Organisation of a Marketing Programme for German Wine in Finland

Kurze Beschreibung

The international activities of the DWI to promote the sale of quality wines from the 13 German wine-growing regions are focused on the most important consumer markets in Europe and overseas, including Finland. In order to gain a market presence of German wines in Finland for the years 2023-2028, the strategy includes raising the interest of consumers for German wines and increasing or consolidating sales of German wine products in this country. To establish this market presence a Service Provider shall exercise consistent marketing and public relations work through multi-channel activities and provide information on German wines, German wine and sparkling wine producers and related topics relevant to the market.

Beschreibung der Beschaffung

1. General Basic Services
a) Service Conditions
- The Service Provider shall ensure an appropriate infrastructure for the completion of his contractual obligations. This consists of offices fully equipped with all the common means and channels of modern communication. These include IT equipment, e-mail, internet, telephones, etc. The normal business and availability hours shall be made public and adhered to by the Service Provider.
b) General Information Service and Correspondence
- Particularly regarding exporters, importers, specialist retailers, catering trade, media and consumers.
- Consulting service for German wine and sparkling wine producers for entering or already working on the Finnish market.
- Creation and maintenance of a network of important and relevant contacts and multipliers in Finland in order to perform these responsibilities.
c) Public Relations
- Continuous monitoring of the Finnish media landscape
- Expert point of contact for media representatives
- Monthly summary of current media clippings (TV, print and internet)
- Reports on the current situation and changes in politics and the wine sector
- Creation and distribution of press releases (about 6 per year)
- Selection and invitations of potential participants in multinational media trips to the German wine-growing regions, including background information, booking of travel arrangements to and from Germany and feedback after the trips. There will be approximately three media trips to Germany each year. For each of these trips, a Finnish journalist has to be recruited. Travel costs shall be billed separately.
d) Retail trade/Catering Trade/Importers/Wine Market
- Identifying market potentials, concrete needs and opportunities for cooperation for German wine and sparkling wine producers
- Continuous compilation and updating of lists of Finnish wine dealers, importers, distributors, supermarkets, top hotels and selected restaurants (including contact person for wine procurement)
- Adaptation of existing promotional material
- Distribution and shipment of promotional materials
- Selection and invitations of potential participants in multinational trade trips (sommeliers, importers...) to the German wine-growing regions, including background information, booking of travel arrangements to and from Germany and feedback after the trips. There will be approximately three trade trips to Germany each year. For each of these trips, a Finnish trade guest has to be recruited. Travel costs shall be billed separately.
e) Statistics/Market Research/Marketing Strategy for Finland
- Development of an appropriate marketing strategy for the generic marketing of the Wines of Germany office in Finland corresponding to the market situation and in line with the general strategy of DWI
- Transmission of statistics/market research
- Continuous transmission of statistics in relation to the use of social media (number of followers, etc.)
- Monthly report on activities" progress and media evaluation.
f) Other Services
- Cellarage of wines
- Storage of POS material
- Attendance of an annual meeting of all Wines of Germany offices in Germany by the team leader/Head of Campaign (about 4 days)
2. Internet and Social Media Basic Services
g) Website maintenance
- The website which must be maintained will be available under a domain owned by the german wine institute (see Sec. 2.2. Adaptation of a website). This website shall be maintained, regularly updated (about 1-2 times per month), and further developed. It shall be the central point of contact and information and shall be linked to all other social media channels in connection with the campaign. It will be mandatory for the bidder to work within the CMS of the DWI.
- In the future, all content shall be created and/ or adapted by the bidder. In the case that new templates are needed the bidder shall ensure that the created content by the bidder or any third party is in line with the CI and CD of the DWI. This refers to any possible technical implementation of suitable templates, extensions, plugins, etc. including new content. The bidder shall ensure that the content is up to date.
h) Internet and Social Media
- Content creation and maintenance of all relevant social media networks (e.g. Instagram, Facebook, video channels, etc.). Social media channels must be updated weekly with content containing added value.
3. Adaptation of a website
- One of the service provider's central tasks will be to adapt an existing website so as to meet the needs of the Finnish market. Based on the open-source content management system (CMS) "Typo3", the DWI will provide a website template in English. A sample of the website that has to be adapted can be found at www.germanwines.de.
4. Additional Services
Upon separate request by the DWI, the Service Provider shall also perform the following tasks as additional services. These additional services will be put forward based on the DWI's general strategy and may vary from year to year depending on budgets defined for the Finnish market.
a) Media Relations/Trips to Germany
b) Special Press Conferences in Relation to Current Events
c) Other Marketing Activities
- The Service Provider shall carry out further marketing activities determined by the DWI in order to increase interest in and sales of German wines. The Service Provider shall also carry out generic promotion activities (for example Regulation (EU) No 1144/2014 of 22.10.14.) upon consultation with the DWI, which may be co-financed by the European Union and/or other national structural funding. Those generic promotion programmes may include marketing activities for other eligible agricultural products, which then will also be marketed by the Service Provider within the scope of these promotional programmes.
d) Events/Fairs/Presentations

Beschreibung der Verlängerungen

The term of this Framework Agreement commences on 1 January 2023 and shall expire on 31 December 2023 (which concludes one year).
The contract will be extended five times for successive one-year periods unless it is terminated by either the contracting entity or the Service Provider by giving at least three months' written notice of termination.
Accordingly, the Framework Agreement shall end on 31 December 2028 at the latest or when the specified maximum volume according to § 2 (2) Sample contract (i.e. EUR 1.296,000.00 excluding VAT) has been reached, whichever occurs first.

Objektive Kriterien für die Auswahl der begrenzten Anzahl von Bewerbern

1. Reference "gastronomy and trade" sector in Finland
I. Duration / contractual relationship of reference - max. 8 points
II. Number of events carried out during the contractual relationship of the reference - max. 12 points
III. Field of the reference - max. 15 points
2. Reference "consumers" sector in Finland
I. Duration/contractual relationship of reference - max. 8 points
II. Number of events carried out during the contractual relationship of the reference - max. 12 points
III. Field of the reference - max. 15 points
3. Qualification of the team leader/Head of Campaign
I. Project experience with large campaigns - max. 7.5 points
II. Number of companies for which the team leader has run marketing campaigns - max. 7.5 points
4. Qualification of the project team
I. Professional or vocational training or further education courses - max. 5 points
II. Project experience based on years of work experience - max. 5 points
III. Project experience based on number of completed projects - max. 5 points

Liste und kurze Beschreibung der Bedingungen

1) Self-declaration in accordance with §§ 123, 124 GWB (German Act Against Restraints of Competition)
The self-declaration in accordance with §§ 123, 124 GWB must be submitted and signed by every member involved in the case of a bidding consortium and/or a loan of eligibility and/or subcontractors.
2) If applicable: Declaration for a bidding consortia and/or a loan of eligibility and/or the use of subcontractors
Note: The contracting authority will request an extract from the Central Trade Register from the Federal Office of Justice if the contract is worth more than EUR 30 000 about the bidder who is to be awarded the contract.

Liste und kurze Beschreibung der Auswahlkriterien

1) Company presentation attachment.
2) Self-declaration confirming that you have professional/commercial liability insurance with a coverage of at least 1,000,000.00 EUR for each of personal injury and 100,000.00 EUR for each of property damage, or a declaration that you will obtain such insurance prior to the commencement of the contract.
3) Self-declaration of the annual turnover of the last two completed business years in EUR.
4) Self-declaration of the average number of employees - average number of employees in the last two completed business years.

Minimum annual turnover: The annual turnover of each of the last two completed business years shall amount to a minimum of EUR 75,000.00. If a bidder's annual turnover is lower than the minimum, its request to participate will not be considered.

Liste und kurze Beschreibung der Auswahlkriterien

1) Self-declaration confirming that you have an active network of multipliers in trade and gastronomy in the wine/food/beverage sector as well as contacts to trade and public media in Finland.
2) Self-certify the knowledge of the required languages:
Head of Campaign: Excellent language skills in Finnish and English/German with the ability to discuss business subjects including marketing, sales, and product management in Finnish and English or German (minimum language level C1).
Project team: Excellent language skills in Finnish and English/German with the ability to discuss business subjects including marketing, sales, and product management in Finnish and English or German (minimum language level C1).
3) Self-declaration about the Staff or technical bodies that are planned to be involved in the provision of the services, regardless of whether they form part of the undertaking or not, in particular those staff members or bodies that will be responsible for quality control.
A. Qualification of the team leader/Head of Campaign
Information about relevant work experience of the team leader/Head of Campaign who will be in charge. In this context, please provide detailed information about the professional qualifications of the team leader/Head of Campaign who will be in charge.
The information must include in particular:
I. Project experience in large campaigns proven by reference projects with the annual budget indicated in EUR.
II. Number of companies in the food and beverages sector for which he or she has run marketing campaigns
B. Qualification of the team
Information about relevant work experience of the team members who will be involved in the project. In this context, please provide detailed information about the professional qualifications of the team that will conduct the project.
This must include in particular:
I. Wine-related professional or vocational training and further education courses
II. Wine-related professional experience, based on years of continuous work experience
III. Project experience in the alcoholic beverages sector, proven by completed projects
4) Provide appropriate references from contracts performed in the past of major services provided in the last five years (2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021).
The references must include in particular:
I. Total project duration/contract term of the references
II. Number of marketing activities carried out during the contract term of the references with at least 10 participants (gastronomy and trade) or with at least 100 participants (consumers)
III. Fields of the references (food and beverages, beverages, alcoholic beverages).
Candidates must provide at least two appropriate references. To be appropriate, these references must be equivalent to the object of the contract described in the tender specifications. Equivalent means that the references must concern projects that are at least similar to the object of the present award procedure. To meet this requirement, the references must cover the following activities:
A. Reference 1 must cover several different marketing and PR activities for a client, with the "gastronomy and trade" sector in Finland as target group.
B. Reference 2 must cover several different marketing and PR activities for a client, with the "consumers" sector in Finland as target group.
To ensure comparability with the object of the present award procedure, the references 1 and 2 must refer to projects that have taken place in Finland.

Bedingungen für die Vertragserfüllung

It is a special condition relating to the performance of this contract that the applicants, members of bidding consortia and subcontractors have to declare the absence of a conflict of interest for participating in the procurement procedure.
A conflict of interest exists, in particular, for a (single) commercial importer/wholesaler of (German) wine. Due to the DWI's legal mandate and the European framework (Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 and Notification SA.54935 (2019/N), DWI may only carry out non-competitive worldwide marketing activities in cooperation with German producers. Therefore, any measures that are taken have to basically benefit all (wine) producers of the (wine) product type concerned. It is not be possible for a (German) wine importing or distributing company to represent the entire German wine industry - which is, in line with the legal mandate of the DWI, the major task of the winning agency, since there would always be doubts about the neutrality of this company when it comes to promoting wine. For this reason, such entities or individuals are not permitted to participate in this procurement procedure, neither as applicants, members of a bidding consortium or as a sub-contractor.
In case of bidding consortia, a self-declaration is required from each individual member of the consortium. Any applicant, member of a bidding consortium or sub-contractor not submitting this declaration will be excluded from further participation.

Im Falle von Rahmenvereinbarungen ist eine Begründung für eine Laufzeit von mehr als 8 Jahren vorzulegen

The German Wine Institute has been working with foreign agencies for over 30 years. These agencies act as official representatives of the German Wine Institute. The target group consists of German wine producers, the media, the gastronomy and trade sector including end consumers in the respective target countries. The experience of over 30 years has shown that it takes at least three years for an agency to develop a sufficient network of members of the aforementioned target group and to be perceived as a representative of German wines in the target country by this target group. From a marketing perspective it has been proven that the initial investments made only start to amortize after this point in time. From this point on, after having built the network with the media and the gastronomy and trade sector and the mentioned representation is achieved, agency services start to become effective in a marketing sense, which enables the agencies to place marketing strategies and goals in an efficient way. The necessary investment volume on both sides, on the service provider's and the client's side, is considered a recognized reason to deviate from the standard term of four (4) years for a framework contract by the public procurement jurisdiction.

Genaue Informationen über Fristen für Überprüfungsverfahren

Undertakings have a right that the contracting authority complies with the relevant provisions governing public contract award procedures in Germany that protect bidders and applicants. If an economic operator who has an interest in the contract claims that its rights have been infringed by non-compliance with the provisions governing the procedure for the award of public contracts, it shall complain to the contracting authority within a time limit of ten calendar days (section 160(3) sentence 1 No 1 of the German Act against Restraints of Competition (GWB)). Violations that become apparent from the tender notice or from the tender documents must be notified to the contracting authority within the time limit specified in the tender notice for application or submission of a tender (section 160(3) sentence 1 No 2 and 3 of the German Act against Restraints of Competition (GWB)). If the contracting authority notifies the undertaking that it is unwilling to redress the latter's complaint, it shall be entitled to request the federal public procurement tribunal, within 15 days of receipt of such notification, to initiate review proceedings (section 160 (3) sentence 1 No 4 of the German Act against Restraints of Competition (GWB)). Bidders whose tenders will not be taken into account for the contract award shall be informed accordingly pursuant to section 134(1) of the German Act against Restraints of Competition. A contract must not be concluded prior to the expiry of 15 calendar days after this information has been sent by the contracting authority; if the information is sent electronically or by fax, the time limit shall be ten calendar days. The time limit starts on the day following the sending of the information by the contracting authority. A request for a review has to be filed in writing to the Federal Procurement Tribunal at the German competition authority, i. e. Vergabekammern des Bundes beim Bundeskartellamt, Villemombler Straße 76, 53123 Bonn.
The language of the review proceeding is German.