Mining Investment and Development for Afghanistan Sustainability (MIDAS)

Added: Jan 17, 2015 5:45 am This Justification for an Exception to Fair Opportunity is prepared to meet the statutory requirements of FAR 16.505(b)(2), exception to the fair opportunity process. According to FAR 16.505.(b)(2)(i), the Contracting Officer shall give every awardee a fair opportunity to be considered for a delivery-order or task-order exceeding $3,000 unless one of the exceptions listed in the section applies. In the case of subject procurement, the exception listed under FAR 16.505.(b)(2)(i)(A), "The agency need for the supplies or services is so urgent that providing a fair opportunity would result in unacceptable delays" applies.

The Government of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan faces an urgent need to generate sustainable sources of revenue. While several very large and potentially valuable mineral deposits have been identified in Afghanistan, GIRoA now realizes that such projects will take ten years or longer to start generating significant revenue. The Mission, therefore, recognizes the need to conduct core drilling activities that will enable Mining Investment and Development for Afghan Sustainability (MIDAS) to immediately support Afghanistan's efforts to generate revenue from the three high-value mineral deposits.

MIDAS and AGS must obtain some core samples from the most accessible (and least complicated as regards start-up of mining operations) of the high-value deposit sites before the snow season makes drilling impossible. Once core samples are obtained andanalyzed, Ministry of Mines and Petroleum (MoMP) will be able to prepare the tenders needed for private sector mining companies to bid on extraction of tantalum, and possibly granite. If the samples are made available and analyzed, bids could be received and evaluated by the 2nd Quarter of 2015 and mining operations could start to generate revenue late in 2015 or early 2016.