MODIFICATION
R -- Technical Assistance for Oversight of Oil and Gas Projects in Afghanistan
- Notice Date
- 2/10/2004
- Notice Type
- Modification
- Contracting Office
- United States Trade and Development Agency, TDA Contracts Office, USTDA, 1000 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 1600, Arlington, VA, 22209-3901
- ZIP Code
- 22209-3901
- Solicitation Number
- USTDA-04-Q-8-055
- Response Due
- 2/23/2004
- Archive Date
- 3/9/2004
- Point of Contact
- Della Glenn, Contracts Officer, Phone 703-875-4357, Fax 703-875-4009,
- E-Mail Address
-
contract@tda.gov
- Small Business Set-Aside
- Total Small Business
- Description
- STATEMENT OF WORK ?TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE? FOR ADVISORY AND ASSISTANCE SERVICES BY NON-GOVERNMENTAL SOURCES FOR AFGHANISTAN? PROJECT TITLE: AFGHANISTAN: ASSISTANCE FOR OVERSIGHT OF OIL AND GAS PROJECTS 1 SCOPE OF WORK The U.S. Trade and Development Agency (?USTDA?) requires services under this non-personal services Contract to support its oversight of projects and activities in the oil and gas sector of Afghanistan. It is anticipated that the duration of this contract will be thirty (30) months. The Contractor will provide assistance USTDA in overseeing the Hydrocarbon Resource Survey, which will be conducted by the US Geological Survey (USGS). It is anticipated that the Hydrocarbon Resource survey will take 22 months to complete, and the Contractor?s primary task will be to provide technical reviews of the USGS?s bi-monthly reports. Additionally, the contractor will assist USTDA in overseeing the planned 2-D Seismic Acquisition Project. In overseeing the 2-D Seismic Acquisition Project it is anticipated that the Contractor will travel to Afghanistan for six (6) weeks. The Contractor shall provide reports to USTDA, which will: 1.2 assess an anticipated eleven (11) bi-monthly USGS reports on the progress of the Hydrocarbon Resource Survey (see 7 below); 1.3 provide assistance to USTDA in overseeing the 2-D Seismic Acquisition Project (see 7 below); and 1.4 provide supporting analysis and recommendations on the above activities in a final report that analyzes all the relevant issues. 2 DELIVERY & PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS 2.1 KICK-OFF MEETING WITH THE USTDA PROGRAM OFFICE Upon award, the Contractor shall contact USTDA?s Contracting Officer?s Technical Representative (COTR) to schedule a meeting to discuss details of the Contract assignment. Unless otherwise advised by the COTR, this meeting will be held at USTDA?s office in Arlington, Virginia. The COTR shall provide the Contractor with names and addresses of the project sponsor(s), other pertinent entities to contact in the United States and overseas, and any other relevant details that may impact upon the design and/or evaluation of the projects. 2.2 BI-MONTHLY REPORTING ON HYDROCARBON RESOURCE SURVEY The Contractor shall Prepare and submit to the COTR bi-monthly written assessments of USGS?s reports to USTDA on the Hydrocarbon Resource Survey. These assessments shall contain: an assessment of the compliance of the work performed with the TOR of the Reimbursable Agreement (RA) between USTDA and the USGS; an analysis of the quality of the work in relation to industry standards; an appraisal of the expenditures for the work conducted under the RA; an assessment of the degree to which the work being performed meets the needs of the Government of Afghanistan (GOA) and USTDA; an analysis of the appropriateness of the Survey work plan in relation to the current situation; and advice on other issues as requested by USTDA or as identified by the consultant. This report shall be written in a form mutually agreed upon by the Contractor and the COTR. 2.3 SELECTION ASSISTANCE The Contractor shall provide technical assistance in the selection of a firm to perform the 2-D Seismic Acquisition Project. This assistance will take the form of technical advice delivered to USTDA regarding the preparation of solicitation documents and review of proposals. 2.4 WORK PLAN PREPARATION ASSISTANCE The Contractor shall provide technical assistance in overseeing the preparation of a work plan for the 2-D Seismic Project. 2.5 PRE-VISIT REPORT Prior to departure to the host country, the Contractor shall provide the COTR a pre-visit written report of 3-5 pages containing the proposed schedule or itinerary, preliminary oversight strategy, a list of contacts to be made during the visit and a pre-visit checklist of issues, information and questions to be utilized during the visit. 