e-PS7 Consulting Firm Complex Lump Sum Preparation Guideline

01When to Use e-PS7

Use e-PS7 after an Expression of Interest has produced a short-list, when the estimated cost is above Tk. 1 crore and the scope is clear enough to pay a fixed lump sum against defined outputs, usually reports. "Complex" reflects the size of the job: typically a multi-disciplinary team, several phases, a longer period and bigger risks if a deliverable is late. The lump sum still keeps administration simple: you only need to be satisfied with the output.

Nature

Service

Who can propose

Short-listed firms only

Value

Above Tk. 1 crore

Contract

Complex lump sum, output based

Selection

As set in the PDS: QCBS, FBS, LCS etc.

Currency

Bangladesh Taka

The e-PS7 procedure, clause numbers and forms are the same as e-PS5. What changes in practice is the stakes, so a few choices deserve more care:

• Performance security: still optional, but on a large, time-critical job, or one that feeds a works contract, 3–5% is usually justified.
• Phasing: split long assignments into phases in PDS 1.2 and PCC 2.1, so each phase is accepted before the next starts.
• Criteria: give the key staff criterion real weight and define each position's minimums in PDS 23.14; a weak team on a large job is the main risk.
• Approvals: larger contracts are more likely to need a higher Approving Authority and prior review; build that time into the validity period.
• Insurance and liability: set professional liability cover at the contract price and a realistic liability ceiling in the PCC.

e-PS7, suitably tailored, may also be used for Single Source Selection.

02How the Document Works

Once signed, the contract documents rank in this order:

1. Contract Agreement
2. Particular Conditions of Contract (PCC)
3. General Conditions of Contract (GCC)
4. Appendices: Description of Services, Reporting, Key Personnel, Client's facilities, Cost Estimates, advance payment and performance security guarantees
5. Any other document listed in the PCC

03Key Time Limits

04Fill In the Proposal Data Sheet

05Set the Technical Criteria

Allocate 100 points across four criteria. Sub-criteria are optional.

Example: scoring a Team Leader worth 20 points With weights 20% / 55% / 15% / 10%, the sub-maximums are 4, 11, 3 and 2 points. A Team Leader rated 100% on qualifications, 80% on adequacy, 100% on time with the firm and 50% on region and language scores 4 + 8.8 + 3 + 1 = 16.8 of 20.

06Write the Terms of Reference

The TOR is the key document of the RFP. A clear TOR reduces ambiguity in proposals, negotiation and delivery. It normally contains:

• Background of the project.
• Objectives of the assignment.
• Scope of services: activities, tasks and expected results.
• Transfer of knowledge (training), when appropriate.
• List of reports, delivery schedule and period of performance.
• Data, facilities and local services you will provide.
• Institutional arrangements.

Hand all firms any information that gave one of them a head start, for example from earlier related work (ITC 12). Provide project data and reports with the RFP, and help firms get data from other departments (ITC 28.1).

07Fill In the PCC

Example: advance payment A 10% advance on Tk. 2.5 crore is Tk. 25 lakh, against a bank guarantee. The PCC sample releases the guarantee once total payments reach 60% of the contract price, here Tk. 1.5 crore, so describe in PCC 50.2 how the advance is recovered before that point.

08Clarifications and Pre-Proposal Meeting

• Clarifications: answer requests made before two-thirds of the preparation time has passed, through e-GP within 5 working days, and send the answer to all short-listed firms without naming the source.
• Pre-proposal meeting: optional, held online through e-GP on the date in the notice. Send minutes, with questions and answers, within 7 days.
• Addendum: the only way to change the RFP, before the deadline, through e-GP. Extend the deadline if firms need time to respond.

09Technical Evaluation

1. Technical proposals open automatically on e-GP after the deadline. Financial proposals stay encrypted.
2. Check eligibility and look for any new conflict of interest since short-listing. Ask the firm to remove a conflict, or treat the proposal as non-responsive. Hiding a conflict means non-responsive.
3. Reject a JV or sub-consultancy between two short-listed firms, and one with a non-short-listed applicant unless you approved it before the deadline.
4. Each PEC member scores every proposal separately against the PDS criteria. A firm's points are the average of all members, including the Chair.
5. Proposals below 70 points are non-responsive.
6. Get the technical evaluation approved, including prior review where needed, before anyone sees a financial proposal.

