By Gemma Q. Casas
Variety News Staff

THE administration is spearheading Saipan’s power plant privatization project and not the Commonwealth Utilities Corp.
CUC spokeswoman Pam Mathis said the request for proposals to privatize the government-owned power plants in Saipan was issued by the Division of Procurement and Supply and not CUC.
This week, CUC completed the first phase of the privatization project — the prequalification round.
“This is the round in which the firms outline their financial qualifications,” said Mathis.
She said 11 firms “initiated contact and purchased the package of materials in order to pre-qualify.”
The pre-qualification requirement documents were made available to the 11 for a nonrefundable fee of $1,000 each.
The 11 were narrowed down to the four that submitted prequalification packages. Each paid a nonrefundable fee of $25,000.
Mathis said the CNMI privatization committee that will be created to handle the project will evaluate the four proposals.
The next phase will be to “submit proposal to purchase the CNMI power business,” Mathis said.
“Offerors who meet CUC’s pre-qualification requirements will be issued a certificate of pre-qualification and will be eligible to bid for the privatization. The RFP will be made available only to pre-qualified offerors and only upon payment of a non-refundable fee of $50,000,” according to CUC’s RFP # 07-001.
Two of the four firms that were prequalified are from North America, one from Japan and another from the CNMI.
The soon-to-be formed Public Utilities Commission, the new governing body of CUC, will choose the winning proposal.
“Assuming that CUC selects a winning proposal, CUC will announce the winner and negotiate with it the details of the franchise and the certificate of convenience and necessity. Ultimately, PUC must approve the franchise and transfer,” the RFP stated.