MUL’s Managing Director, Mr. Peter White check bids
The opening of sealed bids for the construction of the Brades Power Station Expansion project concluded at the Montserrat Utilities Ltd. (MUL) office in St John’s last Friday, February 3, 2012. Friday, 2 o’clock was the deadline for the submission of bids for the Power Station Project.
The contractors who submitted bids were: Williams Industries Incorporated and Little Bay Limited, LLC, through its joint venture partners Philadelphia Electrical Equipment Company (PEECO), Z&F Consulting and Annbar SA De CV ( Annbar Mexico). The bid-opening was witnessed by the MUL Board, DFID’s programme representative Mr. Kato Kimbugwe, senior Government officials, members of the press, and representatives of the private sector.
MUL’s Managing Director, Mr. Peter White told those present that the next step would be the bid evaluation, collection of the winning bid and the awarding of the bid. “Our consultant Mott McDonald who designed the station itself and the specifications for the station, they would do the evaluation. Following that, we would decide who has the winning bid. The evaluation process takes quite a while, the engineers would have to go through it with a fine tooth comb, ensure that they meet all the specifications etc. within the bid, to ensure that they have not deviated considerably from the tender documents and the specifications, and also determine that the bidders are in fact qualified based on CDB’s criteria, then a decision would be made,” he explained.
The Brades Power Station Project is co-financed by The Department for International Development (DFID), the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and government of Montserrat.
Chairman of MUL Philip Chambers speaking at the project launch said that DFID’s contribution to the power plant project is conditioned upon the new power station be designed so that future potential of green energy can be easily integrated into the generating plant. This being a clear reference to geothermal and wind power energy.
According to Portfolio Manager of CDB Miss Allison Davis, at the project launch back in September last year at the Montserrat Cultural Centre, the project will provide the island with a reliable power supply. “An efficient, secure and reliable electricity service will facilitate increased activity in the productive sectors and this in turn would stimulate economic growth,” she had said.
There was a concern raised by one of the officials regarding whether the time for delivery of the plant had been stated in the bids. It appeared that the information had been missing, or was not immediately available. That question was raised we were informed because the Government had been at the time engulfed in a situation with a previous tender in respect of school buildings where one bidder had not specified the “time” for completing the tender and won the bid. Unconfirmed information at time of writing said that other tender had been reopened.
