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FCI floats e-tender to modernise silos of 17.5MT capacity across India

The Food Corporation of India (FCI) launched an ambitious project to modernise its foodgrain logistics by floating tenders to build giant and ultra-modern steel silos in 36 locations across nine states in the country. The e-tenders invited bids under the DBFOO (design, build, finance, own and operate) model for a total of 17.5 million tonne (MT).

“FCI is the first government-run organisation to have formulated model documents for the DBFOO approach,” C Viswanath, chairman and managing director, pointed out at a function held in the public sector unit’s (PSU) headquarters in New Delhi. He expressed satisfaction over its finalisation of the pre-bid documents in just eight months.

As the nodal agency for the project, FCI was earlier entrusted with the task of formulating bid documents under the DBFOO or non-viability gap funding (non-VGF) model under the public-private partnership model. Eventually, the corporation got the nod from the expenditure finance committee (EFC) and the ministry of food and public distribution.

“The DBFOO model envisages the developer to bring in land to construct silos, along with railway sidings for bulk transportation. The developer will be paid fixed storage charges over the life of the concession period of 20 years, which is the bid parameter for the project,” the corporation stated.

“In addition, the developer will be paid pre-determined variable and handling charges for movement of foodgrain,” informed FCI, adding that the applications could be submitted online at the central public procurement (CPP) portal, along with physical submission of original documents on or before February 21, 2014.

FCI sources said that a pre-bid conference for interested parties will be convened on December 23, 2013. As for the bidding, they said that the process would be conducted through an online platform on a two-stage basis, and added that the applicants shortlisted in the qualification stage would be invited to participate.

“The next few steps are going to be most challenging for us in FCI,” Viswanath said. “The investors will have many queries. We have to carry out technical scrutiny of several proposals. It has to be handled strategically,” he added, stating that Dinesh Kumar, executive director (transportation), would be taking over as executive director (silo).

FCI sources said more information about the bidding could be obtained by downloading the request for quote (RFQ) from the CPP portal. The applicant should enroll/register on this website for participating in the process. His eligibility will be based on its technical and financial capability and the availability of suitable land for construction of proposed facility.

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