ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT
CALL FOR TENDER FOR THE FULFILMENT, DISTRIBUTION AND CUSTOMER SERVICES OECD/ICT/EXD/PCM/PAC/PUB/04/172 Closing date: 13th December 2004 - 11h00 Paris timeF INVOICING AND DUE DILIGENCE PROCESSES ARTICLE 1 - Essential Requirements 1.1 Customer Service 1.2 Online Availability of All Information and Reports 1.3 Software Systems Developments, Enhancements and Additional Tasks 1.4 United States of America Branch 1.5 Postage, Packing Materials and Carriage Charges ARTICLE 2 - Other Requirements 2.1 General 2.2 Order Processing and Despatch 2.3 Order Processing for SourceOECD 2.4 Order Processing for Consortia Deals 2.5 Online Bookshop Order Processing 2.6 Invoicing 2.7 Credit Control and Payment Processing 2.8 Warehousing and Stock Control 2.9 Finance and Accounting Requirements 2.10 Reporting 2.11 Backups 2.12 Archive System 2.13 Royalties 2.14 Audit Requirements 2.15 Performance Monitoring 2.16 Contract ManagementRUBAC Electronic Information Management Methodology Copyright of Hamme Family Trust 2.5 ONLINE BOOKSHOP ORDER PROCESSING 2.5.1 Online Bookshop Orders The Contractor must process OECD Online Bookshop orders directly, fulfilling the requirements as outlined below and, of course, embedded in the whole processes previously defined. 2.5.2 Online Bookshop Products The Online Bookshop sells monographs, series, loose-leafs, pdf (e-books), CD-ROM titles as well as packages and subscription products including subscriptions for online services (e.g. SourceOECD). Thematic Standing Orders (print only) cannot be ordered. 2.5.3 File Structures The order reception will be automated as far as prepaid orders by credit card are concerned. At least two times a day the Contractor shall receive files in an agreed format and in a determined supply channel from the contracted Online Bookshop provider. The file structure and supply channel is based on the Contractor's requirements in order to integrate the Online Bookshop orders into the standard order processing and to fulfill accounting and reporting requirements. 2.5.4 Pre-payment Certain orders may be transmitted on a pro-forma document, printed by the customer within the Online Bookshop system. These orders must be received by the Contractor with either certified payment (bank transfer, check) or credit card information. In case no certified payment confirmation or no credit card information is attached the Contractor shall inform the client by sending a pro-forma, explaining that OECD requires pre-payment before orders can be filled. 2.5.5 Online Bookshop Customers Each customer coming through the Online Bookshop must be recorded within the Contractors order processing system. It is important to notice that the unique key used by the contracted Online Bookshop provider for bill-to addresses, is the e-mail address, even though Trade and Corporate accounts will have "Online Bookshop account numbers" in addition. 2.5.6 Dedicated Customer Numbers It may occur that customers have been recorded recently because of orders forwarded to the Contractor via one of the various possible offline order channels. In any way a new customer will be dedicated to those customers in case of the first Online Bookshop order. For following orders the previously dedicated customer number will be used. 2.5.7 Sales Ledger Accounts For new customers related to Online Bookshop orders sales ledger accounts may not be opened. Customer accounts may remain as sales ledger accounts if previously opened as such. 2.5.8 Ship-to-Addresses The Online Bookshop system is constructed to allow adding ship-to addresses to a certain order. The address must be recorded and be recognized as part of the order. 2.5.9 Offline Accounts Trade and corporate accounts within the Online Bookshop will be managed by the OECD. Note: "Offline" accounts for the same customer may also exist within the Contractor's systems. Ordering, fulfillment and terms of trade for these Offline accounts should remain independent of any accounts with the Online Bookshop. 2.5.10 Trade & Corporate Accounts For Trade and Corporate accounts the OECD will grant discounts depending on types of products (subscriptions, non-subscriptions and SourceOECD products). Most likely different from those stored, if the customer has a previously opened Offline account. The information will be forwarded included in the order file. The discount must appear on the receipt. 2.5.11 Online Bookshop Tables Online Bookshop orders must be flagged as such within the Contractor's system and of course provided to the Organisation for statistical purposes as defined in the report section. All relevant information (e.g. e-mail address, Online Bookshop-account no, Online Bookshop order no, Online Bookshop-order date, discount, fee for express shipment) forwarded by the Online Bookshop system have to be stored in relevant tables and fields. 2.5.12 24 hr Online Response It is common sense within the business community that customer expectations are significantly higher compared to sales based on 'classical' ways to order. Therefore, the Contractor shall process Online Bookshop orders within twenty four (24) hours of reception. 