Tender specification

In order to ensure a large visibility to this tender, the European Social Partners will publish it in their respective web sites. The ETUC will keep this tender on line for 45 days.

1. Background

A./ Project description The work programme of the social dialogue 2003-2005 foresaw to make a study on restructuring in candidate countries, most of which are now new Member States. The intention of carrying out such a study was confirmed in the joint letter sending the orientations for reference in managing change and its social consequences to the EU Commission.

The title of the project is: Joint Project of the European Social Partner Organisations: “Study on restructuring in new Member States”

A description of the objective, methodology and remit of the study foreseen follows.

1. Objective

Many new member states faced up the challenge of perfecting the functioning of relatively young market economies in addition to the challenges linked to globalisation, technological developments and modernisation of work organisation faced by all European countries.

The main objective of the study would be to provide European social partners with material on the specific challenges of the new Member States in view of a prospective discussion on EU social and employment policies after enlargement in order to influence the next social policy agenda and identify relevant issues for future joint work by the social partners.

2. Method

The preparation of this study would be entrusted to a consultant working under the supervision of a small steering committee in accordance with the following methodology.

The consultant would be asked to carry out in parallel the study and a series of seminars (phase 1 and 2).

Phase 1: A first phase will consist in creating the basis for further work by describing the broad economic and social context of the countries concerned. These dossiers by country established on the basis of data available from various existing sources, in particular from the EMCC, will be complemented by brief descriptions of concrete cases of change or restructuring in companies, sectors or territories which exemplify the challenges facing the countries concerned. The national social partners will be involved in the preparation of the dossiers on their country.

Phase 2: The work resulting from this first phase will be presented to the social partners of the countries concerned during national seminars and discussions on the basis of the presentation of the case studies identified will be fed into a revised version.

A second phase will consist in preparing a synthesis of the country dossiers to identify common challenges to the new member states and the interactions of the changes underway in the EU 25. This synthesis will be structured around 3-4 priority themes common to the EU 25.

Here also, the synthesis will identify concrete cases of change or restructuring that could enrich the synthesis and social partners will have an opportunity to discuss the synthesis prior to its finalisation during 3-4 thematic seminars. Discussions on the basis of the presentation of 1-2 case studies for each theme will be fed into a revised version of the synthesis.

Phase 3: A third phase will consist in discussing the full study in the social dialogue committee in view of trying to identify the priority issues for the next EU social policy agenda and future joint work by the social partners.

3. Remit

In order to remain manageable, the remit of the study will need to be limited. Rather than excluding some EU countries from the exercise from the outset, it is suggested to proceed in the following way.

The countries on which full national dossiers encompassing both general information and concrete case studies would be prepared would be the following: Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia and 3 Baltic states.

Two dossiers with general information would also be prepared on Malta and Cyprus.

All the EU will be concerned by the synthesis on common elements replies to the challenges of globalisation, technological change and modernisation of work in the enlarged Europe’s.

A short description of the main features of the project follows:

Short description

Phase 1: Dossiers by country + brief descriptions of concrete cases of change or restructuring in companies, sectors or territories

Countries • Poland, • Hungary, • Czech Republic, • Slovakia, • Slovenia, • Lithuania • Latvia • Estonia • Malta (no case study) • Cyprus (no case study) Objective Description of the broad economic and social context of the countries concerned as a basis for further work i.e. • Drafting dossiers by country established on the basis of data available from various existing sources, in particular from the EMCC, • Completing the dossiers by brief descriptions of concrete cases of change or restructuring in companies, sectors or territories

Organisation 1. An expert coordinator and three “country experts” will be subcontracted for this project. The project coordinator is responsible for the coordination, supervision and work methodology of the expert team. He is responsible for drafting the European synthesis.

The expert coordinator will work under the control and supervision of a steering committee composed of representatives of the EU level secretariats of the 4 organisations (6 participants).

