Centralised Architectural Lighting Management System

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

This procurement seeks a centralised management platform for Waterford City and County Council's architectural lighting installations. The system will control RGBW façade lighting and gobo projection systems remotely and in real-time. The platform must integrate with existing site infrastructure and provide an intuitive interface for a limited number of Council staff. Training for staff is to be included in the tender price.

The core functionalities required include:

• Monitoring and Control:
• A single interface to view all lighting sites and their current operational status.
• Monitoring of online/offline status, faults, and alarms.
• Remote control of approved lighting scenes, colours (via an intuitive colour picker), brightness levels, and schedules.
• Operation of individual sites or groups of sites simultaneously.
• Remote selection of available gobo projector content where supported by installed equipment.
• Scheduling and Events:
• Support for one-off and recurring schedules.
• Programming of lighting scenes and projector content for festivals, commemorations, civic events, and promotional campaigns.
• Enabling authorised users to create, modify, and activate schedules without specialist programming knowledge.
• Resilience and Security:
• Secure access for authorised users.
• Support for role-based permissions and audit logging.
• Ensuring local lighting installations continue to operate during loss of communication with the central management platform.
• Reporting and Asset Management:
• Recording of operational history, alarms, and user actions.
• Provision of reporting and data export functionality.
• Presentation of energy consumption information where data is available.
• Integration and Future Expansion:
• Support for integration with existing and future lighting control infrastructure using industry-standard protocols and documented interfaces.
• Capability to accommodate additional lighting sites and assets without significant modification.
• Provision of open interfaces or APIs to facilitate future integration with asset management, analytics, smart city, and business intelligence systems.

The Contracting Authority does not prescribe a specific technical architecture (appliance-based, server-based, cloud-based, hybrid). The solution must support future expansion without disruption to existing sites and expose data and operational functionality through documented APIs or equivalent interfaces.

Existing infrastructure includes DMX-controlled RGBW lighting, Urbis playback controllers, Urbis cellular routers with SIM cards, remote-access capability, and Divum gobo projectors with 4-position rotator wheels. Layouts and specifications of existing lights and projectors are provided in Appendix 2. Tenderers are advised to inspect sites prior to submission. Cloud hosting fees for one year and 10 hours of technical support are to be included in the tender price. The project completion date is February 2027.

3. Background & buyer context

Waterford City and County Council (WCCC) is the local government authority for the City and County of Waterford, formed on 1 June 2014 through the merger of Waterford City Council and Waterford County Council under the Local Government Reform Act 2014. This procurement is for a centralised architectural lighting management system to modernise and streamline the control of its lighting installations. The system is intended to enhance operational efficiency, enable dynamic event-based lighting, and provide better monitoring and reporting capabilities for the Council's assets. The procurement is being conducted under an Open Procedure at a national level.

4. Eligibility & selection criteria

Tenderers must meet the following minimum requirements to be considered eligible:

• Turnover requirement:
• Average annual turnover exceeding €50,000 in each of the last three years, or pro-rata for more recently established firms.
• The firm must have been in existence for at least 6 months.
• Insurance:
• Employer's Liability: €13 million
• Public Liability: €6.5 million
• Product Liability: €6.5 million
• Professional Indemnity: €1 million
• Certifications:
• Demonstrate compliance with relevant Health & Safety legislation.
• Demonstrate a commitment to quality assurance, with details of policies, systems, and whether 3rd party certified.
• Demonstrate compliance with relevant Environmental legislation and guidelines.
• (Implied) Access to two data centres located within the European Economic Area (EEA) or a country with an adequacy decision from the European Commission for data hosting.
• Past experience:
• Not explicitly quantified in terms of number of projects, but tenderers must demonstrate relevant experience in delivering projects of similar nature, scale, complexity, and value. Feedback from nominated referees for past projects is a pass/fail criterion.
• Personnel:
• Demonstrate access to the minimum number of skilled personnel as defined in the Tender Response Document (TRD).
• Nominate a dedicated contract manager responsible for overall delivery and client relationship.
• Geographic / facility constraints:
• Data hosting capability must be within the European Economic Area (EEA) or an approved country.
• Tenderers must have been in existence for at least 6 months.

5. Award criteria & scoring

The contract will be awarded to the most economically advantageous compliant tender. Qualitative award criteria will be assessed first. The total maximum marks available is 10,000.

The cost score will be calculated based on the lowest cost tender receiving maximum marks, with others scored proportionally.

6. Submission requirements

Tenders must be submitted electronically via the eTenders portal (www.etenders.gov.ie).

