Mr. Vasile Olievschi, Vice President, Romanian National Railways (SNCFR), B-dul Dinicu Golescu Nr. 38, 78123 Bucuresti, Romania; Telephone: 011-40-1-222-3480; Facsimile: 011-40-1-312-3200

R -- ROMANIA -- SNCFR TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND MARKET ENTRY PLAN FEASIBILITY STUDY POC Evangela Kunene, USTDA, Room 309, SA-16, Washington, D.C. 20523-1602, Tel: (703) 875-4357, Fax No.: (703) 875-4009 The Grantee 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 market study and implementation plan that addresses market, technical, financial, regulatory, management, and partnering issues necessary to develop the Romanian national railroad as a commercial telecommunications service provider. Societatea Nationala a Cailor Ferate Romane (SNCFR) is the Romanian national railroad utility which operates a railroad network that covers Romania and has links to several international destinations. In order to operate this extensive rail network, SNCFR must maintain a telecommuni-cations network over all the rail links so that locomotives can support all network transactions. SNCFR currently operates the second largest telecommunications network in the country and the company wishes to transform this network into a commercial operation. The feasibility study will help SNCFR establish a market penetration plan and business study to determine how best to establish this new venture in Romania. The specific tasks of the study include: Task 1-Internal Telecommunications Needs Assessment, Task 2-External Market Services Investigation, Task 3-Backbone Service and Overflow Analysis, Task 4-Technical Analysis of Types of Interconnection, Task 5-Financial Analysis including Capital, Network, and Operational Costs, Task 6-Management Structure for the New Venture, Task 7-Financial Viability and Revenue Analysis including Business Plan, Task 8-Partner Identification, Task 9-Regulatory Analysis, Task 10-Final Report The U.S. firm selected will be paid in U.S. dollars from a $260,500 grant to the Grantee from the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (TDA). A detailed Request for Proposals (RFP), which includes requirements for the Proposal, the Terms of Reference, and a background definitional mission report are available from TDA, at 1621 N. Kent Street, Suite 300, Arlington, VA 22209-2131. 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 check your internal fax verification receipt. Because of the large number of RFP requests, TDA 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 callingTDA. 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 their Proposal in English directly to the Grantee by 4:00 PM, January 16, 1998 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. (0330)

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