ETHIOPIA – The Public Procurement & Property Disposal Service (PPPS) has to awarded contracts for the supply of 1.4 million quintals of wheat for a total of 890.7 million Br; to Hakan Agro DMCC and Huyton INC, both foreign companies; the same day also saw the financial opening for 700,000ql more of wheat.

The Service is now handling three tenders announced within a month of each other starting from November. The financial opening for the last tender took place on January 6, 2015.

The purchase is financed by the World Bank’s Fourth Productive Safety Nets Project, under the International Development Association (IDA), and other donors.

Hakan Agro DMCC, headquartered in United Arab Emirates, specializes in supply chain management of grains; it will supply 700,000ql for a total of 448.8 million Br at 6,408 Br per tonne, a contract it won from the first round tender in November.

Huyton INC, a commodity trading group known for supplying agricultural & chemical commodities for African and Asian markets, will supply the same amount for a total of 441.8 million Br, at 6,312.6 Br a tonne.

Yigezu Daba, director of the Service, sent a letter of award to the two bidders on January 1, following its evaluation and no objection from the World Bank Group.

The companies are expected to sign a contract within seven working days of January 13, 2016. Huyton and Hakan will deliver their respective parts of the supply to Nazreth and Kmobolcha warehouses.

The financial opening of the tender announced on December 29, 2015, for the purchase of 700,000ql showed that there were only six bidders out of 13 that had bought the bid document.

The bidders were required to show an average annual turnover of 15 million dollars or more as well as audited balance sheets and income statements in the last three years.

A cash flow of five million dollars per lot is also expected. In addition, bidders must   submit proof that they had supplied at least 35,000tn, if they are bidding for one lot, or 70,000tn, if they are bidding for two lots, of cereals on average during that period.

The lots each amount to 35,000tn, one lot going to Kombolcha, the other to Adama.

Offers were invited in three options. One is to ship the wheat in bulk to the port in Djibouti, offload and then deliver it to warehouses in Kombolcha  and Adama; the second option is to offload the bulk at the port of Djibouti; and the third option is to offload the bulk at Djibouti but it also includes bagging and stacking.

Promising International Trading, a UK based company, offered  288.40 dollars and 288.25 dollars per tonne for lot one and lot two of option one; for option two it gave a price of 217.5 dollars for both lots and 236.5 dollars for option three.

Hakan offered 295.13 dollars, 221.13 dollars, and 244.63 dollars, respectively, to supply the two lots in the three options.

The third offer was made by Phoenix, which offered two different prices for lot one of the first option with 300.35 dollars and 302.35 dollars for the off loading of wheat in Adama and Kombolcha, each having 15,000tn and 20,000tn, respectively.

For the remaining two options, Phoenix offered 222.85 dollars and 224.85 dollars; for the third option it offered 241.85 dollars and 243.85 dollars, for lot one and lot two.

The bidders will be notified of the result when the technical and financial evaluations are completed.

Bidding was conducted through the Modified International Competitive Bidding (MICB) procedures specified in the World Bank’s Guidelines: Procurement under IBRD Loans and IDA Credits January 2011, Revised July 2014. Such bids are open to all bidders from Eligible Source Countries as defined in the Guidelines.

January 11, 2016; http://addisfortune.net/articles/arrangements-in-progress-for-double-wheat-purchase/