• Only the PEC Chair sends clarification requests, through e-GP. They must not change the substance, key staff or make a non-responsive proposal responsive.
• A technical proposal that contains financial information may be treated as non-responsive.
• One CV per position; a key expert offered in two proposals for this assignment breaches ITC 23.15.

10Financial Opening and Scoring

• Notify passing firms through e-GP of the opening date, usually at least 1 week ahead. Tell the others their financial proposals will be returned unopened.
• The PEC opens financial proposals publicly; firm names, technical points and prices are read out and recorded. Attendees sign an attendance sheet. Give minutes on request.
• e-GP has no arithmetic correction. Do not seek financial clarifications.
• Activities not priced are treated as included elsewhere. If quantities differ from the technical proposal, do not adjust the price.
• Exclude all taxes from evaluation; they are settled at negotiation.

Under QCBS, the lowest price gets 100 financial points and others are scaled:

Fp = 100 × Fm ÷ F    Cs = Tp × T + Fp × F

Example: QCBS with T = 0.8, F = 0.2 Firm A: Tp 85, price Tk. 2.5 crore. Firm B: Tp 78, price Tk. 2 crore. Fp for B = 100, for A = 100 × 2 ÷ 2.5 = 80. Cs for A = 68 + 16 = 84; for B = 62.4 + 20 = 82.4. Firm A ranks first despite the higher price. Firm C, with Tp 68, failed the technical stage and its price was never opened.

Under FBS, select the highest technical score whose evaluated price is within the PDS budget (excluding taxes). Any price above the budget is non-responsive.

11Negotiation

1. Invite the top firm (highest Cs under QCBS, highest technical within budget under FBS) to the PDS address. It must first confirm all key staff are available.
2. Start from the PEC's comments and the approving authority's recommendations.
3. Technical: methodology, work plan, activity schedule, staffing, training and your facilities. These become the Description of Services. You may require a key expert found unfit to be replaced.
4. Financial: fine-tune for agreed technical changes only. Unit rates for remuneration and reimbursables cannot be negotiated. Clarify tax liabilities and add them to the contract price.
5. Allow staff substitution only for undue delay, death or medical incapacity, with equal or better qualifications. If key staff were offered without confirming availability, the firm may be disqualified.
6. Sign minutes and initial the draft contract. If talks fail, move to the next firm, never negotiating with two at once.

You may reject all proposals if they have major deficiencies, prices are substantially above budget and cannot be bridged, or professional misconduct is established under Chapter Seven of PPR 2025. Notify all firms within 7 days.

12Award, Security and Signing

1. Within 3 working days of approval, with no complaint pending and within validity, issue the Letter of Acceptance (Format Q) with the price, any performance security, and the signing deadline.
2. Within 24 hours, publish the award (Format R) on your notice board or website and the BPPA website, for 28 days.
3. Collect the performance security, if required, in the working days set under Rule 123(7): pay order, bank draft or unconditional bank guarantee (Appendix 7) from a scheduled bank, valid 28 days beyond completion. Verify it with the bank.
4. Sign within the days set under Rule 123(11). All JV partners sign.
5. Within 3 days, publish signing (Format S), with beneficial ownership on the BPPA portal for contracts above Tk. 10 lakh, for 30 days.
6. Notify technically responsive unsuccessful firms, return unopened financial proposals, and debrief on request about the firm's own proposal only.
7. Send the commencement letter (Format T) once conditions are met; this sets the Effective Date.

Example: performance security At 5% on Tk. 2.5 crore the security is Tk. 12.5 lakh. You may claim on it if a notified breach or unpaid amount continues for 14 days or more, and must release it within 28 days of completion.

13Contract Management

• Payments: against agreed outputs. Invoices are due within 15 days of each condition being met; pay within 30 days, or interest at the PCC rate applies.
• Final payment: after the final report and final statement are approved. If you do not notify deficiencies within 60 days, they are deemed approved.
• Suspension: by written notice stating the failure and giving up to 30 days to remedy.
• Variations: by written agreement. Within 10% of the original price, the Approving Authority approves; above that, the next higher authority. Never beyond 30%. The firm's rate breakdowns are the basis for pricing.
• Personnel: no changes without approval. Replacements must be equal or better, at no higher remuneration, with the firm paying the extra travel. You can demand replacement for misconduct or poor performance.
• Tax changes: adjust the price, with HOPE's approval, so the firm's net amount is unchanged.
• Time: act on early warnings, hold regular progress meetings and record them, and extend the completion date if the reasons are acceptable.
• Facilities: provide Appendix 4 services free; if you cannot, agree an extension or extra payment.
• Records: you may inspect and audit the firm's accounts for up to 5 years. All reports, data and software belong to you.

