Request for Proposals for Outsourcing Operations & Management of Islamabad Airport

[Abbas Ali]

A PIA Boeing 777 at Islamabad International Airport - Photo by Uzair Ansari

Request for Proposals (RFP)

Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) Request for Proposals (RFP) for outsourcing operations and management of Islamabad International Airport on Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Mode

Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) invites proposals from reputable international airport operators individually or as a Joint Venture (JV)/Consortium for outsourcing operations and management of Islamabad International Airport under Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode (Concession).

The scope of concession includes apron, passenger terminal building, car parking, cargo facilities, maintenance facilities and utility buildings for a period of 15 years to operate, manage, rehabilitate/upgrade (design and finance).

* Interested applicants can obtain bidding documents with from August 8, 2023, at the cost of USD 5,000/- (non-refundable).

* Bids shall be submitted on or before 11:00 AM Pakistan Standard Time (PST) on November 8, 2023, (submission deadline).

* Opening of Technical Proposals shall be on the same day as the submission deadline at 12:00 PM Pakistan Standard Time (PST) on November 8, 2023.

* Date for opening of Financial Proposals shall be separately communicated in writing to all technically qualified bidders.

NOTE: International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank, is the Transaction Advisor in relation to this concession project.

In August 8 newspapers:


In Urdu dailies.


In English dailies.

Abbas

[Abbas Ali]

Islamabad: August 08, 2023 Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar chaired a meeting of the Steering Committee to oversee and guide the progress of work related to outsourcing of airports’ operation, at Finance Division, today.

Federal Minister for Aviation and Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Finance Tariq Bajwa, Secretary Aviation, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Public Private Partnership Authority, Director General (DG) Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), International Finance Corporation (IFC) team and other government officials attended the meeting.

The Committee was briefed about the latest status of outsourcing of Islamabad Airport transaction for advertisement has been published in all leading local and international newspapers.

Finance Minister Senator Muhammad Ishaq Dar appreciated the efforts and contribution of all the members of the committee which has made the plan of outsourcing possible in order to bring the best international aviation practices and services at Pakistani airports.

Minister for Aviation Khawaja Saad Rafique also thanked the Finance Minister, on the behalf of all the authorities involved, for his continuous support during the entire process.

Press Release

[arshad.altaf]

Challenges highlighted to outsourcing of airports

ISLAMABAD: The Inter­national Finance Corporation (IFC), a commercial arm of the World Bank, has alerted the Pakistan authorities about a series of key challenges that could hamper the successful outsourcing of the country’s three major international airports.

In its inception report to the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) — the owner and operator of public sector airports — the IFC highlighted several issues that “could hamper the smooth execution of the outsourcing initiative” if they remained unresolved before bidding and thus required immediate interventions and policy actions.

The key issues centred upon long-outstanding receivables and liabilities of Pakistan International Airlines, the uncertain macroeconomic conditions of the country, concession fee and tariff/user charges escalation/regulation mechanisms of the PCAA, the fate of its employees affected by outsourcing and existing contractual arrangements at the airports. PIA’s losses surpassed Rs630 billion as of September last year.

The IFC also recommended permission for the concessionaire and the PCAA to maintain a foreign currency account with the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to ensure that the government could fulfil its obligations to “ensure availability, convertibility and transferability of foreign currency and mitigate against the potential loss of revenue for the concessionaire due to foreign exchange volatility”.

The transaction adviser also pointed out that improving service quality at the airports largely depended on the performance of government agencies working at the airports.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1769947/chall ... f-airports

[Abbas Ali]

First pre-bidding of Islamabad Airport meeting was held on September 26 in Dubai, which was attended by chief executive officers of airport operating companies, financial experts and heads of legal departments of companies. The pre-bidding meeting was organized by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a subsidiary of the World Bank Group, whose services have been hired as the financial adviser to the government of Pakistan to outsource the Islamabad Airport.

Another pre-bidding technical meeting will be held in November under the supervision of IFC. If the second meeting is not held by the end of November, it will be held in Islamabad in December.

https://e.thenews.com.pk/detail?id=244207

[Abbas Ali]

Bids submission date extended from November 8, 2023, to March 15, 2024, for outsourcing of operations and management of Islamabad International Airport on Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode.

