Procurement Guidelines under loans extended by the OPEC Fund

works expeditiously and at reasonable cost. Maintenance and minor improve ments of roads are a typical example. c) International or local shopping may be an appropriate method of procure ment in cases where there are only a limited number of suppliers of the part icular item needed, where the amounts involved are small, or, in the case of local shopping, where local suppliers and agents provide a broad enough representation to ensure competitive prices. The procurement of a few items through shopping should not form the basis for departing at some future time from international competitive bidding on the grounds of standardization (see Subpara. e) below). d) Extension of an existing contract may be permitted where, following inter national competitive bidding, civil works already satisfactorily under construc tion are to be extended and clearly no advantage could be obtained by further bidding. A similar situation may arise in the case of equipment where add itional goods of the same type as those purchased under an existing contract are required. In both cases, the OPEC Fund should be satisfied that the prices on the extended contract are reasonable and that there is clearly no advantage to further bidding. e) Standardization of equipment or spare parts so that they may be compatible with existing equipment may require purchases from the original supplier. For standardization to be appropriate, the original equipment should be suitable and has been acquired at reasonable prices (preferably through international competitive bidding), the number of new items should normally be less than the existing number, and the advantages of having another make of equip ment and an alternate supplier should have been considered and rejected on grounds which the OPEC Fund finds reasonable. f) In exceptional cases, the need for early delivery may justify direct procure ment, usually from a supplier of similar equipment in the past or from a limited number of qualified suppliers. In this case, to ensure reasonable economy in procurement, it is frequently necessary to obtain quotations from a limited number of overseas suppliers or to purchase through recognized marketing facilities. g) Equipment may be required which is proprietary in character and obtainable only from one manufacturer. h) Critical items may be purchased from specialist suppliers to ensure that the output of a process plant will be guaranteed by the contractor responsible for the process design.