The Bureau of Public Procurement (BPE) yesterday announced Ocean and Cargo Services Limited as the winner in the recently concluded bidding process for the operation of Terminal B, Warri Old Port. The SIFAX Group-led consortium scored 82.70% in a bid, a lesser score compared to the 87.84% scored by its rival in the bid- Ecomarine Consortium.
According to the BPE, Ocean and Cargo paid the sum of $25,510,000.64 (about ₦9.03bn) to emerge the winner in the concession process. The agency also disclosed that Ecomarine Consortium was disqualified from the process (despite their higher score), due to “wrongful” submission of bidding documents.
Ecomarine had scored 87.84 per cent and Ocean and Cargo Terminal Services Limited, 82.70 per cent in the evaluation of the technical proposals of the prospective bidders. Consequently, Ecomarine’s bid price was not announced. However, Ocean and Cargo Terminal Services Limited emergence is subject to the approval of the National Council on Privatisation (NCP). – Bureau of Public Procurement
The concession is for a twenty-five year period. In the meantime, however, Ocean and Cargo’s emergence is still awaiting confirmation by the National Council on Privatisation (NCP).
Background to the bid process
In 2014, the Bureau of Public Procurement advertised the Expression of Interest for the port, after which a total of thirteen applications were received. Seven applications were shortlisted out of the thirteen, but only five companies eventually met the submission deadline for their financial and technical proposals on January 31st, 2017.
These companies include; Ocean and Cargo Terminal Services Limited, Marine Infrastructure Consortium, Ecomarine Consortium, Bright Ocean Integrated Services Limited, and Neon Warri Ports Consortium.
Out of the above-named companies, only Ecomarine Consortium and Ocean and Cargo Terminal Services Limited proceeded beyond the technical proposal stage. Eventually, Ocean and Cargo emerged overall winner.
The Bureau of Public Procurement is a government regulatory agency which is responsible for monitoring all public procurements. It also performs other oversight functions such as harmonizing the existing government policies and practices by regulating, setting standards and developing the legal framework and professional capacity for public procurement in Nigeria. The agency was established in 2007 by the Public Procurement Act.
The SIFAX Group is a Nigerian maritime services company which was incorporated in 1988. The company specializes in the delivery of freight-forwarding services and warehousing, amongst other things. Over the years, the company’s expansion drive led to the establishment of several subsidiaries, including SIFAX Offdock Nigeria Limited. The company has also recently dabbled into the aviation sector through the acquisition in 2009 of Skyway Aviation Handling Company Limited (SAHCOL).