Supplies contract
TENDER N° 01/VSARL/2020
BIDDERS’ PACK
Instructions
SUPPLY OF MEDIUM AND LOW VOLTAGE ELECTRIC POLES
Nature of tender : Supplies contract
Date of publication : 07/01/2020
Date of contract signature : 27/01/2020
Procedure : International open tender
1. Context
The Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature (ICCN) has concluded a management contract with VIRUNGA FOUNDATION, an NGO under British law, to manage the Virunga National Park. It is a "Public-Private Partnership" lasting 25 years (until 2040). This contract assigns two main missions to VIRUNGA FOUNDATION namely the sustainable management of the Park and the economic and social development of the populations living around the Park.
As part of this second mission, VIRUNGA FOUNDATION has set up the Virunga Alliance, a development program supported by the Park, but also and above all by public authorities, civil society and the private sector within the province of North Kivu. This program is developed around three components: energy, tourism and agriculture.
In its energy component, the Virunga Alliance would target a future production of more than 100 MW of hydropower (included in the priority action plan and the five-year plan for growth and employment in the province of North Kivu) through the construction of eight hydroelectric power plants. To date, the Mutwanga I (1.4 MW) and Matebe (13.8 MW) power plants are operational. The Luviro power plant (14.6 MW) is under construction in Lubero.
To achieve this mission and in accordance with Congolese law that requires private companies involved in the electricity sector, VIRUNGA FOUNDATION has created the company VIRUNGA SARL, specializing in the construction and operations of hydroelectric power plants as well as the sale and distribution of electricity in the province of North Kivu. VIRUNGA SARL is a private company incorporated under Congolese law in 2013 and wholly owned by VIRUNGA SPRL, a Belgian company. VIRUNGA FOUNDATION wholly owns the latter. VIRUNGA SARL acts under an institutional framework of the 25-year management contract between ICCN and VIRUNGA FOUNDATION.
In accordance with this contract, a 50% share of Virunga SARL's profit is transferred to the ICCN General Directorate in order to pursue the conservation objectives at the Virunga National Park and other parks in the country. The other 50% share is allocated to the Virunga Community Fund which deals with economic and social development around the Park. As a result, VIRUNGA SARL is a social enterprise whose purpose is not to enrich its shareholders, but to realize its cause of conservation and development around the Park.
In accordance with the Congolese law, VIRUNGA SARL obtained from the competent authority (the Province of North Kivu) an energy production concession at the Matebe power plant and a distribution concession in the territories of Rutshuru and Nyiragongo. It has also obtained
the Certificate of Environmental Acceptance. Over the past years, VIRUNGA SARL has distributed electricity from the Matebe and Mutwanga power stations to more than 6,000 customers in companies and households. All "low voltage" customers are prepaid.
Furthermore VIRUNGA SARL has obtained a distribution concession in certain districts of the city of Goma. The concession area represents approximately 500,000 inhabitants of the northern districts of the city (Majengo, Kasika, Katoyi, North Mabanga, Ndosho) as well as in the Keshero district.
VIRUNGA SARL has also concluded an agreement with the Coordination and Management Unit of the Ministry of Hydraulic Resources and Electricity, which manages the World Bank projects: "Investment grant agreement relating to the deployment of the distribution network and the connection in electric power of 6,000 households in Goma City and Nyiragongo Territory ". The construction project of this new electricity distribution network in Goma is co-financed by the European Union and the World Bank.
It is within the framework of the implementation of this project that this international open tender is published in order to find a suitable supplier of medium and low voltage electric poles for the construction of the electricity distribution network in Kimbulu, Musienene and Lubero.
2. Financing
European Union and the World Bank
3. Contracting authority Virunga SARL
4. Brief description of the contract
The subject of the contract is the supply by the contractor(s) of medium and low voltage electric poles as per the minimum technical specifications accompanying this document.
To be delivered: Either CIF Dar Es Salam “Tanzania” or CIF Mombasa “Kenya”.
5. Eligibility and rule of origin As part of the co-financing of the European Union (EU) and the World Bank (WB) for the construction of an electricity distribution network in the city of Kimbulu, Musienene and Lubero, participation in this tender is open to all natural persons who are nationals of an EU Member State or of a country eligible for the financing instrument for which the activity is financed, and to legal persons actually established there.
In submitting their offers, natural persons must indicate the country of which they are nationals and legal persons must indicate the country in which they are established.
Note that bidders must be compliant with all relevant national and local regulations in order to not face exclusion from this tender and evidence of compliance may be requested by the contracting authority.
The goods supplied under this tender - co-financed by the EU and the WB - must come from an eligible country as designated by the applicable financing instrument. When submitting their bids, bidders must quote the country or countries of origin of the goods offered.
6. Grounds for exclusion
Bidders must submit the signed declaration to the effect that they are not in any of the exclusion situations listed in Annex 1.
Bidders included in the lists of EU restrictive measures (see www.sanctionsmap.eu) at the moment of the award decision cannot be awarded the contract.
The Bidders and, if they are legal entities, persons who have powers of representation, decision-making or control over them, are informed that, should they be in one of the situations of early detection or exclusion, their personal details (name, given name if natural person, address, legal form and name and given name of the persons with powers of representation, decision-making or control, if legal person) may be registered in the early detection and exclusion system, and communicated to the persons and entities listed in the above-mentioned decision, in relation to the award or the execution of a procurement contract.
7. Procedure and timetable
During this procedure, VIRUNGA SARL will send the Bidders’ Pack directly to potential bidders and it will also be published onto Congo Media and on the Virunga’s web site. Each Bidder will have the opportunity to request clarifications from VIRUNGA SARL via e-mail.
VIRUNGA SARL will treat all Bidders equally and ensure that any additional information relevant to the procedure arising as a result of requests for clarifications will be shared with all those who have received the Bidders’ pack, so as to not distort competition or have a discriminatory effect.
Timetable:
- 07 January 2020: Bidders receive the bidder’s pack with all the relevant information currently available regarding the tender.
- 07 January 2020 – 17 January 2020: Each bidder may request clarifications via e-mail. VIRUNGA SARL will respond to enquiries as soon as possible in order to allow bidders to finalize as quickly as possible their offers.
- 20 January 2020 at 17h00, DRC-Goma local time: Bidders submit their offers.
- 22 January 2020: Opening of offers by the evaluation committee at 09h00, DRC-Goma local time. Notification of award and negotiation with the successful bidder.
- 27 January 2020: Contract signature, payment of first invoice and project kick-off.
8. How offers may be submitted
Offers must be sent to VIRUNGA SARL before the deadline specified in article 7. They must include all the documents specified in article 10 of these Instructions and be sent to nkatshayi@virunga.org with fchaudoir@virunga.org and jcdonck@virunga.org and in copy, specifying the publication reference in the title of the email.
