Printing and delivery of examination answerbooks

AI-generated analysis of the documents. Check the official notice and any amendments for current submission details.

1. At a glance

2. Scope of Work

University College Cork ran this procurement for “Printing and delivery of examination answerbooks” as an operational contract requiring implementation and sustained service execution. The extracted pack showed qualification-stage material with references to later ITT technical depth; practical activity therefore centred on building, integrating, and operating the specified service stack with compliant reporting and handover obligations where stated. Constituent activities and named work elements in the supplied extracts:

• estimates that the expenditure on the Services to be covered by the proposed Services Contract may amount to some €860,000] (excl
• Minimum Level Required: Tenderers must provide 3 examples of similar contracts, supplying similar services within the last 5 years and of similar value
• Environmental Management System Mandatory Minimum Requirement
• rer shall be required to supply its Tax Clearance Access Number and Tax Reference Number to facilitate online verification of their tax status by
• onmental Management System in place and/or certification to ISO14001 or equivalent
• onmental Management System in place and/or certification to ISO14001 or equivalent Pass/Fail
• Prior to and as a condition of award of any Services Contract, the successful Tenderer shall be required to designate a single entity who will carry overall responsibility for the Services Contract (the “Prime Contractor”), irrespective of whether or not tasks
• Prior to and as a condition of award of any Services Contract, the successful Tenderer shall be required to designate a single entity who will carry overall responsibility for the Services Contract (the “Prime Contractor”), irrespective of whether or not tasks are to be performed by a subcontractor or other consortium member (the “Subcontractor”).
• No publicity regarding this Competition or any Services Contract pursuant to this Competition is permitted unless and until the Contracting Authority has given its prior written consent to the relevant communication.
• The terms “Registrable Interest” and “Relative” shall be interpreted as per Section 2 of the Ethics in Public Office Acts 1995 and 2001, copies of which are available at www.irishstatutebook.ie. The Contracting Authority will, at its absolute discretion, decide on the appropriate course of action, which may in appropriate circumstances include eliminating a Tenderer from this Competition or terminating any Services Contract entered into by a Tenderer.
• [UCC-2023-13 RFT Exam Answer Books 2023-06-02 Final.docx] the appropriate course of action, which may in appropriate circumstances include eliminating a Tenderer from this Competition or terminating any Services Contract entered into by a Tenderer.
• Any conflict of interest or potential conflict of interest on the part of a Tenderer, Subcontractor or individual employee(s) or agent(s) of a Tenderer or Subcontractor(s) must be fully disclosed to the Contracting Authority as soon as the conflict or potential conflict is or becomes apparent. Tenderers are required to declare that the preparation of their Tender was carried out independently. In the event of any actual or potential conflict of interest, the Contracting Authority may invite Tenderers to propose means by which the conflict of interest might be removed and in circumstances where there are links between Tenderers, the Contracting Authority may seek further information to confirm the Tenders have been prepared independently. The Contracting Authority will, at its absolute discretion, decide on the appropriate course of action, which may in appropriate circumstances include eliminating a Tenderer from this Competition or any Mini-Competition or terminating any Framework Agreement or Services Contract entered into by a Tenderer. Non-binding monetary references in the source were treated as context only and were not used as qualification thresholds.

3. Background & buyer context

The buyer context reflected a formal Irish public-procurement route, with pre-qualification used to control entry into the tender stage.

• 1.7 Contracting Authority policy seeks to encourage participation on a fair and equal basis by Small and Medium Enterprises (“SME”s) in this Competition. SMEs that believe the scope of this Competition is beyond their technical or business capacity are encouraged, subject to paragraph 2.5, to explore the possibilities of forming relationships with other SMEs or with larger enterprises. Through such relationships they can participate and contribute to the successful implementation of any Services Contract that may result from this Competition and therefore increase their social and economic benefits.

4. Eligibility & selection criteria

• Turnover requirement — — use these verbatim for insurance / turnover. If a category (insurance, turnover) has no entry here, treat it as 'not specified' for THIS tender.
• Insurance — — use these verbatim for insurance / turnover. If a category (insurance, turnover) has no entry here, treat it as 'not specified' for THIS tender.; Type of Insurance Levels required Levels in place Levels in place Details of Any Excess Details of Any Excess Expiry Date Employers Liability € 13 Million € € Public Liability € 6.5 Million € € Professional Inde
• Certifications — not specified for this tender
• Past experience — Fail This information may be included in the tender submission and if not shall be required if successfully selected for award of contract Sales Turnover Requirement: This must be at least €430,000 for each of the previous 3 Financial Years Sales Turnover Requirement: This must be at least €430,000 for each of the previous 3 Financial Yea; rs Sales Turnover Requirement: This must be at least €430,000 for each of the previous 3 Financial Years Sales Turnover Requirement: This must be at least €430,000 for each of the previous 3 Financial Yea
• Personnel — not specified for this tender
• Geographic / facility constraints — not specified for this tender Additional binding lines surfaced in the deterministic extract:
• — use these verbatim for insurance / turnover. If a category (insurance, turnover) has no entry here, treat it as 'not specified' for THIS tender.
• Fail This information may be included in the tender submission and if not shall be required if successfully selected for award of contract Sales Turnover Requirement: This must be at least €430,000 for each of the previous 3 Financial Years Sales Turnover Requirement: This must be at least €430,000 for each of the previous 3 Financial Yea
• rs Sales Turnover Requirement: This must be at least €430,000 for each of the previous 3 Financial Years Sales Turnover Requirement: This must be at least €430,000 for each of the previous 3 Financial Yea
• Type of Insurance Levels required Levels in place Levels in place Details of Any Excess Details of Any Excess Expiry Date Employers Liability € 13 Million € € Public Liability € 6.5 Million € € Professional Inde

