KEY INFORMATION

Project Reference No(s):

25304

Project Duration:

60 days

Contacts:

Andrea Baldan
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
BaldanA@ebrd.com
Phone: +44.20.7338.7307
Fax: +44.20.7338.7451

IMPORTANT DATES:

Announced Date

October 31, 2008

Express Interest By

November 14, 2008

General Information

Opportunity Type:

Services

Country/Region:

Bulgaria

Publication Date:

Nov 06, 2008

Project Amount:

USD 127,510

Contract Award

Add Contract Award

Notice/Contract Number:

25304

Project Summary

Project name	Nikopol Biomass Project - Technical Due Diligence in Bulgaria
Country	BULGARIA
Business sector	Municipal and environmental infrastructure, Power and Energy
Project ID	25304
Funding source	Bank Funded
Type of contract	Consultancy Services
Type of notice	Invitation for Expressions of Interest
Issue date	31 Oct 2008
Closing date	14 Nov 2008

Assignment Description: The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (the "EBRD" or the "Bank") intends to engage a quality team of experts (the "Consultant") that will undertake technical due diligence and fuel assessment (the "Assignment") in relation to the Bank's potential financing of the development and construction of a combined heat and power plant based on agricultural biomass (straw) in the Nikopol municipality in North Bulgaria. Enemona (the "Sponsor") is working under a scenario which includes the production of electricity (15MWe), the production of steam (4.7MWth, 7 bar) for industrial use, and the production of hot water (8.2MWth) for the district heating of the town of Nikopol (the "Project").

The main objective of the Assignment is to provide the Bank with a technical opinion on whether the borrower will have the capacity to service the proposed loan and provide a critical assessment on:
- the technical aspects of the Project contracts;
- the existing Feasibility Study;
- the construction arrangements;
- the arrangements for long term operation of the plant;
- the project risk;
- similar project experiences in other countries; and
- the fuel availability.

More specifically, The Consultant shall:
- review and assess the technical aspects of the Project contracts of the power plant;
- provide a critical assessment of the existing Feasibility Study;
- provide a critical assessment of the construction arrangements including;
- provide a critical assessment of the arrangements for long term operation of the plant;
- provide the project risk analysis;
- review similar project experiences in other countries;
- undertake fuel supply assessment;
- review and assess the Bulgarian and Romanian legal framework of the fuel supply;
- review the quality and availability of the fuel; and
- review the price of the straw and of the back-up fuel.

Assignment Duration: The assignment is scheduled to start in November 2008 and have duration of not more than two months.

Maximum Budget Available for the Assignment: EUR 100,000; exclusive of VAT.

The consultant must determine whether any VAT would be chargeable on the services and the basis for that determination, without taking into consideration the Bank's special status as an IFI and state this to the Bank in their response to the Invitation for Expressions of Interest. To the extent that a consultant incurs input VAT on goods and services purhcased in connection with the provision of services (e.g. VAT on airline ticket) which is not otherwise recoverable by the consultant from the local tax authority, the gross cost to the consultant of such expenses shall be treated as a reimbursable expense.

Funding Source: EBRD's own resources.

Eligibility: There is no eligibility restriction.

Consultant Profile: Corporate services are sought. The Consultant is likely to be a consulting engineering firm, a consortium of firms providing experts with relevant experience and professional qualifications in dealing with international biomass power and heat projects and biomass fuel assessment, preferably in EBRD's countries of operation or similar environments.

The following is the minimum experience and expertise required for this assignment:
- extensive engineering expertise in design of biomass power and heat plants, and with in-depth knowledge of biomass power and heat plant project scheduling and management;
- extensive technical expertise in biomass power and heat plant equipment design and procurement, and good understanding of the financing requirements of EBRD or other international financial institutions;
- extensive technical expertise in biomass fuel supply assessment and cost estimates out of which at least 5 years? experience in Bulgaria and/or Romania; and
- extensive local agribusiness expertise in biomass fuel supply assessment and cost estimates.

Submission Requirements: Interested consultants are hereby invited to submit Expressions of Interest. In order to determine the qualifications and competence of consulting firms seeking to be shortlisted, the information submitted should include the following:
- company profile, organisation and staffing;
- details of experience and similar assignments undertaken in Bulgaria, Romania, other South East European countries and/or countries similar to Bulgaria in the previous five years;
- demonstrable expertise in biomass power and heat plant design and engineering as well as agribusiness/agrofuel assessment; and
- proposed consultant team composition and CVs of staff who could be available to work on the assignment.

The above information should not exceed 20 pages, excluding CVs.

Expressions of Interest should be submitted, in English, electronically through e-Selection to the EBRD's Contact person below to reach the Bank no later than the specified closing date.

EBRD's contact person for this Assignment
Mr Andrea Baldan
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
One Exchange Square
London EC2A 2JN
Tel: + 44 20 7338 7307
Fax: +44 20 7338 7451
E-mail: BaldanA@ebrd.com (Expression of Interest should be sent through e-Selection and NOT to this email address).

Note: Selection and contracting will normally be made from responses to this notification. The consultant will be selected from a shortlist, subject to availability of funding.

Within the same Project, a separate assignment (Lenders' Engineer for construction and operation monitoring ? "LE") will be tendered separately. The same consultants may tender for both assignments but the firm selected for this assignment cannot be awarded the LE.

 The above is a complete copy of the original procurement notice.

Project Information

Links:

Procurement Notice Page

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