On April 3, 2018, the Metro Company of Bogotá S.A. ("EMB" for its Spanish acronym) released an invitation to all the individuals and companies interested in participating in the bidding process (the "Bidding Process") to select the contractor that will be in charge of completing the studies, final designs, financing, construction, supply, tests, operation and maintenance of Section 1 of the first metro line for Bogotá ("PLMB" for its Spanish acronym), so that they express their interest to participate in the Bidding Process. 

It is important to underscore that this invitation to present an expression of interest it is not the formal opening of the Bidding Process. Accordingly, the purpose of this invitation is to indicate to the EMB, the Financiera de Desarrollo Nacional (a state development bank) and the structuring experts of the project, which could be the individuals or companies, national or foreign, that would be interested in participating in the Bidding Process. 

Additionally, the EMB presented a term sheet (the "Term Sheet") that, for informative purposes only, contains a preliminary description of the enabling conditions that potential bidders must meet, the disaggregation of costs by execution units of the project, the description of the PLMB and the transaction structure for the performance of the PLMB. Among other aspects, it can be underscored from such documents the following:

• The transaction structure consists of a concession contract to be executed between the EMB and a special purpose vehicle (SPV) (the "Concessionaire").  
• The Concessionaire will be responsible, at its own risk, for performing the works and other activities necessary for the financing, studies, designs, construction, operation and maintenance of the PLMB, including the supply, operation and maintenance of the rolling stock and the provision of the public transport service in Bogotá. 
• The Bidding Process will be ruled by the contracting policies of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), in accordance with Art. 20 of Law 1150 of 2007. 
• The funds that will be used by EMB to pay the remuneration of the respective Concessionaire will include: (i) direct disbursements provided for in the co-financing agreement executed between the Nation and the District (the "Co-financing Agreement"); (ii) payments with credit resources obtained by the EMB with multilateral, bilateral, ECAs, financial entities and / or with the issuance of securities of the EMB, debt that will be repaid with funds from the Co-financing Agreement, credit operations that will be guaranteed by the Nation; (iii) securities issued by the EMB; (iv) resources derived from the provision of the public transportation service through the PLMB; (v) commercial exploitation resources; (vi) other incomes of the EMB. 
• The estimated value of the Concession Contract is equivalent to COP $ 15.5 trillion (approximately USD 5.5 billion).
• In accordance with the preliminary enabling conditions released by the EMB, future bidders must accredit their financial capacity through: (i) a minimum net worth equivalent to COP $ 5.2 trillion (approximately USD $ 1.7 billion); (ii) a net worth of the leader of COP $ 2.5 trillion (approximately USD $ 830 million); (iii) indebtedness capacity for COP $ 4.4 trillion (approximately USD $1.5 billion); (iv) experience in financing projects in private public partnership or concession contracts, having obtained financing for an amount greater than or equal to COP $ 3.28 trillion (approximately USD $ 1.17 billion). 
• In relation to the experience that shall be accredited as an enabling condition, potential bidders must certify that they comply with: (i) experience in integration of metro components or systems; (ii) experience in detail engineering; (iii) experience in the performance of civil works; (iv) experience in the manufacture and commissioning of rolling stock; (v) experience in the development and implementation of a signalling system and automatic train control (CBTC - Communication Based Train Control); and (vi) experience in operation. 

The individuals and companies interested in the Bidding Process shall submit their expressions of interest no later than May 17, 2018. Once this stage of disclosing information of the project and receiving comments has been completed, the EMB will release a formal invitation to participate in a Prequalification Process (the “PQ Process”). At this stage, the Bidding Process will be formally initiated. Once the evaluation of the bidders responding to the invitation has been made, the "Prequalified List" resulting from the PQ Process will be published and the respective terms of reference of the definitive Bidding Process will be submitted, along with the contract minutes, the annexes, the designs and other appendices, so that all prequalified bidders can prepare and present their corresponding proposal. 

The District Administration plans to open the Bidding Process in the third quarter of 2018, a process that will be undertaken throughout the year, foreseeing the start of the construction of the project during the second half of 2019.