PRIMEX consultant to review procurement issues in Mongolia’s road construction sector

 PRIMEX consultant Virgilio Balandra has been engaged by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to undertake a review of the implementation of civil works contracts in Mongolia’s road construction sector.

Mr. Balandra, a civil engineer and international cost estimator and contracts specialist, is engaged intermittently from 27 December 2010 to 26 April 2011 to review local contractors’ capacity, quality of works, and prices and to compare those of international contractors.

The study is also expected to investigate whether or not, and which, local contractors have been employed as sub-contractors on projects that were originally awarded to international bidders, where these have been sub-contracted to, and determine which elements of the works and for what proportion of the total contract values were subcontracted.

A recommendation will be made as to whether or not the current national competitive bidding (NCB) threshold of civil works contracts should be increased, taking into account the promotion and development of the local construction industry.

The results of Mr. Balandra’s study will be used by ADB and/or the government to identify and design interventions which will most effectively develop Mongolia’s road construction industry