6.2. Components of RFP
As part of the RFP, the public entity will also provide a draft PPP Agreement which the preferred bidder (bidder offering the best bid for the project) has to sign on award of the project. The draft PPP Agreement should clearly provide the terms and conditions subject to which the project will be awarded.
| The terms of the Agreement form part of the bid conditions and the project company formed by the successful bidder should not deviate from it on award of the project. Similarly, since the selected bidder submits its financial offer based on the terms provided in the draft agreement, the public entity should also abide by it. Since the terms in the draft agreement are binding in nature, much effort and expertise are required for drafting it. |
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The public entity shall, in order to assist the bidders in submitting their financial proposal, provide a feasibility report or a project information memorandum (PIM) as part of the RFP. The PIM generally contains information relating to viability, market data, technical features, traffic/volume, soil investigation/geo tech report, revenue sources and climate details etc. which are available with the public entity on the proposed project.
The contents of the PIM are only provided as information to assist the bidders in understanding the project. It is neither binding on the public entity nor does it confer any rights on the bidders. Bidders must carry out their own due diligence before submitting their financial offer. The public entity should ensure that a disclaimer to this effect is provided as part of the feasibility report/PIM document to avoid any dispute in future.
| Evaluation of Technical Proposal In exceptionally complex projects, the public entity may request submission of technical proposals/plans. Technical proposals/plans should be invited at the qualification stage, either along with the initial applications or at an intermediate stage preceding the RFP stage. The evaluation of technical proposals is not done as a rule because the proposals submitted by different bidders vary significantly and it is very difficult to compare or evaluate such diverse proposals on a common set of parameters. Further, where the technical proposals are sought, the project outcomes are decided based on the technical proposal submitted. Thus, to avoid this in PPP projects, the Government sets the technical parameters and asks for financial bids only, leaving sufficient flexibility for bidders to design and engineer the project in line with pre-determined standards and specifications, including service outputs. |