e-PS8 Consulting Firm Complex Time Based Preparation Guideline

01When to Use e-PS8

Use e-PS8 after an Expression of Interest has produced a short-list, when the estimated cost is above Tk. 1 crore and you will pay the firm for the time its staff actually spend. BPPA recommends a time-based contract when:

• the scope of services cannot be set with enough precision;
• the duration and quantity of services depend on things outside the consultant's control; or
• the output you need is hard to assess.

Typical examples are construction supervision, long-term advisory or project-management support, and studies whose extent is only known once work starts. It requires you to supervise the firm closely and be involved in the day-to-day work.

Nature

Service

Who can propose

Short-listed firms only

Value

Above Tk. 1 crore

Contract

Complex time based, up to a ceiling

Selection

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

Currency

Bangladesh Taka

The procedure, clause numbers and forms match e-PS6. Because the contract is larger, give extra care to:

• Supervision capacity: name who will check timesheets and statements each period before you issue the RFP; on a large time-based job this is your main cost control.
• Staff-months in PDS 23.12: a realistic estimate keeps proposals comparable under QCBS.
• Statement interval (PCC 53.1): monthly gives the tightest control; quarterly lowers paperwork but delays problems.
• Performance security: 3–5% is usually justified where the work supervises or feeds a works contract.
• Approvals: larger contracts often need a higher Approving Authority and prior review; allow for this in the validity period.

e-PS8, 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

Also complete the appendices that time-based contracts lean on:

• Appendix 3: key personnel, job descriptions, minimum qualifications and staff-months for each. Leave is included in these staff-months.
• Appendix 4: services and facilities you provide, and working hours and holidays for key personnel. No paid overtime, sick or vacation leave unless stated here.
• Appendix 5: monthly rates for personnel and the reimbursable items.
• Counterpart personnel (GCC 44), if you will provide your own staff to work under the firm's direction.

Example: building the ceiling Team Leader 18 staff-months × Tk. 3,50,000 = Tk. 63 lakh; three specialists 20 staff-months each × Tk. 2,00,000 = Tk. 1.2 crore; support staff Tk. 25 lakh; reimbursables Tk. 42 lakh. Ceiling Tk. 2.5 crore. You pay only for time actually spent, so the final bill may be lower, but never higher without an approved variation. (Illustrative rates.)

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.

13Payments and Supervision

• Remuneration: staff time actually spent from the start date, at the agreed rates. Rates cover salaries and allowances, social charges and overhead, and the firm's fee. Part months are paid per calendar day at 1/30 of the monthly rate.
• Reimbursables: those actually and reasonably incurred, as the contract provides.
• Statements: within 7 days after each month (or PCC interval), in duplicate, itemized, with invoices and vouchers, separating remuneration from reimbursables. Check the time claimed against what you supervised.
• Payment: within 14 days of receipt; interest at the PCC rate if more than 30 days late. Correct any overpayment or underpayment in later payments.
• Ceiling: keep a running total; payments cannot exceed it without an approved variation. Extending key staff time beyond Appendix 3 needs written agreement and the variation procedure.
• 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%.
• Personnel: no changes without approval; replacements equal or better, at no higher remuneration, with the firm paying extra travel. Leave is taken within the Appendix 3 staff-months and must not delay the work.
• Counterparts and facilities: if you cannot provide the agreed counterpart staff or Appendix 4 facilities, agree how the work proceeds and any 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: a monthly statement In March the Team Leader works the full month (Tk. 3,00,000), one specialist works 12 days (Tk. 2,00,000 ÷ 30 × 12 = Tk. 80,000), and reimbursables with vouchers come to Tk. 45,000. The statement, due by 7 April, totals Tk. 4,25,000; if received on 5 April, pay by 19 April.

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 contradictions, lump-sum leftovers and broken cross-references. Fix them in your RFP or ask BPPA:

• Arithmetic errors: ITC 43.1 says e-GP has no arithmetic correction, but ITC 43.2 says the PEC shall correct errors and reject a proposal whose firm does not accept the correction. Decide which applies before opening, and state it.
• Lump-sum leftovers: GCC 51.1 says payments follow "outputs", and PCC 53.1 releases the advance guarantee at 60% of the "lump-sum Contract Price". On this contract payments follow time spent; read these as the contract price.
• Several body headings are misnumbered: "17. e-Proposal: Only one" holds ITC 18, "18. Preparation Costs" holds ITC 19, and "36. Evaluation: General" holds ITC 39. The table of contents also skips many clauses.
• GCC 46.1 puts the cost estimate in Appendix 6 (the advance guarantee); it is Appendix 5. GCC 44 puts counterparts in an Appendix 5B that does not exist; list them in Appendix 4 or the PCC.
• The appendices are counted three ways: "1 to 6" (GCC 1.1(v)), "1 to 8" (GCC 6.1(d)) and "1 to 7" (Contract Agreement). There are seven.
• GCC 1.1(d) ties the Completion Date to GCC 56.1 (final payment); completion is GCC 59. GCC 47.2 and 51.1 cite GCC 55 for final payment; it is GCC 56.
• GCC 48.1(b) points to 48.5 for reimbursables; they are in 48.8. GCC 46.3 cites 44.1 for 46.1; GCC 75.3 cites 57.1 for 59.1; GCC 68.4 cites 70.1 for 68.1; GCC 29.1 refers to itself instead of GCC 30.1; GCC 16.2(c) cites 16.2(b) for 16.3.
• The Appendix 6 guarantee and PCC 17.1 cite GCC 50 for the advance; it is GCC 52. Form 5B1 cites GCC 34 for audit (GCC 35); the commencement letter cites GCC 33.2 for insurance (GCC 34.1).
• GCC 41.1 says the Consultant will "indemnify the Consultant" for land damage; read as the Client.
• GCC 21.6 cites Forms 5B3 and 5B4 for unit prices; it should be 5B2 and 5B3.
• GCC 57.1 allows 30 days to remedy a suspension, while GCC 64.2(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).
• ITC 4.2 says "ITT 4.3"; Appendix 7 cites "ITT Clauses 54 and 55"; Form 5A1 points to "ITC 56.1" for the start date (it is ITC 60.1); ITC 16 speaks of "Tenderers" and the "e-Request for Application Notice".

16Issuing Checklist

• EOI and short-list are complete; the estimated cost is above Tk. 1 crore; the scope really is uncertain enough for a time-based contract.
• Supervision staff named; statement interval, performance security and approval route decided.
• Arithmetic-correction approach (ITC 43) settled and stated.
• 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, ceiling, advance, statement interval, interest, arbitration place; Appendices 3–5 ready.
• Information that could give one firm an advantage is shared with all.
• Lump-sum leftovers and cross-references corrected; italic guidance removed; ITC and GCC unchanged.

17Common Questions