MODIFICATION
B -- Egypt - EBC Biodigesters Project Feasibility Study
- Notice Date
- 9/23/2011
- Notice Type
- Modification/Amendment
- NAICS
- 541690
— Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services
- Contracting Office
- United States Trade and Development Agency, USTDA, USTDA, 1000 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 1600, C/O US TDA 1000 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 1600, Arlington, Virginia, 22209-3901
- ZIP Code
- 22209-3901
- Solicitation Number
- 2011-21030A
- Archive Date
- 11/1/2011
- Point of Contact
- Nina Patel, Phone: (703) 875-4357
- E-Mail Address
-
npatel@ustda.gov
(npatel@ustda.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- Please note, the following clarifications have been provided by the Grantee and/or USTDA in response to questions received: 1. Q: Is any associate company of Energy Allied Egypt, LLC (the Grantee), including Energy Allied International Corporation based in Houston, Texas, allowed to submit a bid in response to the Request for Proposals (RFP) and be considered for the award of the Feasibility Study (FS) work? Similarly, the following companies each list Michael Nassar, who is President of Energy Allied International, as a Director: Cherokee Allied Oil & Gas Corp., Corporate Services International Corp., and Excelsior Stage Coach, Inc. Will any of these three companies be allowed to submit a bid in response to the RFP and be considered for the award of the FS work? A: Cherokee is an oil and gas, E&P company; CSI is an events management company; and Excelsior is a transportation company. Accordingly, none of these organizations will be participating in any way in the RFP or FS. Energy Allied Egypt further confirms that neither Energy Allied Egypt, LLC nor Energy Allied International Corp., nor any of the respective shareholders, directors or officers will be participating, be it directly or indirectly (i.e. as a prime or sub-contractor), in the bidding or execution of the EBC RFP and FS. 2. Q: On one of Energy Allied International's web pages ( http://www.energyallied.com/activities.php ), Energy Allied International in Houston describes the Egyptian Biodigester Project and even describes the type of biodigester technology that will be used (UC Davis/Onsite Power Systems technology). We found this of interest because the RFP asks for an assessment of appropriate technology. Has the technology already been determined? If so, will the RFP be modified to reflect this? A: Based upon pre-feasibility activities conducted by Energy Allied Egypt and the American University in Cairo (AUC), it was concluded that UC Davis' biodigestion technology, as compared to other relevant technologies, would most likely yield a commercially and technically viable project. Accordingly, the aforementioned webpage does indeed state "...Egyptian Biodigesters Co...shall implement and operate multiple large scale anaerobic biodigestion units...using UC Davis/Onsite Power Systems technology." This remains Energy Allied Egypt's intention, subject to a thorough evaluation of the technology in the Feasibility Study. This evaluation will likely require the participation, on a paid basis, of the technology developer / inventor, UC Davis Professor Ruihong Zhang, Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering ( http://bae.engineering.ucdavis.edu/pages/faculty/zhang.html ). The RFP is actually silent on the above-referenced point and only mentions the application of an "advanced technology" on pages 4 and 19 and "American...technology" on page 33 of the RFP. The TOR makes similar references. The absence of a specific reference in the RFP to the application of UC Davis technology to the project may lead one to reasonably conclude that Energy Allied Egypt has yet to define which technology it seeks to apply-clearly this is not the case. Energy Allied Egypt does have an indication as to which technology may be most suitable to the project. Energy Allied Egypt confirms that while it is not contractually obligated to apply biodigestion technology based upon that of UC Davis, its early studies indicate that the technology developed by Dr. Zhang has particular relevance and potential applicability to the EBC Biodigesters technology and ought to be prioritized and studied accordingly, preferably with the participation of Dr. Zhang. 3. Q: The Desk Study that was included in the RFP did not include any preliminary assessment of logistics for moving feedstock to the biodigesters or for moving products from the biodigesters to the marketplace. Was there any preliminary work done on logistics? Our experience on similar projects has been that logistics is the rate-limiting step on making a project like this economically feasible, and we wondered why there was not any information about logistics in the assessment. A: The gathering and delivery of feedstock is a critical point to consider in the assessment of the financial viability of the project. This is especially true in light of the high volume of feedstock that is contemplated. This point was in fact considered in great detail during the pre-feasibility phase of the project, with the resulting conclusion that a successful project would require multiple biodigester plants strategically situated at or nearby high value feedstock production sites (as opposed to one great central unit), thus minimizing the distance between production sites and processing units. Moreover, the preliminary financial model assumed a fleet of 27 leased vehicles gathering feedstock for the 10 biodigester units (seasonal operation), which yielded a staggering ~48% of annual operating costs (the highest individual operating cost component of the project). Accordingly, the assessment of logistics associated with the gathering and delivery of feedstock is a matter that needs to be carefully assessed during the Feasibility Study. The details associated with this aspect of the project will be fully disclosed to and discussed with the successful bidder and Energy Allied Egypt will work closely with the successful bidder to ensure this matter is carefully reviewed and planned during the Feasibility Study. It should be noted that despite the anticipated high cost associated with the gathering of the feedstock, the financial model yielded exceptionally positive returns. 4. Q: Can members involved in the Feasibility Study also bid for follow-on work? A: Egyptian law does not preclude U.S. firms from performing follow-on work for Energy Allied Egypt because it is a private sector company.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/TDA/TDA1/TDA1/2011-21030A/listing.html)
- Record
- SN02590527-W 20110925/110924000011-2d98b393964efd0278011f2229576f88 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
| FSG Index | This Issue's Index | Today's FBO Daily Index Page |