On May 15th 2018, through the external circular 009-2018, the UPME General Direction, invited to submit comments to the Documents for the selection of the Investor and the Auditor (“Documentos de Selección del Inversionista y Auditor” or "DSI" for its acronym in Spanish), for the: "Public Tender UPME Gas Natural 01 - 2018 Regasification Infrastructure in the Colombian Pacific" (the "Public Tender"). Comments can be sent until the fifteenth (15) of June 2018 to the email: convocatoriasgasnatural@upme.gov.co
According to the schedule published in the UPME’s website, it is estimated that the final version of the DSI for the Public Tender will be published on July 2018, initiating the phase of modification or amendment of the documents, if the UPME deems convenient according to the requests and/or clarifications raised through the Public Tender.
After that phase, a period of six (6) months is estimated (until January 2019), for the interested Investors to prepare and present their offers at their own risk and cost, and thus, carry out the evaluation of the proposals presented. The award of the project by the UPME to the Investor is expected to be carried out on February 2019.
According to the DSI published on the UPME’s website, the scope of the Investor's tasks will include among others: a) pre-construction (designs, studies, subscription of the trust contract for payment and administration, connection contracts, licenses, project viability costs, etc.); b) construction of the plant and the gas pipeline; and, c) operation and maintenance of the plant during a period of 20 years, counted since February 2023. For that purpose, the UPME will request the amendment of the Resolution 40006 of January 4th, 2017, issued by the Ministry of Mines and Energy ("MME" for its acronym in Spanish) which established that the beginning of the operation of the plant was supposed to initiate on January 2021. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the date of start-up can be modified again as indicated in Resolution CREG 107 of 2017, prior authorization of the MME.
In regards with the remuneration of the Investor, an Expected Annual Income ("IAE" for its acronym in Spanish) is expected. This will serve as a variable for the evaluation of the offers presented by the interested parties (Less Expected Income).
With respect to the guarantees for the public tender process, the DSI requires a pit bond coverage of USD $70 million with a minimum validity of (4) months after the date of the Proposal´s presentation by the interested party. If the PROJECT is awarded, this validity should be extended up to the date on which the CREG validates the Investor’s IAE.
In parallel of the above mentioned, the selection process for the Project´s Auditor, who will oversee the correct technical execution of the Project, will be carried out, and its expected to be awarded in December 2019.
It is important to notice that, according to the DSI, the Auditor's remuneration will be assumed by the awarded Investor. For this purpose, an audit contract between the Auditor and a trust company (in charge of managing the payments for the Auditor of the Project) will be subscribed within the following ten (10) business days from the publication of the Resolution that validates the IAE of the Investor.
All DSI documents for comments can be consulted at: Convocatorias de gas natural