CANCELLED Design of Two Modular Bridges and Associated Works in Yemen (YELCP)

Tender cancelled on 2023-09-11 11:02 UTC. There is a substantial variance between the lowest bid and the cost estimates. For any inquiries, please contact Maher ALSURABY. Email: MaherA@unops.org, Phone: Yemen 1504915

New clarification added: Dear bidders,Please find the below received requests for clarification with responses:Question 17: Should the relationship with the local partner be a joint-venture relationship or association, and if JV what is the minimum percentage condition, if any?Response: The requirement for the firm is to have a presence in the country this could be through a joint venture, or any other form of partnership. The highest portion of percentage should be with the leading member of the joint venture.Question 18: should the geotechnical lab be registered and certified as a condition for qualification?Response: Yes, the geotechnical lab must be officially registered and certified by the respective government entity.Question19: Does the applicant have to provide a  Professional Indemnity Insurance in the amount of$  one million, and Public Liability Insurance n the amount of $  500,000. Note that this Insurance is provided by the contractor and not by the designer. Furthermore all Yemeni banks will give this Insurance if you cash deposit the same amount of the InsuranceResponse: The bidders are not required to provide the insurance certificates along with their bid submissions.  Only the successful bidder will be required to provide insurance certificates after signing the contract.  The successful bidder will be required to provide all insurances specified in the bid document. With the submission the bodders are required to submit a signed copy of the respective returnable schedule Question 20: please confirm that the final detailed design of the modular bridges will be submitted by the chosen manufacturer, Response: Yes, as mentioned in the bid documents, the final detailed design of the modular bridges will be submitted by the chosen manufacturer.  The Design Consultant to be appointed under this tender process will design all other works required to place the modular bridge.  Please refer to the ToR for more information.Question 21: We want to make a comprehensive bid preparation for "Design of Two Modular Bridges and Associated Works in Yemen (YELCP)" project, it would be highly appreciated, if your esteemed organization allows us additional time to the submission deadline for a minimum period of 2 (two) week.Response:  Tender period was extended to 31 July 2023. Further extensions shall be difficult to be granted due to the urgent need of the requirements under this RFPBest regards,

New clarification added: Dear bidders,Please find the below received requests for clarification with responses:Question 13: 1- Please confirm that a bid security is not required (while the "Tender Particulars" state that such bid security is not required, the "Document Checklists" tab requests Schedule 0.8 and shows that a bid security is mandatory).Response:  Bid security is NOT required. Please refer to the discussion at the pre-bid meeting, and the RFP amendment 1.2- Please confirm that a Statement of Exclusivity and Availability is not required. (again, while the "Tender Particulars" state that such Statement is not required, the "Document Checklists" tab requests Schedule 0.6 and shows that a  Statement of Exclusivity and Availability is mandatory).Response: Statement of Exclusivity and Availability is required.  Please refer to the discussion at the pre-bid meeting, and the RFP amendment 1.3- Please confirm that in the case of a Joint Venture, the Qualification criteria must be met by the JV members, combined, and that it is not required for every JV member to meet all qualification criteria alone.Response: Each entity of the joint venture must meet all criterion under the Eligibility, and all joint venture members combined must meet qualification criterion.Question 14:Please confirm that the required number of Boreholes is 2 BH only for each location: 2 BH for Alkibss Bridge and 2 BH for Mablkah Bridge with a 20m depth.Please confirm that the bid bond is not required.Please confirm whether the performance guarantee is required or not.A request to extend the duration for submitting the geotechnical report at end of week 4 or 5 for those reasons:Permits take time and effort.Time for MobilizationTest results need time of more than 2 weeks.Preparing the reportResponse: Please refer to the ToR and the discussion at the pre-bid meeting.  Yes the borehole requirements specified in the ToR are for both bridges.  Question 15: request for a time extension to submit this proposal at least one week to be on 1st August 2023.Response: Tender period has been extended to 31 July 2023. Further extensions shall be difficult to be granted due to the urgent need of the requirements under this RFPQuestion 16:  It is mentioned in ToR page 7 that (The approaches must be designed to include necessary traffic controls at each side to use the bridge as a single lane bridge)So please confirm if we need to conduct a traffic study. if yes, what are the requirements for this study? (i.e., days of traffic count, time, duration, vehicle types, …etc.).And if you have any previous traffic studies that we can depend on in the study?Response: No, the Design Consultant will not be required to conduct a traffic study.  There are no previous traffic studies as well.  The traffic controls required are the minimum for a single lane bridge, such as stopping bays to allow for the oncoming vehicles, line marking and guard rails if required.  ​Best regards,

