Rural Electrification Agency (REA)- Request For Expression Of Interest For The Rural Electrification Fund Grant 2022 (6 Lots)

DEADLINE: 20TH JULY, 2022
RURAL ELECTRIFICATION AGENCY (REA)
RURAL ELECTRIFICATION FUND
REQUEST FOR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST FOR THE RURAL ELECTRIFICATION FUND GRANT 2022

(1.0) INTRODUCTION
In 2017, the Federal Government of Nigeria through the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) commenced a programme for acceleration of electricity access to rural, unserved and underserved communities across Nigeria, which is partly funded by capital grants provided through the Rural Electrification Fund (REF). In line with Section 88(11) of the Electric Power Sector Reform Act (EPSRA) 2005, the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) hereby invites reputable and interested renewable energy developers to submit Expression of Interest (EoI) for the third call of the Rural Electrification Fund (REF) Grant (2022), to support the deployment of Hybrid Mini-grids, Standalone/ Solar Home Systems, and Grid extension projects, towards accelerating access to electricity to rural and underserved areas across Nigeria.

(2.0) SCOPE OF WORK

The aforementioned projects are to be operated on a commercial Public-Private-Partnership arrangement, based on sustainable business models in remote rural and under served communities in Nigeria, where such project(s) would have been economically unviable without this intervention.

(3.0) ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS
(3.1) Prospective bidders are required to submit genuine copies of the following documents as proof of their eligibility:

(i) Certificate of Incorporation with Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) including copies of forms CAC 1.1 or CAC2 and CAC7 attached;

(ii) Company’s Income Tax Clearance Certificate for the last three years 2019, 2020, 2021 expiring 31st December 2022;

(iii) Current valid NEMSA License for project developers in the Electric Power Sector issued by the National Electricity Management Services Agency (NEMSA);

(iv) Pension Clearance Certificate valid till 31st December 2022 (this requirement is only applicable to bidders whose number of staff is 15 and above);

(v) Industrial Training Fund (ITF) Compliance Certificate valid till 31st December 2022 (this requirement is only applicable to bidders whose number of staff is 5 and above or the bidder’s annual turnover is N50m) and above);

(vi) Current Nigerian Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) Compliance Certificate valid until 31st December 2022;

(vii) Evidence of Registration on the National Database of Federal project developers, consultants and service providers by submission of Interim Registration Report (IRR) expiring on 31st December 2022 or valid Certificate issued by the Bureau of Public Procurement;

(viii) Sworn Affidavit:

• Disclosing whether or not any officer of the relevant committees of Rural electrification agency or the Bureau of Public Procurement is a former or present Director, stakeholder or has any pecuniary interest in the bidder and to confirm that all information presented in its bid are true and correct in all particulars;
• That the company is NOT in receivership or subject to any form of insolvency or bankruptcy or winding up petition or proceedings;
• That no Director of the company has ever been convicted in any country of any criminal offense bordering on fraud or financial impropriety;
• Evidence of experience in executing and operating a grid extension project under partnership with any distribution company using a sustainable business model that can benefit from the Fund.

(ix) Reference letter from a reputable commercial bank in Nigeria, indicating willingness to provide credit facility for the execution of the project when needed;

(x) Company’s Audited Account for the last three (3) years (2019, 2020, and 2021) duly acknowledged by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).

(xi) Evidence of ownership or lease of relevant equipment for execution of Rural Electrification project e.g. Side Drop Crane, Pick Up Van, Test Equipment, etc. (Please attach proof of ownership or lease agreement where applicable).

(i) Duly executed Power of attorney or Board Resolution authorizing a designated officer of the company to act as a representative and to bind the company by signing all bids, contract agreement, and other documents with REA on behalf of the company, duly signed by the chairman and secretary.

(ii) Company’s profile with Curriculum Vitae of key staff to be deployed for the project, including copies of their Academic/Professional qualifications – at least one of the key personnel of the company must be a COREN registered Electrical Engineer.

