e-PG5A National Plant Supply and Installation Participation Guideline

01Is This Tender for You?

e-PG5A is a turnkey contract: you design the facility, manufacture or buy the plant, build the civil part, install, test and commission it, train operators, and guarantee its performance. The contract goes to the lowest evaluated responsive tender that passes the low-price check.

Method

One Stage Two Envelope, national

Value

Any

Currency

BDT

Tender security

Fixed amount, up to 3% of estimate

Performance security

10% of contract price

Retention

10%, until defects are cleared

Only supplying equipment, without installation and commissioning? That is e-PG3. Tender in a foreign currency? Look for e-PG5A (International).

02Eligibility, JV and Subcontracting

• Firms from any country except those in TDS 5.1; plant not from countries in TDS 6.1. Origin is where the plant is made, not your nationality.
• Legal capacity, membership of a relevant trade body in Bangladesh, taxes and social security paid; not insolvent or barred.
• Not debarred or suspended, under any name, and not restricted by a development partner.
• No conflict of interest: no common control, subsidy or shared representative with another tenderer, and no link to the consultant that prepared the design.
• A government-owned enterprise must show legal and financial autonomy.
• Beneficial ownership declared, to be published if you win.

Joint venture: sign a JV agreement on a Tk. 300 non-judicial stamp (Format e-PG5A-E), or a notarised letter of intent with the draft agreement. Partners are jointly and severally liable; the lead partner has the highest share, manages the contract and receives payments into a JV bank account; others hold at least 25% each. Composition cannot change without the PE's approval.

Subcontracting: name each subcontractor and its activity on Form e-PG5A-2c, within the TDS limit (up to 20% recommended). A subcontractor may appear in several tenders, but only as a subcontractor.

• submit or join more than one tender per lot: all are rejected;
• subcontract the whole contract, or add undisclosed subcontractors later without HOPE approval: a fundamental breach;
• submit alternative tenders: not allowed in e-GP.

03Qualification Criteria

Example: checking the turnover test For a Tk. 20 crore, 18-month contract with F = 1.2, the PE asks for AACT of (20 ÷ 1.5) × 1.2 = Tk. 16 crore. In a JV, the total must reach Tk. 16 crore, the lead at least 40% (Tk. 6.4 crore) and each other partner 25% (Tk. 4 crore).

04Site Visit, Questions and Addenda

• Visit the site at your own cost and risk, after telling the PE. You are deemed to have priced conditions you could have seen or read in the site data.
• Buy the e-TD through an e-GP member bank by the day before the deadline.
• Send questions through e-GP before the IFT cut-off; answers come within 5 working days. The online pre-tender meeting is optional.
• Acknowledge every addendum. If you miss one, tell the PE before two-thirds of the tender period has passed.
• Ask about inconsistencies in the STD now (taxes on plant, retention and the security cap, schedule numbering); after opening you cannot change your tender.

05The Technical Offer

Standards in the specification are descriptive. You may offer equivalents, but you must prove they are substantially equivalent or better. State your functional guarantee values carefully: they become contract figures.

06Price the Schedules

• Single responsibility: anything needed for a working facility is included; unpriced items are deemed covered by other rates.
• Taxes, customs duties, VAT and levies in force 28 days before the deadline are included in your rates (check how the PE resolved GCC 65.2 on plant).
• Fixed-price tender: do not add an adjustment formula, or you are rejected. Adjustable tender: give the index sources asked for in the Appendix to the Tender.
• Offer discounts only unconditionally, and for multiple lots say how they apply.
• Avoid front-loading: unbalanced rates can raise your performance security to 25%.
• Do not dive: a price far below the others is rejected under the significantly low-priced tender test (section 08).

07Tender Security and Submission

• Tender security for the TDS amount in BDT: bank draft, pay order, or an unconditional guarantee of a Bangladeshi scheduled bank (Form e-PG5A-7). Valid 28 days beyond tender validity.
• Submit both offers together in one e-GP submission before the deadline; allow time for large files. No late tenders.
• Modify, substitute (with a new security) or withdraw only before the deadline.
• Files must be readable and virus-free.

The security is forfeited if you withdraw within validity, fail to give performance security, refuse to sign, or engage in corrupt practice. The three lowest securities are held until the contract is signed.

08How You Are Evaluated

1. Technical offers open first. Missing forms, priced schedule or security mean rejection.
2. The TEC checks eligibility, qualifications, the Technical Proposal and specification compliance. Material deviations cannot be fixed later.
3. Reply to clarifications within the time given (at least 3 working days), without changing substance.
4. Only technically responsive financial offers are decrypted, after HOPE approves.
5. No arithmetic correction; discounts and economic factors (late completion, mandatory spares, life-cycle costs) added for comparison.
6. Low-price check: tenders below the weighted average minus one standard deviation are rejected.
7. Lowest evaluated tender is post-qualified; the TEC may inspect your facilities.

Lower limit = x̄ − S_d, where x̄ = 0.5 × average of responsive prices + 0.2 × official estimate + 0.3 × estimate adjusted by the national price index (NPPI).

