SOLICITATION NOTICE
B -- B- TAMIL NADU SUB-SOVEREIGN FINANCE FOR WATER AND INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT
- Notice Date
- 8/7/2003
- Notice Type
- Solicitation Notice
- Contracting Office
- United States Trade and Development Agency, TDA, USTDA, C/O US TDA 1000 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 1600, Arlington, VA, 22209-3901
- ZIP Code
- 22209-3901
- Solicitation Number
- Reference-Number-033032A
- Response Due
- 9/26/2003
- Archive Date
- 10/11/2003
- Point of Contact
- Evangela Kunene, Procument Data Manager, Phone 703-875-4357, Fax 703-875-4009,
- E-Mail Address
-
ekunene@tda.gov
- Description
- POC: Evangela Kunene, Procument Data Manager, Tel: 703-875-4357, Fax: 703-875-4009, E-mail: ekunene@tda.gov: PLEASE DO NOT CONTACT CONTRACTS OFFICE : Proposal Submission Place: Dr. Krishnaswamy Rajivan, CEO, Tamil Nadu Urban Development Fund, Vairam Complex, 112 Theyagaraya Road, 1st Floor, T. Nagar, Chennai, India - 600 017., Phone: (044) 28153103, 28153104, 28153105, Fax: (044) 28153106, Email: admin@tnudf.com or venkataraman@tnudf.com : 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 for assisting the Tamil Nadu Urban Development Fund (TNUDF) improve its capacity to provide sub-sovereign financing for water and sanitation infrastructure projects in the state of Tamil Nadu, India Although official statistics indicate that 85 percent of urban residents have access to safe water, many Indian cities provide water for only a few hours a day. Water access for the poor and sanitation services are even less adequate. The Government of India (GOI) has made a commitment to improve this situation. The Ninth Five-Year Plan sets a broad objective of achieving 100 percent coverage with water supply in urban areas and 60 percent coverage with sanitation. The plan calls for significant private funding to be mobilized to meet these targets. The use of public-private partnerships, such as Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) schemes, have had limited success in India to date. Over the past seven years, with assistance from the U.S. Government, the GOI has actively experimented with sub-sovereign finance mechanisms. Only a handful of projects have been successfully financed to date, but the potential for expansion of this market is great. One of the states that has played a leadership role to date is Tamil Nadu. They are now at the point where they are ready to raise a pool of funds to support municipal projects within the state. The Tamil Nadu Urban Development Fund (TNUDF) was established in 1996 by the Government of the State of Tamil Nadu to mobilize funding from public and private sources for urban development in the state. TNUDF is a joint venture between the state and three Indian financial institutions: ICICI Ltd., the Housing Development Finance Corporation, and Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Limited. The Grantee is a private fund management company established to manage the TNUDF. TNUDF is described by the World Bank as ?the first public-private joint financial intermediary in India specializing in municipal financing without the use of state government guarantees.? TNUDF was the outgrowth of more than 20 years of assistance to Tamil Nadu State by the World Bank, USAID, and other donors, which has helped the state to become a model for decentralization and sound urban management in India. Specifically, TNUDF was created to build on and strengthen an experiment begun with the creation of the Municipal Urban Development Fund. With support from the World Bank and its own funds, the Fund had, by 1999, financed more than 500 sub-projects covering roads, bridges, street lights, solid waste plants, storm water drains, bus stations, and markets in 90 out of 110 municipalities in Tamil Nadu. TNUDF has successfully completed its first bond issuance, which was a refinancing of existing debt (debt swap) for 14 municipalities. The next bond issuance is expected to finance $20 million of water and sanitation projects in about 9 municipalities. TNUDF is similar in many ways to U.S. State Revolving Funds. It therefore constitutes an important experiment in transferring this model to the developing world. Unlike the BOT model of project finance, the TNUDF model mobilizes private capital from diverse sources but retains the primary responsibility for servicing this debt within the public sector. Ultimately, TNUDF wishes to operate on the model of a U.S. bond bank. In the short term, TNUDF requires assistance with managing existing bond issuances and in establishing effective systems for future bond issuances. The Grantee has requested USTDA technical assistance to advise on the following topics: ? The development of a system to service bonds issued by the fund and to track the issuance and repayment of debt by participating municipalities and local authorities; ? Potential credit enhancement strategies to increase the creditworthiness and marketability of their issues, making it possible to issue bonds successfully without continued government guarantees; and ? The establishment of more effective systems for assessing and improving the creditworthiness of municipalities and authorities within its scope of operation, including measures to mobilize public support for bond issues and the financial stability of municipal services. The objectives of this Technical Assistance are to assess current TNUDF procedures, capabilities and systemic deficiencies, as well as identify and develop alternative approaches to remedying these deficiencies to develop financial sustainability and independence. The U.S. firm selected will be paid in U.S. dollars from a $300,000 grant to the Grantee from the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA). A detailed Request for Proposals (RFP), which includes requirements for the Proposal, the Terms of Reference, and a background definitional mission/desk study report are available from USTDA, at 1000 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 1600, Arlington, VA 22209-3901. Requests for the RFP should be faxed to the IRC, USTDA 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 USTDA 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 USTDA to retrieve the RFP should allow one hour after faxing the request to USTDA 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, USTDA 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 mailroom before calling USTDA. Only U.S. firms and individuals may bid on this USTDA financed activity. Interested firms, their subcontractors and employees of all participants must qualify under USTDA's nationality requirements as of the due date for submission of qualifications and proposals and, if selected to carry out the USTDA-financed activity, must continue to meet such requirements throughout the duration of the USTDA-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 USTDA grant amount. Details of USTDA'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 P.M., July XXX, 2003 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
- SN00395395-W 20030809/030807214153 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps.gov Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
| FSG Index | This Issue's Index | Today's FBO Daily Index Page |