(iii) For Sub- Lots A: Isolated Mini-Grids must provide the following additional evidence:

• Verifiable documentary evidence of projects of similar nature executed and operational (at least for the last 6 months), a solar hybrid mini-grid with a minimum capacity of 30 kWp in Nigeria, within the last 3 years (Please attach letters of award, completion certificate and letter of comfort from the community to be verified by the Agency).
• That they are an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) or an accredited agent of an OEM of solar products.

(iv) For Sub-Lot B: Interconnected Mini-Grids must provide the following additional evidence:

• Verifiable documentary evidence of projects of similar nature executed and operational (at least for the last 6 months), a solar hybrid mini-grid with a minimum capacity of 30 kWp in Nigeria, within the last 3 years (Please attach letters of award, completion certificate and letter of comfort from the community to be verified by the Agency).
• that they are an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) or an accredited agent of an OEM of solar products
• a letter of intent from the Disco region covered under the proposed project.

(v) For Sub-Lots C: Supply of Solar Home Systems must provide the following additional evidence:

• Evidence of previous experience in the supply and installation of Solar Home Systems in at least two communities in Nigeria which are currently working (letter of comfort from the community to be provided and verified by the Agency).
• Technical qualities of SHS products such as solar panels, inverters, charge controllers, etc. and accompanying manufacturer certifications e.g. (ISO 9000 for Quality Management)

(vi) For Sub-Lots D: Grid Extension Projects must provide the following additional evidence:

• A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) / Letter of Intent from the Disco region covered under the proposed project

(vii) Attach a clean copy of the certified Receipt of Payment for Non-refundable Tender fee of N10,000.00 (Ten Thousand Naira) only;

(viii) Evidence that all documents for submission were transmitted with a covering/forwarding letter on the company’s letter Head paper, bearing among other things the Registration Number (RC) as issued by Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Contact Address, Telephone Number (Preferable GSM No.) and Email Address. The Letterhead Paper must indicate the names and Nationalities of Directors of the company at the bottom of the page duly signed by the authorized person of the company.

(3.2)  In case of Joint ventures or consortium:
(i) All parties involved must submit all the eligibility requirements as listed below.

(ii) All parties must submit a board resolution authorizing the consortium or joint venture

(4.0) COLLECTION OF PRE-QUALIFICATION DOCUMENTS
Interested Bidders are to collect the Standard Bid Documents from the Procurement Directorate, REA Corporate Headquarters, 22 Freetown Street, Wuse 2, Abuja upon production of evidence of payment of the non-refundable tender fee of N10,000 (Ten Thousand Naira) only per lot. All payments are to be made through Remita in favor of National Rural Electrification Agency (NREA) AND NOT Nigeria Electricity Project (NEP) using GIFMIS code 1000024043 after which bidders should proceed to REA Fund Management Directorate with their RRR to obtain Receipt of payment.

(4.2) Original and photocopies of the Certified Receipt of Payment and Certificate of Incorporation with Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) shall then be presented to the REA Procurement Directorate for collection of Standard Bid Documents. Collection of Documents shall be between the hours of 10:00am and 4:00pm Monday to Friday.

(5.0) SUBMISSION OF PRE-QUALIFICATION DOCUMENTS

(5.1) Interested applicants shall submit 3 (three) spirally bound hard copies i.e, one Original and two duplicate copies in A4 size papers, together with one soft copy in a CD or Flash Drive of expression of interest, all of which should be enclosed in a sealed large envelope. The envelope shall be marked at the top left corner with: “Expression of Interest for REF Call 2 Grant” with the preferred Lots & Sub-lots. Bids not spirally bound or bids that are stapled may be rejected. Bids should be addressed to:

The Managing Director/CEO        
Rural Electrification Agency
Corporate Headquarters
22, Freetown Street
Wuse 2, Abuja.