Example: the low-price check Estimate Tk. 20 crore; recent awards averaged 8% below estimate, so the index figure is Tk. 18.4 crore. Responsive prices are A 19.0, B 18.2 and C 15.0. The weighted average is 18.22 and the standard deviation 1.91, so the limit is Tk. 16.31 crore. C, though cheapest, is rejected; B wins at Tk. 18.2 crore.

If yours is the only technically responsive tender, it must be within 20% of the official estimate, above or below, or it is rejected.

09Award and Signing

1. NOA within 3 working days of approval; it binds you.
2. Performance security, 10% of the contract price in BDT (Form e-PG5A-11, draft or pay order), within 7/10/14 working days by estimate size.
3. Sign within 14/21/28 days.
4. Advance payment security (Form -12) within 28 days, if you take the advance.
5. Your beneficial ownership is published with the contract.

Example On a Tk. 18.2 crore award with a Tk. 20 crore estimate, you have 10 working days to give a Tk. 1.82 crore performance security and 21 days to sign.

Unsuccessful? Ask for a debriefing; complain and appeal under Sections 29–30 of the PPA 2006 and Rules 72–77 of PPR 2025.

10Design, Supply and Installation

• Name your Contractor's Representative within 14 days and a Construction Manager on site; send the organisation chart (21 days) and detailed programme (28 days); report monthly.
• Submit Appendix 7 documents; the Project Manager approves within 14 days or they are deemed approved. You remain responsible for your design either way.
• Procure and transport the plant; notify each shipment. Customs delays not your fault earn extension.
• You carry care and risk until Completion even though ownership passes when plant arrives on site.
• Take out cargo, installation all-risks, third-party, vehicle and workers' insurance with the PE co-insured.
• Respect site regulations, labour laws, wages, safety, child labour rules and the environment; appoint an accident prevention officer.
• Subcontractors not named in the contract need prior written approval.

11Completion, Commissioning and Guarantees

1. Notify mechanical completion. The PE supplies operators and utilities within 7 days; you pre-commission.
2. Completion Certificate within 14 days, or a defect list; silence or PE use means deemed Completion. Risk passes to the PE.
3. Commission and run the Guarantee Test within the PCC period. If the PE cannot let you test, the guarantees are deemed met.
4. Request the Operational Acceptance Certificate; it is due within 7 days or deemed issued.

• Below guarantee but above the minimum (95% of capacity or 105% of consumption): fix it or pay the Appendix 8 LD per 1%, capped (up to 10%).
• Below the minimum: you must fix it at your cost.
• Delay damages: 0.03–0.05% per day on uncompleted work, capped; a bonus may apply for early completion.
• Defect liability: 540 days from Completion or 1 year from Operational Acceptance, whichever is first; longer for listed critical components. Start remedial work within 15 days of notice or the PE may do it at your cost.

Example A pumping station guaranteed at 2,000 m³/hour tests at 1,940 (97%). At an LD rate of Tk. 5 lakh per 1%, you either upgrade and retest or pay Tk. 15 lakh. At 1,880 (94%) you have no choice: you must fix it.

12Getting Paid

Example: Tk. 10 crore of plant Tk. 1 crore advance against a bank guarantee, Tk. 8 crore on delivery documents, Tk. 50 lakh at Completion and Tk. 50 lakh at Operational Acceptance. Plan cash flow for retention (10%) held until the defect period ends.

• Advance guarantee reduces as plant is delivered or work paid.
• Performance security halves at Operational Acceptance (unless the PCC says otherwise) and is returned within 7 days of final payment.
• Late payment earns interest at the PCC rate; if a certified payment is unpaid for 84 days you may terminate, and after 14 days' notice you may suspend or slow work.
• Price adjustment, if any (normally only for contracts over 18 months), uses the Appendix 2 formula on each certificate, excluding the advance and contractor-caused delay.
• A change in tax law adjusts the price so your net receipt is unaffected (with HOPE approval).

13Changes, Claims, Termination and Disputes

• Changes: give an estimate of the cost of preparing a Change Proposal first; you are reimbursed if the PE drops a change it requested. You may object if total changes exceed 15% of the price. Proceed on a Pending Agreement Change Order if price is not agreed.
• Claims: notice within 28 days of the event and full details within 42 days, or you lose the claim.
• Extensions: the PE decides within 21 days; above 30% needs HOPE, above 100% the Secretary.
• Notice to Correct: reply within 5 days with your remedy plan.
• Termination for default: a Notice of Default gives you 21 days to explain or remedy; grounds include stopping work 28 days, failing to start, letting security lapse, LD cap reached, unauthorised subcontracting.
• Disputes: Adjudicator within 14 days (decision in 28, you pay fees and the PE reimburses half), then arbitration under the Arbitration Act 2001 at the place in the PCC.

14Submission Checklist

• Eligible; no conflict of interest; one tender per lot.
• JV agreement or notarised letter of intent; shares and lead partner set.
• Subcontractors and manufacturers named within the limit.
• Experience, turnover, liquid asset, litigation, personnel and equipment evidence complete.
• Licences, tax documents, affidavits and manufacturer's authorisation attached.
• Technical Proposal and compliance sheet complete; functional guarantee values stated.
• All schedules priced in BDT with taxes; no unbalanced or unrealistically low rates; checked twice for errors.
• Tender security valid 28 days beyond validity.
• Submitted early, acknowledgement saved.

15Common Questions