Risk Management in Transport PPP Projects
In the Islamic Countries
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5.2.4. Procurement and contracting
Procurement strategies
Selection of the preferred operator: pre-identified PPP initiatives . Once a project is
identified as a potential PPP initiative, and therefore included in the portfolio of projects
included in the list maintained by the CNP-PPP, the contracting authorities choose the method
of contracting PPP and develop consultation documents and draft contracts, with the support of
the CNP -PPP.
The choice of the PPP contracting procedure, consultation documents and draft contracts, as
well as their evolution during these procedures, are subject to the prior notice of the CNP-PPP.
As also prescribed in the PPP decree, competitive tender is the preferred method of awarding
PPP contracts. The competitive tender can be open or restricted, in one or two stages, and may
consist of an international tender or a national tender:
 In the open tendering process, any interested company can apply. A pre-selection phase
may be used in which no dialogue can take place with the candidates, except for
clarification. At least three candidates must be screened at this stage of the procedure;
 The contracting authority may choose the restricted tendering procedure in case the
fulfilment of the contractor’s obligations needs highly specialized skills that few
candidates canmeet or requires highly specialized technologies. The number of candidates
consulted in the restricted tendering process is between three and five. The use of the
restricted tendering procedure must be motivated and subject to the approval of the
Ministry responsible for the state budget, which should also request the advice of the CNP-
PPP.
Both the open and restricted tendering process can be done in one or two stages . The two
stages approach foresees a first step aimed at restricting the number of candidates based on
their technical proposal. This is followed by a second stage when preferred candidates are
requested to submit a revised technical proposal together with their financial offer.
Once the preferred operator is selected, a final negotiation phase is then required for reaching
an agreement on the contractual terms of the PPP.
In all instances, for initiating the tendering process, all preliminary studies have to be completed
in order to provide the needed basis for tendering. Such studies are paid from the budget of the
contracting authority and/or the responsible Ministry and can be undertaken by the public
technical offices (BNETD) or by external consultants. The lack of funds allocated to preparatory
studies is, therefore, a potential constraint for launching a PPP initiative and presumably
explains why unsolicited proposals are allowed – as in this case studies are performed by the
project promoter. PPP contracts may be also assigned using a competitive dialogue or a direct
negotiation procedure. The use of any of these procurement options is exceptional and needs to
be justified by the contracting authority and authorized by the Minister responsible for the
Budget, after the advice of CNP-PPP.
The recourse to a direct negotiation procedure is allowed in very specific cases that are defined
in the PPP decree, such as cases of extreme urgency, or in the sectors of defense or national