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 (Solicitation #RFP294-2010-108), 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.
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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