Solarisation of PM House, MPO: 10pc of bid price: one-time adjustment approved by AEDB

ISLAMABAD: The Board of Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) has accorded ex-post facto approval to a one-time indexation/ adjustment equivalent to 10 per cent of the bid price from the date - five days prior to submission deadline to the commencement date - allowed under the revised RFP documents of solar PVs for Prime Minister House and PM Office.

The decision was taken at the last meeting of AEDB, presided over by Secretary Power, Rashid Mehmood Langrial, who is Chairman of the Board.

Official sources told Business Recorder, CEO AEDB, Shah JahanMirza, informed the Board that AEDB had prepared the standard bidding documents and contract agreements for solarization of public buildings on Own Cost Model and Lease Purchase Model in compliance with the Framework Guidelines for Fast Track Solar Initiatives 2022 in order to facilitate the public sector entities for procurement of net-metering based solar PV system for said entities.

Revised RFP: AEDB seeks approval from Nepra

The draft RFP documents as model/ template RFPs were approved by the AEDB Board in the 59th Board meeting where after AEDB on December 14, 2022 circulated the standard/ model RFP documents to all the Federal Ministries with the request to take further necessary action, as per the guidelines approved by the Federal Cabinet.

The Board was apprised that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif during a meeting held on December 24, 2022, directed that the procurement of net-metering based solar PV systems be carried out in a centralized manner by AEDB on behalf of all the procuring agencies, as they do not have requisite expertise for it.

Accordingly, pursuant to the directions of the Prime Minister, the necessary changes were made in the earlier approved RFP documents centralized procurement by AEDB on behalf of the procuring agencies.

The revised RFP for 330 buildings on Lease Purchase Model was floated on January 07, 2023, on behalf of 7 procuring agencies, against which only one bidder submitted its bids for 44 buildings. The submitted bids were found non-responsive and accordingly were rejected by the Technical Evaluation Committee.

The main reasons for limited participation in the bidding process were high interest rates, non-issuance of letter of credits (LCs) on imports of solar equipment and currency devaluation. Subsequently, the revised RFP documents on Own Cost Model for solarization of Prime Minister Office and Prime Minister House were floated on February 27, 2023 on behalf of Capital Development Authority (CDA).

The Board was briefed that other than the amendments pertaining to centralized procurement by the AEDB on behalf of the procuring agencies, a one-time indexation/ adjustment equivalent to 10 per cent of the bid price from the date which is five days prior to submission deadline to the commencement date, has been allowed under the revised RFP documents keeping in view the rapid fluctuation in exchange rates.

After brief discussion, the AEDB Board accorded ex-post facto approval of revised RFPOs on lease purchase model and own cost model.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023