Tbilisi, Georgia, July 24, 2018

Aim Texas Overseas Management Group (AIMOMG) has attended a tender in joint venture with SAMAN Corporation (South Korea) for providing consultancy services for Project Management and Contract Supervision (Loan 51257-001 GEO) of Kvesheti-Kobi Road Project (the project) funded by ADB, which covers around 23 km of the highway  linking the capital Tbilisi with the Russian Federation border at Larsi.

The existing Kvesheti to Kobi road section, which the project will replace, is around 35 km long, and crosses the Jvari Pass at an altitude of around 2,400 m. This section, which has very difficult geographical and winter maintenance conditions that result in its closure, from snow drifts, rock falls and others, for extended periods during the winter, is a major impediment to meeting the increasing transport demand between Georgia and the Russian Federation.

Reflecting the challenging terrain through which the project road passes, it includes 5 tunnels of total length 10.5 km, one of which is 8 km long, and 6 bridges of total length about 1.6 km, including a high level concrete arch structure. The project scope will also include improvements to several local roads that connect with the project road. The presently-estimated cost of the investment project is about $540 million.

The project’s detailed design has been prepared for the Government by international consultants under World Bank financing. The scope of the consultant’s tasks included, in addition to the detailed design, economic analysis, cost estimates, procurement documentation, and a land acquisition and resettlement plan. An environmental impact assessment has been prepared by a separate international consultant under ADB financing.

The government of Georgia has applied for loan financing from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) for the project. The Executing Agency for the project will be the Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure (MRDI) and the Implementing Agency will be MRDI’s Roads Department (RD). MRDI will be the Employer for the civil works contracts.

The project will be implemented through two civil works contracts, one broadly for the roads, smaller tunnels and bridges (CP-02), and the other for the long tunnel and its approaches (CP-01). The CP-01 contract is expected to be procured through universal procurement; i.e. no nationality restrictions will apply, other than any restrictions arising from ITB 4.7 of ADB’s standard bidding documents for large works. The RD is procuring these contracts, under the open competitive bidding procedures of Procurement Regulations for ADB Borrowers, with the intention that they be ready to award before the end of 2018. The contracts will be based on the FIDIC Conditions of Contract Multilateral Development Bank Harmonized Edition June 2010 (“Pink Book”).

These Terms of Reference (TOR) will be used by the RD to select a project management and contract supervision consultant (PMCSC), in accordance with the procedures set out in ADB Procurement Policy and Regulations (2017, as amended from time to time). Consultant selection will be based on quality and cost criteria, with a quality:cost ratio of 80:20. The resulting contract will be time-based.