ECGD : ECA legal panel for Airbus transactions

UK-London: Legal services.

Section I: Contracting Authority
   I.1)Name, Addresses and Contact Point(s):
      Export Credits Guarantee Department
      PO Box 2200, 2 Exchange Tower, Harbour Exchange Square, London, E14 9GS, United Kingdom
      Tel. +44 2075127036, Email: jacqui.bennett@ecgd.gsi.gov.uk, URL: www.ecgd.gov.uk
      Contact: Jacqueline Bennett, Attn: Jacqueline Bennett

      Further information can be obtained at: As Above       
      Specifications and additional documents: As Above       
      Tenders or requests to participate must be sent to: As Above       
   
   I.2)Type of the contracting authority:
      Other: See Section VI.3 - Additional Information

   I.3) Main activity:
      Other: National export credit agencies

   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 Contract: SERVICES
   II.1)Description
      II.1.1)Title attributed to the contract by the contracting authority: ECA legal panel for Airbus transactions
      II.1.2)Type of contract and location of works, place of delivery or of performance: SERVICES         
         Service Category: 21
         
      II.1.3) Information about a public contract, a framework or a dynamic purchasing system: The notice involves the setting up of a framework agreement                                                        

      II.1.4)Information on framework agreement:      
            Framework agreement with several operators

         Duration of the framework agreement:
            Duration in year(s): 4                   
      II.1.5)Short description of the contract or purchase:
      Legal services. Appointment of a panel of law firms to advise the French, German and British national export credit agencies on trasactions for the financing of new Airbus aircraft
         
      II.1.6)Common Procurement Vocabulary:
         79100000 - Legal services.
         

      II.1.7) Information about Government Procurement Agreement (GPA):
         The contract is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA): No       
      II.1.8)Lots:
         This contract is divided into lots: No
      II.1.9)Information about variants:
         Variants will be accepted: Not Provided   
   
   II.2)Quantity Or Scope Of The Contract
      II.2.1)Total quantity or scope:
      Not provided      
      
      II.2.2)Options: No          
         II.2.3)Information about renewals:
            This contract is subject to renewal: No          
   II.3)Duration Of The Contract Or Time-Limit For Completion      
         Duration in months: 48 (from the award of the contract)

   Information About Lots
               
Section III: Legal, Economic, Financial And Technical Information
   III.1)Conditions relating to the contract
      III.1.1)Deposits and guarantees required:
      Not Provided
      
      III.1.2)Main financing conditions and payment arrangements and/or reference to the relevant provisions governing them:
      Not Provided
      
      III.1.3)Legal form to be taken by the group of economic operators to whom the contract is to be awarded:
      Not Provided
      
      III.1.4)Other particular conditions:
         The performance of the contract is subject to particular conditions: Not Provided      
   III.2)Conditions For Participation
      III.2.1)Personal situation of economic operators, including requirements relating to enrolment on professional or trade registers:

      See section VI.3 - Additional Information      
      III.2.2)Economic and financial capacity
         Economic and financial capacity - means of proof required:         
         
         Information and formalities necessary for evaluating if requirements are met:
         See section VI.3 - Additional Information         
         Minimum Level(s) of standards possibly required:
         See section VI.3 - Additional Information
      
      III.2.3)Technical capacity
         Technical capacity - means of proof required         
         
         Information and formalities necessary for evaluating if requirements are met:
         See section VI.3 - Additional Information         
         Minimum Level(s) of standards possibly required:
         See section VI.3 - Additional Information      
      III.2.4)Information about reserved contracts: Not Provided   
   III.3)Conditions Specific To Service Contracts
      III.3.1)Information about a particular profession:
         Execution of the service is reserved to a particular profession: Yes       
      If yes, reference to relevant law, regulation or administrative provision:
      See section VI.3 - Additional Information      
      III.3.2)Staff responsible for the execution of the service:
         Legal persons should indicate the names and professional qualifications of the staff responsible for the execution of the service: No
Section IV: Procedure
   IV.1)Type Of Procedure
      IV.1.1)Type of procedure: Accelerated Restricted
         Justification for the choice of accelerated procedure: As the services to which this Notice relates fall within category 21 in Annex II(B) to Directive 2004/18/EC, the organisations running this competition are not obliged to follow the procedures for competitions set out in that Directive and in the national legislation of France, Germany and the United Kingdom which implements it. See also Section VI.3 - Additional Information,      
      IV.1.2)Limitations on the number of operators who will be invited to tender or to participate:
                Not Provided
   
   IV.2)Award Criteria
      IV.2.1)Award criteria:      
         The most economically advantageous tender in terms of
            The criteria stated in the specifications, in the invitation to tender or to negotiate or in the descriptive document

      IV.2.2)Information about electronic auction:
         An electronic auction will be used: No       

   IV.3)Administrative Information
      IV.3.1)File reference number attributed by the contracting authority: Not Provided      
      IV.3.2)Previous publication(s) concerning the same contract: No

      IV.3.3)Conditions for obtaining specifications and additional documents or descriptive document:


         Not Provided      
      
      IV.3.4)Time-limit for receipt of tenders or requests to participate
         Date: 01/03/2013
         Time: 12:00      
      IV.3.6)Language(s) in which tenders or requests to participate may be drawn up:         English
         


Section VI: Complementary Information

   VI.1)This Is A Recurrent Procurement: Not Provided
   VI.2)Information about European Union funds:
      The contract is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds: No       
   VI.3)Additional Information: This Notice is placed by Compagnie Francaise d’Assurance pour le Commerce d’Exterieur, Euler Hermes, Deutschland AG and the Export Credits Guarantee Department (respectively “Coface” “Euler Hermes” and “ECGD” and together the “ECAs”) who are the national credit agencies of, respectively, France, Germany and the United Kingdom. Coface is a French company which issues export credit guarantees with the support of the French state. Euler Hermes is a German company which issues guarantees on behalf of the German state. ECGD is a British government department.

