The race for the locks is on

PANAMA. Surrounded by secrecy the four consortiums that are bidding for the contract to build the third set of locks will put forward their proposals on March 3.

The contents and the results of the individuals bids will be revealed at the end of June, after they have been thoroughly studied by 15 selected members of the Panama Canal Authority ACP (Autoridad del Canal de Panama) and forty international experts, who formed the technical commission, which will decide what company is going to carry out the work.

The four consortiums putting forward proposals are: C.A.N.A.L. Consorcio Atlantico-Pacifico de Panama; Corsotia Bechtel, Taisei, Mitsubishi Corporation and Corsorcio Grupos Unidos por el Canal. The proposals will be delivered in sealed boxes to the Panama Canal Authority.

The boxes will be received by the ACP officer at the Ascanio Arosemena Auditorium between 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

The envelopes stating the estimates given by each consortium will be deposited in a vault at the Panama National Bank, where they will remain until the technical commission declares a winner.

The Contract Officer of the ACP, Adriano Espino said that hopefully by the end of June a winner will be declared, but if that does not happen, the commission will have another three months to make a decision.

All the 15 members of the ACP plus the 40 experts have signed confidentiality agreements to make sure that there will not be a leak of information and that all the bidders are treated equally.

The proposals will receive points in two different areas; technical, which counts for 55 percent of the bid, while the other 45 percent, has to do with the price.

Espino said that he is confident that a contractor will be found to build the lock and all the consortiums that are participating in the bidding process are economically sound and have the necessary expertise to carry out a project of this magnitude.

The ACP will reimburse some of the presentations expenses to the consortiums, which are not successful, and has set aside $15 million to be distributed equally among the losers.

The estimated cost of the third set of locks is of $2.7 billion and it is expected that during its construction around 7,000 people will be employed, which means that the project will start just on time to absorb the workers of the Coastal Strip.