Three meetings of the steering group will be organised (one preparatory, one in the implementation phase and one to follow-up at the end of the project) in Brussels.

The expert coordinator and the three country experts will meet regularly in coordination meetings.

2. Preparation of the national dossiers. The three country experts will prepare the national dossiers on the basis of the methodology prepared by the project coordinator.

The national dossiers should comprise different type of information (general economic data, sectors in decline and expanding sectors, development trends and factors, economic development and creation of activity; taxes and charges, labour cost and productivity, structure of corporate ownership and investments (including foreign investments); data on employment, labour markets, education and training, and labour mobility; framework of legislation, regulation and negotiated agreements, social dialogue and civil dialogue (places, players, processes); government and regional policies and programmes)

The task of the national expert is also to identify interesting cases of change or restructuring in companies, sectors or territories, which exemplify the challenges facing the countries concerned (except for Malta and Cyprus). This implies close cooperation with national social partners to identify the cases and face-to-face meetings with local actors involved, on the basis of the guidelines given by the project coordinator.

National social partners shall be involved in the preparation of dossiers.

3. Presentation and discussion of the draft dossiers to the national social partners during national seminars (one seminar per country)
  Number of participants per seminar: max. 38
  National social partners from the country: 30
  EU secretariats: 6
  1 project coordinator + 1 country expert: 2
  Venue: national capitals
  Dates: from January 2005 to April 2006
  Length of seminar (in day): 1
  Languages: EN + national language

4. Finalisation of the dossiers integrating comments of national social partners by the country experts under the supervision of the project coordinator

Phase 2: Synthesis of the national dossiers

Countries • Poland, • Hungary, • Czech Republic, • Slovakia, • Slovenia, • Lithuania • Latvia, • Estonia, • Malta, • Cyprus Objective Preparation of a synthesis of the country dossiers to identify common challenges to the new member states and the interactions of the changes underway in the EU 25. i.e. • Drafting the synthesis, structured around 3-4 priority themes common to the EU 25 • Identifying concrete cases of change or restructuring to enrich the synthesis • Organising 2 thematic seminars, during which social partners will have an opportunity to discuss the synthesis prior to its finalisation • Organising the presentation of 1-2 case studies for each thematic seminar • Feeding the results of the discussions into a revised version of the synthesis.

Organisation 1. The expert coordinator is responsible for drafting the synthesis. The expert coordinator should draft the synthesis, including case studies, in order to identify common challenges to the new member states and the interactions of the changes underway in the EU 25. This synthesis will be structured around 3-4 priority themes common to the EU 25.

2. Presentation of the draft synthesis to the social partners during 2 thematic seminars, on the basis of the presentation of 1-2 case studies for each theme.
  Number of participants per seminar: max. 120
  National social partners from 10 countries: 60
  National social partners from EU 15: 40
  EU secretariats: 6
  Speakers (case studies): 6
  1 project coordinator + 3 country experts: 4
  Venue: Brussels
  Dates: from April 2006 to June 2006
  Length of seminar (in day): 2
  Languages: EN+ FR+DE+2 languages from the new MS

3. Finalisation of the synthesis integrating results of discussions between social partners

Phase 3: Discussion of the study

Objective Discussion of the full study in the social dialogue committee in view of trying to identify the priority issues for the next EU social policy agenda and future joint work by the social partners.

Organisation Point on the agenda of social dialogue committee meetings

B./ Description of project partnership The project will be managed by ETUC on behalf of the four European social partner organisations. ETUC will therefore identify a project administrator and secretariat staff to carry out the project. The accounting for the project and production of the final report to be sent to the commission will be carried out by ETUC. In addition, all four organisations will provide expertise for the national seminars and the meetings in Brussels. At the national level the members of all four European social partners organisations will support organisation of the national seminars by allocating manpower as well as expertise.

2. Purpose of the Contract The contract aims at finding three experts who will be in charge to carry out specific country studies on restructuring in the new Member States.

