Chemopetrol Group a.s.; Mr. Karel Svoboda, Manager; Technical Strategy Department; 436 70 Litvinov, Czech Republic; Tel: 0042 35 334198, Fax: 0042 35 335707/0042 35 33 4292

B -- CHEMOPETROL HDPE EXPANSION FEASIBILITY STUDY POC Carol Stillwell, USTDA, Room 309, SA-16, Washington, D.C. 20523-1602, Tel: (703) 875-4357, Fax No.: (703) 875-4009 Chemopetrol HDPE (High Density Polyethylene) Expansion Project. Chemopetrol invites submission of qualifications and proposal data (collectively referred to as the ''Proposal'') from interested U.S. firms which are qualified on the basis of experience and capability to develop a feasibility study for restructuring HDPE production facilities at the Grantee's facilities in Litvinov, Czech Republic. Chemopetrol, a.s. is one of the largest Czech chemical companies, with revenues near US$ 1 billion annually. The Petrochemical Division's polyethylene plant was constructed in the late 1980's and was updated in the early 1990's to its present capacity of 120,000 MTPY. The process utilizes ethylene produced in the ethylene plant. They produce both polyethylene pellets and stabilized polyethylene powder. The plant is operating at full capacity and their current sales forecast indicates that they can sell additional materials if they were available. To accomplish this Chemopetrol Litvinov's Petrochemical complex needs to expand its present polyethylene capacity from 120,000 MTPY to 250,000 MTPY. The objective of this study is to examine the technical and economic feasibility of expanding the plant capacity by de-bottlenecking and upgrading the current plant facilities or if de-bottlenecking results in insufficient capacity increase a new plant will have to be considered. The study should evaluate the economics of the maximum increase in capacity with adding a new apparatus and a new part of plant vs. a complete new plant with the 250,000 MTPY production capacity. The study should also evaluate management, operating and maintenance skills. The primary goal of the study should be to increase the polyethylene capacity synchronously with modernization of polymer grades in the most efficient and economical way to meet Chemopetrol's sales projections. The study should devote sufficient effort to both options, such that the recommended option can be financed, taking into consideration the present and anticipated economic conditions. The study should evaluate the management, operating and maintenance skills. It should take into account the realistic pricing of the feed, products, utilities, and labor at present, during the project execution period and three years beyond. The primary goal of the study should be the increase in capacity in the most economic way to meet the projected demands by Chemopetrol. Energy reduction and waste stream minimization are also important. Specifically, the study will include the following components: 1. Detailed examination to determine the present condition of the facilities, and management, operating and maintenance skills. 2. Establish basis for the study-feed, product, utility compositions and battery limit conditions. 3. Establish feed product, utility and labor costs, and economic criteria for payout. 4. Generate overall heat and materials balances. 5. Evaluate and select options. 6. Develop budgetary costing for all options 7. Select optimum capacity increase and perform detailed heat and materials balances. 8. Complete conceptual design including the following with sufficient details for definitive costing for selected options: process flow diagrams, equipment specifications, utility balances, instrument data sheets, preliminary engineering diagrams. 9. Perform preliminary environmental assessments; evaluate environmental impacts; establish permit requirements; and make emission and control technology assessments. 10. Develop definitive costing for the selected option (+/- 10%)-Perform a financial and economic analysis for the project-tabulate local and imported cost elements. 11. Prepare a final report in two volumes-Volume I Financial, and Volume II Technical 12. Follow up and financing assistance. The U.S. firm selected will be paid in U.S. dollars from a $300,000 grant to the Grantee from the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (TDA). The solicitation package for this project consists of two documents: 1) a detailed Request for Proposals (RFP) which can be obtained directly from TDA and 2) additional proprietary technical information that can be obtained directly from the Grantee. The RFP, which includes requirements for the Proposal, the Terms of Reference, and a background definitional mission report, is available from TDA, at Room 309, SA-16, Washington, D.C. 20523-1621. Requests for the RFP should be faxed to the IRC, TDA 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 TDA 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 TDA to retrieve the RFP should allow one hour after faxing the request to TDA before scheduling a pick-up. Please note that no telephone requests for the RFP will be honored. 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, TDA can not 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 TDA. The proprietary technical information that will be needed to complete a proposal can be obtained directly from the Grantee in the Czech Republic, subject to the execution of a confidentiality agreement with the Grantee. Requests for the proprietary information should be faxed. Only U.S. firms and individuals may bid on this TDA financed activity. Interested firms, their subcontractors and employees of all participants must qualify under TDA's nationality requirements as of the due date for submission of qualifications and proposals and, if selected to carry out the TDA-financed activity, must continue to meet such requirements throughout the duration of the TDA-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 TDA grant amount. Details of TDA's nationality requirements and mandatory contract clauses are also included in the RFP. Interested U.S. firms should submit 8 copies of their Proposal in English directly to the Grantee in the Czech Republic. 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. (0305)

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