presentation and submission of applications:
Applications shall be submitted in accordance with the information in the terms of reference (please refer to Section 11) which can be downloaded from the EEA's external website at the following address: http://www.europa.eu/about-us/tenders
VI.2) Additional information:
All tender documents and any additional information are available for consultation and download from EEA's external website at the following address: http://www.eea.europa.eu/about-us/tenders (please refer to Section 10 of the terms of reference)
VI.3) Date of dispatch of this notice:
10.9.2013.