The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Bidders will know in about two weeks whether they have qualified to submit a full offer to manage the New Providence landfill, a Cabinet Minister describing the process as "a game changer".

Romauld Ferreira, minister of the environment, told Tribune Business that qualifying bidders would then be allowed to pick up the Request for Proposal (RFP) and given six-eight weeks to submit a full offer to the Government.

A government-appointed technical team is currently completing its review of the 18 landfill Expressions of Interest (EoIs) received pre-Christmas 2017, and Mr Ferreira said its report will be finalised shortly.

He told this newspaper: "I expect to have the final report in two weeks. The team is to be commended as they've done an excellent job, and I'm just waiting for their final report."

Mr Ferreira said the EoIs were being graded, and a shortlist of RFP qualifiers drawn up, with those remaining having around two months to craft a final bid.

"Once we have that list, and say come and get the complete Terms of Reference (TOR), we will give persons six to eight weeks to get their documents together and submit," he told Tribune Business.

"We don't want to rush them as we will hold them to the contents of their submissions. This is a game changing exercise. They didn't submit a one-page document at the EoI stage. They have to be reviewed and graded, and we're looking at different models.

"I'm very satisfied with the progress. Not a day goes by when we are not focused on it. Very shortly they'll complete their final report, and we'll have the list of persons to send the complete document out to."

The 18 bidders are BISX-listed Bahamas Waste; Providence Advisors, the Bahamian investment house; Bahamas WTP Ltd; Stellar Energy; Clleen Water and Power; RRI Global; Eastern Waste Systems; OMNI Corporate Services; Marine Contractors Inc; Bahamas Processing and Trading; Valoriza Servicios Medioambientales; New Providence Smart Power; Gold Seal Industries; Supernova Dominicana; EnviroQuip; Apapa International (Nassau); NP Eco-Park Ltd; and EBT Services International and Gel Tech Solutions.

Qualifying bidders were originally supposed to submit their technical and financial proposals to the Ministry of Finance's Tenders Board by February 28. The proposals will then be evaluated by the review/selection team, and a preferred bidder supposed to be selected by March 15, 2018.

The hope was to complete a deal with the preferred bidder by end-April 2018.