B -- MOROCCO: PORT OF SAFI FEASIBILITY STUDY

Notice Date

July 11, 2001

Contracting Office

USTDA, 1621 N. Kent Street, Suite 200, Arlington, VA 22209-2131

ZIP Code

22209-2131

Response Due

August 27, 2001

Point of Contact

POC -- Evangela Kunene, USTDA, 1621 N. Kent Street, Suite 200, Arlington, VA 22209-2131, Tel: (703) 875-4357, Fax: (703) 875-4009.

Description

Morocco: Port of Safi Feasibility Study. The Grantee invites submission of qualifications and proposal data (collectively referred to as the "Proposal") from interested U.S. firms which are qualified on the basis of experience and capability to develop a feasibility study for a proposed new port at Safi in Morocco. Safi is a medium-size town of about 350,000 inhabitants located on the Atlantic coast of Morocco. The Groupe Office Ch rifien des Phosphates (OCP) operates a large chemical complex eleven miles south of Safi. The complex was established in 1965 with the opening of Maroc-Chimie, expanded in 1976 with the opening of a second plant, (Maroc Phosphore I), and a third plant in 1981 (Maroc-Phosphore II). These plants transform approximately 6.1 million tons of phosphate rock from the mines at Youssoufia and Benguerir into phosphoric acid and fertilizer. Raw and finished products are transported to and from the commercial port of Safi using tanker trucks and railcars running through the center of town. OCP would like to develop a dedicated port facility outside of its plant to facilitate its business expansion plans as well as to eliminate the expensive and hazardous transportation of inbound and outbound products through the town. The proposed new port would be built in front of the Safi chemical complex, connected to the plant by pipeline and conveyor belts, following the example logistics existing at OCP's Jorf Lasfar complex. Additionally, OCP has specified that the port should be sufficient for four ships to dock at the same time under all maritime conditions. The ships have the following maximum characteristics: length 225 meters, draught 13 meters. According to these preliminary requirements, the port should be designed for loading and unloading tankers, cargo ships, and other vessels, for shipping and receiving bulk ammonia, phosphoric acid and sulfuric acids, liquid and solid sulfurs, fertilizer, phosphate, and potash. The proposed port should provide the following services: loading and unloading of tankers and LPG ships; unloading of cargo ships (solid sulfur and potash); and loading of cargo ships (fertilizers and phosphates). The objective of the Feasibility Study is to develop of a number of alternative designs for the port, and the evaluation of their relative costs, benefits, and financing feasibility. The findings will determine whether the project should continue to the second phase, which would address the engineering, environmental issues, and refine the port's cost estimates for implementation. In summary, the Feasibility Study tasks are the following: 1) review of the existing prefeasibilty studies on the new port at Safi and analysis of current and future port traffic requirements, 2) analysis of alternative port designs, 3) cost benefit analysis of the port design alternatives, 4) environmental benefits/remediation/cost analysis, 5) financing and regulatory analysis, and 6) final report to OCP and TDA. The U.S. firm selected will be paid in U.S. dollars from a $259,200 grant to the Grantee from the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (TDA). A detailed Request for Proposals (RFP), which includes requirements for the Proposal, the Terms of Reference, and a background definitional mission report are available from TDA, at 1621 N. Kent Street, Suite 200, Arlington, VA 22209-2131. Requests for the RFP should be faxed to the IRC, TDA at 703-875-4009. In the fax, please include your firm's 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 note that no telephone requests for the RFP will be honored. 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 mailroom before calling TDA. 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 host country. The U.S. firm may use subcontractors from the host country 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 Proposal in English and in French directly to the Grantee by 11:00 A.M., Monday, August 27, 2001 at the above address. Evaluation criteria for the Proposal are included in the RFP. Price will not be a factor in contractor selection, and therefore, cost proposals should NOT be submitted. The Grantee reserves the right to reject any and/or all Proposals. The Grantee also reserves the right to contract with the selected firm for subsequent work related to the project. The Grantee is not bound to pay for any costs associated with the preparation and submission of Proposals.

Record

Loren Data Corp. 20010713/BSOL007.HTM (W-192 SN50R524)