(5.2) The reverse side of all the envelopes used must bear the BIDDER’S NAME and address as well as the authorized contact person’s phone number (All written out in capital letters)

(5.3) Additionally, interested applicants are also to submit soft copies of their EoI with accompanying scanned documents via email to ref.submissions@rea.gov.ng as PDF files not exceeding a total of 20 MB in size. Please enter “Your Company Name – EOI – REF Call 3 GRANT” in the subject line. Please attach all documents in a single email.

(5.4) Submission deadline for Expression of Interest documents for all Lots is noon on Monday, 20 July, 2020 Documents received after the above deadline shall be rejected and returned unopened to the bidders who submitted them.

(5.5) Application documents should be arranged and numbered or paged in the order they are listed in paragraph 3.0 and the authorized representative of the Firm should sign every page of the submission.

(6.0) OPENING OF PRE-QUALIFICATION DOCUMENTS
(6.1) The Pre-Qualification Documents for all LOTS and SUB-LOTS shall be opened immediately after the close of submissions at Noon on Monday, 1 August, 2022. The public opening of Documents on each day shall take place at REA Corporate Headquarters, 22 Freetown Street, Wuse 2, Abuja in the presence of bidders, their representatives and observers from invited professional Bodies and Civil Society Organizations

(6.2) All Bidders or their representatives are enjoined to ensure that they sign the Bid Submission Register and obtain Bid Acknowledgment Receipt before dropping their bids in the Tender Boxes, as REA will not be held responsible for lost, misplaced or wrongly submitted bids.

(7.0) IMPORTANT GENERAL INFORMATION
(i) Bids must be in English Language and signed by an official authorized by the bidder;

(ii) Each bidder is permitted to submit a pre-qualification document for a maximum of FOUR (4) SUB LOTS, from any TWO (2) LOTS. Any bidder discovered to have submitted for more than FOUR (4) SUB-LOTS in total, from any TWO (2) LOTS shall be disqualified;

(iii) Only pre-qualified bidders will be invited at a later date for the financial stage and bidder’s workshop;

(iv) Companies found to be related or which have the same directors or personnel shall be disqualified;

(v) Failure to adhere to the instructions in the FGN Standard Bidding Documents adopted for this Procurement shall result in disqualification. It is mandatory to complete all the relevant Sections of the Bidding Documents;

(vi) Project developers with a history of abandonment/non-completion of rural electrification projects or other government contracts shall be disqualified;

(vii) Submission of fake documents in support of a bid may lead to prosecution as all documents received shall be referred to the issuing authorities and /or security agencies for verification;

(viii) Presence of bidders/representatives and members of the public shall not be required during the bid opening ceremony in compliance with COVID-19 Guidelines. The bid’s opening will be covered by video recording (invitation link will be sent to bidders to join the bid opening online) with the physical presence of two (2) representatives of private sector professional bodies and Civil Society Organizations in the areas of Anti-Corruption/Transparency;

(ix) Bidders can submit through post (courier services).;

(8.0) DISCLAIMER (i)
This advertisement is published only for information purposes and does not constitute an offer, commitment or obligation by REA to transact with any party nor entitle any project developers to make any claims, whatsoever, or seek any indemnity from the Agency.

(ii) The bidder shall bear all costs and expenses incurred in connection with the preparation of Documents or submission made in response to this invitation or in response to any inquiry or clarification arising from this exercise.

(iii) The Rural Electrification Agency pledges fair and equal treatment of all bidders but is not bound to prequalify any bidder, and in line with Section 28 of the Public Procurement Act 2007, the Agency reserves the right to annul this procurement process at any time in the public interest without incurring liabilities to itself.

(9.0) ENQUIRIES
All inquiries and request for clarification regarding this publication may be directed to

Director Procurement
Rural Electrification Agency,
Corporate Headquarters,
22 Freetown Street, Wuse 2, Abuja, FCT

Signed
The Managing Director/CEO, REA