One of OCFTC’s French-donated buses cruising through Beirut’s Mar Mikhael neighborhood on Jan 13, 2023. (Credit: João Sousa/L'Orient Today)
BEIRUT—A tender to manage a greater Beirut public bus network was unsuccessfully concluded yesterday, as there was only one qualified bidder. The tender will likely be relaunched within the month, according to Railways and Shared Transportation Authority (OCFTC) head Ziad Nasr.
The auction for the right to manage and operate 95 OCFTC buses, including 50 buses donated by France in 2022 — ten of which briefly entered service last winter — closed on Thursday with three bids, only one of which met the conditions associated with the contract.
The contract, announced on Aug. 2, covers the management and operation of the buses on predetermined transportation routes chosen by the government for a period of 48 months with the possibility of renewal. In exchange, the contractor would receive a fee based on the revenues collected from passengers.
Nasr told L'Orient Today that “because of the absence of the element of competition, we decided to cancel the bidding procedures to give an extension."
“According to the Public Procurement Law, it's preferable when there is one bid to redo the tender and we are applying the law strictly,” he added.
Public Procurement Authority head Jean Ellieh also told L'Orient Today that “competition is not achieved with only one acceptable offer,” even though other disqualified offers were made.
The two disqualified bidders did not have all the necessary documents to meet the conditions specified for a valid bid—something Nasr said was partly related to the semi-closure of state institutions, making it harder to obtain their papers expeditiously.
This is the third OCFTC tendering process in a little over a year that failed to find a contractor.
A July 2022 bundle of four tenders to recruit drivers and purchase diesel, motor oil, and exhaust controlling chemicals and another July 2022 tender to secure facility repairs for the bus hangar that was damaged in the 2020 Beirut port blast both closed with no private sector bids.
Caretaker Public Works Minister Ali Hamieh said the lack of response was linked to exchange rate fluctuations and the depreciation of the national currency, as contracts are listed in Lebanese lira.
Nasr said the decision to launch a new auction for the contract, which will have similar conditions to the one that closed Thursday, would need to be made by the OFCTC board of directors, but the transit authority “in principle” intends to relaunch the procedure.
“God willing it will be soon, between now and 20 days to a month, not more than that,” he said.
Asked about the prospects for the planned round of bidding, Nasr said he is “optimistic." He noted that the auction drew a successful bid and said he felt there was interest in the contracting opportunity.