• Method statement / response document: Tenderers must use the provided Tender Response Document (TRD). Personalisation or adding branding to the TRD is not allowed.
• CVs: CVs for all key personnel must be submitted, highlighting relevant project experience, roles, outcomes, and relevance to the commission.
• Pricing schedule: A separate pricing document is provided and must be used.
• Declarations:
• Declaration of Bona Fides (as per Art. 57 of Directive 2014/24/EU).
• Declaration regarding compliance with relevant statutory obligations.
• European Single Procurement Document (ESPD) – electronic via eESPD or separate attachment.
• Declaration regarding the International Procurement Instrument (2022/1031) and restrictive measures.
• Information concerning Regulation (EU) No 833/2014 (as amended) for the tenderer and any subcontractors.
• Mandatory site visit: A site visit to view inaccessible properties is organised for 14th or 15th September between 10:00 and 12:00. Tenderers must confirm attendance by 10th September to [email protected].
• Submission portal: All submissions must be uploaded as a Zip file on eTenders.

7. Key dates & process

These dates are estimates and cannot be guaranteed.

8. Contract terms that matter

• Term: The contract is for one (1) year.
• Extension: The Contracting Authority reserves the right to extend the contract for up to four (4) periods of twelve (12) months each, subject to performance, budget, and business needs.
• Payment: Staged payments will be made, including for contract award, mobilisation, survey, design approval, software/hardware readiness, installation, commissioning, acceptance, training, and handover.
• Contract Manager: A dedicated contract manager must be nominated, responsible for overall delivery, client relationship, reporting, performance review, dispute resolution, and suggesting improvements. Contract management activities are non-billable.
• Termination: The Contracting Authority reserves the right to terminate if increased costs render the arrangement uncompetitive, or if the successful tenderer fails to deliver. Termination will follow contract terms.
• Award to Runner-Up: The Contracting Authority reserves the right to award to the next highest scoring tenderer if the primary awardee fails to deliver.
• Tender Validity: A tender validity period of 12 months is required, commencing on the deadline for submission.

9. Risks, red flags & unusuals

• Indicative Budget vs. Contract Value: The indicative budget is stated as €30,000 to €70,000 for the initial contract and all subsequent extensions. However, the initial contract is envisaged to be in the range of €30,000 to €50,000, with the potential to add services up to €70,000. This range is relatively low for a system requiring integration, resilience, and ongoing management, potentially indicating a focus on a specific, limited scope or a reliance on existing infrastructure.
• Site Visit Requirement: While not mandatory for all, a specific site visit window is provided for "in-accessible properties," suggesting potential complexity or specific site conditions that bidders must understand.
• Pass/Fail Criteria: Several key criteria, including referee feedback and meeting minimum qualitative award thresholds, are explicitly stated as pass/fail. Failure in these areas will lead to inadmissibility, regardless of scoring.
• Low Turnover Requirement: The €50,000 annual turnover requirement is significantly lower than the potential contract value (€70,000 maximum), which might be an indicator of the incumbent's scale or a deliberate strategy to attract smaller, specialised providers.
• Limited Technical Support: Only 10 hours of technical support are explicitly included in the tender price, which may be insufficient for a complex system.

10. SME fit assessment

This tender is structured as an Open Procedure, suggesting it is open to a broad range of suppliers. However, the specific requirements and evaluation criteria will determine the most suitable bidders.

• Credible bidders: A viable bidder would likely be a specialist in lighting control systems, IT integration, or smart city technology. They would need to demonstrate expertise in DMX control, network management, cloud-based platforms, and potentially SCADA-like systems for real-time monitoring and control. The low turnover requirement (€50,000) suggests that smaller, specialised Irish SMEs could potentially meet the financial criteria. However, the technical complexity and the need for robust resilience and security might favour firms with a proven track record in similar public sector or critical infrastructure projects.
• Consortium/Sub-contracting: The tender explicitly encourages SMEs to form relationships with other SMEs or larger enterprises to meet capacity requirements. Consortiums or joint ventures are permitted, provided they appoint a single point of contact and are prepared to establish legal personality if successful. Sub-contracting is also implicitly allowed, as information on subcontractors is requested, and their capacity may be relied upon.
• Indicative bid-prep effort: Preparing a compliant bid will require significant effort. This includes understanding the technical specification, detailing the proposed solution, developing a methodology, creating a project programme, and compiling detailed personnel information. Given the technical nature and the need for specific declarations, an estimate of 10-20 days of effort for a small team (technical lead, bid writer, commercial manager) is reasonable.
• Pwin signal: The tender does not explicitly name an incumbent. The low turnover requirement and the encouragement of SME participation suggest a potentially open market. However, the specific integration with existing Urbis and Divum equipment might favour a supplier with prior knowledge of these systems, or the incumbent supplier if one exists. The pass/fail nature of referee feedback is a significant hurdle.

11. Where to dig deeper

• Source RFT filename: WCCC 26-464 Lighting management system RFT 02-09-2026.docx
• eTenders CFT ID: Not specified in the provided text.
• Contact for queries: Messaging facility on www.etenders.gov.ie
• Most important attachments:
• Tender Response Document (TRD)
• Appendix 1 – Contract Terms and Conditions
• Appendix 2 – Layouts and specification of existing lights and projectors