Introduction - General Approach Sample Clauses

Introduction - General Approach. The tenderers must be aware that the quality level of the services delivered is essential for the Parliament. The tenderers must therefore elaborate a correct assessment of the service cost in terms of number and competence of the staff to provide the high quality service the European Parliament requires. The use of a liquidated damages system for services in Fixed Price Mode will provide the contractor with incentives to prevent and correct when needed deviations from the service levels prescribed, before any damage to the European Parliament becomes substantial. Liquidated damages will be handled based on a system of liquidated damages points (LDPs). These LDPs will be calculated based on performance scores in a Balanced Score Card (BSC). The Balanced Score Card for services in Fixed Price Mode is annexed in Annex G to Technical Specifications - Balance Score Card. The contractor can only appeal against the application of liquidated damages in the Steering Committee Meeting, whose decisions will be final. The final purpose of the SLA, the BSC and the LDP system is to obtain a high quality of service and a positive problem-solving attitude from the contractor; it is not to apply penalties. For this reason the proposed liquidated damages approach is based on an approach where liquidated damages are not applied in case the SLA breaches are not repeated within a period of 3 months. On the other hand a performance breach is a serious warning that cannot be ignored. If the performance breach is repeated then liquidated damages will be applied.. The approach is based on a sliding period of 3 months.