EUROPEAN UNION SATELLITE CENTRE
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
To:
All potential tenderers
From:
Procurement Officer
Subject:
Framework Contract for Copernicus Service in Support to EU External Action
Geospatial Production (reference: SATCEN-OP-01/17)
Message:
Referring to the above-mentioned procedure and pursuant to Article 112 of the
Financial Regulation1 and Article 160 of its Rules of Application2, please note the
following questions and answers up to 07/03/2017:
Question 1:
With the reference to the Tender SATCEN-OP-01/17 “Framework Contract for Copernicus Service in
Support to EU External Action Geospatial Production”, we would like to ask the following
clarification:
In Annex E, the products of the Copernicus Service in Support to EU External Action is reported, and
for each product, a delivery mode (Crisis and /or Preparedness) is provided.
Could you please clarify the definition and timing of the two delivery modes?
We look forward to receiving your feedback.
Answer 1:
Crisis and /or Preparedness delivery modes are just an indication for users (not for the industry or
the contractor) to understand the expected composition of the products depending on whether they
are activated under a tight deadline or not, as specified in the Order Form.
Deadlines for deliveries are based on different factors, including users’ needs and expected
workload.
Based on these factors and the resulting deadline, an intensity level is applied. The intensity level
determines the production capacity needed for the fulfilment of the expected workload within a
given timeframe.
The production capacity corresponding to each intensity level will depend on the terms of the
Contractor’s technical offer.
1
Regulation (EU, Euratom) no 966/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council, of 25/10/2012, on the
financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union and repealing Council Regulation (EC, Euratom)
No 1605/2002 (OJ L298 of 26/10/2012)
2
Delegated Regulation (EU) No 1268/2012, of 29 October 2012, as amended by Delegated Regulation (EU) No
2015/2462, of 30 October 2015, on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union,
particularly its Title V on Public Procurement (OJ L 362, 31/12/2012)
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For more information on delivery times, please see Annexes C and D (rather than Annex E) of the
Tender Specifications.
Further details will be provided during an Infoday session that will be held on 15 February 2017 in
Brussels (please see the invitation to tender).
Question 2:
Would it be possible to get a list of who has expressed interest and has downloaded the documents
for this tender?
Answer 2:
This information is not available as this tender procedure is not a call for expressions of interest
(with preselection of candidates) and public disclosure of names and personal data, without the
previous consent of the holder of such data, may infringe applicable data protection legislation.
Question 3:
Please find enclosed the e-pass file to register for the Infoday Session on 15/02/2017.
Could you please provide the location of the venue?
Answer 3:
The location of the venue for the Infoday Session is:
Auditorium Breydel
Avenue d'Auderghem, 45
1040 Brussels.
Question 4:
With reference to the ITT in the object we have the following questions:
1- We have noticed that in the ITT at point 3 it is requested to submit 3 paper versions of the
offer and 1 electronic copy and in Tender specification Chapter 12.2.4 it is requested to
provide as Envelope n.4 a digital copy.
In our understanding the bidder should provide a unique digital copy included in Envelope
n.4 included in the original proposal of the tender. The digital copy is not foreseen in the
remaining 2 copies, is it correct?
2- With reference to Q&A- Answer 1 and the Tender Specifications (page 41):
- Considering that
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“the intensity level determines the production capacity needed for the fulfilment of the
expected workload within a given timeframe”,
and that
- “under the lowest possible level of intensity, operational interactions between the
Contracting Authority and the Contractor will normally take place in between 9:00 AM and
6:00 PM CET, from Monday to Friday. As the Intensity Level increases such interactions are
likely to progressively extend beyond this time frame.”
In order to optimize the production organization could you please provide some examples of
both the activation modes and production scenarios for all the six Intensity Levels?
3- Given a request of activation, its assigned intensity level can be modified by Contracting
Authority during the activation timeframe?
4- One technical PoC will be available H24/365. In case of consortium, one additional technical
PoC per partner is required. Should the additional technical PoCs be available H24 too?
Answer 4:
1- The electronic copy (DVD or USB key) needs to be provided as envelope nº 4 both in the
original version of the tender and in the 2 copies.
2- Annex D, Table 3, contains a list of examples of activations. For each example, a deadline is
provided according to the token value per intensity level provided by the tenderer. The
purpose of these examples is to allow tenderers to test their offer. The Token Tracking Sheet
for each of these examples can be found in table 7 onwards in Annex D.
3- In principle, an assigned intensity level is not subject to changes, unless an exceptional
change in the deadline occurs.
4- The technical PoC per partner, in case of consortia, does not need to be available 24 hours a
day 7 days a week. His/her availability is only required during office hours and at any time
during activations according to the intensity levels.
Question 5
In the Section 4.1 of the Annex C to the Tender Specifications, it is reported that the token daily
consumption rate by Service Intensity Level (DRC level) refers to the maximum capacity production
measured in tokens that the Contractor must make available for the production by Service Intensity
Level.
Would it possible to assign two or more activations with the same DRC level in a given timeframe
until the total maximum daily consumption rate is covered ( e.g. 7 activations for Service Level F or
three activations for Service Level A), or once assigned an activation with a given DRC level is it only
possible to assign activations with different DRC level in the same timeframe?
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Answer 5:
Yes it is possible. The only limit is the maximum daily consumption rate.
Question 6:
Statement: In case of consortia, one additional technical PoC per partner is required.
Questions:
1. Does it mean that there will be more than one responsible acting as a focal point for
issues relating to production, such as receiving Orders, activating production, reporting
on Service progress, possible incidences, etc.?
2. What are the purposes of the additional technical PoCs?
Statement: Provision, management and maintenance of SFTP storage server with 1TB capacity.
Questions:
3. Is it possible to provide an SFTP storage server hosted on a server farm not located at
the Contractor premises?
