The GasPacífico Project involved the construction of 543 kilometres of NPS 20 and NPS 24 high pressure gas pipeline to connect the natural gas reserves in the Province of Neuquen, Argentina to the industrial and domestic demand in and near the city of Concepción, Chile. The pipeline crossed the Pampas of Argentina, the imposing Andes mountain range, the Coastal mountain range and the highly populated agricultural terrain of the Central Valley (740 individual landowners in total) leading to the west coast of Chile.

TransCanada International Ltd. was responsible for the overall project management of the GasPacifico Project which included design, construction and contract administration. In March 1998, the Project Team began the procedure to pre-qualify bidders, to prepare contract documents and to call for bids in preparation for the selection of construction contractors for the project. Contracts were awarded on July 30, 1998.

The proper selection of the Contractors was considered of paramount importance in the project because of the high degree of difficulty of the project, the budget constraints, and the very limited time available for construction.

The details of the process established for the selection of the Contractors for the GasPacífico Project as presented in this paper include:

• the criteria for the pre-qualification of the bidders;

• the technical evaluation format;

• the commercial evaluation format;

• sensitivity studies for unit rate items and extra work;

• the application of the technical/commercial evaluations to the final selection.

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