New clarification added: Dear bidders,Please find the below received requests for clarification with responses:Question 12: We would like to ask for the following clarifications:1.  While the RFP mentions modular bridges, “Bailey” bridges were specifically requested in the pre-bid meeting. Kindly confirm which type of bridge is required.  Response: The term ‘Bailey bridges' was mentioned in the pre-bid meeting as an example, but the reference is to the modular bridges in general. 2.  Please confirm that the design of the Bailey Bridge, or any other prefabricated steel bridge, is not included in the scope of work of the Consultant and that it will be provided by a third party on a design-build basis. Response: I refer to section 10.5 of the Terms of Reference.  As it has been clearly mentioned there, the design of modular bridge will be carried out by the Modular Bridge Manufacturing company, not the Design Consultant to be appointed through this tender process.  However, once the design of the modular bridge is completed by the modular bridge manufacturer, the Design Consultant that will be appointed through this tender process will be required to put the modular bridge and site works design documentation together and present it as one bridge.3.   In case the bridges are to be provided by a third party, who would be responsible for validating the design? And how would the UNOPS design review process deal with it? The Design Consultant would then only be responsible for the design of the approaches and the foundation blocks of the bridges as per prefabricators’ specifications and loads; please confirm.  Response: Yes, the UNOPS design review will validate the design of the modular bridge that will be carried out by a modular bridge manufacturing company.  The Design Consultant will be responsible for the work done by themselves only.4.   In the project presentation, the inexperience of the local contractors was brought to the attention of the Design Consultant for the development of solutions with a caution that installing a Bailey Bridge may not be that easy or feasible, after all. Can you elaborate on how you expect this issue of contractors’ lack of experience to be resolved? Response:  The inexperience of local contractors mentioned in the ToR and the pre-bid meeting presentation is applicable to the work that the Design Consultant will design.  One of the considerations for the Design Consultant is that the design documentation has to be developed with simplified details so that a construction contractor with low level of skills can understand them.  Design Consultant should not be concerned with the complexity of installing modular bridge.  UNIOPS and the modular bridge manufacturer will deal with those issues.5.  Any bridge solution would require the local contractors to carry out earthworks, such as excavations and embankment construction, as well as mass-concrete or reinforced concrete for the foundation blocks or the abutments of the bridges. Please confirm/clarify.Response: Yes, the work that is required from the Design Consultant includes earthwork, embankment design, foundation and the abutment, among other things. Please refer to the ToR under the document section for further information.6.   In case the local contractors can carry out concrete works, why not consider the reconstruction of the reinforced concrete multiple cell box culvert at Mablaqah, which would be simpler than a Bailey bridge?Similarly, why not consider a reinforced concrete multiple cell box culvert al Hijrat El Kibs, especially that this location is accessible by road from Sana’a, and that this particular road crosses over similar structures as it comes to Hijrat El Kibs?  Please clarify.Response: Modular bridges were selected after careful consideration, as such, other options such as multiple cell box culverts are not accepted under this RFP. 7.  The schedule proposed in the RFP reserves 7 weeks for the local topographical works, geotechnical investigations and preparation and submission of conceptual designs; only two weeks are reserved at the beginning of the program for the field works. We find this proposed schedule extremely restrictive, as discussed in the meeting. We would strongly recommend the deadline for field works be the same as that of the Preliminary Design, and that this deadline not be earlier than 7 (preferably 9) weeks from Commencement.Please consider amending the schedule (1) to merge the deadline for field works with that of the Preliminary Design, and (2) to extend the preliminary submission deadline from Week 7 till Week 9.Response: The schedule has been amended and included in the minutes of the pre-bid meeting.  This is the final schedule. It is mandatory to meet this schedule. bidders are kindly requested to comply with the requirements requested under this RFP including the timeline.8.   Following the same line that has prompted the Project Team to suggest modular steel bridges (or Bailey Bridges) why not consider the construction of culverts constituted of multiple large pipe culverts that can be simply covered with backfill extracted from the site and turned into an embankment crossing the valley or seasonal water course?These pipes can be large diameter corrugated galvanized steel or corrugated HDPE pipes with diameters up to 2 m to 3 m. Their installation does not require any foundation works, even less geotechnical boreholes, as foundation conditions can be assessed and classified visually by the experts. The pipe sections would need to be imported, just like the Bailey Bridges, but they would represent much less weight to transport to location. Please clarify.Response: The current requirement is the modular bridges and bidders are kindly requested to comply with the requirements requested under this RFP.9.   In view of the short bidding time allowed, could you please extend the deadline for submission of proposals by 2 weeks?Response: Tender period has been extended to 31 July 2023. Further extensions shall be difficult to be granted due to the urgent need of the requirements under this RFP​Best regards,