4. Is it possible to provide an SFTP storage server hosted on the cloud?
Answer 6:
1- No, there will be only one focal point for technical issues available 24 hours a day 7 days a
week. This focal point is purely functional, an e-mail address and phone number will do. The
specific person(s) fulfilling this role (which includes receiving e-mails and answering phone
calls) could rotate among consortium members.
2- The purpose of the PoC per partner is to provide the Contracting Authority with the
possibility to communicate with all the members of the consortium during production if
necessary, without having to rely exclusively on the technical PoC acting as focal point.
3-4 -Yes, it is possible to provide the FTP storage service using a server not located at the
Contractor premises or hosted in the cloud, if the following conditions are met:
(i)
(ii)
the service provider (the entity hosting the server or providing the cloud service) is
headquartered or registered in the EU, Norway or Iceland; and
the Contractor has full, unrestricted and permanent access and control over the
contents hosted in the server located at third party’s premises or in the cloud.
Question 7:
With the reference to the ongoing-calls-tender SATCEN-OP-02/17 and SATCEN-OP-01/17 we would
like to ask the following clarification: can a company (SME) be part of two different consortia
participating in one to tender SATCEN-OP-02/17 and the other to the SATCEN-OP-01/17?
Thanks for your feedback.
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Answer 7:
Economic operators of all sizes, including SMEs, are free to participate in two different consortia for
the purposes of bidding in the ongoing calls for tenders SATCEN-OP-02/17 and SATCEN-OP-01/17.
Question 8:
Ref. Tender Specifications, Section 7. Subcontracting
Would it be possible to have some activities carried-out by people fully and/or partially seconded to
the Contractor by a “Parent Company” or it is mandatory to have such a Parent Company included in
the Consortium as a “Partner”?
Answer 8:
Personnel seconded by a parent company to a subsidiary do not qualify as subcontractors. In this
regards, Section 7 of the Tender Specifications provides that “Subcontractors are independent
Economic Operators (Economic Operators that do not belong to the Group of the Contractor)”.
Activities under the Contract must be carried out “by employees of the tenderer or, if applicable, of
the Economic Operators forming the bidding consortia”, as provided in Section 11.2.3.2 of the
Tender Specifications. If the activities are to be performed by employees of the parent company,
such parent company should form part of the consortium and be identified as a consortium partner
in the tender submission form.
Question 9:
Ref. Tender Specifications, Section 7. Subcontracting – page 17
“Subcontractors must be selected through a competitive selection process, requiring the submission
of a minimum of three quotes, unless subcontractors have an established framework contract with
the Contractor for the provision of services or the supply of goods”.
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Question 1: Please clarify if the 3 quotes have to be provided at time of tender submission
and therefore the selection process has to be carried-out before the tender submission.
Question 2: In case of provision of three quotes, all these potential subcontractors need to
sign the letter of intent with the Contractor to be enclosed in the tender?
Question 3: How the eventual framework contract with a sub-contractor need to be
established? Does it need to include prices for the activities to be subcontracted or it is
enough a general agreement on the type of activities with financial terms to be agreed in
case of tender awarding to the Contractor?
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Answer 9:
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The selection process for subcontractors has to be carried out before the tender submission.
The subcontractors identified in the tender submission form must have been previously
selected after requesting a minimum of 3 quotes. These 3 quotes do not need to be
provided with the tender. Only the successful tenderer must provide the quotes received at
the request of the SatCen.
The letter of intent does not need to be signed by all the potential subcontractors, only by
the subcontractors identified in the tender submission form, which have been previously
selected on the basis of 3 quotes.
The framework contract with the subcontractor does not need to comply with any specific
requirements neither provide a description of the activities or prices. However, this
framework contract must be an “established” framework contract, meaning a pre-existing
contract at the time of the publication of the contract notice.
Question 10:
We’ve requested the letters of appreciation in order to provide the evidence of experience in the same
technical area.
We would like to provide this evidence in the proposals in answer to Call of Tenders SATCEN-OP-01/17
and SATCEN-OP-02/17.
Could you please let us know if is it feasible for you?
Answer 10:
There is no need to provide the SatCen with a formal “reference letter” signed by the Centre’s
representatives, attesting the tenderer’s participation in contracts previously awarded by the SatCen
in the geospatial field, as the SatCen already knows the exact extent of such participation.
In the case of the call for tenders SATCEN-OP-01/17, the information to be provided in the table on
page 21 of the tender specifications will suffice, and no additional letter from the SatCen attesting
completion of the projects listed on this table is necessary, if such projects refer to contracts previously
awarded by the SatCen.
Question 11:
On the subject of Geometric accuracy requirements for Vector layers, page 8 of Annex A indicates that
it must be equal or better than 5 pixels offset of the used imagery. If images with resolutions of 50cm
are used for producing maps at 25000 scale, as stated in the portfolio, the maximum admitted error
is then 2,5 m. At a nominal extraction scale for 1:25000 output maps, this value is not consistently
achievable. For instance, a line in a 1:25000 printed map represents 5 m on the ground. This leads to
an important efficiency lost in the service as there is a too tight geometric accuracy that will not even
be productive. An option would be to base the geometric accuracy in accordance to the required
output map scale, e.g. line correspondent width + error margin.
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Answer 11:
For the purposes of the Copernicus SEA Service, the geometric accuracy shall not link to the output
map production. Products are provided to the user for integration into their own GIS system. Also,
web maps (with dynamic scale) are a possible output. For this reason, the accuracy must be referenced
to the imagery. The use of <1m resolution is mostly foreseen for products 1:5000 or 1:10000. 1:25000
is indeed an extreme case. In most cases, Copernicus SEA would be using imagery above 1m for those
cases, but the use of better imagery cannot be discarded. For this reasoning, the effort in the token
system (and consequently the effort to ensure that level of quality) is also linked to the resolution of
the imagery used. Therefore, the geometric accuracy remains as 5 pixels offset. The impact of this
decision as excessive quality will be very limited due to the fact that 1:25000 mapping with <1m
resolution is rather exceptional.