Notice in November 8 newspaper:



Abbas

[Abbas Ali]

Successful bidder for Islamabad International Airport will be disclosed after the bidding process is completed and the award of concession for outsourcing is expected to be completed before June 2024. One-time initial payment of USD 100 million is required from the successful bidder.

https://www.app.com.pk/national/pias-pr ... -informed/

[Abbas Ali]

Bids submission date extended from March 15, 2024, to May 15, 2024, for outsourcing of operations and management of Islamabad International Airport on Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode.

Meeting of Steering Committee on outsourcing of Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore Airports was held under Chairmanship of Foreign Minister in Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Muhammad Ishaq Dar and attended by Minister Planning, Development & Special Initiatives, Minister for Law, Justice and Human Rights (on phone) and Secretaries of Ministry of Aviation and Law Division along with senior Government officials of Ministries of Aviation, Foreign Affairs, Finance and Country Director International Finance Corporation (IFC).

The Country Director IFC recapitulated the progress made on the project of outsourcing of airports so far and informed the committee that multiple efforts of continuous engagement with the prospective investors have yielded positive results and with the new political government in office confidence of the investors to invest in Pakistan has augmented. With this intent, international bidders from Qatar, UAE, Germany, Turkiye, Netherlands, Malaysia and local consortia have requested extension in bid submission timelines to complete their due diligence.

The Foreign Minister assured fullest support to the engaged investors through economic diplomacy and expeditious process for achieving successful outcome of this flagship project.

Considering the requests of interested bidders and based on strong recommendation of the IFC, the committee decided to extend the Bid Submission date for 60 Days to 15th May 2024.

Press Release

[Abbas Ali]

In March 16 newspaper:

Extension Notice

Corrigendum Number II

Outsourcing of operations and management of Islamabad International Airport on Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Mode

Reference: Request for Proposals (RFP) for award of concession dated August 2, 2023, issued by Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) for participation in the tender procedure and to submit their proposals for the project in accordance with the requirements of the RFP document and applicable evaluation documents.

Capitalized terms used herein and not otherwise defined shall have the meaning given to them in RFP.

It is for the information of all concerned that CAA, pursuant to the prospective bidders' written requests to extend bids submission deadline, after due consideration, has extended schedule for submission and opening of proposals as under:

Bids Submission Deadline: May 15, 2024, no later than 1100 hours Pakistan Standard Time (PST).

Opening of Technical Proposals: On the revised bids submission deadline at 1200 hours PST.

Addresses for submission of proposals and opening of technical proposals shall be as specified in RFP. All other timelines, terms and conditions set out in RFP shall remain the same.

[Abbas Ali]

On March 26, Federal Minister for Aviation Khawaja Muhammed Asif presided over a meeting on outsourcing of airports at the Ministry of Aviation in Islamabad. The meeting was attended by secretary aviation, secretary privatization commission, additional secretary Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other senior officers.

International Finance Corporation (IFC) apprised the minister that seven international investors including from Germany, France, Netherlands, Qatar, UAE, Malaysia and Turkiye have shown their interest while local groups are also interested in the transaction.


PTV News

The Aviation Minister has directed to convene an online meeting with the Pakistani ambassadors in these countries, provide them country specific brief prepared by Aviation Ministry and ask them to proactively engage with interested groups. He also advised to connect the local investors with international investors to enhance the awareness of the local groups so that they may participate in the bidding process by developing their consortium.

The minister also assured government to government level engagements for speeding up the transaction.

Press Release

[faisal-777]

I wonder what interest do European firms have with a massive devalued currency of ours ?

[Abbas Ali]

Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has called for enhancing economic diplomacy and efforts to bolster trade and investment ties with other countries.

The foreign minister chaired an online meeting with heads of missions to review progress on market sounding efforts being made through Pakistan’s missions abroad for outsourcing of airports.


PTV News

Secretary Aviation informed that concerted efforts by heads of the missions in Turkiye, Malaysia, UAE, Qatar, France, Spain, Germany, Kuwait, UK and Switzerland have reinvigorated interest of well-known airport operators who had shown positive interests in bidding of Islamabad International Airport.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) presented progress review report and highlighted that foreign investors showing keen interest in the bidding process of Islamabad International Airport and a healthy competition is expected.

https://www.radio.gov.pk/27-04-2024/for ... -diplomacy

[arshad.altaf]

The IATA press release shared by Abbas about Pakistan blocking close to 40 crore dollars (repatriation) of airlines should be enough to dissuade prospective investors.

