The proposed Da Nang Airport clean-up project today took another step toward commencing, as the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) alerted potential contractors to a planned “site visit and pre-proposal conference” that the agency will hold May 25 in Vietnam.
As U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor reported last month, USAID is embarking upon an initiative, formally known as “Environmental Remediation at Da Nang Airport,” to clean up hazardous dioxin-tainted soil stemming from the use of the defoliant Agent Orange. (see Monitor, April 2). The airport had been a primary base of operations for U.S. Armed Forces during the Vietnam conflict, and remains a dioxin “hotspot.” The initiative will focus on the removal and remediation of contaminated soil.
The newly released Request for Proposals (RFP #486-11-028), which the Monitor located through routine federal database research, says the industry gathering will take place at Da Nang Airport, with all attendees first meeting 8:30 A.M. at the Green Plaza Hotel located at 238 Bach Dang St., Da Nang, Vietnam.
The document does not offer more specific details about how contractors can and must carry out the project; because of the large size of the documents, a CD of items such as the technical specifications, dioxin data, a health & safety plan, and a “sampling & analysis plan” will be mailed to potential vendors on request. It did, however, note that the Vietnam Minister of National Defense only recently approved—at least tentatively—the USAID project in recent weeks; discussions, however, between the U.S. and Vietnam about this particular endeavor have been ongoing, and Vietnam’s “final” approval is expected soon, it says.
A cover letter accompanying the RFP points out that USAID and “Vietnam’s Ministry of National Defense (MOD) signed a Memorandum of Intent (MOI) to implement the Environmental Remediation at Da Nang Airport Project on December 30, 2010. This MOI was followed by the Prime Minister of Vietnam accepting the project on February 22, 2011 and the Minister of National Defense approving the project on April 20, 2011. A final agreement on project implementation specifics will be signed by USAID and the MOU imminently.”
The upcoming site visit and conference seeks to “identify and resolve concerns” specific to USAID’s contracting strategy, the RFP says. Possible issues to be addressed include contract terms and conditions, planning schedules, and contractor performance requirements. Information gleaned from the gathering “will be summarized and included in a modification to the solicitation,” it says.
Interested attendees must submit a request to Mr. Craig Riegler, Regional Contracting Officer by e-mail (at [email protected]) no later than May 16, 2011. The request to attend, which will be limited to two representatives from each company, “must include the names of attendees and their passport numbers in the request so that they are provided a facilities clearance by the Government of Vietnam.”
“Potential offerors may also submit questions concerning this solicitation in writing to Mr. Craig Riegler, Regional Contracting Officer and Praveena Virasingh, Procurement Specialist, by e-mail (at [email protected] and [email protected]). The deadline for receipt of questions or requests for clarifications is no later than 4:00pm (Bangkok time), June 8, 2011. No questions will be answered after this deadline.”
As an RVN vet, I agree. The money should be used for our wounded warriors.
Posted by: Doug | 05/04/2011 at 01:37 PM
Why is my tax money being used to pay for this? Let them get the funding from the Russians and the Red Chinese. Every dime of that money ought to be going to OUR wounded warriors. This is ridiculous. A disgraceful waste of money.
Posted by: Lydia Lozano | 05/04/2011 at 01:18 PM