Question 12:
In the product “Road network status assessment” presented in the portfolio, both Basic road and
detailed road layers are required in crisis mode. Is this correct? We would assume only basic for crisis
mode and detailed for preparedness. On the other hand, if detailed is necessary, then basic seems to
be redundant.
Answer 12:
The product “Road network status assessment” will require either basic or detail, never both at the
same time. The main driver for this decision shall be the deadline and the needs of the user.
Question 13:
In regard to scenario 4 Annex F, the guidelines for Quality control indicate that “Roads must represent
the actual connectivity for network purposes. Roads elevated by a bridge cannot share a vertex with
the road running underneath.” We would like to bring your attention to:
a. The topology model in ArcGIS will automatically generate vertices at all line
intersections.
b. In the road extraction guide for MGCP TRD4, which is used as extraction guideline in
reference mapping, we can read the following rule: “Where a Road intersects another
Road without the presence of a bridge or tunnel (meaning the elevation is the same),
the two roads must be connected with a common vertex at the intersection.” The
attribute “LOC: Vertical Relative Location”, will identify if the road intersection is at
the same level (connected) or not. In the case a road crossing a bridge with another
road crossing underneath, the LOC = “Above Surface” will ensure that, even sharing a
vertex at the intersection, the roads are not connected. This can be used when doing
network analysis as Z values for setting the appropriate network connectivity
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c. For not having common vertex in line intersections (even if only in specific locations –
e.g. bridges, etc) it would be necessary to take these layers out of topology, which
doesn’t seem logical. Even more considering that exists different solution for solving
the network connectivity issue (as expressed above).
Answer 13:
The requirements for quality control remain as stated in the scenario 4 Annex F; “roads elevated by a
bridge cannot share a vertex with the road running underneath”. It is true that applying some topology
rules in ArcGIS automatically generates vertices at all line intersections. Therefore, other options to
assess the right topology will be required by the tenderer during the elaboration of the scenario 4.
Nonetheless, such suggestions aimed at reaching the same level of quality with more efficient
methods are appreciated and might be taken into consideration during the set-up phase.
Question 14:
In regard to scenario 4 Annex F, the “Relation between hydrology and road network must be resolved
(with culvert, bridge or ford).” We would like to ask what to do when it is not visible in the imagery
what is the situation? Note that regarding this requirement, MGCP sets the following rule: “All roads
that pass over drainage shall have a Bridge, Culvert, or Ford, only when visible on the imagery.”
Answer 14:
When the feature (culvert, bridge or ford) is not visible on the image, ford should be assigned with a
comment “No visible in the image” in the TXT field.
Nonetheless, the resolution of the imagery provided should allow skilled analyst to properly
interpreting the presence of culverts or bridges in all cases.
Question 15:
In regard to scenario 4 Annex F, we would like to ask whether the input layers should be
imported/integrated into the Data Dictionary specifications set for this product, in accordance with
the examples given in the portfolio? Also, on the subject of the QC we understand from the text
provided that it is only necessary to correct data in what refers to the QC guidelines provided. This
means that mandatory fields that are not considered in these guidelines (e.g. road functional status),
even if not filled or wrongly filled, will not be considered as error.
Answer 15:
1 – The Data Dictionary should cover the layers included in the portfolio. The layers used to solve the
scenario 4 should follow the Data Dictionary specifications.
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2 – The purpose of the exercise is to perform a QC process according to the instructions provided in
the section “The following are guidelines for Quality Control Layers”. Therefore, attributes that are
not included in the provided dataset (e.g. road functional status) but existing in the Product Design
will not be subject for the quality control. For the purpose of the exercise, you could ignore the content
of these attributes although the related layers should be in line the Data Dictionary specifications.
Question 16:
Should the Contractor report into the Tender a definition for each intensity level in terms of effective
working hours?
Answer 16:
No, the tenderer should provide only Token Daily Consumption Rate by Service Intensity Level in
tokens, as specified in Annexes C and D. Nonetheless, Tender Specifications, Section 15.1, and Annexes
C and D describe how each intensity level will be managed.
Question 17:
Which is the link between the intensity service levels and working hours?
Answer 17:
The SatCen, based on user’s needs, will define the intensity levels in order to meet the required
deadline. The contractor, based on the tokens assigned per activation, will allocate the necessary
working hours to execute the order. Intensity levels beyond F may require production meetings and
deadlines for intermediate deliveries beyond working hours.
Question 18:
Are you planning to make available during the Contract execution an on-line logging system to track
activation details and status?
Answer 18:
Yes. An initial system will be used and improved during the contract execution.
Question 19:
Will the on line GIS Platform for the production online meeting be made available by the Tenderer?
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Please refer to Section 15.5.3 –“Production online meeting”- of the Tender Specifications (page 47).
The word “GIS” in Section 15.5.3 of the Tender Specifications is an error that has been corrected in
the Corrigendum Notice published on the SatCen’s online procurement portal. An online web platform
for communications (e.g Skype for Business or webEx) will be initiated by the SatCen. Contractor must
ensure that it has the sufficient technical capacity to connect to such a system.
Question 20:
Could you please confirm that the corporate DB is a tool that allow the Contractor to manage the
intermediate deliveries, while the Contractor works on a replica of the corporate DB?
Answer 20:
The corporate DB will be one of the possible methods to deliver the data, as indicated in Annex A. For
those cases where the corporate DB will be used as a delivery mechanism, it will work as a central
database where the Contractor will upload or edit directly the intermediate and final deliverables.
Question 21 (Infoday Session):
Do companies belonging to the same group, that undertake different activities under the Framework
Contract, need to be partners of the consortium? Do each of these companies need to comply with all
the legal and administrative requirements? How can consortium partners belonging to the same group
alleviate their administrative burden when preparing and submitting documents for this call? Do
documents provided to SatCen in past calls for tenders need to be provided again?
