Romania's Ministry of Communications, Ministry of Communications, Attention: Mr. Gabriel Grecu, Director General for Regulation, Bd. Libertatii, 14, 70060 Bucharest, Romania, phone: 011-401-400-1734, fax: 011-401-312-5642

N -- PILOT PROJECT FOR THE LOCAL DISTRIBUTION OF TELEPHONE SERVICE IN ROMANIA POC Carol Stillwell, USTDA, Room 309, SA-16, Washington, D.C. 20523-1602, Tel: (703) 875-4357, Fax No.: (703) 875-4009 The Romanian Ministry of Communications (''the Ministry'') invites submission of Prequalification Statements from interested U.S. firms which are qualified on the basis of experience and capability to perform a feasibility study and implement a wireless pilot project for the development of a local distribution service area. The United States Trade and Development Agency (''TDA'') has provided a grant in the amount of $400,000 to the Ministry to fund the Phase I feasibility study and partially fund the Phase II pilot project. The U.S. company selected will perform both phases. Phase I will develop detailed project specifications, establish commercial viability, establish a commercial relationship with Rom-Telecom, and negotiate all aspects of a joint venture (JV) for the profitable recovery of the selected U.S. company's equity investment. Phase I will also determine investment and financing arrangements for the JV. The implementation of Phase II will be contingent on a successful outcome of all aspects of the Phase I, and will involve the actual roll out of the pilot network. Based upon the Prequalification Statements, the Ministry will develop a short list of qualified firms which will be invited in writing to submit a formal Technical Proposal to carry out the feasibility study and pilot project. With only 3 million telephone lines in Romania, there is immediate demand for a million new telephone lines. In addition, the Government of Romania would like to have 7 million telephone lines installed by the year 2000. In order to help meet these needs, the Government of Romania (GR) is working with the World Bank to privatize RomTelecom (RT) and find a strategic partner for RT. However, with the results of this privatization years away and RT focusing solely on installing business lines, GR's telephony obligations cannot be met without immediate foreign involvement. Foreign competition has been intense in the sector. A TDA pilot project would help U.S. companies establish themselves in this highly competitive market. It will also demonstrate how quickly subscribers can be serviced with U.S. technology, while establishing new (U.S. standard) systems in Romania which compete effectively with European equipment. The Romanians specifically would like to see pilots for U.S. technology such as Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) Phase I will determine the technology used for implementation of the pilot project. TDA will provide $200,000 to completely fund the Phase I feasibility study. Upon completion of Phase I, the Ministry and the selected U.S. firm shall submit the final report to TDA for approval. This final report shall include a Terms of Reference for the Phase II pilot project valued at approximately $1,000,000 U.S. Dollars. Upon written approval by TDA of the final report and Phase II Terms of Reference, the additional $200,000 in funding provided by TDA for Phase II will be available to the Ministry. The Ministry and the selected U.S. firm shall amend their contract to include the Phase II Terms of Reference, and the selected U.S. firm must agree to provide equity in the amount of at least $800,000 covering the remaining expenses and/or in-house costs incurred to complete Phase II. A detailed Request for Proposals (RFP), which includes the requirements for submission of the Prequalification Statements and the Technical Proposal, the Terms of Reference, and a background definitional mission/desk study report are available from TDA, at Room 309, SA-16, Washington, D.C. 20523-1602. Requests for the RFP should be faxed to the IRC, TDA at 703-875-4009. In the fax, please include your firms name, contact person, address, and telephone number. Some firms have found that RFP materials sent by U.S. mail do not reach them in time for preparation of an adequate response. Firms that want TDA to use an overnight delivery service should include the name of the delivery service and your firm's account number in the request for the RFP. Firms that want to send a courier to TDA to retrieve the RFP should allow one hour after faxing the request to TDA before scheduling a pick-up. Please check your internal fax verification receipt. Because of the large number of RFP requests, TDA cannot respond to requests for fax verification. Requests for RFPs received before 4:00 PM will be mailed the same day. Requests received after 4:00 PM will be mailed the following day. Please check with your courier and/or mail room before calling TDA. Please note that no telephone requests for the RFP will be honored. Only U.S. firms and individuals may bid on this TDA financed activity. Interested firms, their subcontractors and employees of all participants must qualify under TDA's nationality requirements as of the due date for submission of qualifications and proposals and, if selected to carry out the TDA-financed activity, must continue to meet such requirements throughout the duration of the TDA-financed activity. All goods and services to be provided by the selected firm shall have their nationality, source and origin in the U.S. or Romania. The U.S. firm may use subcontractors from Romania for up to 20 percent of the TDA grant amount. Details of TDA's nationality requirements and mandatory contract clauses are also included in the RFP. Interested U.S. firms should submit their Prequalification Statements as outlined in the RFP in English directly to the Ministry in Bucharest. Evaluationcriteria for the Prequalification Statements and the Technical Proposals are included in the RFP. Price will NOT be a factor in contractor selection, and therefore, cost proposals should NOT be submitted. The Ministry reserves the right to reject any and/or all Prequalification Statements or Technical Proposals. The Ministry also reserves the right to contract with the selected firm for subsequent work related to the project. The Ministry is not bound to pay for any costs associated with the preparation and submission of Proposals. (0284)

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