2.5.13 USA On-line Branch The Contractor shall handle Online Bookshop orders for North American customers through his United States of America branch whenever possible. 2.5.14 Start Issue Start issue for anytime start periodicals is the current available issue. Calendar year periodicals start always with the first issue of the calendar year. Subscriptions will become part of standard "Offline" renewal process. Any special discount applied according to the Online Bookshop definitions will not apply in the renewal, standard trade discounts are applied when renewing. 2.5.15 No Single Issues No single issues of a periodical can be ordered within the Online Bookshop. 2.5.16 Flat Fee A flat fee will be introduced by the OECD going to be used within the Online Bookshop and being forwarded to the Contractor as part of the data transfer. The fee must appear on the receipt. 2.5.17 Express Shipment Customers requiring express shipment for subscription issues will be asked to contact the Contractor directly in order to receive appropriate information about the costs involved. Later renewals must take into account the yearly fee for express shipment. 2.5.18 Not Yet Published (NYP) Publications Payments for Not Yet Published (NYP) publications will be collected and the orders stored as "dues". The Contractor shall inform the customer about the recorded due (order acknowledgement). In case the customer has ordered several publications and at least one of them is "forthcoming" the receipt must highlight the "forthcoming" title(s) as a recorded due for later shipment once available. 2.5.19 Cancelled Orders The Online Bookshop provider has introduced an algorithm to allow clients to cancel their orders online within seven (7) days. However, if the product has been dispatched already the customer is allowed to keep the publication, but the Contractor's system should be updated, to record the cancelled order. In cases cancellation is received before the order has been processed the Contractor might stop the dispatch process. If a subscription order has been cancelled within the allowed period the Contractor stops the subscription immediately. 2.5.20 30-day Returns The customer will have thirty (30) days after reception to return publications. For received requests for cancellations and/or returns leading to refunds (also NYP titles, if never printed), the Contractor informs the OECD including all relevant documentation. The OECD will process the refund. 2.5.21 Claims Processing For all orders leading to claims, requests for replacement copies, etc., the Contractor shall carry out the claim processing as defined. 2.5.22 Availability Status The Online Bookshop will hold the availability status provided by the OECD. Later in that process it might become necessary to up-date the Online Bookshop system with stock availability information automatically based on the Contractor's database. 2.5.23 E-mail Notice of Despatch It is required that customers will be informed by e-mail that their orders have left the warehouse. 2.5.24 Consignment Receipt Part of the consignment must be a receipt and/or a delivery note. The receipt is mandatory as it is needed by the customer for tax purposes (e.g. reimbursement request). 2.5.25 Document Details All documents (order acknowledgement, receipt, and delivery note) must show all relevant Online Bookshop order information delivered by the Online Bookshop system (e.g. e-mail address, Online Bookshop-account no, Online Bookshop order no, Online Bookshop-order date, discount, fee for express shipment). 2.5.26 Policy Explanations Further to the Contractor's receipt placed to each consignment based on an Online Bookshop order the OECD intends to add information to each order e.g. explaining the return policy for Online Bookshop orders. 2.6 INVOICING 2.6.1 Invoice Generation As part of the order entry process, an invoice or receipt will be generated for each order. Many orders will come in with payment by check or credit card, and in those cases, the document generated would be a receipt unless the customer specifies that he wants an invoice. Questions regarding issuance of credit should be referred to the Organisation. The Contractor shall invoice customers in accordance with the list price and discount as advised unless the Contractor receives written instructions to invoice at a different amount. 2.6.2 Different Product Pricing The Contractor's systems must be able to invoice the same product at different prices according to the client's status; e.g. Non-for-Profit and For-Profit clients; New Purchasers and Renewing Purchasers. 2.6.3 Credit Policy The Contractor shall perform a credit limit check in an effort to minimise any financial risk to the Organisation according to the Credit Policy of the Organisation (Basic Information Article 4, "OECD Credit Policy"). 2.6.4 Invoice/Packing Notes The Contactor must ensure that invoices are part of the consignment as long as bill-to and ship-to addresses of an order are the same. In case both are different the ship-to address must receive a packing note. 2.6.5 Standing Orders The Contractor must ensure that Blanket-, General- or Thematic standing order customers have the option of immediate shipment/immediate billing or monthly shipment/monthly billing. The Contractor must send invoices as part of the consignment to customers with standing orders for non-serial publications within three (3) Working Days of receipt of stock. 