Xlinks: Provision of Legal Advisory Services

UK-Billericay: Legal services.
Preliminary Questions
   This notice is for Periodic indicative notice: No
   This notice is for Qualification system: No
   This notice is for Contract notice: Yes
   This notice is for Contract award notice: No
         
Section I: Contracting Authority

I.1) Name and addresses:
       Xlinks
       Kingfisher House 1 Radford Way Billericay CM12 0EQ, 1 Radford Way, Billericay, CM120EQ, United Kingdom
       Tel. +44 7568101073, Email: stephen@xlinks.co
       Contact: Stephen Kennedy
       Main Address: https://xlinks.co, Address of the buyer profile: www.xlinks.co
       NUTS Code: UK
      Specifications and additional documents: As Above       
I.2) Joint procurement:
   The contract involves joint procurement: No.
   The contract is awarded by a central purchasing body: No .
I.3) Communication       
   The procurement documents are available for unrestricted and full direct access, free of charge, at:              
         https://www.delta-esourcing.com/tenders/UK-UK-Billericay:-Legal-services./K2959429HE
   Further information can be obtained from: the above mentioned address    
   Tenders or requests to participate must be sent:       
      to the abovementioned address
I.6) Main activity:    
   Electricity

Section II: Object

II.1) Scope of the procurement
   II.1.1) Title: Provision of Legal Advisory Services          
         Reference number: 500/002          
   II.1.2) Common Procurement Vocabulary:       
      79100000 - Legal services.
   II.1.3) Type of contract: SERVICE
   II.1.4) Short description:
   Provision of legal services covering various aspects of the Xlinks Morocco-UK Power Project (Project), including advice on project structure and project and financing documents, legal requirements along the cable route, property, permitting and environmental matters and regulatory and corporate governance matters. The contracts will cover the period until achievement of financial close and completion of post close administration and conditions subsequent. For further details on the Project see: https://xlinks.co          
   II.1.5) Estimated total value:          
      Value excluding VAT (give figures only) : 6,700,000 - Currency : GBP
   II.1.6) Information about lots:
      This contract is divided into lots: Yes                
      If yes, tenders should be submitted for: All lots          
      Maximum number of lots that may be awarded to one tenderer: Not Provided       
      The contracting authority reserves the right to award contracts combining the following lots or groups of lots:       
      Any combination of Lots.

   II.2) Lot Description - 1    
   II.2.1) Title: Legal advisory services.
         Lot Number: 1          
   II.2.2) Additional CPV code(s):       
      79111000 - Legal advisory services.       
   II.2.3) Place of performance:       
      Region Codes:               
         UK - UNITED KINGDOM
   II.2.4) Description of the procurement:       
      Providing advice to Xlinks on all English law, Moroccan law and EU law aspects of the Project as requested by Xlinks for the period to financial close and post-close completion and administration, excluding anything forming part of any other Lot. Lot 1 will include advising on legal and commercial structuring and project and financing documents, government agreements (e.g. CfD, Investment Agreement in Morocco) and legislative changes, if required.    
   II.2.6) Estimate value
      Value excluding VAT (give figures only) : 4,000,000 - currency : GBP        
   II.2.7) Duration of the contract, framework agreement                    
      Duration in months - 24    
   II.2.13) Information about European Union funds
      The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds : NO           
   II.2.14) Additional information          
      Bidders for Lot 1 may comprise two law firms (preferably with prior experience working together) in order to cover required qualifications and experience. See Supplier Questionnaire for the information to be provided. The contract duration will depend on achievement of financial close and completion of post close activities. Xlinks will be entitled to extend the contract by up to 12 months.    

   II.2) Lot Description - 2    
   II.2.1) Title: Portuguese Law Adviser
         Lot Number: 2          
   II.2.2) Additional CPV code(s):       
      79111000 - Legal advisory services.       
   II.2.3) Place of performance:       
      Region Codes:               
         PT - PORTUGAL
   II.2.4) Description of the procurement:       
      Provision of Portuguese law advice in relation to the cable route through Portuguese waters and all matters arising therefrom for the period to financial close and post-close completion and administration, including all permitting, planning, environmental and other legal and regulatory requirements, any impact on the project structure and requirements under the project and finance documents.    
   II.2.6) Estimate value
      Value excluding VAT (give figures only) : 350,000 - currency : GBP        
   II.2.7) Duration of the contract, framework agreement                    
      Duration in months - 24    
   II.2.13) Information about European Union funds
      The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds : NO           
   II.2.14) Additional information          
      The contract duration will depend on the achievement of financial close and completion of post close activities. Xlinks will be entitled to extend the contract by up to 12 months.    

