SOLICITATION NOTICE
B -- B ? Eurocom Cable Expansion Project
- Notice Date
- 6/6/2002
- Notice Type
- Solicitation Notice
- Contracting Office
- United States Trade and Development Agency, TDA Contracts Office, TDA Contracts Office, TDA Contracts Office,, 1621 North Kent Street, Suite 200, Arlington, VA, 22209-2131
- ZIP Code
- 22209-2131
- Solicitation Number
- Reference-Number-0270039A
- Response Due
- 7/16/2002
- Archive Date
- 7/31/2002
- Point of Contact
- Evangela Kunene, Procurement Data Manager, Phone 703-875-4357, Fax 703-875-4009,
- E-Mail Address
-
ekunene@tda.gov
- Description
- POC: Evangela Kunene, Procurement Data Manager, Tel: 703-875-4357, Fax: 703-875-4009, e-mail: ekunene@tda.gov, "DO NOT CONTACT CONTRACTS OFFICE." : Proposal Submission Place : Mr. Petio Staikov, Chief Executive Officer, Eurocom Cable JSC, 3A, 165 Street, floor 6, Izgrev, 1797 Sofia, Bulgaria : 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 to review and analyze Eurocom Cable?s operations in detail and make recommendations for the further development of its network throughout Bulgaria. Eurocom was formed in October 2001 by the consolidation of twelve small entities. The company currently has 60,000 subscribers and management expects to increase the subscriber base to 400,000 over a three year period. This will be accomplished through internal growth and construction, as well as acquisitions. For the systems that have already been acquired, substantial technical upgrades need to be performed to bring them up to Eurocom?s technical standards. The company currently has 35,000 subscribers in Sofia and covers approximately 70% of the homes in the Sofia market. There are five cable operators in the Sofia market. Many areas of Sofia have at least two cable operators, and up to four cable operators can operate in a single area. Eurocom has been gaining 1,000 subscribers per month in Sofia and has been in operation in the market for many years. The main cities served by Eurocom besides Sofia are Plevin (11,000 subscribers), Veliko Turnovo (7,000 subscribers), and Lom ( 2000 subscribers). Eurocom?s systems provide a single basic programming package. In most cases, they provide 68 television channels and 8 radio channels. Twenty of the channels are Bulgarian, and tend to be the most popular. Many cable operators have their own programming channel. The Eurocom National Cable channel, which is produced by a separately-owned company with common ownership ties to Eurocom, is the fourth most popular channel in Bulgaria. The basic service costs 14.4 lev per month (approximately $6.50), which includes 20% VAT. Eurocom will be launching HBO in April 2002 with Bulgarian subtitles, which will cost $5.00 per month for a subscription. Eurocom?s cable systems have been acquired from a number of different sources, and therefore represent a range of technical capabilities and construction quality. Their equipment is a mixture of U.S. and European origin. Expansion plans for Eurocom are concentrating on Sofia, since they estimate that 80% of the Bulgarian telecommunications market is in Sofia. Sofia is the biggest market, has the strongest economy, and bad debt is less of a problem than elsewhere in the country. The drawback of focusing on Sofia is that it has the most competition. The company?s secondary focus is on developing their systems in Plovdiv, Varna, Burgas, and Ruse. In Sofia, their current objectives are to complete the fiber optic ring which currently has nine nodes, upgrade the systems they have acquired, be able to offer the fiber optic network to ISP?s (internet service providers), and subsequently offer telephony services. Eurocom will also need to determine where to focus their marketing efforts ? on the commercial or residential sector. Initially, they are expecting mostly commercial customers for their HSA (high-speed access) service. The Southeast Europe Equity Fund (SEEF) recently announced an initial investment of $10 million towards the development of Eurocom. The U.S. firm selected will be paid in U.S. dollars from a $153,975 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 mail room 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 directly to the Grantee by 4:00 PM, July 16, 2002 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
- SN00089563-W 20020608/020606213359 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
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