Technical bids were opened at the Tender Board in Muscat on 6 May 2013 with the following companies having submitted firm offers: Sener (a leading Spanish-based international rail engineering services provider; Consultrans (a Madrid based transportation services engineering firm, part of the IMATHIA Group); ITALFERR (engineering firm of the Italian state railways group); Saman Corporation (a major multidisciplinary engineering firm of South Korea); Dohwa Engineering (one of the largest engineering design firms in South Korea); and 3TI Architecture & Engineering Consultants (a Dubai-based subsidiary of 3TI Italia – specialist providers of international design & build integrated services.
Also in the fray are SNC Lavalin International (a world leader in engineering and construction); Auding Intraesa (Spanish rail engineering services firm); Tecnicas Reunidas (leading Spanish-based engineering and construction firm); and IDOM (Spanish-based international engineering, architectural and consulting firm). Dar al Handasah and Asie Etudes Engineering Consultants, both of which have offices in the Sultanate, are in the reckoning as well.
The 12 bidders were among a total of 33 firms that had initially evinced interest in the competitive tender. Several prominent international firms had collected tender documents but did not eventually submit offers by Monday’s (6 May 2013) deadline, apparently with an intent to bid for the more lucrative and prestigious Design & Build package or the Project Management Consultancy package. Financial bids submitted by the 12 firms are expected to be opened shortly, it is learnt.
With the opening of offers for the Preliminary Design Consultancy package, it is expected that the competitive process to select one or more contractors for the crucial Design & Build phase of the project will pick up pace. The selected Preliminary Design consultant shall be responsible for the provisional design of the complete infrastructure and systems covering all segments of the 1,061-km railway project, thereby securing the basis of a completed, fully functional, operating railway and inter-operable with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) network. Also as part of its brief, the consultant will undertake the preliminary design of, among other things: the alignment, track works and infrastructure; civil works, tunnels and structures; systems, and; functional design/ specifications of rolling stock.
Further, the consultant will develop the tender documents for the Design & Build phase of the project. Project officials attached to the Ministry of Transport and Communications have indicated that a section of the network connecting Sohar Port with Al Ain, on the one hand, and Muscat on the other, will be first taken in hand for design and implementation. A broad timeline announced last month by the project team envisions the award of the Preliminary Design Consultancy and Project Management Consultancy (PMC) contracts before the end of this year. Also slated to be kicked off before the year-end is the prequalification process for the Design & Build phase, with the first segment likely to be awarded before the end of 2014.
