According to the invitation notice: "In order to achieve the goals in a timely manner ... it is necessary for a significant number of experienced experts and technical resources to be involved in providing engineering and technical consulting services during the implementation of all the phases of the Project regarding unit 7 and unit 8. Within the scope of the required necessary engineering consultancy services, Kozloduy NPP-New Build EAD expects the Contractor to participate effectively and support the entire process of planning, management, implementation, control and coordination of all activities and processes related to the timely and qualitative performance of all the phases of the Project implementation, including those relating to the process of negotiating the scope and terms of the subsequent contract for engineering, procurement and construction of new nuclear units at the Kozloduy NPP site."
It stresses that the current phase is limited to pre-qualification of candidates "and does not have any impact on the scoring and ranking of candidates in the subsequent stages". It adds: "The candidates which comply with all the pre-qualification criteria will be invited to participate in the subsequent tender stage of the public procedure. In that second stage, the eligible candidates will receive detailed tender specification and will be invited to submit concrete tender offers. Following the evaluation of the submitted tender offers by the Owner and consequent negotiations, a contractor will be selected, and a services contract will be signed."
Its says any companies headquartered in, or with parent companies registered in Russia or China, "will not be considered".
The criteria being judged in the pre-qualification are the Technical capacity and reputation of the candidate - "The candidate should have deep knowledge and significant expertise and experience in engineering and construction management of nuclear units" - the Economic and Financial Status - candidates must demonstrate three years of positive net income and turnover exceeding USD50 million - and Other Considerations - which covers the need for a physical presence in Bulgaria and the expectation of "a certain local content from the successful contractor".
The deadline to submit prequalification documents is 16:30 Bulgarian time on 29 November.
Kozloduy units 1-4 were VVER-440 models which the European Commission classified as non-upgradeable and Bulgaria agreed to close them during negotiations to join the European Union in 2007. Units 5 and 6 feature VVER-1000 reactors that were connected to the grid in 1987 and 1991, respectively. Both units have been through refurbishment and life-extension programmes to enable extension of operation from 30 to 60 years. The country's two operable reactors generate about one-third of its electricity.
The aim is for the first new Westinghouse AP1000 unit - unit 7 at Kozloduy - to be operational in 2035 and the second one - unit 8 - to be operational in 2037. The 2300 MWe capacity of the two new units would exceed the 1760 MWe capacity of the closed first four units. The Bulgarian government has also said that further units will be needed to replace units 5 and 6 by 2050.
