The bid process formally begins when the government issues Request for Proposal (RFP) documents to participating bidders. These documents set out the project structure and requirements, and the details of the bid process. High-quality, detailed, and clear RFP documents are important to ensuring a competitive process and a PPP that achieves value for money. RFP documents typically include the following:
• Information on the PPP project opportunity. This could include:
- An Information Memorandum describing the key features of the project and the commercial terms of the PPP
- Draft project agreements-that is, the output of the detailed PPP contract design process described in Section 3.4: Designing PPP Contracts
- Copies of any permits or approvals obtained for the project
- A description of the detailed technical information amassed during the project preparation stage that will be provided to bidders in a data room
Information on the bid process. This could include:
- Detailed bid rules and instructions to bidders, setting out the process and requirements
- A timetable, which should build in enough time to allow bidders to prepare quality proposals
- Box 3.13: Evaluation Criteria
- Bid bond requirements (if any), as described in the section on 'Approach to bid costs and payments' under 3.5.1: Deciding the Procurement Strategy.
Table 3.4: Examples and Guidance on Preparing RFP Documents. For further examples, the World Bank PPP in Infrastructure Resource Center website [#286] page on 'Procurement Processes and Standardized Bidding Documents', http://ppp.worldbank.org/public-private-partnership/content/procurement-processes-and-standardized-bidding-documents, includes a link to a draft RFP for Power Purchase Agreements, and links to actual bidding documents from PPP projects. The World Bank has also issued sample bidding documents for output- and performance-based road contracts [#275], along with some guidance in foreword to the documents.
Table 3.4: Examples and Guidance on Preparing RFP Documents
| Jurisdiction | Reference | Description |
| Australia | Describes in detail the content of the RFP | |
| Brazil | Describes the minimum information that the tender documents must include. These are a draft PPP contract, the proposal guarantee required from the bidder (up to 1 percent of total contract amount), the conflict resolution procedures, and the guarantees that that government will make available to ensure its payments | |
| Chile | Concessions Law [#46] | The Chilean PPP Unit housed within the Ministry of Public Works provides access to the complete RFP of all their PPP projects. |
| Colombia | Law 80/1993, General Statute for Pro-curement by the Public Administration [#50, Articles 14 and 30] | Article 24 describes the information that PPP tender documents must include. This includes: requirements to be eligible to participate as a bidder, rules for preparing bids, cost and quality of goods, works and services needed to carry out the project, term of the contract, and bidder selection rules. Article 30 sets out the tender process-including the rights and responsibilities of the actors involved, and deadlines and timeframes for each step |
| Law 1150 (2007) Law to Introduce Efficiency and Transparency Measures in Law 80 of 1993 [#51, article 8] | Establishes that the contracting agency must publish a preliminary version of the tender documents. This is a non-binding activity-that is, the contracting agency is not forced to carry out the tender after publishing these preliminary documents | |
| India | Provides a full generic model RFP, intended for use by contracting authorities at the national level | |
| South Africa | Describes first how bidders can participate in finalizing the RFP; then describes in detail the content of the RFP |