But who knows what's cooking in the background?

[Abbas Ali]

In May 14 newspaper:

Extension Notice

Corrigendum Number III

Outsourcing of Operations and Management of Islamabad International Airport on Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Mode

Reference: Request for Proposals for Award of Concession dated August 8, 2023, issued by Civil Aviation Authority, Pakistan (the CAA) for participation in the Tender Procedure and to submit their Proposals for the Project in accordance with the requirements of the request for proposals document (the RFP) and the Applicable Evaluation Documents.

Capitalized terms used herein and not otherwise defined shall have the meaning given to them in the RFP.

It is for the information of all concerned that CAA, pursuant to the prospective Bidders' written requests to extend the Bid Submission Deadline, after due consideration, has extended the schedule for Submission and Opening of Proposals as under:

Bid Submission Deadline: July 15, 2024 no later than 1100 hours PST.

Opening of Technical Proposals: On the revised Bid Submission Deadline at 1200 hours Pakistan Standard Time (PST). The addresses for Submission of Proposals and Opening of Technical Proposals shall be as specified in the RFP. All other timelines, terms and conditions set out in the RFP shall remain the same.

Emails: outsourcing@caapakistan.com.pk and pakairports@ifc.org

Websites: www.caapakistan.com.pk www.ppra.org.pk and www.p3a.gov.pk

Deputy Director General (Airport Services)
Headquarters Civil Aviation Authority, Terminal 1,
Jinnah International Airport, Karachi, Pakistan

www.caapakistan.com.pk

[Abbas Ali]

On June 13, 10th Meeting of the Steering Committee on outsourcing of Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore airports was held under the chairmanship of Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar in Islamabad.

The meeting was attended by the Minister for Defence and Aviation Khawaja Muhammad Asif, Minister for Law and Justice Azam Nazeer Tarar, Secretary Aviation Saif Anjum, officials from Board of Investment (BoI), Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and a team from International Finance Corporation (IFC).

The IFC team presented a progress report on the outsourcing of Islamabad International Airport and informed that a healthy competition between various consortiums, comprising local and foreign investors, is expected on July 15, 2024, which is also the bid closing date.

The steering committee also reviewed progress on outsourcing of Karachi and Lahore airports and was satisfied with the work done so far.

As per plan, the concession structure for the two airports will be ready by mid-August this year.

The meeting ended with the expectations that outsourcing of Islamabad International Airport would eventually result in improved and world class service standards along with enhanced customer experience.

Source" APP

[Abbas Ali]

In June 15 newspaper:

Addendum No. 1

Outsourcing of Operations and Management of Islamabad International Airport on Public Private Partnership Mode

Reference: Request for Proposals for Award of Concession dated August 8, 2023, issued by Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) to interested parties / prospective Bidders for participation in the Tender Procedure and to submit their Proposals for the Project in accordance with the requirements of the request for proposals document (RFP) and the Applicable Evaluation Documents. The Project is being processed under the Public Private Partnership Act, 2017.

Pursuant to the written requests of interested parties for clarification of the RFP, PCAA has: (i) issued an addendum to the RFP (Addendum No. I to the RFP): and (ii) issued responses to interested parties' queries document (Response Document No. 2). They are available on the websites mentioned below.

All interested parties are requested to submit their Proposals on or before Bid Submission Deadline under the revised RFP.

Bid Submission Deadline: July 15, 2024, no later than 15:00 hours Pakistan Standard Time (PKT).

Opening of Technical Proposals: July 15, 2024 at 16:00 hours Pakistan Standard Time (PKT).

The addresses for submission of Proposals and opening of Technical Proposals are specified in the RFP. All other timelines, terms and conditions are set out in the revised RFP.

Emails:
outsourcing@caapakistan.com.pk
pakairports@ifc.org

Websites:
www.caapakistan.com.pk
www.ppra.org.pk
www.p3a.gov.pk

Deputy Director General (Airports)
Headquarters Civil Aviation Authority, Terminal 1
Jinnah International Airport, Karachi, Pakistan

www.caapakistan.com.pk



Abbas