UNIVERSAL SERVICE PROVISION FUND NIGERIAN COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION HEAD OFFICE, 9TH FLOOR, PLOT 423, AGUIYI IRONSI STREET, MAITAMA DISTRICT, ABUJA FCT, WWW.USPF.GOV.NG INVITATION TO TENDER 1. INTRODUCTION The Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF) was established by the Federal Government of Nigeria to facilitate the achievement of national policy goals for universal access and universal service to Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in rural, un-served and under-served areas in Nigeria. To achieve the above statutory mandate and in compliance with the provisions of the Public Procurement Act 2007, the Universal Service Provision Fund under its 2023 budget hereby invites qualified, competent, and reputable contractors, and service providers to bid for the following Works and Goods WORKS LOT DESCRIPTION LOCATION RBTS-4 Establishment of Rural Base Transceiver Station South East RBTS-5 Establishment of Rural Base Transceiver Station South South RBTS-6 Establishment of Rural Base Transceiver Station South West TIDC-4 Establishment of Tertiary Institution Digital Center One Location GOODS LOT DESCRIPTION LOCATION GD-2 Supply of furniture and fittings Abuja GD-3 Supply of project vehicles Abuja 2. ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS All tenderers must comply with the requirements of Public Procurement Act, 2007 and interested bidders must submit the following documents: a. Evidence of Certificate of Incorporation issued by Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) including forms CAC 1.1 or CAC 2 & CAC 7. b. CTC of Articles and Memorandum of Association of the Company. It must show that the company has ICT related activities as part of its objectives (Not a requirement for Goods): c. Evidence of filing annual returns for the preceding three (3) years (2020, 2021 & 2022) by inclusion of an acknowledgment letter from CAC; d. Evidence of Company’s Income Tax Clearance Certificate for the preceding three (3) years (2020, 2021 & 2022) valid till 31st of December 2022 (with an minimum average annual turnover in the last three years of N224 million for RBTS & N80 million for TIDC) e. Evidence of Pension Clearance Certificate valid till 31st December, 2023 (applicable where number of staff is at least 15). f. Evidence of Industrial Training Fund (ITF) Compliance Certificate valid till 31st December, 2023 (this requirement is only applicable to bidders whose number of staff is 5 and above or the bidder’s annual turnover is N50m and above); g. Evidence of current Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) Compliance Certificate valid till 31st December, 2023; h. Evidence of Registration on the National Database of Federal Contractors, Consultants and Service Providers by submission of Interim Registration Report (IRR) expiring on 31/12/2023 or valid Certificate issued by BPP; i. Sworn affidavit • disclosing whether or not any officer of the relevant committees of the Universal Service Provision Fund or Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) is a former or present Director, shareholder or has any pecuniary interest in the bidder and to confirm that all information presented in its bid are true and correct in all particulars; • That no director has been convicted in any county for any criminal offence relating to fraud impropriety or criminal misrepresentation of falsification of facts relating to any matter. • That the company is not in receivership, the subject of any form or bankruptcy proceedings of the subject of any form of winding up petition or proceeding j. Lots RBTS & TIDC: Evidence of current registration/accreditation with Computer Professionals Registration Council of Nigeria and National information Technology Development Agency (NITDA); k. Proponents must be a licensed network operating company or a company with a signed MOU with a Mobile Network Operator (MNO). The MNO must have a GSM Spectrum License (for RBTS only) l. Proponents shall have a valid infrastructure sharing and collocation services licence to carry out the project (For RBTS only) m. For GD-3: evidence of inclusion in the National Automotive Design and Development Council’s approved list of local manufacturers of vehicles or their authorized representatives. n. Company’s audited accounts for the last three (3) years – 2020, 2021 & 2022; o. Reference letter from a reputable commercial bank indicating willingness to provide credit facility for the execution of the project when needed; p. Company’s profile with the curriculum Vitae of key staff to be deployed for the project, including copies of their academic/professional qualifications such as COREN, QSRBN, ARCON, CORBON etc; q. Verifiable documentary evidence of at least three (3) similar jobs executed in the last five (5) years including letters of awards, valuation certificates, job