Answer 21:
Economic operators belonging to the same group of companies, that perform activities under the
Framework Contract, need to be identified in the tender submission form as consortium partners and
show proof of compliance with all eligibility criteria, as well as with legal, financial and technical
capacity. SatCen needs to know which economic operators are responsible for each activity under the
Framework Contract and assess the eligibility and capacity of such operators.
Companies belonging to the same group cannot participate as subcontractors. In order to guarantee
the widest possible participation of all economic operators throughout the EU and based on Art. II.3
of the Draft Framework Contract, subcontractors must be independent economic operators
(economic operators that do not belong to the group of the contractor).
Consortium partners belonging to the same group may alleviate their administrative burden in
preparing and submitting documents by, for example, having the documents signed by a CEO
representing different companies within the group, or providing consolidated annual accounts for
different group companies.
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Depending on the type of document, certain documents already provided to the SatCen in past calls
for tenders may not need to be submitted again for this call, thus avoiding duplications. This may be
the case for annual accounts, notarial deeds or letters of reference issued by contracting authorities
attesting the contractor’s experience in the fields covered by the Framework Contract. However, other
documents must be specific for this call, including the consortium agreement, powers of attorney in
favour of the consortium leader, letters of intent of consortium members and subcontractors and
declarations on honour.
Question 22 (Infoday Session):
Are the costs for setting up the service covered by the pre-financing or by the price assigned to the
token?
Answer 22:
The token price offered in the tender is all-inclusive and it should cover all expenditure that may be
incurred by the contractor in the performance of the contract, including, without limitations, the costs
of setting up the necessary infrastructure for the 24-hour on-demand service, including personnel
costs and equipment expenses.
However, in order to facilitate the setting up of the service in the absence of orders or before orders
are placed, a pre-financing of up to 3 million Euro may be granted. The pre-financing is owed by the
Contractor to the SatCen. Every time a contractor’s invoice is accepted by the SatCen, the amount of
such invoice is set off against the amount of the pre-financing owed until the pre-financing balance is
cleared.
Question 23 (Infoday Session):
Do employees need to be permanent or part-time? May employees be provided by a recruiting
company?
Answer 23:
The personnel involved in the execution of the Framework Contract must consist of in-house
employees of the contractor or consortium partners, either permanent or part-time, at the time of
the publication of the contract notice. They cannot be service providers, contractors or workforce
outsourced by a recruiting agency.
It is expected that the persons responsible for the execution of the framework contract will remain
bound to the performance of the services during the lifetime of the contract. A situation where the
withdrawal of any these persons could jeopardise the timely and due execution of the Framework
Contract should be avoided. Accordingly, in the case of part-time employees, the expiration of their
employment contracts should be avoided during the implementation of the Framework Contract.
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Question 24 (Infoday Session):
In case the contract is extended beyond the initial 9-month period to the additional 12-month period,
how would such an extension take place? Is the contractor required to sign a new contract? Will this
extension have to be agreed in writing?
Answer 24:
The extension will operate automatically, subject to a positive evaluation of the initial period and to
the availability of funds.
Question 25 (Infoday Session):
Will the pre-financing be awarded for each of the two contract periods or for the whole 21-month
duration?
Answer 25:
There will be only one pre-financing payment for the whole 21-month duration of the contract.
Question 26 (Infoday Session):
Should tenderers submit 4 envelopes (3 envelopes with the documents and 1 additional envelope with
a digital copy) or just 3 envelopes (including a digital copy)?
Answer 26:
Tenderers are expected to submit 3 sets of tenders: 1 original and 2 copies. Each of these three sets
shall include 4 inner envelopes: One envelope for each of the 3 sections (Administrative Section,
Technical Offer and Financial Offer) and one additional envelope including a digital copy of the
previous sections.
Question 27 (Infoday Session):
Is it possible to split the first demand guarantee among the members of the consortium?
Answer 27:
Yes, it is possible to split the first demand guarantee among consortium members, as long as:
(i)
The aggregate value of the first demand guarantees provided by different consortium
partners covers the full value of the pre-financing; and
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(ii)
the first demand guarantees are provided to the SatCen within 30 days from the signing
of the contract.
Question 28 (Infoday Session):
Do the tender documents provide a definition on SME?
Answer 28:
Yes, page 6 of the tender specifications contains a definition on SME based on the European
Commission Recommendation, of 6 May 2003, concerning the definition of micro, small and mediumsized enterprises.
Question 29 (Infoday Session):
Annex D contains an estimate of the number of tokens per product. How has this estimate been
calculated? How can you estimate, for example, that reference mapping has 400 tokens while other
products have a lesser number? Can we assume that these estimated figures will apply during the
contract or they are just provided for evaluation purposes?
Answer 29:
The calculation of the tokens per product is based on the cumulative effort of the required actions for
the provision of the product, which has been estimated according to previous FP7 projects.
The values assigned to the actions and the related factors (area, imagery resolution and number of
items) are assigned for the whole duration of the contract. See Annex C, Sections 3.1 and 3.2.
However, please note that the products provided are examples of the type of products that the SEA
service may provide. The values of the Token System are not expected to be modified during the
duration of the contract, unless previously agreed in writing between the Contractor and the
Contracting Authority. Such modification shall never take place during the course of an activation.
Question 30 (Infoday Session):
If one project splits into different actions, is it possible that one action falls under intensity level F,
whereas another action falls under intensity level A. Is it possible to mix up intensities in one project?
Answer 30:
A project (an order placed by the SatCen under the Copernicus SEA service) will be always linked to
one intensity level.
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It is only possible that several intensity levels run in parallel if several orders are placed in parallel.
Question 31 (Infoday Session):
For activation of levels A and B a high amount of resources within a short time frame will be required,
whereas for standard levels E and F we can assume to have a larger number of tokens over a longer
period of time. Would it be possible to provide some indications about the intermediate activation
levels, C and D?
