USTDA, 1621 N. Kent Street, Suite 200, Arlington, VA 22209-2131

A -- BEIRUT SUBURBAN MASS TRANSIT CORRIDOR FEASIBILITY STUDY DUE 122499 POC Evangela Kunene, TDA, Tel: (703) 875-4357, Fax: (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 feasibility study for this project. In the period since the Lebanese civil war ended, new residential and commercial construction is growing. Despite the government of Lebanon's (GOL) extensive rehabilitation of the country's road network, this expansion has put additional pressure on the utility of the existing roads. Beirut's road system, in particular, has outgrown its capacity, most notably in sections of the city where residents have never had convenient access to rail transit. Before the war, the existing rail system was equipped to handle the overflows, but the increase in the total numbers of rail and road commuters has caused difficulties and delays in that system as well. It is estimated that the 1994 population of the Beirut Metropolitan Area was 1,165,000 and that it will rise to 1,950,000 by 2015. The job base in Beirut is estimated to rise from 470,000 jobs (1994) to 780,000 jobs (2015). Rail ridership is projected to reach over 10,000 peak-hour passenger trips per hour on the key suburban/regional corridors in and around the Beirut Metropolitan area by 2015. To address this growing transportation problem, the GOL has commissioned several mass transit studies. In 1994, the Ministry of Transportation (MOT) hired Sofrerail (France) to undertake a feasibility study on the redesign and expansion of the Lebanese national railway system. The study was completed, but shortly afterward, new technology was introduced that rendered the report's financial and technical recommendations useless. Next, an Italian-led consortium recommended a Mass Rapid Transit system using technologies made by the rail-car manufacturer Breda. These cars would have been similar to the Washington Metro system vehicles except for the provision of an overhead pantograph system operating at 1,500 Volts DC. The cost ofthis double-track, electrified, heavy-rail option is extremely expensive ($2.4 billion), and the consortium was also demanding a monopoly with exclusive access to the right-of-way through a land transfer. The GOL rejected this offer. The project stalled, and the GOL tabled the issue in favor of other projects (e.g., the new Beirut International Airport). A completely new government came into power in Winter 1998, and it is eager to move ahead on the infrastructure projects delayed by the past administration. The Council of Ministers has determined that the Beirut suburban mass-transit corridor project is one of the priorities in the transportation sector. During a June 1999 visit, TDA Country Manager Danielle D. Camner met with the new Minister of Transportation and his advisors. In response to the Minister's interest in TDA assistance with this project, a DM consultant was sent to Lebanon to assess the agency's involvement. The project will provide an alternative commute to the automobile using the pre-warrail alignment. Although the line is not currently in operation, the old system's tracks still exist along with some dormant and rusting rolling stock. (Based on a GOL July 1999 site survey, none of the fixed assets and rolling stock is salvageable.) Because these tracks would provide an ideal Right-of-Way to build the new mass transit line along the former corridor, the proposed feasibility study will look at using this alignment and building a completely new transit corridor on it. In order to enhance the revenue base for this project, the valuable land along the alignment and its air rights will be considered for joint commercial and residential development. The project will probably be constructed using the newest, 3rd-rail technology (available through U.S. and foreign competitors), and the railway system is likely to be privatized in the process. The feasibility study will examine the following topics: 1) Assess existing demand studies and determine demand for restoration of mass transit in and around Beirut along with the potential for either shared or parallel freight operations along the Corridor; 2) Determine tariff levels to establish the fare box recovery ratio and pay back the equity portion of constructions loans to the extent the market will bear; 3) Develop an optimal set of public-private financing and operating options based on the commercial feasibility of the project; 4) Conduct conceptual engineering for the project with consideration given to American supplied equipment for track, vehicles, communications and signaling; 5) Conduct an environmental impact assessment which identifies construction and ongoing environmental risks associated with the project given an expected net reduction in noise, pollution and congestion resulting from this project; 6) Generate a functional performance specification which allows enough flexibility during implementation to draw from the experience of worldwide design-build-own-maintain (DBOM) projects elsewhere while prescribing 30% technical standards for system design, engineering, operation and maintenance; and 7) Develop a tender package designed to comply with the GOL needs that attracts maximum interest from the international investment community. The objective of this study is to produce a value-engineered, optimized, achievable mass transit plan enabling the GOL to negotiate a beneficial partnership with the private sector in order to expedite system construction. The selected consultant shall prepare a tender package for a mass transit corridor. The U.S. firm selected will be paid in U.S. dollars from a $625,000 grant to the Grantee from the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (TDA). The fact that this company may design the specs for the project's components means that it (or its holding companies or companies that own them) cannot bid against these specs. The selected Study contractor may later serve as a consultant to MOT or to the winning bidder (during the implementation phase of the project), but may NOT bid on the tender that is written through this TDA-funded activity. However, once the winning bidder wins the bid for all or some of the project's components and the project moves to the implementation phase, then the selected Study contractor may serve as consultant to the winning bidder or to the MOT. A detailed Request for Proposals (RFP), which includes requirements for the Proposal, the Terms of Reference, and a background definitional mission/desk study report are available from TDA, at 1621 N. Kent Street, Suite 200, 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 calling TDA. 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 Ministry of Transport REQUIRES that at least 15 percent of the grant funds MUST be spent locally (on host-country subcontractors). 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 4:00pm, Friday, December 24, 1999, 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.***** Posted 11/12/99 (W-SN400378). (0316)

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