completion certificates and photographs of the projects; r. For Joint Venture/Partnership, Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) should be provided (CAC, Tax Clearance Certificates, Pension Clearance Certificate, ITF Compliance Certificate, NSITF Clearance Certificate, IRR & Sworn affidavit. NOTE: NOT MORE THAN TWO COMPANIES SHOULD FORM A JOINT VENTURE; Note: All documents for submission must be submitted with a Covering/Forwarding letter under the Company’s letter head paper bearing amongst others, the Registration Number (RC) as issued by the CAC, Contact Address, Telephone Number (preferably GSM No) fax and email address. The letter head paper must bear the Names and Nationalities of the Directors of the company at the bottom of the page, duly signed by the authorized officer of the firm. 3. SPECIAL INSTRUCTION Prospective bidders must procure hardware devices such as Laptops only from National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) certified Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) 4. COLLECTION OF TENDER DOCUMENT Tender Documents are obtainable from the Procurement Department of USPF upon payment of a non-refundable tendering foo of Ten Thousand Naira (N10,000.00) only per Lot The above sum must be payable to Universal Service Provision Fund through the CBN payment gateway (REMITA) platform. Evidence of payment MUST be submitted to the Funding and to the Subsidy Department, USPF for issuance of receipt, which must be presented to the procurement department for the bid document. 5. SUBMISSION OF BIDS a. Bids must be in English Language and signed by an official authorized by the bidder b. Prospective bidders are to submit two (2) hard copies each of the technical and financial bids with softcopy of the financial bid in MS Excel format, packaged separately in sealed and clearly marked as “Technical Bid” and “Financial Bid”. Thereafter, the two sealed envelopes should be put together in a bigger sealed envelope addressed to the : The Secretary Universal Service Provision Fund Nigerian Communications Commission Head Office 9th Floor, 423, Aguiyi Ironsi Street Maitama District, Abuja c. COMBINING TECHNICAL AND FINANCIAL BIDS IN THE SAME ENVELOPE WILL LEAD TO AUTOMATIC DISQUALIFICATION d. Each Package shall be clearly marked with the following information on both sides of the envelope: • Technical Bid marked ‘USPF/STD/LOTX/TECHNICAL/2023 at the top right hand corner. • Financial bid ‘USF/STD/LOTX/FINANCIAL/2023 at the top right hand corner; • Bid Bond ‘USPF/STD/LOTX/BB/2023; Please note that X denotes the Lot Name • Name of Proponent on each of the enclosed document; • Contact Name, Phone Number and E-Mail Address; e. All copies of the documents shall be duly signed by an authorized representative of the Bidder. In the event of any discrepancy between copies, the original shall govern; f. Interested Parties shall not bid for more than two (2) Lots of all 2023 USPF Goods, Works and Services; g. USPF will assume no responsibility for the content of tamper evident bids or for non-compliance with this instruction. Bids that do not comply with this section shall be disqualified; h. Kindly note that submissions may be subjected to verification from relevant authorities. Fake documents and false declaration may be forwarded to the relevant prosecution authorities. i. Bidders can submit through Post (courier services) j. THE DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION is 10:00am Tuesday, 23rd January, 2024. 6. OPENING OF TECHNICAL BIDS i. Only the technical bids will be opened immediately after the deadline for submission at 10:00am Tuesday, 23rd January, 2024, in the NCC Head Office’s Conference Room, Maitama, Abuja. ii. Please ensure that you sign the bid submission register in the office of the undersigned, as the Universal Service Provision Fund will not be held liable for misplaced or wrongly submitted bids. iii. Failure to comply with the tendering instructions shall lead to disqualification. 7. DISCLAIMER a. Submissions after the date and time specified above shall be returned un-opened; b. All cost incurred by proponents in response to this advert or enquiries shall be borne by such bidders and not the USPF; c. The USPF is not bound to pre-qualify any bidder and reserves the right to annul the procurement process at any time without incurring any liabilities in accordance with section 28 of the Public Procurement ACT 2007. d. This advertisement is published for information purposes, and should not be construed as a commitment or obligation on the part of the USPF to award contract. e. Interested parties shall not bid for both the Technical Audit and Implementation of any one project. For further clarification on the advertisement, please email: [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] SIGNED MANAGEMENT UNIVERSAL SERVICE PROVISIONS FUND