Answer 31:
The fact of not providing more indications on the intensity levels is meant to give the tenderers enough
freedom to better allocate their time and human resources. There are samples in Annex D to help
tenderers with their own simulations.
The Intensity level will be defined according to users’ needs (e.g. urgency), however this does not
imply a given number of tokens per activation. As an example, there could be small activations in
Intensity Level F and one large activation in Intensity Level A.
Question 32 (Infoday Session):
You presented a model where you calculated the time needed for delivering the services just by
dividing the number of tokens by the daily consumption rate. This is a very generic approach to the
problem as sometimes you cannot put many people on a service, they have to work consecutively
(one comes after the other). Considering this and the likely bilateral discussions between the project
manager of the consortium and the Contracting Authority, how can services be provided effectively?
Answer 32:
As described in the Tender Specifications, the Daily Consumption Rate will be used to determine the
intensity level necessary to meet the deadline. Tenderers should consider this when determining how
much effort they can allocate on a daily basis (the DCR).
Notwithstanding this, an activation organisation plan will be discussed between the Contractor and
the Contracting Authority to maximise the use of resources and avoid Idle Time as much as possible.
Question 33 (Infoday Session):
Do you expect, for instance as regards the data dictionary, that we use the same concept that has
been previously used in the pre-operational phase or do you expect something new?
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Answer 33:
The Contracting Authority is expecting to receive good technical proposals. These proposals could be
based on past experiences or new approaches and ideas as long as they fit with the tender
specifications. In the specific case of the Data Dictionary, these were the reasons for not providing a
specific definition of data dictionary, as the Contracting Authority looks forward to evaluating
proposals for a data dictionary as part of the technical proposal.
Question 34 (Infoday Session):
We have been explained that it is up to the bidders to fill up the intensity levels, and according to
Table 2 in Annex D it is expected that across the different service intensity levels the productivity or
token consumption rate is increasing. This leaves very limited space to fill up these service intensity
levels with different criteria. In production types with consecutive tasks where you cannot parallelise
everything but the minimum consumption rates given in table 2 assume that everything is possible to
parallelise. The examples given here are increasing from F to A but there is no space to add extra
services. For example a task started by a large production group that could be finalised overnight by a
smaller team under a 24/7 service. Also in the documents, from F to A, the daily consumption rate is
increasing and it is also expected that the price multiplier applied to the intensity levels is increased.
Sometimes you have a type of service that needs to be produced over a short period of time, but this
extra service and extra cost only results in a small production rate which is not really reflected in this
categorisation. So my question is when you explain we are free to fill up the intensity rates, can we
apply price multipliers only to intensity levels where capacity is simply larger without any added
quality of services? What I mean is a given order is fixed to one intensity level and I’m missing the real
freedom of assigning services to an intensity level. Intensity levels, as they are defined now, only relate
to increases in production capacity and do not leave space or give the opportunity to add the quality
of the service.
Answer 34:
For each activation, the Contracting Authority will fill out the Product Design form (Annex IV to the
Draft Framework Contract), indicating the products, specifications and delivery deadline.
The Contractor needs to provide the Token Daily Consumption Rate according to the Service Intensity
Level (DCRlevel) and the Service Intensity Level Price Multiplier (SPM). The intensity level is selected
by the Contracting Authority in order to meet the delivery deadline, which is based on user’s needs.
The DCRlevel represents the increase in production capacity for each of the intensity levels. This
increase in production capacity involves assigning more resources to a given order.
The SPM (Service Intensity Level Price Multiplier) represents the increase in price by unit of effort due
to the use of extra resources (working overtime, overnight or weekend shifts, etc.). These extra
resources are sometimes necessary in order to reach the desired DCR for a given level.
Since activations under the Copernicus SEA service may greatly differ among them, the Token system
has been developed in order to address different types of actions, scaling factors and varying
production schemes. The Contracting Authority acknowledges that not all the actions are subject to
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run in parallel and, for this reason, some actions executed at the end of the production phase may
have assigned a number of tokens proportional to the effort in other actions. The fact that some
actions may run in parallel while others have to be implemented sequentially needs to be considered
in the calculation of the DCR per level (using the examples in Annex D as a reference).
Question 35 (Infoday Session):
Can you confirm that the daily consumption rate refers to working days? We understand it is only
working days, from Monday to Friday, based on Annex D. For example, if we get an order on a Friday
evening for 9 days of work, this means 2 days that we don’t work, 5 days of the week after and then
2 days that we don’t work in the upcoming weekend, which leaves us with 5 days of effective work.
Answer 35:
A Corrigendum Notice clarifying this issue has been published on the SatCen’s procurement on-line
portal.
The Daily Consumption Rate (“DCR”) does indeed refer to the daily consumption rate in working days.
However, please note that the meaning of “working days” and “working hours” varies depending on
the intensity level.
For Levels D, E and F:

“Working days” refers to Monday to Friday according to the annual working calendar of the
Copernicus SEA Geospatial Production service to be established during the set-up phase,
based on the Contracting Authority’s and the Contractor’s annual working calendar.

“Working hours” refers to the time between 9:00 AM and 6:00 PM CET during working days.
For Levels A, B and C:

“Working days” refers to all days of the year, including Saturday, Sunday and bank holidays.

“Working hours” means anytime during the working days.
Under the lowest possible level of intensity, Level F, operational interactions including intermediate
deliveries and on-line meetings between the Contracting Authority and the Contractor will normally
take place during working days and working hours. As the Intensity Level increases such interactions
are likely to progressively extend beyond this timeframe. For the Intensity Levels D and E no
operational interactions might occur outside working days, however operational interactions outside
working hours are likely to occur. Operational interactions under the Intensity Levels A, B and C might
happen anytime.
