Vendor_Questions_and_Agency_Answers.pdf

1. Is there an expectation for how many days will be required on location (Ulaanbatar, Mongolia)? The RFP indicates 3 trips + 2 trips (at the discretion of the OPIC), but does not indicate expectations on how many days in country. We would expect 3 days in country per trip.

2. Is the proposed square footage of the facilities available (Factory, Daycare, Residential)? This would be used in estimating the amount of time that will be needed to perform documentation reviews? The factory will be 4,684.8 square meters, with a basement, total of 7 floors. This building includes a retail store, worker’s cafeteria/lounge, administrative office, factory, and a training and development center/conference hall. The Residence will have a total space of 6,216 square meters and will be a 12‐storied building. The first two floors will be the kindergarten and the 2nd to 10th floors will be apartments, consisting of 70 apartments in total.

3. Is it the intent for this Technical Advisor to review design/ construction against specific building codes, or general compliance with the approach as outlined in Section 3.3 Life and Fire Safety (L&FS) standard? We would look for the Technical Advisor’s advice on specific buildings codes to comply with Section 3.3 of the L&FS Standard.

4. What Fire Protection and Life Safety Codes and Standards will the advisor be conducting the project evaluation against?

a. The Statement of work includes the following, “OPIC is retaining the consultant to advise OPIC regarding the Project’s compliance with internationally accepted life and fire safety standards as described in the International Finance Corporation’s (“IFC”) Environmental, Health, and Safety (“EHS”) General Guidelines…”

b. When pulling this guideline, Section 3.3 Life and Fire Safety (L&FS) indicates the following, “Applicability and Approach All new buildings accessible to the public should be designed, constructed, and operated in full compliance with local building codes, local fire department regulations, local legal/insurance requirements, and in accordance with an internationally accepted life and fire safety (L&FS) standard. The Life Safety Code82, which provides extensive documentation on life and fire safety provisions, is one example of an internationally accepted standard and may be used to document compliance with the Life and Fire Safety objectives outlined in these guidelines.”

“National or regional building regulations typically contain fire safety codes and standards83 or these standards are found in separate Fire Codes.84,85 Generally, such codes and regulations incorporate further compliance requirements with respect to methodology, practice, testing, and other codes and standards86. Such nationally referenced material constitutes the acceptable fire life safety code.”

i. This does not appear to point to a specified organization such as the US

National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), nor specific code to be applied. As an example, NFPA 101 – Life Safety Code is the applicable life safety code is provided as a refence, but not explicitly defined as the applicable code.

The NFPA is an acceptable standard or an equivalent European standard. We would look for the Technical Advisor’s advice on the specific Fire Protection and Life Safety codes to comply with Section 3.3 of the L&FS Standard.