The Swedish Pensions Agency (Pensionsmyndigheten) and the Fund Selection Agency (Fondtorgsnämnden, FTN) have been forced to cancel and re-launch the procurement they started in March for sustainability analysis systems, because nearly all bidders failed to meet the mandatory requirements.
Between them, the two agencies have been trying to find providers for two systems for the sustainability analysis of financial portfolios and securities.
But last week, the FTN announced that following the qualification phase and evaluation, a decision had been taken to cancel the procurement.
The agency said: “The reason was that nine out of 10 tenders were rejected because they did not meet mandatory requirements, leaving only one valid tender. Due to a lack of competition, the procurement was therefore cancelled.”
A new procurement has now been announced, it said, with a 12 September deadline for submitting tenders.
FTN sustainability strategist Nadine Viel Lamare told IPE that failings around the standardised self-declaration form used across the EU, the European Single Procurement Document (ESPD), had been behind many of the rejections.
“Many tenderers failed to provide the administrative information required, mainly submission of the ESPD forms that needed to be submitted for the tenderer and for all companies whose capacity was invoked by the tenderers,” she said, adding that a few other tenderers did not provide other administrative mandatory information.
“Some changes have therefore been made in the procurement documents, mainly regarding the ESPD form and other administrative requirements on the tenderers,” she said.
Some of the requirements have been withdrawn altogether, she said, adding that others would be asked only on request, and that more instructions and clarification had been added.
“A few changes have also been made regarding mandatory requirements and evaluation criteria regarding the climate change analysis to be provided through the system,” she noted.
In accordance with normal public procurement procedure, she said, all tenderers who had participated in the cancelled procurement were told about requirements that the tenderers did not meet.
“The changes made in the procurement documents and the feedback provided to the former tenderers should allow more providers to meet the mandatory requirements this time,” Viel Lamare said.
Read the digital edition of IPE’s latest magazine
