
Governor Rosselló announces beginning of request for qualifications for the transformation of the electric power system
(October 31, 2018 - La Fortaleza, San Juan) Today, Governor of Puerto Rico Ricardo Rosselló announced the beginning of the request for qualification process (RFQ) for companies interested in managing and operating all facets of the energy distribution and transmission system of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) through the mechanism of public-private partnership (P3).
“This process is an essential one for the transformation of our energy system. We will have the opportunity to give way to an energy system that responds to the real needs of the People of Puerto Rico and that, additionally, benefits from a total transformation of how we distribute and transmit energy,” said the chief executive.
The process will allow the identification of private companies that meet the minimum requirements necessary to carry out the transformation and modernization of the Puerto Rico energy system.
Rosselló added that “along with the permits reform, the labor reform, and the new tax model, this new energy reform will make of Puerto Rico a much more competitive place, which will allow us to further improve the number of jobs and the economic indexes, which so far have established unprecedented improvement.”
The private company that undertakes this P3 project must have the experience to also administer and use federal disaster recovery funds, which may be available for the transformation of PREPA.
The executive director of the Authority for Public-Private Partnerships (P3A), Omar J. Marrero, said that “the Rosselló Administration remains committed to providing greater stability, reliability, and efficiency to the energy system of our Island.”
The executive director also indicated that “for this reason, we have considered some key objectives to get this project under way. These include, among others, developing a low-cost energy transformation process, energy resilience, developing new technologies, adequate capital investment, operational excellence, and financial sustainability.”
The RFQ is available on the P3A website: www.p3.pr.gov. Qualifications of the potential bidders must be submitted by Wednesday, December 5, 2018 at 5:00 p. m.
The results of the RFQ process will be announced during the second week of January 2019.
Citigroup Global Markets Inc., one of the main advisors in the transformation process of PREPA, is part of this RFQ process.