Airport concession: FG closes Request for Qualifications phase

Sen. Hadi Sirika, Aviation Minister

Posted by Sade Williams

The Federal Ministry of Aviation, has said that in line with the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC)  (establishment, etc.) Act, 2005, and global best practice, the Request for Qualifications (RfQ) phase of the Nigeria Airport Concessions programme (NACP), has come to a close at  15:00HRS Local Time (Nigeria), October 25th 2021.

This deadline, announced on September 13, 2021, after close deliberations with ICRC and the transaction advisers, allowed for a four week extension in response to numerous requests from would-be bidders.

The Ministry of Aviation, the Transaction Advisers and the Project Steering Committee, have duly notified the ICRC of this milestone, and have now stopped receiving submissions in response to the published RFQ.

The Minister, Senator Hadi Sirika, thanked all those who participated in the process for their interest and respective submissions.

According to Sirika, “The amount of response to the request for pre-qualification by highly reputable international airport operators across the globe is indicative of the level of confidence that people have in our concession programme, and,  by extension, the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

“Like we promised from the onset, we remain committed to ensuring the highest level of transparency and accountability till the end of the process. This is because we believe that the programme is in the best interest of Nigerians as a people, and Nigeria as a nation”.

The Ministry of aviation however, reminds all stakeholders that this is a multistage programme and that RFQ stage will be followed with a Request For Proposal (RFP) which shall be published and sent directly to qualified bidders for their response.

“Qualified bidders shall be announced once the bid opening committee has received, opened and reviewed each submission based on the detailed Terms of reference (TOR) and RFQ guidelines contained in the RFQ bidders package (available on www.nacp.aviation.gov.ng).

“The Ministry encourages all participants who have responded to the RFQ to ensure that they continue to refer to the NACP website – www.nacp.aviation.gov.ng, where all updates and relevant documentation, including updated FAQ can be found|,  James Odaudu, Director, Public Affairs, Ministry of Aviation, said in a statement on Monday.