B -- BANJA LUKA DISTRICT HEAING PROJECT FEASIBILITY STUDY

Notice Date

February 27, 2001

Contracting Office

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

ZIP Code

22209-2131

Response Due

April 5, 2001

Point of Contact

POC -- Evangela Kunene, USTDA, 1621 N. Kent Street, Suite 200, Arlington, VA 22209-2131, Tel: (703) 875-4357, Fax: (703) 875-4009

Description

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 the district heating facility in Banja Luka. Banja Luka is Bosnia's second largest city; it is also the country's largest Serb community. Banja Luka was untouched during the 1992-5 war, but its infrastructure has been largely neglected over the past 10 years. The city's district heating system was placed into operation in 1970. Between 1970 and 1985, the heating plant's capacity expanded to 300MW. The plant provides winter district heating and hot water supply to 20,000 residential units (about one million square meters of living space). An equal amount of coverage is provided for commercial customers. With the exception of a $5 million heating plant rehabilitation (financed by USAID), no major maintenance or repairs have been performed. Currently, the Banja Luka district heating system loses 800m3 of potable water per day. This translates to losses of about $2,000 per day (approximately $360,000 per annum). The goals of the feasibility study would be to: * Determine both the financial viability and technical requirements for the district heating company's metering and controls needs. * Determine the financial viability of the proposed pipe replacement plan and develop alternative solutions for solving the company's water loss problem (if pipe replacement is deemed financially viable, we will request funding for an additional study phase that would focus on the project's technical requirements). * Update existing pre-feasibility studies and investigate financial viability of geothermal energy as a district heating source. The U.S. firm selected will be paid in U.S. dollars from a $297,517 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 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 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, local time, April 5, 2001 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.

Record

Loren Data Corp. 20010301/BSOL001.HTM (W-058 SN50E776)