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Question 36 (Infoday Session):
In higher service levels you are only requesting more production capacities if now you are going to
apply higher production capacities to weekends that’s contradictory. The Daily Consumption Rate
does not take into account if it is a weekend or a weekday.
Answer 36:
Please see the answer to question 35 for clarification.
Question 37:
In the tender requirement it is requested to demonstrate the economic and financial capacity filling
Annex I. It is necessary to provide information about the financial year 2014/2015/2016 but in our
company the values referred to 2016 will be able in April 2017. Should we provide the value only for
2015/2014 or for the last 3 closed financial years that are available (2015/204/2013)?
Answer 37:
The data and figures required to prove the economic and financial capacity refer to years 2016, 2015
and 2014, as indicated in the Financial and Economic Capacity Overview Form (Annex I to the Tender
Specifications).
If the financial statements for 2016 have not yet been finally approved, the values referred to 2016
can be taken from the preliminary financial statements (e.g. quarterly accounts), as provided on page
3 of the Financial and Economic Capacity Overview Form.
Question 38:
In order to clarify what technical and professional capacities companies have to submit, it would be
very useful to know if the companies that present themselves in consortium have to certify each of
them the following fields:

Geographic information systems (GISs) and production of maps in standard digital formats
and suitable for hard copy printing.

Earth Observation.

Provision of services for EU external action or related policies.
Answer 38:
As indicated on page 21 of the Tender Specifications:
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“The tenderers or, if applicable, the Economic Operators forming the bidding consortia must have at
least 3 years of experience in the following fields:

Geographic information systems (GISs) and production of maps in standard digital formats
and suitable for hard copy printing,

earth Observation, and

provision of services for EU external action or related policies.”
Accordingly, each and all of the partners of a bidding consortium must have at least 3 years of
experience in the aforementioned fields and indicate the reference projects where they have
participated by filling up the table provided on page 21 of the tender specifications.
Should a contract be awarded, the successful tenderer shall provide the relevant certificates attesting
completion of these projects.
Question 39:
Tender requests for the development of tools (please see the image below).We assume it is ArcGIS.
Could you please let us know if network analysis extension is foreseen? Which version?
Answer 39:
No extension is mandatory but it is part of the good practices for running the Copernicus SEA service.
These tools, dedicated to cover the users’ needs, will be implemented at the Contracting Authority’s
premises.
Question 40:
Is there a difference between populated, built up and urban areas that should lead to different layers?
Non EU border mapping refer built up areas, Camp analysis refer urban areas, others refer to
populated areas.
Answer 40:
“Built-up areas”, “urban areas” and “populated areas” are concepts used to identify dwellings and
human-related infrastructure (e.g. parking lots). Therefore, the above-mentioned layers are
synonyms. The names are associated to the type of product where the information would be
identifiable.
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Question 41:
With reference to the Scenario 3, Annex F, input data folder, the Military Installation layer does not
include geometry. Is it possible to delete it?
Answer 41:
This question directly relates to the execution of the Scenario. As the response to this question is part
of the technical offer, which will be subject to evaluation, the SatCen cannot provide an answer to this
question.
Question 42:
With reference to Annex E, the output types for the Products include: Printable Map series (PDF) ,
Georeferenced Map ( .tiff or .jp2), Layer Group (.kml, .gdb, .shp, .WMS), while into the Annex A,
Technical Requirements, it is reported that the output for the products are Printable Map series
(GeoPDF), Georeferenced Map (.tiff or .jp2), Layer Group. Could you please clarify if the Printable
Map series should be provided as PDF or GeoPDF?
Answer 42:
By default, printable maps will be required in GeoPDF format. The Contractor may only be asked to
use PDF if the user requests it.
Question 43:
During the Contract execution an on-line logging system to track activation details and status will be
made available by SatCen?
Answer 43:
Yes. An initial on-line logging system will be used and improved during contract execution.
Question 44:
Annex C states in page 19: “Token Daily Consumption Rate by Service Intensity Level (DCRlevel): It
refers to the maximum production capacity measured in Tokens that the Contractor must make
available for the production by Service Intensity Level.” After the presentation at the infoday in
Brussels, we understand this statement means that, with a DCR of 32Tk in intensity level A and a Token
Maximum DCR of 108Tk, you can only activate level A activations up to 32 Tokens at the same time
and if several activations are running in parallel, they should be in another intensity, as Intensity level
A will be at its maximum of production. Can you confirm this?
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Answer 44:
No. Parallel activations can be requested at any level with the Token Maximum DCR as only limit.
Question 45:
Regarding scenario 4 of Annex F it is already stated that the layers to solve scenario 4 should follow
the Data Dictionary Specifications. Furthermore it is stated, that attributes that are defined in the
Product Design but not part of the data in the provided database do not need to be subject for the
quality control. Regarding that clarification the following further questions arose:

Are missing features (features that are part of the Product Design but not in the provided
database) subject for the quality control? E.g. does the airport need to be extracted in addition
to the provided OSM database? Do further Points of Interest visible in the image need to be
extracted?

Is Annex A-Technical Requirements additionally to the “guidelines for Quality Control” of
Annex F to be subject to the quality control? E.g. is the geometric accuracy (5 pixel) for
vector data to be taken into account? Do defined topology rules need to be implemented?
Answer 45:


Errors or omissions are subject to Quality Control.
Yes, geometric and topological guidelines must be applied to all the information required in
the Product Design.
Question 46:
Regarding scenario 4 of Annex F it is stated in the guidelines for Quality Control, that names of roads
must be written correctly in Cyrillic and Latin alphabet. Does it have to be a translation or a
transliteration?
Answer 46:
Transliteration. Translation is only desirable for translatable words (such as “street”, “avenue”, etc.).
Question 47:
Say we receive an activation totaling 10 tokens, made of 10 successive actions of 1 token each, that
cannot be parallelized. Will this impossibility to parallelize influence the deadline calculation (formula
“D” defined page 15 of Annex C is not explicit on that point)? Who shall decide what can be
parallelized, SatCen when ordering, or the Contractor when acknowledging the order?
