Ministry of Energy & Mineral Resources of Bangladesh, Syed Tanveer Hussain, Additional Secretary, Bangladesh Secretariat, Dhaka-1000 Bangladesh, Tel: (880 2)866446, Fax: (880 2)861110, E-Mail: thussain@bangla.net

C -- STRATEGIC GAS UTILIZATION STUDY FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF BANGLADESH POC POC Evangela Kunene, USTDA, Room 300, 1621 North Kent Street, Arlington, VA 22209, Telephone: (703) 875-4357, Fax: (703) 875-4009 The Government of Bangladesh (GOB), acting through the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, invites the submission of qualification and proposal data (collectively referred to as the Proposal) from interested U. S. firms which are qualified on the basis of experience and performance to perform a Strategic Gas Utilization Study. The latest exploration findings have turned up larger than expected natural gas reserves in Bangladesh, which could mean plentiful domestic supplies as well as future export opportunities. The international oil companies and the GOB understand that natural gas is the key to Bangladesh's future economic development. The oil companies are concerned that they will not be able to produce up to capacity because there are few substantial downstream markets for gas. At the same time, the GOB is being approached by numerous Western companies with proposals for various projects that would utilize the gas. Currently, the Government has no way to evaluate and compare these proposals to determine which ones are in the country's best economic interest. The U.S. Trade and Development Agency (TDA) is funding a strategic gas utilization study for Bangladesh to analyze the various projects that could utilize the gas expected to be produced in Bangladesh over the next 5-10 years. The results would serve as the basis for planning by the GOB on how to proceed with gas development in a way that maximizes the economic return to the country. The selected U.S. firm will be required to perform the following general tasks: (1) assess the potential uses for NGL in transportation, domestic use and in petrochemicals; (2) characterize the feasibility of using compressed natural gas as a vehicular fuel; (3) determine the economics of additional urea production; (4) prepare a screening assessment of an LNG export facility; (5) develop a supply-side schedule for bringing additional electric generating capacity on-line; (6) assess the economic merits of moderately sized combined cycle co-generation plants as part of the GOB Rural Electrification program; (7) develop a 10 year hard currency "cash flow" analysis of GOB obligations in the energy sector; (8) recommend a reserve to production ratio for policy makers; and (9) prepare a stand-by energy transaction plan with neighboring countries. It is expected that the Strategic Study will be completed in five months from date of contract award. A detailed Request for Proposal (RFP) package, including: instructions to bidders; detailed terms of reference; detailed evaluation criteria; and a background Definitional Mission Report, is available from TDA at Room 300, 1621 North Kent Street, Arlington, VA 22209. 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 and fax numbers. 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 3:00 PM willbe mailed the same day. Requests received after 3:00 PM will be mailed the following day. Please check with your courier and/or mailroom before calling TDA. 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 your delivery service and your firms account number in the request for the RFP. Firms that want to send a courier to TDA to retrieve the RFP should allow four hours after faxing the request to TDA before scheduling a pick-up. Please note that no telephone requests for the RFP will be honored. The selected U. S. firm will be paid in U.S. dollars from a US$400,000 grant to the GOB fromTDA. Only U.S. firms may bid on this TDA-funded activity. All goods and services to be provided by the selected firm and its subcontractors (if any) must have their nationality, source, and origin in the United States or Bangladesh. TDAs nationality provisions are contained in the RFP. Before scoring, proposals will be evaluated against threshold requirements. If a proposal does not demonstrate that the Offeror has the necessary qualifications to undertake all phases of the study, the proposal will not be considered further. Threshold criteria will include: (1) the qualifications and experience of the Offeror and Offerors proposed key personnel to perform the Strategic Study; (2) Offerors relevant experience in: gas transmission and distribution studies; NGL, condensate refining and petrochemical processes and process economics; project financing issues; and electric generation, transmission and distribution issues and economics. Offerer should have experience in Bangladesh or other similar Asian country. Proposals that meet the threshold requirements will then be scored according to the following criteria: (1) qualifications and experience of the proposed study team -- (20 points); (2) Offerors Work Plan for assessing different gas utilization options; -- (30 points); (3) Offerors Work Plan for developing a supply-side schedule for power sector development -- (20 points); (4) Offerors Work Plan for developing a 10 year hard currency energy sector obligation estimate (10 points); (5) Offerors Work Plan for developing a stand-by energy transaction plan -- (20 points) Price will not be a factor in the selection, and, therefore, cost proposals should NOT be submitted. The GOB reserves the right to reject any and/or all Proposals. The GOB also reserves the right to contract with the selected firm for subsequent work related to the study. The GOB is not bound to pay for any costs associated with the preparation and submission of the Proposal documents. Firms agree by their response to this announcement to abide by the procedures established for the procurement. Posted 08/13/98 (I-SN236796). (0225)

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