1. Introduction
Pre-procurement activities include all the activities that need to be conducted by the public entity prior to the bid process for procurement of private partner is initiated. Ideally, these activities are to be carried out after the project has been structured so that its contours are set for the procurement of services to be provided by a private partner.
| What are Pre-procurement Activities? Pre-procurement activities are those activities which are expected to be undertaken usually after the project structure is confirmed. An indicative list of these activities includes: • Land Acquisition, Right of Way and Shifting of Utilities • Administrative approvals - Permissions from State Government, Cabinet approvals, Permission from GOI, etc. • Familiarity with Government Schemes - VGF, IIPDF, etc. • Clearances& Permits - From statutory and regulatory Authorities • Inter-departmental coordination as per requirement |
Each of the pre-procurement activity mentioned in the box above is to be fulfilled by the public entity. The sequence in which they are to be carried out may vary based on the project specifics. It is useful to start these activities concurrently.
At this stage of the project development process, the public entity would need to also make an assessment and provide for committed & contingent liabilities that may arise out the proposed PPP arrangement. In such cases, before inclusion of the contingent liabilities section in the agreement, it is prudent that the public entity has obtained all necessary approvals from appropriate Authority in this regard. Refer Annexure 12 of this Module for more on 'Committed & Contingent Liabilities'
The public entity must also ensure that all stakeholders associated with project are clear with respect to the objectives and outcome of the project. Effective communication strategy must be deployed to spread adequate awareness and knowledge about the project. More on communication strategy and stakeholder consultations is set out in Module16 of the PPP Guide for Practitioners.