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Answer 47:
The Contracting Authority in the implementation of the Copernicus SEA Service has already foreseen
the establishment of the non-parallelized actions. The example used in the question above is extreme
or very unlikely in practice due to the values assigned in the Token System. Please refer to the
scenarios and examples in Annex D. The tenderer in the calculation of the DCR must consider the
possibility of having some tasks running sequentially.
Question 48:
Concerning the ITT SATCEN-OP-01/17 Cap.11.2.3.2. we would like to know if for the team of experts,
exceeding the minimum number of 21 members, it is necessary to provide the signed CVs also for the
exceeding experts or it is only necessary to add their details in the table at pag. 27?
Answer 48:
Section 11.2.3.2 (page 23) of the Tender Specifications provides that “For each expert forming the
proposed geospatial production team, a Curriculum Vitae (CV) must be provided…”
Accordingly, CVs must be provided not only for the minimum number of 21 members of the
production team, but “for each expert” forming such a team.
Question 49:
The ITT says that at least 21 members of the production team must have full time dedication to the
contract. As it is by definition an on demand service where activations cannot be predicted, can we
consider that the 100% dedication is valid only during the activation (with exception of the 24/7 PoC
and / or other 24/7 roles)?
Answer 49:
The 21 members of the production team must have full time dedication to the contract only during
activations, but they must be ready and available to start working on an on-demand activation at any
time according to the terms of the contract and the tender specifications.
Question 50:
With the reference to the Tender SATCEN-OP-01/17 “Framework Contract for Copernicus Service in
Support to EU External Action Geospatial Production”, in the Annex B, section 2.5 it is reported that
‘the production must be performed in the DB made available for this purpose by the Satcen’, we would
like to ask the following:
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1. Will the Database be released by SatCen along with the order emission or at a later time? (for
example as soon as the EO image is made available).
2. If no modifications to the original DB are needed, would it be possible to work directly with a
copy of the standard database owned by the Contractor and defined during the set-up phase
(as per annex A par. 2.1)?
Answer 50:
The answer below addresses both questions, as they are interrelated.
During the set-up phase, a standard database (DB) will be defined (See Annex A, section 2.1). This DB
is the starting point for the Copernicus SEA Service Geospatial Production. This standard DB is a
dynamic component of the Copernicus SEA service and therefore subject to evolution incorporating
the service knowledge and experience acquired through the activations.
If no modifications are required over the DB, the Contractor will be authorised to use the standard DB
or the evolved DB.
If modifications are needed, the database will be provided by the SatCen to the Contractor at the time
of the placement of the order.
The ownership of the database is subject to the rules laid down in the Framework Contract on
ownership, exploitation and reporting of Results.
Question 51:
With the reference to the Tender SATCEN-OP-01/17 “Framework Contract for Copernicus Service in
Support to EU External Action Geospatial Production”
1) With reference to the Annex F to the Technical Specifications, Scenario 1, for “any realistic
imagery available”, should we intend “realistic imagery ” as imagery already acquired and
really available in satellite data providers archive? In this case are we free to suggest the
acquisition timeframe for the archive imagery?
Otherwise, is “realistic” meant as imagery available from any satellite sensor?
2) With respect to Annex F scenario 5 “understanding the focus of the product”, in paragraph
15.1 it is stated that the Tenderer must identify the most critical layers of information in a
product. In the same paragraph it is also stated that this is important in order to assign
priorities for extraction and QC.
It is clear that the order of layer extraction does not always coincide with the order in term
of importance, this is the case for example of the evacuation plan layer.
The question is: are the layers to be listed by extraction order (in order to avoid bottlenecks
during the production phase) or by their intrinsic importance for the product?
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Answer 51:
1) “Any realistic imagery available” in the Scenario 1, Annex F refers to imagery with “realistic”
specifications from the sensor in terms of spatial and spectral resolution, revisit time among
others and the acquisition time of the imagery: archived or new acquisition depending on the
product purposes.
2) During the preparation of the Scenario 5, Annex F, tenderers must provide the order of the
layers according to their intrinsic importance. The order in which the layers need to be
extracted is part of the scenario 1 as described in the instruction of this scenario in the Annex
F: “Good planning will also be able to assign a sequence of tasks (what has to be done first
and what has to be done second) that allows efficient use of resources, final quality of results
and minimization of Idle Time (as defined in Annex C).”
Question 52:
Due to last clarifications issued by SatCen in the document “CORRIGENDUM NOTICE”, we [ ] would
appreciate, and therefore we kindly ask you for, a deadline extension of some extra weeks for tender
submission. We consider this extra time necessary to adjust our figures to SatCen’s requirements.
The new Corrigendum that came out on the 28th of February has a very big impact in proposals as it
presents a new scenario that needs a deeper analysis in order to be sure of preparing a good proposal
that fulfills these new requirements. Therefore, we would like to ask for an extension of the deadline
of 15 days (two weeks).
With the reference to the Tender SATCEN-OP-01/1, and considering the corrigendum notice and
answers to the request of clarification published this week, we would like to request an extension of
the time limit to submit the Tender.
With the reference to the Tender SATCEN-OP-01/1, in order to align our proposal to the specifications
provided with the corrigendum notice published on 28/02, we would kindly ask for a time extension
of the deadline for the submission of the Tender.
Regarding the newly published Corrigendum Notice, requirements changed and increased in an
extensive scale. Due to this, main parts of the tender need to be examined and changed. We kindly
ask for an extension of the tender deadline for 2 weeks.
In view of the corrigendum, which has been published 12 days before deadline and notably impacts
the strategy for handling the intensity levels and DCR, we would like to ask you for an extension of 2
weeks in order to digest the new scenario and requirements. The overall goal is to provide the agency
with an offer with the maximum quality standards and meeting technical requirements.
