The first round of Palestinian infrastructure contracts worth upwards of $750 million was awarded this week by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
The Infrastructure Needs Project Phase II, as the USAID endeavor is known, will help the Palestinians build or improve public works initially in the West Bank and, "if conditions permit, in Gaza" at a later time (Solicitation #RFP294-2010-108).
Task orders could be awarded under this indefinite quantity contract (IQC) for initiatives including:
• Transportation networks such as primary and secondary roads, bridges and/or other transportation infrastructure;
• Water systems including the supply, storage, treatment, transmission and/or distribution of water;
• Sanitation infrastructure including solid waste management and disposal, wastewater treatment and reuse, pollution control, and/or ecological sanitation;
• Vertical infrastructure including schools, clinics, health facilities, public buildings, government buildings and facilities, sports facilities, warehouses, food storage facilities, youth and sports centers, and/or other vertical infrastructure designed to benefit the public interest;
• Electrical Power sector infrastructure to include alternative, sustainable and/or traditional forms of power generation (such as wind turbines, photovoltaic, solar thermal, geothermal, and/or fossil-fuel-fired thermal power plants), and/or electricity transmission and distribution systems in the West Bank;
• Other critical infrastructure that USAID may decide to support subject to USAID development objectives and/or the availability of funds;
• Operations and Management of Water Facilities;
• Design/Build contracts are anticipated under this solicitation;
• Procurement, transport, shipment, storage of equipment and materials;
• Drilling and Equipping of Deep Water Production and Monitoring Wells and Facilities
• Construction and Rehabilitation of Electric Power Generation, Transmission and Distribution systems.
Contractors receiving the task orders on Jan. 9 were:
- APCO/ArCon of Dearborn, Michigan (Contract award #AID-294-I-00-12-00005). APCO/ArCon, it should be noted, is a construction firm that likewise received $100 million in task orders during Phase One of the project;
- The Morganti Group, Inc., of Danbury, Connecticut (Contract award #AID-294-I-00-12-00002);
- BLD Services, LLC, of Kenner, Louisiana (Contract award #AID-294-I-00-12-00004);
- American Intercontinental Constructors, LLC (AIC) of Arlington, Virginia (Contract award #AID-294-I-00-12-00006);
- International Relief & Development (IRD) of Arlington, Virginia (Contract award #AID-294-I-00-12-00003); and:
- CDM Constructors, Inc., of Cambridge, Massachusetts (Contract award #AID-294-I-00-12-00001).
Under the IQC arrangement, the total potential ceiling is $750 million for all contracts awarded to these, and possibly other, vendors. It is not the total for each vendor.
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