MCA-Nepal, the project implementing agency under the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), has signaled that it will not cancel the ongoing contract process.
Nepalkhabar has been informed by MCA-Nepal that evaluation of the bid proposals received is currently underway and a decision will be taken as soon as possible.
This statement of the MCA-Nepal has come at a time when some government officials are saying that the contract process of the project under the US-subsidized program MCC should be canceled.
Even though Nepalkhabar inquired about it on September 21, the MCA office responded to it only after the Chief Executive Officer of the MCC, Alice P. Albright's Nepal visit was over.
Albright's team met with leaders of the main political parties of Nepal and government officials. A grand reception was organized on October 4 in the presence of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' to celebrate the progress of MCC implementation.
MCA-Nepal called for bids for the construction of a 315-km power transmission line with 400 kV capacity at the cost of US $220 million but has not been able to select a contractor.
Out of six companies that submitted proposals, only five have passed the technical evaluation. Among those five, the lowest proposal is about 67 percent more than the cost estimate made by the MCA-Nepal.
Finance Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat and the then Finance Secretary Arjun Prasad Pokharel suspected that there might have been collusion between the contractors and responded that the current process should be canceled and proposals should be invited again.
However, MCA Nepal has said that the proposal is being prepared after evaluating the proposals.
In a written reply sent to Nepalkhabar 17 days later, MCA Nepal said, "MCA-Nepal opened the financial proposals of five eligible bids for the construction of the transmission line on September 5, 2023. As per the MCC Program Procurement Guidelines (PPG), after opening the financial proposal, MCA-Nepal has to prepare a joint evaluation report of the technical and financial proposal. Currently, the same report is being prepared.
MCA-Nepal has made it clear that even though a time-frame regarding the announcement of the selection of the construction company cannot be set, this process will be completed as soon as possible.
"As there are various stages of financial evaluation including review and approvals under the MCC procurement process, a definite time frame cannot be set," MCA-Nepal replied, "MCA-Nepal, the procurement agent and the technical evaluation team have completed the procurement. It will work diligently to take a decision regarding the selection of a construction company as soon as possible, keeping in mind the legal process as well as the timeline determined for approval from the relevant agencies."
After receiving bids that were 67 percent more expensive than MCA's cost estimate, there have been comments that there was an error in the estimate of the project.
The MCA has clarified that since the bids are invited on the basis of open and global competition, the construction companies are free to mention the price based on their own cost analysis.
After the government officials said that this process should be canceled, it was analyzed that the future of MCC could be at risk due to cost, deadline, and geopolitical complications.
However, MCA-Nepal said that the discussion of canceling the process is not relevant.
MCA-Nepal wrote, "This procurement process is currently under evaluation and as there is no decision to cancel it, it does not seem relevant to discuss the time frame for the new process. MCA-Nepal is fully committed to accomplishing the construction work within the stipulated deadline."
