A guidebook on public-private partnership in infrastructure

Prequalification of bidders 
The prequalification of bidders is a typical step taken in most countries. This 
may also be considered as the beginning of the formal procurement process to 
select a private investor/service provider. It begins with an invitation for expression of 

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A Guidebook on Public-Private Partnership in Infrastructure 
67 
 
interest (EOI). The main objective is to pre-qualify potential bidders for the project. 
The purpose of prequalification is to assess the technical and managerial 
competency and financial soundness of the interested bidders. Prequalification of 
bidders is not intended to cover any aspect of the proposal for the project or factors 
related to the indicative contract. These elements are considered at the later stages 
of the procurement process. 
Sufficient time is given to the prospective bidders to submit their EOI. 
Considering the complexity of the project some countries allow 4-12 weeks for the 
submission of EOI. The EOI notice may include the following information for the 
prospective bidders to consider: 
• Sufficient explanation of the project and basic information; 
• Project objectives and its service requirements; 
• Services to be delivered by the private sector and the implementing 
agency’s role in service delivery; 
• Main terms of the indicative contract including proposed risk allocation. 
These terms are similar to those presented at the procurement 
briefs/conference but modified to accommodate the response of the 
private sector as necessary; 
• Any available technical reports and known project constraints (legal, 
financial, budgetary, planning etc.); 
• The information that tenderers must submit; 
• Evaluation criteria and their relative weights. Such criteria may include 
technical capability, management capacity, financial condition, past 
performance, etc. The prequalification criteria are chosen to assess the 
capacity of the intending bidders to deliver the contract; 
• The procedure for selection. 
All bidders who satisfy the prequalification criteria are generally selected as 
prequalified bidders. There may not be any pre-determined number to artificially limit 
the number of prospective bidders who can participate in the following tendering 
stage. If there are too many prequalified bidders, some countries allow formation of 
consortiums of prequalified bidders for submission of their final bids. 
Tendering
Often, a two-step tendering process is employed. This serves two main 
purposes. First, it helps both the implementing agency and the bidders to understand 
each other’s requirements and the implementing agency gets sufficient time to make 
appropriate revisions before the issuance of the final tender. Second, it avoids costly 
detail design efforts of the bidders before they are awarded the contract which is 
widely viewed as unfair and, can also diminish participation in the bidding process.