• Alternative Proposals: The bidders are normally asked to submit bids which comply fully with the terms and conditions of the bidding documents so as to enhance the comparability of bids and reduce the time and cost of evaluation process. In certain cases, the procuring authority also asks the bidders to present alternative bids, which could reduce the costs, and shorten the development schedule. Alternative bids must be accompanied by a detail description of the proposed methodology, technical specifications, a price breakdown and other relevant details. Alternative bids that are not fully detailed and priced should not be considered.
  
  
• Opening, Clarification, and Evaluation of Tenders: The opening of the tenders should be as per the specified time and in accordance with the bid opening principles. As per the principles, bids opening should be held in public by announcing the name, address and the bid amount of each bidder. Bids received after the deadline as well as those not opened at the bid opening should not be considered. After opening of the bids, the procurement committee can ask the bidders to clarify their bids to help in examination, evaluation and comparison. In case of negotiated bidding, negotiations between the procuring entity and the bidders can take place in BOT procurement proceedings. However, such negotiations after the bids are contrary to most internationally recognized procurement rules for competitive bidding. The first step in evaluation of bids is to determine whether the bid is responsive or not. Bids that are not responsive are rejected. Then, the bids are evaluated based on the evaluation criteria mentioned in the bid documents.
  
  
• Project Award: The BOT contract is awarded to the complying bidder with the highest number of evaluation points. Successful bidder has to finalize and execute a number of agreements before project implementation. Unsuccessful bidders will be notified about the award and their bid securities will be returned. Obligations of a successful bidder to take the project to financial close are usually worded as conditions in the project agreement. Date when all the conditions have been compiled with is defined as the ‘effective date' of the contract, from which date concession period shall begin.

REFERENCES FOR FURTHER READING ON THE TOPIC

UNIDO. (1996). Guidelines for infrastructure development through Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) projects . UNIDO, Vienna.

World Bank (2014). Procurement processes and bidding documents. PPP in Infrastructure Resource Centre, World Bank, Washington D.C.