   II.2) Lot Description - 3    
   II.2.1) Title: Spanish Law Adviser
         Lot Number: 3          
   II.2.2) Additional CPV code(s):       
      79111000 - Legal advisory services.       
   II.2.3) Place of performance:       
      Region Codes:               
         ES - ESPAÑA
   II.2.4) Description of the procurement:       
      Provision of Spanish law advice in relation to the cable route through Spanish waters and all matters arising therefrom for the period to financial close and post-close completion and administration, including all permitting, planning, environmental and other legal and regulatory requirements, any impact on the project structure and requirements under the project and finance documents.    
   II.2.6) Estimate value
      Value excluding VAT (give figures only) : 350,000 - currency : GBP        
   II.2.7) Duration of the contract, framework agreement                    
      Duration in months - 24    
   II.2.13) Information about European Union funds
      The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds : NO           
   II.2.14) Additional information          
      The contract duration will depend on the achievement of financial close and completion of post close activities. Xlinks will be entitled to extend the contract by up to 12 months.    

   II.2) Lot Description - 4    
   II.2.1) Title: French Law Adviser
         Lot Number: 4          
   II.2.2) Additional CPV code(s):       
      79111000 - Legal advisory services.       
   II.2.3) Place of performance:       
      Region Codes:               
         FR - FRANCE
   II.2.4) Description of the procurement:       
      Provision of French law advice in relation to the cable route through French waters and all matters arising therefrom for the period to financial close and post-close completion and administration, including all permitting, planning, environmental and other legal and regulatory requirements, any impact on the project structure and requirements under the project and finance documents.    
   II.2.6) Estimate value
      Value excluding VAT (give figures only) : 350,000 - currency : GBP        
   II.2.7) Duration of the contract, framework agreement                    
      Duration in months - 24    
   II.2.13) Information about European Union funds
      The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds : NO           
   II.2.14) Additional information          
      The contract duration will depend on the achievement of financial close and completion of post close activities. Xlinks will be entitled to extend the contract by up to 12 months.    

   II.2) Lot Description - 5    
   II.2.1) Title: Planning, Permitting and Environmental Legal Adviser (PPE)
         Lot Number: 5          
   II.2.2) Additional CPV code(s):       
      79111000 - Legal advisory services.       
   II.2.3) Place of performance:       
      Region Codes:               
         UK - UNITED KINGDOM
   II.2.4) Description of the procurement:       
      Provision of English law advice in relation to land acquisition (including CPO powers if applicable), planning, permitting and environmental compliance in the UK (onshore and offshore), including crossing, compromise and similar agreements with affected parties, for the period to financial close and post-close completion and administration.    
   II.2.6) Estimate value
      Value excluding VAT (give figures only) : 900,000 - currency : GBP        
   II.2.7) Duration of the contract, framework agreement                    
      Duration in months - 24    
   II.2.13) Information about European Union funds
      The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds : NO           
   II.2.14) Additional information          
      The contract duration will depend on the achievement of financial close and completion of post close activities. Xlinks will be entitled to extend the contract by up to 12 months.    

   II.2) Lot Description - 6    
   II.2.1) Title: Procurement, Governance and Regulatory (PGR) Adviser
         Lot Number: 6          
   II.2.2) Additional CPV code(s):       
      79111000 - Legal advisory services.       
   II.2.3) Place of performance:       
      Region Codes:               
         UK - UNITED KINGDOM
   II.2.4) Description of the procurement:       
      Provision of English law advice in relation to procurement, corporate governance and regulatory matters for Xlinks and its UK subsidiaries for the period to financial close and post-close completion and administration, including advice on compliance with specific requirements imposed on entities regulated under the Electricity Act 1989.    
   II.2.6) Estimate value
      Value excluding VAT (give figures only) : 750,000 - currency : GBP        
   II.2.7) Duration of the contract, framework agreement                    
      Duration in months - 24    
   II.2.13) Information about European Union funds
      The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds : NO           
   II.2.14) Additional information          
      The contract duration will depend on the achievement of financial close and completion of post close activities. Xlinks will be entitled to extend the contract by up to 12 months.        
   