2.6 USTDA RESPONSIBILITY USTDA will advise the U.S. Embassy in the host country of the Contractor?s proposed travel itinerary prior to departure and request that the Commercial Section of the Embassy provide the Contractor with names and addresses of appropriate host country officials with whom to meet. 2.7 CONTRACTOR?S HOST COUNTRY TRAVEL The Contractor shall travel to the host country to participate in the implementation of the 2-D Seismic Acquisition Project. The Contractor shall contact the Commercial Section at the U.S. Embassy upon arrival and prior to departure for briefing and debriefing meetings. While the Embassy may be able to assist the Contractor, the Contractor is responsible for arranging the logistics for the visit, i.e., hotel accommodations, transportation, and interpretation services. In some cases, the Contractor may need to Contract with a local entity to assist with these logistics. It is anticipated that the Contractor will make these arrangements in cooperation with the company conducting the 2-D Seismic Acquisition Project. 2.8 OVERSIGHT ASSISTANCE ON 2-D SEISMIC ACQUISITION PROJECT The Contractor shall observe the implementation of the 2-D Seismic Acquisition Project. The Contractor shall monitor the implementation of the 2-D Seismic Acquisition Project for compliance with both its original work plan and industry best practice standards. If during the course of implementation of the 2-D Seismic Acquisition Project the work plan needs to be adjusted, the Contractor will participate in the decision making process regarding those decisions. The Contractor will inform USTDA of any material issues that arise during the implementation of the 2-D Seismic Acquisition Project in the most expedient manner possible. 3 2-D SEISMIC ACQUISITION PROJECT REPORT The Contractor shall submit a 2-D Seismic Acquisition Project Report that analyzes all relevant issues, as cited in Sections 3.1 through 3.4. 3.1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Contractor shall submit an executive summary of the report?s findings and recommendations. 3.2 PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION DESCRIPTION The Contractor shall submit a description of the manner in which the 2-D Seismic Acquisition Project was performed, its compliance with the work plan developed for the 2-D Seismic Acquisition Project, and a description of any issues encountered, and how they were resolved, during the implementation of the 2-D Seismic Acquisition Project. 3.3 DATA QUALITY REVIEW The Contractor shall submit a review of the quality of the data collected by the 2-D Seismic Acquisition Project. 3.4 TECHNICAL IMPLEMENTATION ASSESSMENT The Contractor shall provide an assessment as to whether or not the 2-D Seismic Acquisition Project was performed in compliance with its work plan, TOR, and industry best-practice standards. 4 FINAL REPORT The Contractor shall submit a final report analyzing and reviewing the manner in which the Hydrocarbon Resource Survey and the 2-D Seismic Acquisition Project were implemented. This report shall be prepared in accordance with Section 4.1 through 4.5. 4.1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Contractor shall submit an executive summary of the report?s findings and recommendations. 4.2 OIL AND GAS PROJECT REPORTS The Final Report shall contain copies of all bi-monthly reports on the Hydrocarbon Resource Survey and a copy of the 2-D Seismic Acquisition Project Report. 4.3 PROJECT DESCRIPTION The Contractor shall submit a description and history of the Hydrocarbon Resource Survey and the 2-D Seismic Acquisition Project. 4.4 TECHNICAL IMPLEMENTATION ASSESSMENT The Contractor shall provide an overall assessment of both the 2-D Seismic Acquisition Project and the Hydrocarbon Resource Survey?s compliance with the relevant TOR, and industry best-practice standards. 4.5 CONTACTS The Contractor shall submit a list of individuals contacted during the oversight of the 2-D Seismic Acquisition Project, with their addresses, phone and fax numbers, and e-mail addresses. 5 CONTRACTOR INTERIM STATUS REPORTING AND DELIVERABLES The Contractor shall provide verbal updates to the COTR when necessary. The deliverables may also take the form of information, advice, opinions, alternatives, analyses, evaluations, recommendations, interim and final reports, or other oral or written work products needed for successful performance. 6 CONTRACTOR -- FINAL REPORTS The Contractor shall prepare a report to USTDA that addresses all the issues in the Final Report as outlined in Section 4 through 4.5. Since this report will be available for public distribution, any sensitive or business proprietary information shall be included in a separate confidential attachment to the report. 6.1 FINAL REPORT DRAFT -- COTR APPROVAL The Contractor shall provide the report in draft form to USTDA for COTR review within ten (15) working days after completion of the Hydrocarbon Resource Survey. The report should be clearly marked ?Draft? on the cover. 6.2 REVISED FINAL REPORT DRAFT ? COTR APPROVAL Within five (10) working days after receiving the COTR?s comments on the draft report, the Contractor shall submit a revised copy for COTR review. The Contractor shall revise the report as necessary until securing final COTR approval. 