The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), on Saturday said a total of 50 companies submitted bids for contracts to provide sea worthy tug boats on charter time basis for its maritime operational requirements in Lagos, Warri and Port Harcourt.
The bid opening process at the corporation’s Abuja headquarters, the corporation noted in a statement by Ndu Ughamadu, NNPC’s Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, was in line with the determination of its management to provide a level playing field for all stakeholders, the public bid exercise is in conformity with existing Federal Government legislation on procurement which is also in tune with the NNPC standing regulations on procurement to ensure transparency and fairness.
The bid covered services like stand-by and positioning vessels at the Single Point Moring (SPM) buoy among other marine services.
Winners who are to be engaged on a two year term contract in the first instance with an option of renewal for a further one year would provide services including: aiding the berth and un-berth of all ships operating at the NNPC jetties/buoy, logistics support for safe ship-to-ship operations which covers movement of fenders, horses, documents, rigging and unrigging of fenders among others.
The statement quoted Shehu Liman the corporation’s Group General Manager, Supply Chain Management, as saying recently at the Public opening of bids that the NNPC management under Dr. Maikanti Baru was determined to instill and sustain the values of transparency, accountability and integrity in the procurement process.
Declaring the event open, Dalhatu Makama, Group General Manager, Marine Logistics Division of the Corporation, said the essence of the bid process was to ensure that companies with the requisite experience in maritime operations are given the opportunity to compete for the available service in a fair and transparent manner.
In attendance were representatives of the bidding companies with officials of the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) and Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), with representatives of the civil society as observers.