MRT tender process made public
Tender for rolling stock will be subject to four-stage evaluation
Mass Rapid Transit Corp Sdn Bhd has made public their tender evaluation process for the acquisition of the rolling stock Klang Valley Mass Rapid Transit line.
KUALA LUMPUR: Mass Rapid Transit Corp Sdn Bhd (MRT Corp) has made public its tender evaluation process for the acquisition of rolling stock for its Klang Valley Mass Rapid Transit line.
This unprecedented move was made in view of the high level of interest in the bid and in line with the company’s emphasis on transparency for its procurement process.
Chief executive officer Datuk Azhar Abdul Hamid said in a statement that by revealing the criteria that the Government had imposed, Malaysians would be able to see that stringent steps were being taken to ensure the best companies were selected to supply the electric trains for the country’s first MRT line.
“Although unprecedented, this transparent move by MRT Corp shouldn’t be considered out of the ordinary. We have always maintained that there is absolute transparency in our processes and by making the evaluation process public, the rakyat can see for themselves how objective it really is,” he said.
Azhar said when tenders close on June 11, all bidders would be subject to a four-stage evaluation process and bidders must get through one stage to qualify for the next round.
Stage 1 involves evaluation on the completeness of basic documents as specified in the tender documents. If qualifies, the bid is then evaluated at Stage 2.
In Stage 2, several criteria being assessed include technical solution and competence, re-confirmation of financial strength as declared during the pre-qualification stage, and legal evaluation. At this stage, the first item on the list is actually the bidder’s experience on similar projects using driverless trains.
Azhar said apart from technical solution and competence, the financial state of the bidding company was equally important.
On legal evaluation, MRT Corp will look out for companies that may have been taken to court for nonperformance of their products, or non-delivery of their contracts.
Companies that get through will proceed to Stage 3, where the commercial package and their proposal for the mandatory off-set programme is evaluated.
Azhar said the off-set programme was important to ensure Malaysian companies benefit from this project, either through opening of new markets for them, technology transfer or even the creation of a local facility to deliver the rolling stock.
The final hurdle is Stage 4, where the best evaluated tender is determined through the combined results of the technical, commercial and offset programme evaluations. Each criterion is given particular weightage, with the technical criterion carrying the highest weightage.
Azhar said it was compulsory for bidders to pass four critical categories – experience of the bidder and its key personnel in design and implementation of projects involving driverless trains; compliance with specifications and technical substantiation; performance levels and justifications of proposed technical solutions and the interface management and system integration of driverless trains.
Bidders will be eliminated if they fail to pass each of these four categories.