The Portuguese Government has launched three tenders to select the company or companies to be designated for the provision of the universal service in electronic communications.
These tenders are designed to select one or more companies with whom the Portuguese State will contract supply - throughout the country and to all users regardless of their geographical location - of connection to a public communications network at a fixed location and provision of a publicly available telephone service over that connection, provision of public pay-telephones and provision of a comprehensive directory and of a comprehensive telephone directory enquiry service.
By order of the Government, the selection of the company/companies awarded provision of the universal service will be undertaken using a pre-contractual procedure restricted by prior qualification. Use of this procedure was chosen taking into account, in addition to the estimated value of contracts, the need to ensure that bids are only submitted by companies that meet certain minimum requisites of technical and financial capacity, providing an assurance that the various provisions that comprise the Universal service will be delivered with the quality, availability and continuity required by law, throughout the contract period.
Provision is made in the tender's procedural components whereby the award of the universal service of connection to a public communications network at a fixed location and publicly available telephone services and the award of the offer of public pay-telephones is to be made according to lowest price criteria. Under the procedure to select the company responsible for providing the universal service of provision of a comprehensive telephone directory and directory enquiry service, award is to be made based on criteria of highest remuneration, insofar as the provision of the services covered by this procedure have been profitable.
In the three procedures it was considered fitting to specify a duration of service provision of five years, establishing that provision be initiated within a period that, according to the service in question, can be between six and nine months following conclusion of the contract, in order that the provider(s) have the time required to prepare the respective offer. This procedure does not apply if the prevailing tenderer is the current universal service provider, which, in this case, will be required to initiate provision of services on the date of concluding the contract(s).
The components of these tenders are available free of charge via the www.compraspublicas.comhttps://www.compraspublicas.com/ electronic platform and are also available for consultation at the public attendance service at ANACOM's head office at Av. José Malhoa 12, Lisbon, on working days between 9:00 am and 4:00 pm, until the expiry of the deadlines for the submission of tenders.
Applications from interested parties must be received no later than 19 November 2012, through the www.compraspublicas.comhttps://www.compraspublicas.com/ electronic platform.
Consult:
- Tenders for the selection of provider(s) of universal service of electronic communications https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?categoryId=346959
Further information:
- Governo dá início à seleção das empresas para prestação do serviço universal de comunicações eletrónicas http://www.portugal.gov.pt/pt/os-ministerios/ministerio-da-economia-e-do-emprego/mantenha-se-atualizado/20121015-mee-concurso-comunicacoes-eletronicas.aspx
