A cross session of the Nigerian Railway Corporation staff, NGOs and contractors during the beginning of the expression of interest of 1,100 bidders for 2021 capital projects of NRC in Lagos on Thursday.
Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) has begun processing the Expression of Interest (EOI) of over 1,100 bidders for 2021 railway capital projects.
The exercise which commenced at the Railway headquarters in Lagos on Thursday, is an open one with bidders assessed in batches.
According to the Managing Director, NRC, Engr. Fidet Okhiria the processing was conducted publicly for transparency in line with the Procurement Act.
Okhiria, who was represented by Director Operations of NRC, Mr. Niyi Alli, posited that after the technical evaluation of the proposals by the bidders, the qualified bidders will be selected for specific projects.
He said the NRC adhered to COVID-19 protocols by allowing 150 bidders to at a time during the processing of their documents.
Okhiria stressed that the corporation would move to the next stage of the project in two weeks, after processing all the expression of interest documents.
Describing the system utilized for the bidding, the Director of Procurement of NRC, Mr. Benjamin Iloanusi, said the corporation advertised the available projects in daily newspapers, Federal Tenders journals and on its website.
Iloanusi stated that over 1,100 documents were received, and that due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the NRC decided to restrict the processing of the bidders to 150 per session.
“At the close of the seven weeks advert notice, we now opened their documents in the public and in the presence of some Non Governmental Organisation (NGOs) and the bidders. We are checking the eligibility of presented documents such as Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Industrial Training Fund Certificate (ITF) among others,” he said.
Meanwhile, some of the bidders have expressed satisfaction with the open bidding.
One of the bidders, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), High Destiny Security Ltd., Mr. Daniel Tishene, said the opening of the project tender was highly transparent.
Tishene noted that he was able to use the processing to submit additional documents such as medical retainer, professional indemnity, insurance policy and other required documents by the NRC.
The Manager Director, RightWay Insurance Nigeria Ltd., Miss Williams Damilola, also agreed that the process was transparent.