6.3 FINAL REPORT ? COTR APPROVAL The final report shall incorporate all mutually agreed upon material and revisions. The report shall include any supporting documentation. It shall be grammatically and factually correct in all respects, internally consistent, and all statements and tables shall be clear and easily understood by a competent reader, and contain no typographical errors. Upon notification from the COTR that the report is considered acceptable, the Contractor shall submit twenty (20) copies, and one (1) unbound original to USTDA. All reports must be paginated and submitted in Microsoft Word on a 3.5-inch disk or on a CD-Rom. The Contractor shall also submit the report to the COTR as an e-mail attachment, and also in Microsoft Word format. 7 PROJECT DESCRIPTIONS AND PROFILE Afghanistan possesses potentially significant oil and gas resources. Since the first oil field was discovered in 1959, more than 150 million barrels of oil reserves and more than 4,500 billion cubic feet of gas reserves have been identified in 29 fields in the Afghan portion of the Amu Darya and Afghan-Tajik basins. Only a very small portion of this resource base has been exploited. The country has not been well explored for oil and gas potential using the latest techniques, and there is an enormous potential for further discoveries to add to Afghanistan?s energy resource base. That resource base is essential to the economic development of the country. The development of the country?s hydrocarbon resources is a top priority of the GOA, with President Karzai having expressed support for it. The GOA believes this is a sector likely to generate direct investment by foreign companies and revenue for the GOA. Additionally, the development of these resources is essential to alleviating Afghanistan?s power crisis. USTDA is considering the provision of funding for two projects in the oil and gas sector of Afghanistan: the second stage of the Hydrocarbon Resource Survey (Survey); and the 2-D Seismic Acquisition Project (Seismic Project). The Survey, which will be conducted by the U.S. Geological Service (USGS), will constitute a comprehensive assessment of Afghanistan?s oil and gas resources, based on a detailed study of geochemistry, petroleum geology, and tectonics. The Seismic Project, which would complement the Survey and be conducted by a private sector firm, would acquire and process approximately 600 kilometers of 2-D Vibroseis seismic reflection data in Northern Afghanistan. USTDA seeks to contract with a U.S. firm (Contractor) to provide Technical Assistance (TA) to assist USTDA in overseeing these projects. The initial stage of the Survey, which was recently completed by the USGS, involved the preliminary training of Afghan counterparts, review of the data available on site, and the collection of initial samples of oil, gas, and source rock. The next stage of the Survey would obtain and review all available geochemical, geologic, seismic, tectonic, petroleum exploration and production data from both domestic and international sources. This data would be analyzed in order to characterize the petroleum geology. This would involve the definition of petroleum systems and exploration plays using Geographic Information System (GIS) based techniques. Afghan scientists would be involved in the process in order to build local capacity. Finally, an assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources would be conducted and the resulting reports would be disseminated through the USGS and/or the GOA. When completed the Survey would provide the information needed by the GOA to make policy decisions regarding the development of hydrocarbon resources. Further, the assessment could be the basis for the designation of ?lease-blocks? and provide the information necessary to attract the interest of international oil and gas exploration companies. The Survey would also strengthen the GOAs capacity in this field, as the Ministry of Mines and Industry (MMI) would actively participate in the implementation process and the Survey contains a large training component. The 2-D Seismic Acquisition Project would acquire additional seismic data to support the analysis of the region?s petroleum geology. The Soviets ran at least one, and possibly two, seismic lines in the 1970?s. However, it is unclear if this data is available. Even if this data were available, there would still be a need for additional seismic work using modern techniques that would meet Western standards. Therefore, this project will hire a private firm specializing in the acquisition of seismic data to acquire 600 kilometers of 2-D Vibroses seismic reflection data.
- Place of Performance
- Address: USTDA, Arlington, VA; other U. S. locations; and the designated host country.
- Record
- SN00520023-W 20040212/040210212942 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
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