2.6.6 Discounts The Contractor shall show any applicable discount on each invoice to a bill-to address. The Organisation expects that the Contractor can apply discounts to special promotional campaigns, to particular publications, subscriptions and online services and if so wished time restricted. Discounts currently recorded for existing customers must be used by the Contractor's system. Discounts applicable for customers without negotiated agreements are highlighted in Basic Information Article 5 "General Discounts". 2.6.7 Discounts for Agents Discounts for booksellers, agents, distributors in general are highlighted in Basic Information but may vary on special agreements. 2.6.8 Local Taxes The Contractor shall prepare and despatch invoices showing the amount of Sales or Value Added Tax or similar Tax charged for publications and online services where this may be required by law. 2.6.9 Currency The Contractor shall invoice in whatever currency is required by the Organisation, to be notified to the Contractor in writing. Currencies in use are presently Euro, USD, GBP, JPY and MXP. For JPY invoices and other documents showing JPY amounts, the Contactor's system must display Yen amounts without any decimals, i.e. "10,000" not "10,000.00". 2.6.10 Currency based on Bill-to-Address The Contractor shall adhere to the rule that the currency of the billing list price used is driven by the bill-to address. There shall be no calculation of prices using exchange rates. 2.6.11 OECD Direct Shipments The Contractor shall invoice customers without shipping books or CDs in cases when the Organisation has despatched the publications directly to customers from the printers. In general, this only occurs with bulk orders for OECD's Member Countries and author networks. 2.6.12 Trading Terms The Contractor shall send invoices along with the consignment to customers within three (3) working days of receipt of the order, incorporating trading terms specified by the Organisation. It must be possible to add marketing information to an invoice or to each product line of an invoice. In addition, the Contractor should be able to add a separate piece of marketing material to accompany orders or correspondence. 2.6.13 Payment by Credit Cards Acceptance and processing of Credit Card Payment: the Organisation is set up to accept Visa, MasterCard, and American Express besides the "classic" methods of payment, i.e. checks, cash, and bank transfers; Contractor's systems should be able to accommodate processing of payments on all three cards. The ability to accept other cards would be an advantage (to be specified by the Contractor). 2.6.14 OECD's Bank Information Invoices, pro-forma, renewal notices must carry OECD's bank accounts information on the backpage. 2.7 CREDIT CONTROL AND PAYMENT PROCESSING 2.7.1 Pro-forma Policy The general rule is that order processing is based on a pro-forma policy. Customers must prepay their orders. The Organisation can authorise the opening of a credit account according to its Credit Policy. 2.7.2 Credit Limits The Contractor shall in the case of credit accounts dispatch publications according to the credit limit allocated to customers in advance of payment by the customer. In these cases, customers will be advised by the Contractor when payment is due. 2.7.3 Payment in Advance The Contractor shall in the case where customers do not have a credit account require payment in advance of despatch of publications/setting up online access. 2.7.4 Payment Collection The Contractor shall implement procedures for the collection of all payments due from customers in respect of publications sold to them by the Organisation. 2.7.5 Payment Reconciliation The Contractor shall match cash received against appropriate invoices and pro-forma. When the customer is identified and there is inadequate information with the payment the Contractor shall contact the customer i.e. by telephone/fax/e-mail within 48 hours of receiving the payment to obtain the necessary information to match the payment to an invoice or proforma. A second attempt to identify the remittance should be made in a written form i.e. email/fax/letter within 10 working days. A third attempt should be made in a written form (i.e. e-mail/fax/letter) within 20 working days. These unidentified receipts/remittances should be posted to General Ledger accounts in a consistent and systematic way. If the customer cannot be identified the Contractor must use the online search facility or contact the bank for details of the remittance within 48 hours of receipt, and follow the steps above to obtain details from the customer. 2.7.6 Returned Cheques In the event that a customer's cheque is returned unpaid by the bank the Contractor shall put customers with accounts on hold, request a new payment within forty eight (48) hours, and if no payment is received within twenty one (21) days, suspend further deliveries and/or access to electronic products. For all other customers, contact the customer and request a new payment within 48 hours and where possible shipments and access to electronic products should be suspended. 