Provision of Staff Recruitment Services for the Food Safety Authority of Ireland

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 tender seeks a contractor to provide agency, temporary, and permanent staff recruitment services to the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI). The services encompass the full recruitment lifecycle for administrative/support roles and specialist/scientific/technical roles.

The contractor's responsibilities include:

• Vacancy Management: Acknowledging receipt of vacancy details, job descriptions, and requirements within one working day.
• Candidate Sourcing & Screening: Managing applications, conducting preliminary interviews, and preparing shortlists.
• Advertising Coordination: Coordinating advertisements with FSAI before publication.
• Interview Process: Scheduling interviews and potentially assisting interview panels.
• Candidate Communication: Maintaining communication with applicants throughout the recruitment process.
• Pre-employment Checks: Verifying references (two, including one from the current or most recent employer), ID, and the right to work in Ireland for agency workers. For temporary and permanent staff, two references are required, including one from the current or most recent employer.
• Offer & Onboarding: FSAI issues offer details and confirms start dates. For agency workers, the contractor and FSAI jointly manage onboarding, with the contractor attending on the first day and managing induction. For temporary and permanent staff, FSAI manages onboarding and induction.
• Post-Onboarding Follow-up: For agency workers, the contractor follows up within the first four weeks and maintains regular contact throughout the assignment.
• Employee Management (Agency Workers): The contractor remains the employer for agency workers, managing HR, grievances, disciplinary matters, and employee relations. The contractor is responsible for any redundancy package for agency workers made redundant.
• Health & Safety: Shared responsibility, with FSAI managing workplace safety and risk assessments, and the contractor supporting compliance and worker awareness.
• Occupational Health Services: FSAI refers OHS requirements to the contractor for agency workers.
• Replacement Requirements: The contractor must replace agency workers removed or leaving within a timeframe specified by FSAI, or within ten business days if not otherwise agreed. A suitable replacement candidate must be provided within ten business days of removal, unless otherwise agreed.
• End of Assignment: FSAI notifies the contractor of assignment end dates and outstanding matters for agency workers.
• Data Protection: The contractor must comply with data protection requirements and execute a Data Processing Agreement.

The contract covers agency workers assigned to FSAI, temporary FSAI staff, and permanent FSAI staff.

3. Background & buyer context

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) is procuring these recruitment services through an open procedure under the European Union (Award of Public Authority Contracts) Regulations 2016. This procurement is driven by the FSAI's ongoing need for efficient and effective staff recruitment across various roles. The estimated expenditure of €420,000 (excluding VAT) over the contract term, including potential extensions, indicates a consistent requirement for recruitment support. The tender also highlights a policy to encourage participation by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), suggesting a strategic aim to foster broader market engagement and potentially support SME growth within public sector contracting.

4. Eligibility & selection criteria

Bidders must meet the following minimum requirements to be considered:

• Turnover requirement:
• Minimum average annual turnover of €500,000 per annum for each of the past three years of audited accounts.
• Failure to meet this minimum turnover will result in exclusion.
• Insurance:
• Employer's Liability: €13 million
• Public Liability: €6.5 million
• Product Liability: N/A
• Professional Indemnity: €2 million
• Cyber Insurance: €1 million
• Certifications: Not specified for this tender.
• Past experience: Not specified for this tender.
• Personnel: Not specified for this tender.
• Geographic / facility constraints: Not specified for this tender.

5. Award criteria & scoring

The award criteria are not explicitly detailed with scoring percentages in the provided extract. However, the tender states that tenderers must achieve a minimum of 70% of the marks available for qualitative award criteria 2 and 3 to be considered for the contract. The overall award will be based on the Most Economically Advantageous Tender (MEAT).

Criterion Weight (%) Sub-criteria