Panama Canal Authority (ACP) received proposals from three world-class consortia to design and build the new set of Canal locks – the largest contract under the $5.25 billion Expansion Program. The proposals have been separated into two categories – technical and price – with the technical proposals to be assessed first. The price proposals were placed into a sealed container, escorted by ACP Contracting Officer Adriano Espino (pictured left) to the Panama National Bank, and locked into a vault. The price proposals will not be opened until the technical proposals have been evaluated.

The ACP Evaluation Committee, comprised of 15 highly qualified ACP employees, will assess and award each technical proposal points that will be computed and revealed in a public forum. Upon completion of the technical evaluation, another public forum will be held to examine the prices proposals. After a fair, rigorous and transparent evaluation process, the ACP will award the contract to the consortium that demonstrates the “best value,” a decision based on the technical aspect (55 percent), and the bid price (45 percent).