As part of the project preparation an appraisal was conducted to determine a project scheme which would prove to be the most efficient and provide the maximum benefits for the public.. In November 2019, the Port of Gdynia Authority SA and the Ministry of Development Funds and Regional Policy (then the Ministry of Investment and Development) signed contracts for the project transaction advisory with the advisory consortium selected in a tender. Transaction advisory covers technical, economic, financial and legal aspects of the project. The advisory consortium includes:
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Ernst&Young sp. z o.o., Corporate Finance s.k. – consortium leader, financial and economic advisor,
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Domański Zakrzewski Palinka s.k. – legal advisor,
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Databout sp. z o.o. – technical advisor.
The first stage of the consultancy work was to perform the PPP Project Appraisal . The aim was to was to answer the three key questions:
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Is the PPP project feasible, considering technical, organisational, legal, market, commercial and financial conditionalities?
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What project scheme would be the most effective and beneficial for the public interest?
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Is there a sufficient market interest in the project implementation on part of the private partners ?
The answer to the first and third questions turned out to be affirmative. Also, the PPP Project Appraisal indicated PPP as the best scheme for its implementation.
Public-Private Partnership is the scheme, which is most suitable for providing the public assets and service in case of large and complex infrastructure projects (which always involve management and/or maintenance component) and which require considerable financial expenditure. PPP is based on long-term contracts between public entities and the private parties.. In the case of PPP projects done , the public entity has an opportunity to make avail of the knowledge and experience of private companies specialised in a given sector. In PPP it is possible to adjust the project structure (allocation of tasks and risks) and elaborate the details of the final scope of the project to respond to the needs of the public entity and the range of services the private party is willing and contractually obliged to provide. Mobilizing the finance for infrastructure expenditure is the role of the private partner
Public-private partnership projects are quasi-regulatory in nature, so a public entity has specific control powers regarding the fulfilment of the contractual obligation, so that the project is carried out in an effective manner throughout the contract term, and the public objectives are fully met.
In addition to analytical tasks, the work of the transaction advisor includes the preparation and conduct of the tender for selection of a private partner.. The first step in the tender procedure is the public procurement notice. Then the interested Private Partners submit prequalification applications, and once they are evaluated, a short list of qualified candidate invited to engage in the dialogue is prepared. Negotiations are carried out as a competitive dialogue, considered the best option for the PPP procedures. The dialogue usually consists of 3 to 5 rounds of negotiations divided thematically into organisational, technical, economic, legal and possibly other aspects resulting from the nature of the project.
When the competitive dialogue is completed, an invitation to tender will be prepared, under which the candidates will be issued the tender documentation, including the draft PPP contract. Based on these documents, bids are submitted by the prequalified candidates.
The call for proposals for the admission to the project was announced in November 2020 and finished in February 2021. Four proposals have been submitted:
- Mediriam Eastern Europe Investments 4 SAS and Gdynia Holding Terminal SAS,
- Hutchison Ports Poland S.a.r.l. and Port of Felixtowe Limited,
- International Container Terminal Services Inc.,
- Mota-Engil Central Europe PPP Road Sp. z o.o.
Proposals are currently being reviewed and evaluated.