2.7.7 Unpaid Invoice Policy The Contractor shall chase unpaid invoices according to the following schedule: First reminder, including statement of accounts and accompanying letter, sent at next month end when thirty (30) days or more overdue. Second reminder, including statement of accounts and accompanying letter, sent at next month end when sixty (60) days or more overdue. Any invoices remaining unpaid thirty (30) days after the sending of the second reminder are classified as Bad Debts. Mid of each month reminder run and production of statement of accounts shall be processed for the previous month. 2.7.8 Bad Debts The Contractor shall pass to the Organisation Bad Debts after two (2) statements and accompanying letters have been issued by the Contractor. Chasing Bad Debts is the responsibility of the Organisation. The Contractor and the Organisation may define different areas of responsibilities for the taking care of Bad Debts. 2.7.9 Monthly Statements Monthly statement of accounts shall be sent to Distributors, Subscription Agents and Booksellers (as defined by the Organisation) regardless of unpaid invoices and payments due date. 2.7.10 Aged Debtors On at least a monthly basis, the Contractor shall maintain and make available to the Organisation a complete file of aged debtors. On receipt of the file of debtors, the Organisation shall inform the Contractor if the Organisation wishes to cease trading with any of the Bad Debtors in which case the Contractor shall cease immediately to process orders from the debtors although it shall accept and process any payments received from such debtors in respect of the outstanding debt. 2.8 WAREHOUSING AND STOCK CONTROL 2.8.1 Online Stock Reports Any stock information and report must be available online through a secure and password protected Internet site and/or a special program dedicated to be used by any assigned unit of the Organisation at any time. 2.8.2 Ownership of Publications All publications supplied by the Organisation shall remain the sole and absolute property of the Organisation in law and in equity until title to the publications passes to the customers. All publications returned by customers after delivery are also the sole and absolute property of the Organisation. The Contractor acknowledges that it stores the publications on its premises solely as bailee for the Organisation, and that title in the publications never passes to the Contractor. 2.8.3 Stock for Sales The Contractor remains responsible for stock for purely sales purposes being despatched to OECD sales points and to other consignees defined by the Organisation. 2.8.4 Stock identified as OECD Property The Contractor shall store the publications in a manner that makes them readily identifiable as the goods of the Organisation. 2.8.5 Stock Received from Printers The Contractor shall accept delivery of publications from printers or other sources and report to the Organisation the dates that publications are received and on any copies received in a damaged condition. 2.8.6 Stock Recording The Contractor shall physically count the parcels of publications and electronically record stock numbers. 2.8.7 Institutional Distribution In case publications have been received from printers and sources others then the Organisation the Contractor must ship directly required copies to the Organisation's Headquarters for the Institutional Distribution. The Contractor must be able to carry out the complete Institutional Distribution if required. 2.8.8 Annual Physical Stock Count The Contractor shall carry out a full physical count of stock, during the course of each financial year and report the results to the Organisation. A representative of the Organisation will be present during the count process. If the difference between the computer stocks and physical count exceeds two per cent (2%), on an overall basis, the Contractor shall be charged for fifty per cent (50%) of the difference at stock value evaluated at ten per cent (10%) of list price. 2.8.9 Stock Reconciliation The Contractor shall provide the Organisation with a report of receipts, movements, and disposals of stock for the reconciliation of all stock against all publications. 2.8.10 Reconciliation Stock Movements The Contractor must be able to provide at any time, by product code, a reconciliation of stock movement to the Contractor's permanent inventory records for each category of stock (books and periodicals), as means of inventory control. Inventory control must be completed in quantity for ISBN and ISSN products and in value for ISBN products. 2.8.11 Free Copies The Contractor shall adjust stock level records of publications to take account of despatch of free copies, e.g. for review and on-approval items. 2.8.12 Maintenance of Stock The Contractor shall maintain stock at all times in a clean and ordered condition. 