5. Award criteria & scoring

6. Submission requirements

• Method statement / response document (template/page limits) — Appendix 1 questionnaire/PQQ response was required.
• CVs (page count, named roles) — not specified in extract.
• Pricing schedule (format/template) — expected at ITT stage.
• Case studies (number/value range) — client references/comparable project evidence was referenced.
• Declarations (ESPD/Bona Fides/Tax/COI) — ESPD/declaration/statement-of-confirmation language was present.
• Mandatory site visit — not specified in extract.
• Submission portal and formatting — eTenders portal and PDF electronic copies were referenced. Submission-related source lines:
• Signed Tenderers Statement (As per template provided in Appendix 3) Mandatory Minimum Requirement
• Each Tenderer is required to accept the provisions of this RFT. ALL TENDERERS MUST RETURN, with their Tender, a scanned signed copy of the Tenderer’s Statement, as set out in Appendix 3, printed on the Tenderer’s letterhead. The Contracting Authority must be able to read the scanned signature of the Tenderer. If possible, please sign documents using blue ink. If the Contracting Authority cannot read the scanned signature, Tenderers may be requested to re-submit. Tenderers may not amend the Tenderer’s Statement.
• Where a group of undertakings (in whatever form and regardless of the legal relationship between them) come together to submit a Tender in response to this RFT, the Contracting Authority will deal with all matters relating to this Competition through a single nominated entity authorised to represent all members of the group of undertakings. The Tenderer must provide details of all members of the group of undertakings and their role in the Tender and clearly set out the contact details including name, title, telephone number, postal address, facsimile number and e-mail address of the nominated entity authorised to represent the Tenderer and to whom all communications shall be directed and accepted until this Competition has been completed or terminated. Correspondence from any other person will NOT be accepted, acknowledged or responded to.
• Tenderers are required to notify the Contracting Authority immediately via the e-tenders website, if at any stage they decide to
• Tenderers are required to notify the Contracting Authority immediately via the e-tenders website, if at any stage they decide to withdraw from this Competition.
• Appendix 1: Requirements and Specifications

7. Key dates & process

8. Contract terms that matter

Contract duration in the extract: 3 years. Payment cycle, SLA/KPI schedule, and penalty regime were not fully disclosed in the snippets unless listed below.

• Sector: Office Supplies & Equipment
• VERIFIED PHRASES (deterministic regex extract from the documents — treat as authoritative for numerical claims)
• In line with current legislation where a company has an annual turnover of less than €4.4 million then audited accounts are not necessary
• Sub-Contractors Mandatory Minimum Requirement
• e right to extend the Term for a period or periods of up to 12 Months with a maximum of three such extension
• e right to extend the Term for a period or periods of up to 12 months months with a maximum of three such ex
• ontinues for 30 calendar days either Party may terminate at 14 days notice
• breach(es) (if the breach(es) are capable of remedy) within 30 days after receipt of a request in writing f

9. Risks, red flags & unusuals

• Qualification gate: the deterministic extract included a turnover threshold line (— use these verbatim for insurance / turnover. If a category (insurance, turnover) has no entry here, treat it as 'not specified' for THIS tender.), which can materially narrow bidder pool composition.
• The two-step process (PQQ then ITT) shifted effort to compliance evidence early, with competitive scoring detail potentially deferred.
• Technical and contractual granularity appeared ITT-dependent, increasing ambiguity at qualification stage for non-incumbent bidders.

10. SME fit assessment

This competition looked most accessible to firms with established public-sector tender capability, documented financial capacity, and direct operational experience in the relevant service category.

• Credible bidder profile — mid-sized to large specialist with formal QA/compliance process.
• Consortium / sub-contracting — allowed or addressed in the extracts (Appendix references and reliance provisions).
• Indicative bid-prep effort — 6 to 12 working days for evidence collation, form completion, and review cycles at PQQ level.
• Pwin signal — strongest for bidders with reusable qualification artefacts, comparable references, and low-friction mobilisation capability.

11. Where to dig deeper

• Source RFT/PQQ filenames: UCC-2023-13 RFT Exam Answer Books 2023-06-02 Final.docx, Appendix B Double sided adhesive tape sealing.pdf, Appendix 3) Mandatory Minimum Requirement.
• eTenders CFT / notice reference: not specified in extract.
• Clarification contact / portal: eTenders message portal (email not surfaced in extract).
• Key attachments to prioritise: RFT Exam Answer Books 2023-06-02 Final.docx] Request for Tenders dated, RFT Requirements, RFT. ALL TENDERERS MUST RETURN, with their Tender, a scanned signed copy of the Ten.