Example: variation limits on Tk. 2.5 crore Variations up to Tk. 25 lakh (10%) go to the Approving Authority; from Tk. 25 lakh to Tk. 75 lakh (30%) to the next higher authority. Nothing beyond Tk. 75 lakh is allowed.

14Termination and Disputes

• Default: either party, with at least 21 days' notice, for a fundamental breach: the firm not remedying a suspension, a knowingly false statement, corrupt practice, ignoring an arbitral award; or you failing to pay within 45 days of notice or to remedy a material breach within 45 days.
• Insolvency: either party, without compensation.
• Convenience: you, at any time, by notice stating the extent and date.
• Force majeure: notify within 14 days; HOPE decides whether it exists. If a material part is blocked for 60 days or more, either party may terminate. Lack of funds is never force majeure.
• On termination: pay for satisfactory services and, except for the firm's default, reasonable wind-down costs.
• Disputes: amicable settlement; after 28 days, either party may give notice of arbitration under the Arbitration Act 2001 at the PCC location. Both keep performing and you keep paying sums due.

15Points to Correct in the Draft

The November 2025 draft has cross-references that do not match. Fix them in your RFP or ask BPPA:

• ITC 4.2 says "ITT Sub Clause 4.3", and Appendix 7 cites "ITT Clauses 54 and 55"; they mean the ITC.
• Form 5A1 points to "ITC Sub Clause 56.1 of the PDS" for the start date; the PDS entry is ITC 60.1.
• The table of contents skips ITC 2, 25, 31 and 52, Forms 5A1 and 5B3, and restarts page numbers at 55. The 5B introduction says Forms 5B1 to 5B3, but 5B4 also applies. GCC 21.6 cites 5B3 and 5B4 as the price breakdown; it should be 5B2 and 5B3.
• The appendices are counted three ways: "1 to 6" in GCC 1.1(v), "1 to 8" in GCC 6.1(d) and "1 to 7" in the Contract Agreement. There are seven.
• GCC 1.1(d) ties the Completion Date to GCC 55.1, which is suspension of payments; completion is GCC 57.
• GCC 10.1(e) terminates a JV contract under GCC 60.2 (progress meetings); it means termination for default, GCC 62.
• GCC 16.2(c) refers to practices "detailed in 16.2(b)"; the definitions are in 16.3.
• Termination is cross-referenced as GCC 61–64 (GCC 20.1, 69–71); it is GCC 62–65. GCC 71.1(b) should exclude 62.2(a)–(c) and 63.1(b).
• Arbitration is cited as GCC 72.2 or "Clause 72" (GCC 61.2, 62.2, 72, 73.3); it is GCC 73.2. The PCC labels the place of arbitration "GCC 71.2(b)"; use 73.2(b).
• Final payment is GCC 54, but GCC 45.2 and 49.1 cite GCC 53 (tax adjustments).
• GCC 40.1 says the Consultant will "indemnify the Consultant" for land damage; read as the Client.
• GCC 55.1 gives 30 days to remedy a suspension, while GCC 62.2(a) treats failure within 28 days as a fundamental breach. Align them.
• PCC 18.1, 19.1 and 20.1 do not line up with the GCC (GCC 18.1 is the Effective Date, 19.1 commencement, 20.1 expiry).
• The commencement letter (Format T) cites a GCC 33.2 on insurance; the clause is GCC 33.1.
• ITC 16 speaks of the "e-Request for Application Notice" and "Tenderers"; read as the RFP notice and Consultants.

16Issuing Checklist

• EOI and short-list are complete; the estimated cost is above Tk. 1 crore; the scope is defined well enough for a lump sum.
• Phasing, performance security and approval route decided for a contract of this size.
• Letter of Invitation lists only short-listed firms.
• PDS: method, staff-months (QCBS) or budget (FBS), key staff minimums, reimbursables, validity, criteria totalling 100, pass mark 70, T and F, performance security decision.
• TOR covers objectives, scope, reports and schedule, your inputs and institutional arrangements.
• PCC: parties, effectiveness, timings, liability, advance, payment schedule, interest, arbitration place.
• Information that could give one firm an advantage is shared with all.
• Cross-references corrected; italic guidance removed; ITC and GCC unchanged.

17Common Questions