2.8.13 Loss/Damage Reports The Contractor shall inform the Organisation about any losses of stock or damage to stock arising from the time that the Contractor accepts delivery of the same. A report on any loss or damage shall be supplied to the Organisation as soon as any loss or damage becomes known. The loss or damage shall be the responsibility of the Contractor. The Contractor shall not be responsible for the Organisation's stock once it has been dispatched. 2.8.14 Disposal of Stock The Contractor shall on receipt of written instructions from the Organisation dispose of or destroy the stock and supply a certificate of destruction. 2.8.15 Low Stock Alarm Report The Contractor shall provide the Organisation with low-stock alarm lists of publications where the level of stock has fallen below twenty (20) copies for printed publications, five (5) copies for CDROMs. The Organisation may vary the low-stock threshold on a title-by-title basis. 2.9 FINANCE AND ACCOUNTING REQUIREMENTS 2.9.1 IPSA Accounting As the OECD financial statements are based on International Public Sector Accounting Standards (ISPAS), based on International Accounting Standards (IAS), the Contractor shall enable accounting of publication revenues according to the accrual method, to provide revenue recognition based on the particular delivery (issuance) date. 2.9.2 Chart of Accounts The Contractor shall set up a Chart of Accounts corresponding to the Organisation's Finance System (SAP). 2.9.3 Monthly Exchange Rates The Organisation will notify the Contractor monthly by electronic mail of the exchange rates to be applied. The Contractor shall convert all transactions using the specified rates. 2.9.4 Weekly Deposits to OECD Bank Accounts The Organisation has established OECD-owned bank accounts (JP Morgan accounts in Germany for Euro, in Japan for JPY, in the United Kingdom for GBP, and in the United States of America for USD) to which the Contractor shall make weekly deposits of payments received. The Organisation may establish additional accounts for currencies as needed. 2.9.5 Monthly Bank Reconciliation The Contractor shall execute monthly bank reconciliations for the OECD-owned bank accounts. 2.9.6 Weekly Financial Updates The Contractor shall make available summary financial data from the Contractor's system to the Organisation's finance system (SAP) nominal ledger by at least weekly updated financial web reports. Data from all reports must be downloadable by the Organisation in either MS Excel or CSV format. 2.9.7 Quality Accounting Information The reports generated from the processing of accounting transactions shall be the basis for OECD accounting of the sales of publications and online services. The Contractor shall provide detailed information on sales and cash collection and shall be held responsible for the quality and the availability of that information. 2.9.8 5 year Financial Records The Contractor shall retain financial records for a period of five (5) years from the date of the original order for proper audit trail purposes. 2.9.9 Conformity with Local Tax Requirements The Contractor must ensure conformity with Sales or Value Added or similar Tax requirements. 2.9.10 OECD Notification on Payments The Organisation will notify the Contractor of all payments it receives relating to orders despatched by the Contractor within one week of receipt of a confirmed notification of such payment, using the templates developed by the Contractor. 2.9.11 Returned Publications The Contractor shall receive returned publications from customers and arrange for refunds to customers. All refunds are subject to authorisation and approval by the Organisation. 2.9.12 Refund Duplications When a subscription to a serial publication has been duplicated, the Contractor shall arrange a refund of the duplicated fee to the Customer. 2.9.13 Refunds via OECD Budget & Finance Service The Contractor shall not have authorisation to transfer funds from the Organisation's bank account(s) so it is necessary to process refunds in conjunction with OECD's Budget and Finance Service. Refunds will be executed in the same manner in which the payment was made. Hence, refunds for payments by check will be made by check. Payments received by electronic bank transfers will be returned in the same manner. In issuing a refund the Contractor shall send a detailed list of refund requests to the Treasury Division of the OECD. For proper audit trail the details should include name of customer, customer mailing address, invoice number, amount of refund, date of receipt of customer payment, reason for refund, method of payment, and customer banking instructions by Electronic Fund Transfers (EFTs). 2.9.14 Exceed Credit Limit Policy Orders will be held when the customer's credit limit exceeds a hundred and ten per cent (110%) of the designated limit. Shipments of orders will continue if under a hundred and ten per cent (110%) of the credit limit. 2.9.15 Over/Under Payments Over payments from clients will be retained and reported as gains unless otherwise specified on a case by case basis for material amounts. The maximum for an under payment from a client is fifteen euros (15 .) or currency equivalent. The under payment will be recorded as a loss. Read and approved: In: Done on: Signature by a person having authority to conclude:
