Question

Q: As an engineer who prepares the tender documents, discuss the procedures and Oman tender
regulations to be followed to submit a successful tender bid.

Answer 1

Procedure for submission of bids

1. Government will publish Invitation for Bids [IFB] on their official portal.

2. Contractors should pay a nominal amount and register to the website for access

3. Government will mention if the tender is for local or international

4. Every company about to tender its bid for execution of works will have to pay a nominal amount as a fee for downloading the documents. For few tenders, it may not be applicable

5. Tenders are usually 2 stage tender. First one being Pre-Qualification or showing interest to bid and the next is submission of techno commercial offer. Client, in order to eliminate the ineligible contractors, Pre-Qualification is conducted. Once the contractor passes this level, Employer Requirement is provided to submit a techno commercial offer/bid.

6. Contractor is given certain timeline for showing interest in bidding to the project. Contractor is ought to study the requirement to qualify for bidding the project and submit all the documents. The pre-qualification consists of similar experience, financial background, legal background, corporate sustainability, clientele, importance to quality, health, safety and environment.

7. Once the contractor submits the documents, Employer reviews the submissions and if any queries arise, same will have to be clarified by contractor.

8. Once scrutiny is complete, Employer finalises the list of bidders who are qualified and notice is published in public portal.

9. The interested bidders among the qualified bidders need to buy/receive the bid document after submitting their acknowledgement of receipt of list of qualified bidders.

10. A deadline is given for submission of bid and also client gives an option for site visit and pre bid meetings. Contractor needs to intimate well before to client for arrangement of same.

11. Various queries are answered in pre bid meet and if contractor has any other queries, they are allowed to write to Employer for clarification.

12. Contractor has to submit the documents based on type of contract. If it is a EPC or design build, contractor will have to submit the design and drawings along with price bid. If it is a item rate contract, then contractor will have to submit price bid along with relevant documents.

13. The contractor will also have to submit a detailed schedule of execution of works within the given time frame and completing the Milestones, if any, mentioned by Employer.

14. Contractor will have to submit a Bank Guarantee as Provisional Security which is 1% of contract value estimated by the Employer. If the bidder withdraws his bid before the expiry of the period specified for the validity of the bid, the provisional security submitted by him shall become the property of the Board without the need for a notice or any other measure. The provisional security shall be refunded to the bidders of the unaccepted bids immediately after the expiry of the period set for the validity of the bid, or before that, if the tender is awarded to a bidder or is cancelled. The provisional security shall be refunded to the winning bidder if he submits a guarantee for adequate execution.

15. The bid shall satisfy the conditions and conform to the instructions contained in the tender notices and documents.

16. A bid on the supply of items to the concerned office shall be consistent with the standard specimen, specifications or approved drawings which the bidder must peruse. His submission of the bid shall be treated as an acknowledgement of his perusal thereof and the items shall be supplied in accordance therewith. If the concerned office does not have standard specimen, the bidder may be asked to submit the specimen. The supply shall be in accordance with the technical specifications even if they are inconsistent with the specimen, unless the tender conditions show that the specimen are aimed as such.

17. Technical and financial bids shall be submitted in one envelope unless the Board decides in accordance with the requirements of the nature of each tender, that the technical, financial or other bids should be submitted in separate envelopes.

18. Submission of tender will be either online or via hard copy submission. Guarantees are usually submitted in hard copy before opening of tender

19. The results of the opening of the envelopes shall be announced immediately after they are opened through electronic means. They may also be announced through any other means.

20. Employer reviews the submissions and incase of any query, same is communicated through proper channel as per contract [via email or hard copy with a cover letter]. Same needs to be clarified by the Contractor within specified timeline.

21. Once the queries are clarified and satisfies the Employer’s team, winning bidder will be announced.

22. The Board shall communicate the result of the award to the head of the concerned office which shall in turn notify the winning bidder in the tender within a maximum of one week from the date of its approval, unless the bidder has, in his bid, specified a longer period, in which case the notice shall be served well in time for the conclusion of such period.

23. After the opening of the envelopes, negotiation may not be made with a bidder on the modification of his bid unless the lowest bid is accompanied by reservation or reservations and the value of the lowest bid not accompanied by such reservations exceeds the bid accompanied by reservations.

24. Negotiation may be made with the bidder of the lowest bid accompanied by reservations to make him withdraw all or some of his reservations so as to make his bid consistent with the conditions of the tender to the extent possible. If he refuses to do so, negotiation may be made with the next bidder.

25. No negotiation shall be made on the modification with a bidder unless such modification has been turned down by all the lower bidders.

26. Negotiation may be made in cases specified in article 33 of this law only by a decision of the Board taken after consulting the concerned office. The decision on the outcome of the negotiation shall be taken by the Board.

27. The Board may, after agreement with the concerned office, in case of equal prices between two or more bids, split the declared amounts between the bidders if the interest of work so warrants. This may be done if the lowest bidder attaches the condition of long periods for supplies that do not suit the condition of work in the concerned office.

28. Tender shall be re-invited if only one bid is received even if it satisfies the conditions. The tender shall be treated as single if even other bids violating the tender conditions and specifications are received with it. If a tender is re-invited and only one bid is submitted for it, the Board may accept it at the request of the concerned office. In case of re-invitation of tender, the period for the submission of bids may be reduced to half.

The Tender Board shall perform the following functions:

A. It shall review the technical specifications, conditions and instructions provided by the concerned offices and ascertain their propriety. It may in so doing seek the assistance of technical experts from within or outside the Sultanate.

B. It shall specify the method of inviting tenders and publicizing them on the basis of approved data and specifications submitted by the concerned offices.

C. It shall receive bids from suppliers, contractors and consultancy offices, open their envelopes and then forward them to the concerned offices for study, analysis and briefing.

D. It shall receive the results of the analyses of bids from the concerned offices, review and evaluate them and take decisions awarding them.

E. It shall constitute tender committees all over the Sultanate and define their functions in coordination with the concerned offices.

F. It shall classify and register the suppliers, contractors and consultancy offices on the basis of the data submitted by them pursuant to the provisions of organizational regulations issued by the Board setting forth the general conditions for the classification and registration of suppliers, contractors and consultancy offices and shall fix the registration fees after the approval of the Ministry of Finance.

G. It shall re-evaluate the suppliers, contractors and consultancy offices referred to in paragraph F of this article, shall serve notices upon them regarding reports received by the Board from the concerned offices concerning dereliction of or failure to carry out the duties assigned to them and shall carry out the penalties stipulated in the law.

H. It shall fix the cost of the copies of the conditions and specifications of all the tenders governed by the provisions of this law.

I. It shall perform any other functions assigned by virtue of any other law