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

E -- ESTONIA -- AS SILMET WASTE MANAGEMENT PROJECT FEASIBILITY STUDY DUE 090100 POC Evangela Kunene, USTDA, 1621 N. Kent Street, Suite 300, Arlington, VA 22209-2131, Tel: (703) 875-4357, Fax: (703) 875-4009 AS Silmet Waste Management Project Feasibility Study. 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 (FS) to examine the technical, financial, economic and environmental factors surrounding the implementation of a waste management facility at the AS Silmet plant. AS Silmet is a fully privatized, profitable hydrometallurgical plant in northern Estonia, located on the Gulf of Finland. The plant was built in 1948 to process aluminum shale. In the late 1970s, AS Silmet switched to processing loparite, a mineral rich in niobium, tantalum and rare earth metals. Years of pollution created an environmental disaster at a nearby tailing pond. This disaster is currently being remediated with $22 million in tied credit from the Estonian Government, EU Phare, and Nordic countries. Even after remediation work is complete, the plant will continue to produce levels of pollution deemed unacceptable under new Estonian environmental regulations. The company must improve its processing techniques and implement cleaner technologies in order to minimize harmful waste streams by December 2002 -- when it takes its tailing pond off-line. Because of its environmental problems, AS Silmet and the Government of Estonia formed a new joint stock company -- kosil -- in 1998. kosil is the project manager for all environmental projects at AS Silmet. kosil has already done some preliminary work with the Los Alamos National Laboratory, which provided limited assistance to inventory waste streams and prepare a waste management plan. However, a complete study (including turnkey tender documents) is now necessary to proceed. The objectives of the AS Silmet Waste Management Project are to identify and evaluate treatment and disposal options for their process wastestreams and develop the conceptual design for implementation for the most cost -- effective and technically viable alternative. The AS Silmet plant has historically disposed of processing waste streams in a tailing pond, which is now under remediation. The FS is needed so that AS Silmet will have an alternative waste management plan implemented when the tailing pond is taken off-line in December 2002. koSil has already completed much of the preliminary work needed to characterize the existing situation at the AS Silmet plant and the FS could focus on the evaluation alternatives and the preliminary selection of equipment. The study will require a number of tasks, as follows: (1) Review the existing inventory of waste streams and material balances prepared by kosil and Tallinn Technical University. The FS contractor will discuss this information with representatives of kosil and AS Silmet to outline in detail the objectives of the project. (2) Review of Estonian regulatory requirements for waster water discharge and solid waste disposal. (3) Determine options for waste minimization technologies. (4)Compose a report to summarize the available options and implementation strategies. (5) Evaluate financing options for project implementation. (6) Create a conceptual design for waste management system. (7) Provide advisory services regarding tender solicitation documents. (8) Prepare the final draft of the Feasibility Study Report to include all of this information. The U.S. firm selected will be paid in U.S. dollars from a $103,030 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 the Desk Study 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 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 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, September 1, 2000 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 07/25/00 (W-SN478617). (0207)

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