The ECAs wish to establish a panel of law firms from which the ECAs will select individual firms to act for them in aircraft finance transactions which they support.

As the services to which this Notice relates fall within category 21 in Annex II(B) to Directive 2004/18/EC, that Directive, and the national legislation in France, Germany and the United Kingdom which implements it, have only limited application the procurement of those services. This Notice is therefore inserted only for the sake of transparency and to notify interested parties of the competition to which it refers. The figure given in Section II.1.4 of this Notice for the duration of the framework agreement is an estimate and not binding on the ECAs.

Whilst, in selecting firms for appointment to the panel, the ECAs are following a process broadly corresponding to the restricted procedure (as described in Directive2004/18/EC), neither that fact nor any other statements, acts or omissions of ECAs in connection with that selection process should be taken as indicating that the ECAs intend to be bound by the provisions of the Directive (or any national legislation which implements it) or by any general principles of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU to any greater extent than applies by law.

In the first instance, the ECAs wish to select law firms to receive invitations to tender for appointment to the panel mentioned above. A law firm which satisfies all of the following criteria will be invited to submit a tender unless the total number of firms which satisfy all of those criteria exceeds 20, in which case the 20 firms which best satisfy those criteria will be invited to submit tenders. The criteria are:

(1)    experience of working on transactions for the financing of new large Boeing or Airbus aircraft involving major banks, including transactions with operating lessors and, ideally (but not essentially), transactions involving tax lease structures and debt capital markets structures;

(2)    at least one partner qualified in English Law who practises principally in such transactions;

(3)    experience of advising on export finance transactions involving export credit agencies (whether acting for an export credit agency or for another party and whether the transaction is for the financing of large aircraft or for the financing of other exports or projects); and

(4)    the capacity to provide, or procure the provision of, completed jurisdictional questionnaires and related legal advice and opinions in:
(a)    those jurisdictions in which airlines are most active in the procurement of large aircraft (such as Europe, North and South America, South East Asia, China and the Russian Federation);
(b)    those jurisdictions most commonly used in structured aircraft finance transactions (such as the Irish Republic and the Cayman Islands); and
(c)    complex and challenging jurisdictions in which airlines have not previously, or have only recently, sought finance supported by export credit agencies (typically, new and emerging markets);

(5)   the capacity to provide, or procure the provision of, advice from lawyers qualified in French or German law.

Any law firm which satisfies all of the above criteria and which wishes to be invited to tender, should submit an application to be invited to tender to each of the ECAs at their addresses as given below. That application should also contain the following information in order to demonstrate the extent to which the applicant satisfies each of the above-mentioned criteria:

(i)   the details of the transactions for the financing of new large Boeing or Airbus aircraft involving major banks on which the applicant has worked over the past 5 years, specifying for each transaction (a) the make and model of the relevant aircraft and (b) the capacity of the party for whom the applicant acted (e.g. manufacturer, borrower, lender etc.) and giving a brief description of those transactions which involved tax lease structures or debt capital markets structures;

(ii)   the name(s) of the partner(s) qualified in English law who practice(s) principally in aircraft finance transactions;

(iii)   details of the transactions involving export credit agencies in which the applicant has acted in the past 5 years, specifying (a) the identity of the export credit agency involved in the transaction and (b) the capacity of the party for whom the applicant acted in the relevant transaction;

(iv)   details of how the applicant would provide, or procure the provision of, completed jurisdictional questionnaires and related legal advice and opinions in the jurisdictions mentioned in criterion (4) above;

(v)   details of how the applicant will provide or, procure the provision of advice on aircraft finance matters from lawyers qualified in French and German law

Applications to receive invitations to tender should be made in writing and submitted by email to the address given in section I of this Notice and copied to:

- Compagnie Francaise d’Assurance pour le Commerce Exterieur
at: mathilde_jean@coface.com; and
marked for the attention of: Mathilde Jean
and

- Euler Hermes Deutschland AG
at: Yvonne.Hutten@eulerhermes.com; and
marked for the attention of: Yvonne Hutten

Applications to receive invitations to tender should be submitted in time to reach each of the ECAs by no later than 1st March 2013.
To view this notice, please click here:
https://www.delta-esourcing.com/delta/respondToList.html?noticeId=50570147
GO-2013130-PRO-4552879 TKR-2013130-PRO-4552878
   
   VI.4)Procedures For Appeal
      VI.4.1)Body responsible for appeal procedures:
      ECGD
      United Kingdom
      Tel. +44 2075127036

      VI.4.2)Lodging of appeals: Not Provided   
   
      VI.4.3)Service from which information about the lodging of appeals may be obtained:
            Not Provided

   VI.5) Date Of Dispatch Of This Notice: 30/01/2013

ANNEX A