New clarification added: Dear bidders,Please find the below received requests for clarification with reponses: ​Question 1: Is there any bid bond to be submitted? as it's listed in the vendor submission that ( 0.8 Form for Proposal Security) need to be submitted, please specify it's value if yes, Response: No bid bond/ security is required for this RFP. This has been updated in the amendment 1.Question 2: The proposed team is same for both bridge or should prepare two teams?Response: The team is for both bridges.  One team is sufficient for both bridges for our evaluation purposes.Question 3: The financial proposal for both bridge is one or two?Response: The financial proposal shall be submitted for the entire assignment, however, a price breakdown for each bridge shall be provided. Please refer to the RFP annexes.Question 4: The Time Frames (18 weeks) is for tow bridges?Response: Yes, the 18 weeks time frame is for both bridges.Question 5: The Professional Indemnity Insurance should do it now or after signing the contract?Response: The professional indemnity insurance and other insurances are required after signing a contract with the successful bidder.  They are not required to be submitted with the bid submissions, however a signed copy of the respective returnable schedule shall be submitted.Question 6: In figure 10.5 the Rural Access Program representer and Construction Contractor will have to be maintained. So if they response late, Is the consultant  responsible of changing the time frames?  Response: The Design Consultant is not required to liaise with RAP during the design.  Design Consultant shall liaise with UNOPS and UNOPS will liaise with RAP.  Construction Contractor will be appointed after the completion of the design and therefore the Design Consultant will not be required to liaise with them. Question 7: according to 4.8 Insurance Details and Insurances. we need check of the value of Professional indemnity insurance and Public liability insurance for this project (design project not contract):Response: The values of professional indemnity insurance and public liability insurance specified in the bid documents provided (Schedule 3.9 Insurance Requirements) are for the design consultancy contract, not for the construction contract.  Question 8: where to submit "form_b-price_schedule_form-price_breakdown" if required.Response: There is a dedicated field / box under the Checklist section where the offerors should use to upload the financial offer including the price breakdown. Multiple documents can be uploaded through these fields / boxes under the Checklist section. Any information related to the financial offer must be submitted/ uploaded through the respective field/ boxQuestion 9: please provide us with 0.6 Statement of Exclusivity and Availability as it's NA in the returnables Response: The Form “0.6 Statement of Exclusivity and Availability” and it has been added in the amendment 1. Please refer to the updated documents.Question 10:  Is bid bond/ security required for this RFP? (Question was provided in different language and this is the translation)Response: No bid bond/ security is required for this RFP.Question 11: Is it mandatory to have a joint venture, or is it up to the offeror? (Question was provided in different language and this is the translation)Response: The joint venture is not mandatory, however, it is optional in case more than one offeror wants to meet all criteria and the requirements under this RFP combined.  Best regards,

New amendment added #1: Amendment (1):- Uploading and attahcing the following docuemnts:- The pre-bid meeting minutes.- Annexe A - Terms of reference - Design of Two Modular Bridges- The Annexe B Design Planning Manual "TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE"- The Annexe C - Form G_ Price Schedule form - Price breakdown- The persnedation of the pre-bid meeting.- Consultant Services - 6 Solicitation - RFP 04 Section II, III, IV, V- Consultant Services - 6 Solicitation - RFP 05 Section VI - Returnable Schedules-  Extedning the Deadline for clarification until 19-July-2023-  Extedning the Deadline until 31-July-2023