Having received statements of qualifications from interested firms, the implementing agency (or the designated evaluation team) must evaluate those qualifications against the pre-defined qualification criteria.
Box 3.12: Firm Qualification Criteria describes typical firm qualification criteria, with resources and examples. These criteria can be defined and applied on a pass/fail basis, or used to rank firms, and qualify a certain number. See Section 3.5.3: Qualifying Bidders for more on these two approaches.
Once the evaluation is completed, the implementing agency needs to inform both qualified firms or consortia, and those that have been unsuccessful. As described in the South Africa PPP Manual procurement module [#219, page 25], the list of qualified firms is typically published. The agency also needs to make sure it provides sufficient information on the decision to unsuccessful firms.
| Box 3.12: Firm Qualification Criteria One of the aims of the procurement process is to select a competent firm, with the capacity to implement the project. This means it is important to consider the qualifications of the firms behind each proposal. This can be done through a pre-qualification process to identify bidders, or as part of the first stage of the tender process (sometimes called "post qualification"). In either case, clear qualification criteria should be established before beginning the procurement process. Firm qualification criteria can be quantitative or qualitative. They typically involve considering the sponsoring firms' financial robustness, previous experience with similar projects, and the experience of key members of the management team. Careful selection of these criteria is important, to avoid excluding firms (for example, smaller firms) that could make good partners; or including firms that prove poorly-qualified. The following provide discussion and examples of firm qualification criteria: • World Bank Technical Note on Procurement of Management Contracts [#278, pages 12-21] describes in detail and gives examples of pre-qualification criteria designed to minimize errors of inclusion and exclusion • Kerf et al Guide to Concessions [#169, pages 115-6] gives examples of pre-qualification criteria and procedures used in a selection of PPP projects • Australia National PPP Practitioner's Guide section on "Evaluating Expressions of Interest" [#16, pages 60-62], which includes a detailed description of the criteria to be applied at the EOI stage • Pakistan's Procurement Guidelines for PPP Projects [#198, Chapter 3, pg. 8-9] provides three examples of evaluation criteria, bidder's capability and strength, deliverability, and project awareness • The Philippines' Implementing Rules and Regulations under the BOT Law [#202, Section 5.4], which describe three categories-legal requirements, experience or track record, and financial capability. |