SOLICITATION NOTICE
B -- India - Leasing and Public Private Partnership Framework Technical Assistance
- Notice Date
- 1/29/2016
- Notice Type
- Combined Synopsis/Solicitation
- NAICS
- 541690
— Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services
- Contracting Office
- United States Trade and Development Agency, USTDA, USTDA, 1000 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 1600, C/O US TDA 1000 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 1600, Arlington, Virginia, 22209-3901
- ZIP Code
- 22209-3901
- Solicitation Number
- 2015-31019A
- Archive Date
- 3/27/2016
- Point of Contact
- Jennifer Van Renterghem, Phone: 703-875-4357
- E-Mail Address
-
RFPQuestions@ustda.gov
(RFPQuestions@ustda.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- Proposal Submission Place: Executive Director (Perspective Planning) Room No 152-C, Rail Bhavan, Railway Board, Raisina Road New Delhi India Pin-110001 The Grantee invites submission of qualifications and proposal data (collectively referred to as the "Proposal") from interested U.S. firms that are qualified on the basis of experience and capability to develop a technical assistance that will assist the Grantee to develop new, and modify existing, leasing and public private partnership (PPP) frameworks to attract private sector funding for India's rail network. The TA will assess the specific practices and the financial benefits that the Grantee could achieve by: 1) leasing its railway lines to licensed, private operators; 2) similarly leasing a greater number of its movable assets like locomotives and wagons; and 3) improving its current contract terms with concessionaires and lessors. The TA includes review of the Grantee's current five-year plan and analysis of a variety of methods the Grantee, Ministry of Railways of the Republic of India ("IR"), could employ private capital to improve its operations and rail infrastructure. The TA will also recommend a training program for Grantee officials. For India to maintain its needed economic growth it is critical that it invest heavily in infrastructure. Currently the country's economy is not generating the investment funds required. In the case of the Grantee this problem is made more difficult because as a government owned entity it is not only required to source funds for infrastructure, it has been required to source funds for locomotives, coaches, and wagons. At a May 2, 2013 meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Railways it was suggested that the Grantee take concrete steps to ensure that PPP achievements do not lag behind targets. The report suggests that mobilization of private investment in the Grantee is likely to be roughly four percent, which is less when compared to the private capital share in other sectors like ports (80 percent), telecom (82 percent), electricity (44 percent), airports (64 percent) and roads (16 percent). By comparison the North American railways are privately owned, almost all movable assets of any value are purchased by shippers and leasing companies. Many terminals are owned or leased by private companies and not by the operating main line railways. As a means of access to private funding, in 1986 the Grantee created a subsidiary corporation, Indian Railways Finance Corporation (IRFC) that is authorized to annually borrow up to 9,000 Cr ($1.8 billion) from the private market. IRFC is a dedicated financing arm of the Ministry of Railways. Its sole objective is to raise money from the market to part finance outlay of the Grantee's annual plan. The money so made available is used for acquisition of rolling stock assets and for meeting other developmental needs of the Grantee. Since IRFC can offer a sovereign guarantee it can attract funds at lower interest rates. This money is then lent in the form of leases of assets to the railway. These funds are lent with a 0.5 percent interest rate premium to fund the Corporation. For 15 to 20 years the Grantee has tried to attract private capital to fund supply of freight wagons by issuing schemes and rules under which private ownership would be permitted. While these programs exist, the Grantee is interested to learn what modifications and international best practices could enhance the amount of private capital that the Grantee is able to attract to support its infrastructure investment requirements. Portions of a background Definitional Mission are provided for reference in Annex 2. The U.S. firm selected will be paid in U.S. dollars from a $518,000 grant to the Grantee from the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA). A detailed Request for Proposals (RFP), which includes requirements for the Proposal, the Terms of Reference, and portions of a background definitional mission report are available from USTDA, at 1000 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 1600, Arlington, VA 22209-3901. To request the RFP in PDF format, please go to: https://www.ustda.gov/businessopps/rfpform.asp Requests for a mailed hardcopy version of the RFP may also be faxed to the IRC, USTDA at 703-875-4009. In the fax, please include your firm's name, contact person, address, and telephone number. Some firms have found that RFP materials sent by U.S. mail do not reach them in time for preparation of an adequate response. Firms that want USTDA to use an overnight delivery service should include the name of the delivery service and your firm's account number in the request for the RFP. Firms that want to send a courier to USTDA to retrieve the RFP should allow one hour after faxing the request to USTDA before scheduling a pick-up. Please note that no telephone requests for the RFP will be honored. Please check your internal fax verification receipt. Because of the large number of RFP requests, USTDA cannot respond to requests for fax verification. Requests for RFPs received before 4:00 PM will be mailed the same day. Requests received after 4:00 PM will be mailed the following day. Please check with your courier and/or mail room before calling USTDA. Only U.S. firms and individuals may bid on this USTDA financed activity. Interested firms, their subcontractors and employees of all participants must qualify under USTDA's nationality requirements as of the due date for submission of qualifications and proposals and, if selected to carry out the USTDA-financed activity, must continue to meet such requirements throughout the duration of the USTDA-financed activity. All goods and services to be provided by the selected firm shall have their nationality, source and origin in the U.S. or host country. The U.S. firm may use subcontractors from the host country for up to 20 percent of the USTDA grant amount. Details of USTDA's nationality requirements and mandatory contract clauses are also included in the RFP. Interested U.S. firms should submit their Proposal in English directly to the Grantee by 1500 hours IST, March 12, 2016 at the above address. Evaluation criteria for the Proposal are included in the RFP. Price will not be a factor in contractor selection, and therefore, cost proposals should NOT be submitted. The Grantee reserves the right to reject any and/or all Proposals. The Grantee also reserves the right to contract with the selected firm for subsequent work related to the project. The Grantee is not bound to pay for any costs associated with the preparation and submission of Proposals.
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