Section III: Legal, Economic, Financial And Technical Information

III.1) Conditions for participation    III.1.4) Objective rules and criteria for participation    
      List and brief description of rules and criteria:
         Qualification and registration to provide legal services in the relevant jurisdiction for the Lot;
Experience of the Bidder in providing legal services of the type required for the relevant Lot; Ability of the Bidder to provide legal services to Xlinks in fluent business English.

See the Supplier Questionnaire for further details.

Xlinks reserves the right to restrict participation in the tender to no more than 10 Bidders per Lot, selected on the basis of the qualification criteria set out in the Supplier Questionnaire.

Bidders are encouraged to submit a proposal in conjunction with other law firms in order to provide a proposal covering all Lots, but Xlinks reserves the right to award individual Lots. Bidders are not permitted to condition their proposal for any Lot on award of any other Lot.        
III.2) Conditions related to the contract
   III.2.1) Information about a particular profession    
      Reference to the relevant law, regulation or administrative provision:          
         Not Provided    
   III.2.2) Contract performance conditions          
      Not Provided    
      
Section IV: Procedure   

IV.1) Description   
   IV.1.1) Form of procedure                    
         Restricted procedure                       
   IV.1.3) Information about a framework agreement                
         The procurement involves the establishment of a framework agreement - NO                 
         In the case of framework agreements justification for any duration exceeding 8 years:                
            Not Provided    
   IV.1.10) Identification of the national rules applicable to the procedure:   
         Information about national procedures is available at:             
            Not Provided
   IV.1.11) Main features of the award procedure:       
         The Tender document will set out further detail on the Project and the work scope for each Lot. Bidders will be evaluated on the experience of their proposed team members in advising on similar projects and issues, their pricing proposals, and their commercial approach and methodology for performing the services. Further detail on the evaluation criteria and weighting will be set out in the Tender document. Following evaluation of the tenders, Xlinks reserves the right to nominate a short list of bidders for further negotiations. The eliminated bidders will not be considered for further negotiations and they will be notified accordingly. Further detail of the anticipated process will be set out in the Tender document.

Xlinks considers that the Utilities Contracts Regulations 2016 (UCR2016) may potentially apply to the award of contracts under Lot 5. As a result, it is Xlinks' current intention, on a voluntary basis, to follow the procedures set out in UCR2016 as regards the award of the contract for Lot 5. A voluntary standstill period will be applied.

However, Lots 1 to 4 are anticipated to cover activities the main subject matter of which is outside the UK and/or is not a utility activity. Lot 6 is below the threshold set out in Regulation 16 of the UCR2016. On this basis, Xlinks considers that it is clear that the contracts for Lots 1 to 4 and 6 are exempted from UCR2016 at least under Regulation 19(1)(b) and/or Regulation 6(2)(b) or (for Lot 6) Regulation 16 UCR2016. Xlinks does not consider that UCR2016 are engaged as regards the award of contracts for those Lots. Xlinks is publishing this notice voluntarily as regards Lots 1 to 4 and 6. Xlinks reserves the right to establish its own process for the award of contracts under Lots 1 to 4 and 6 and does not consider itself bound by UCR2016 in relation to these Lots. A voluntary standstill period will not be applied to Lots 1 to 4 and 6.    
IV.2) Administrative information       
   IV.2.1) Previous publication concerning this procedure    
      Notice number in OJEU: Not Provided    
   IV.2.2) Time limit for receipt of expressions of interest          
         Date - 12/05/2022 Local Time - 18:00       
   IV.2.4) Languages in which tenders or requests to participate may be submitted:             
         English           

Section VI: Complementary Information       
VI.2) Information about electronic workflows                        
VI.3) Additional Information:       
   For more information about this opportunity, please visit the Delta eSourcing portal at:
https://www.delta-esourcing.com/tenders/UK-UK-Billericay:-Legal-services./K2959429HE

To respond to this opportunity, please click here:
https://www.delta-esourcing.com/respond/K2959429HE
GO-202252-PRO-20068219 TKR-202252-PRO-20068218              
VI.4) Procedures For Appeal
   VI.4.1) Body responsible for appeal procedures:
       Xlinks
       Kingfisher House 1 Radford Way Billericay CM12 0EQ, 1 Radford Way, Billericay, CM120EQ, United Kingdom
       Tel. +44 7568101073, Email: stephen@xlinks.co       
   VI.4.3) Review procedure
      Precise information on deadline(s) for review procedures:                
         Not Provided    

VI.5) Date Of Dispatch Of This Notice: 02/05/2022