3. Tasks to be performed by the subcontractor The sub contractor(s) should provide the following services for the applicant organisation: • to draft the country dossiers and carry out the case studies following a defined methodology, thereby ensuring the involvement of the national social partners and respecting bipartism • to present and discuss the respective country dossier during national seminars • to finalise the respective country dossier integrating comments of the national social partners • to participate to various meetings (steering committees, coordination meetings, national and synthesis seminars)

3.1 Description of tasks The sub contractor(s) will work under the supervision of a project coordinator.

For the country dossiers, the tasks to be performed by the subcontractor are the following: • to follow the methodology on how to draft the country dossiers, involving the relevant national social partners • to propose a methodology on how to identify, manage and draft the brief descriptions of concrete cases of change or restructuring in companies, sectors or territories (face-to-face meetings with local players etc.) thereby ensuring the relevance and quality of the case studies • to draft the country dossiers and the case studies

For the national seminars, the tasks of the subcontractor are the following: • to present and discuss the respective country dossiers during national seminars

For the synthesis seminars, the tasks of the subcontractor are the following: • to present and discuss the respective country dossiers during the synthesis seminars

4. Expertise required Sound expertise of the following issues: • Industrial relation systems in CEECs and the EU 15, in particular concerning managing change and restructuring • Good knowledge of social dialogue at EU level • Researching skills

5 Time schedule The subcontractor(s) will be asked to work 18 months from 1/12/2004 to 1/7/2006.

6. Payment The maximum budget available is € 86.800 broken down as follows:

Expertise 3 Country experts (€350 x 248 days) Total € 86.800

The subcontractor will receive an advance, interim and final payment.

7. Price € 86.800

8. Selection Criteria

The offers will be examined against the following criteria: • Ability to propose the above-mentioned methodologies for the country dossiers and the case studies • Evidence of experience in managing, conducting such wide-ranging studies • Good knowledge of industrial relation systems in CEECs and the EU 15, the particular concerning managing change and restructuring, good knowledge of social dialogue at EU level • Respect of bipartism • Ability to draft all documents in English • Very good administration skills • Respect of the budgetary constraints

9. Award Criteria The contract will be awarded to the tender offering the best value for money, taking into account specific criteria with a bearing on the object of the contract. The respect the principles of transparency and equal treatment with a view to avoiding any conflicts of interest will be undertaken.

10. Content and presentation of the bids Offers must be received within 45 days of 20 September 2004, the date of publication of this call for tender on the ETUC website. To ensure confidentiality, bidders must submit their offer in a double envelope. Both envelopes must be sealed and the inside envelope shall not only bear the name of the department for which it is intended (see below), but also the words "appel d’offres - à ne pas ouvrir par le service du courier" (Tender - not to be opened by the Mail Department). If self-adhesive envelopes are used, they must be sealed with adhesive tape crossed by the signature of the sender.

A committee will be formed comprising four representatives of the European Social Partners. One or more members of this committee will initial the documents, confirming the date and time of each bid. The committee members will sign the report on the bids received, which will list the admissible bids and provide reasons for rejecting bids owing to their failure to comply with the stipulations of the tendering process.

This committee will also evaluate the tenders that have been deemed admissible. An evaluation report and classification of participation requests will be drawn up, dated and signed by all the members of the evaluation committee and kept for future reference. This report will include: 1. The name and address of the contracting authority, the purpose and value of the contract or framework contract; 2. the names of any excluded candidates and the reasons for their rejection; 3. the names of candidates selected for consideration and the justification for their selection; 4. the names of candidates put forward and justification of their choice in terms of the selection or award criteria.

The contracting authority will then make its decision.

All candidates must either deliver their bid by hand or submit them by registered letter to :

Madame Maria Helena ANDRE Secrétaire Générale Adjointe ETUC 5, Boulevard du Roi Albert II

B-1210 BRUXELLES

For requests sent by registered mail, the postmark will serve as proof of the date of dispatch.