Provided your recent clarifications, which imposes significant change to our organizational scheme,
we kindly ask for a time extension of the deadline of this tender.
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Answer 52:
Unfortunately SatCen cannot give a time extension for the submission of tenders as the Copernicus
SEA service needs to be fully operational as of May 1st 2007 and the 13-day time extension already
granted leaves no margin for additional extensions.
In our view, the clarifications provided in the Corrigendum Notice do not entail a significant change in
the nature or specificities of the required services that may eventually justify an extension of the
deadline. It should be recalled that, since the launch of the call for tenders, “Services” have been
defined as a 24/7 service required for the production of geospatial products:
“Services: The twenty-four (24) hours a day, seven (7) days a week, on-demand services
required for the production of deliverable geospatial products resulting from the analysis of
satellite imagery and collateral data, as described in Section 4 and Annex A (Technical
Requirements) and according to the examples provided in Annex E (SEA Portfolio).” (Page 6 of
the Tender Specifications).
We take the opportunity to remind you that communications between potential tenderers and the
SatCen must be channelled through the official means of communications indicated in the Invitation
to Tender, and that “any other contacts are prohibited and can lead to the exclusion of the tenderer”
(Section 14 of the Invitation to Tender).
Question 53:
We would like to bring your attention to the scenario that results from the feedback that has been
received in the Corrigendum Notice (requiring a 24/7 service for Service Intensity Levels A, B and C )
and the clarifications to the questions 5, 35 and 44 (setting maximum production capacity due to
concurrent activations):
1.
The maximum DCR per day that SATCEN may ask is at least 108 (5/6 of 130 Tk).
2.
This DCR may be requested in any kind of intensity level so that concurrent H24
activations would take place.
3.
If we adopt the original documentation of the precursor Project G-NEXT, the unit effort
of 4 man-hours/token results
4.
Thus, the minimum DCRmax capacity would be fixed in 432 man-hours/day (108*4);
5.
If expressed in human resources effort, 54 people is needed to cope with that DCRmax
who will be distributed in 3 shifts of 8 hours each and 18 people each.
6.
In order to steadily guarantee this workforce, being fully compliant with national labour
regulations for on-duty services, a team of at least 90 people (on 24/7 basis) is necessary
for the entire Contract duration.
7.
The above number of required people seems to be not affordable from an industrial
point of view, taking also into consideration that the SEA Contract, differently from other
Copernicus Services, does not foresee any fixed component (FFP). Furthermore, the
envisaged capacity poses serious threats with reference to the quality of the products
that may be generated and, if we also compare to the foreseen amount of H24
activations, may produce a high level of fixed not productive costs.
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Taking all the above issues into account, we would like to submit the following request of
clarification:
“Is a Tenderer allowed to define in the proposal its commitment in terms of maximum number of
tokens per day to be guaranteed on concurrent H24 activations, fixing this committed value lower
than 108 tokens per day but anyhow granting the overall required number of tokens (108 tk) for a
mix of 24 and non H24 activations?”
Answer 53:
The scenario presented in the very detailed analysis is a very extreme scenario and it does not reflect
the foreseeable activity of the service. The expected proportion of activations in the maximum level
of intensity is 5% (see Table 3 of Annex D). Since the service is user-driven, this cannot be
guaranteed, but the service is not meant to operate at only the maximum level for the whole
duration of the contract.
The existence of the intensity levels reflects the reality of a service that needs to have momentary
peaks of effort over a constant rate of work. The analysis of the question mentions 90 people
necessary to conduct the continuous 24/7 work. It needs to be noted that the intensity levels do not
specify the mode in which everybody of the working team need to operate. The only requirement is
to have a constant reference (a 24/7h POC) who is able to respond and act during the production.
Optimizing the balance of resources and the efforts through the day is part of the strategy of the
bidders.
As a reference, we ran a simulation of what an activation of 32 tokens could look like:
The following TTS represents an example of an analysis over an airfield. A 100 sqkm image is
acquired for the production. The analysis requires to map the airfield, use some open source data
for the surroundings, automatically extract contour lines and identify the landed aircrafts.
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Action
Base Action
#
1
2
3
4
5
Comments
Freely Available Sources
Mining (Geospatial Data)
Feature Extraction
(IDENTIFICATION)
Spatial Semi-automatic
analysis
Extra Actions
Layer Preparation
(Symbolization)
Cartographic Production
Base
tokens
per
action
Spatial
Final
Spatial
Resolution tokens per
Resolution
Factor
action
Per item
1
1
VHR1
1
1
Micro (up
to 100km)
N/A
13
VHR1
1
13
N/A
4
Irrelevant
1
4
N/A
5
VHR1
1
5
1
3
VHR1
Multiplier
1
3
Responsible Area
Optical Imagery Preparation
(Orthorectification)
Feature Extraction
(Mapping, LIGHT)
Number
of Items
Roads, Paths, Airfield
features (Runway,
Apron, Terminal, Fence,
taxiway)
Road Network in the
vicinity of the airfield,
POIs
Presence of aircrafts
(type, status)
Contour lines (from
SRTM)
Comments
Responsible
Micro (up
to 100km)
Micro (up
to 100km)
Micro (up
to 100km)
0,1
0,15
2,6
3,9
TOTAL
TOKENS
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The expectation is that, in an abnormally high peak of effort, the service will be able to cope with 3
instances of this product in 24 hours since the reception of the imagery (to which we should add the
time for the reception of the imagery, which may range approximately between 4h and 24h).
For this reason, we suggest to not have any further modification to the call for tender.
Tenderers are reminded that:
Any information, questions or observations, of whatever kind, contained in this correspondence can
in no way be regarded as a commitment on the part of the European Union Satellite Centre. No
binding commitment will be entered into until the signing of the relevant contract, after completion
of the procurement procedure.
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