The Government of Aruba intends to solicit proposals from interested parties for the cultivation and/or processing of Medicinal Cannabis in Aruba, through three (3) Request for Proposal (RFP) procurement processes:
- RFP for the Cultivation (“teelt’) of cannabis for Medicinal Purpose in Aruba,
- RFP for the Processing (“verwerken en bewerken”) of cannabis for Medicinal Purpose in Aruba,
- RFP for the Cultivation & Processing of cannabis for Medicinal Purpose in Aruba.
The Contracting Authority:
The public legal entity Aruba, legally represented for these purposes by the Minister of Tourism, Public Health & Sports.
Contact information of the Contracting Authority:
The email address for all dialogue and clarifications from and to Proposers with respect to the RFP process will be info@bmca.aw, email subject: “company name”-“dialogue topic”.
Brief description of the project:
Establishing a Medicinal Cannabis Framework is a priority for the Government of Aruba.
The Minister of Tourism, Health & Sports shall award a limited number of exemptions (“ontheffingen”) for the cultivation of cannabis, and for the processing, or transport of cannabis oil and cannabis tinctures for the purpose of scientific research for the medical application of cannabis and for the production of medicines. A corresponding Agreement is condition precedent to the exemption and shall be entered into with each Successful Proposer. The Bureau Medicinale Cannabis Aruba (“BMCA”) shall oversee, and regulate Aruba’s production as well as enforce the applicable rules, regulation and contractual obligations.
RFP Documents:
The RFP Documents for each RFP Process include the Registration, the Instructions to Proposers (Volume I), the RFP forms (Volume II), the draft Agreement (Volume III), and any other documents issued as addenda or clarification by the Contracting Authority in relation to the Projects, as may be modified and clarified from time to time by the Contracting Authority. The RFP Process is a single stage process. - RFP for the Cultivation of cannabis for Medicinal Purpose in Aruba, documents:
• Registration,
• Volume I: Instructions to Proposers
• Volume II: Proposal Submission Forms
• Volume III: Draft Agreement
• and any other documents issued as addenda of clarifications by the Contracting Authority in relation to the Project, as may be modified and clarified from time to time by the Contracting Authority. - RFP for the Processing of cannabis for Medicinal Purpose in Aruba, documents:
• Registration,
• Volume I: Instructions to Proposers
• Volume II: Proposal Submission Forms
• Volume III: Draft Agreement
• and any other documents issued as addenda of clarifications by the Contracting Authority in relation to the Project, as may be modified and clarified from time to time by the Contracting Authority. - RFP for the Cultivation & Processing of cannabis for Medicinal Purpose in Aruba, documents:
• Registration,
• Volume I: Instructions to Proposers
• Volume II: Proposal Submission Forms
• Volume III: Draft Agreement
• and any other documents issued as addenda of clarifications by the Contracting Authority in relation to the Project, as may be modified and clarified from time to time by the Contracting Authority.
Announcements and exchange of information regarding the RFP will be done through email, social and conventional media, or by a combination of these means. In the event of modification of the RFP documents, this will be communicated to all Registered Proposers by means of the registered email address.
RFP Process:
There will be three (3) Request for Proposal (RFP) procurement processes executed in parallel: - RFP for the Cultivation of cannabis for Medicinal Purpose in Aruba,
- RFP for the Processing of cannabis for Medicinal Purpose in Aruba,
- RFP for the Cultivation & Processing of cannabis for Medicinal Purpose in Aruba.
Each of the above listed RFP processes start with a public RFP Registration open to all interested parties. In order to participate in one of the RFP processes interested parties must register. The RFP Process flowchart applicable for all three (3) RFPs is illustrated in Figure 1. The Registered shall be invited to participate in the RFP Process and receive the RFP Documents and can submit their Proposal. The Proposals are evaluated for the selection of the Successful Proposers whose Proposals are deemed as most solid and promising projects for Aruba.
Following the RFP processes, the Minister of Tourism, Public Health and Sport shall conduct negotiations with the Successful Proposers. The issuance of the Letter of Award consists of the exemption and agreement. The exemption is condition precedent to the signing the corresponding Agreement with each party. Such will depend on the progress in the negotiation phase and the authorization by the Council of
Ministers (Ministerraad, MR). Subsequent of the signing of the Agreement, the issuance of applicable exemptions shall take place.
Figure 1 High-level RFP Process flowchart applicable for each of the three (3) RFPs; (i) RFP for the Cultivation of cannabis for Medicinal purposes in Aruba, (ii) RFP for the Processing of cannabis for Medicinal purposes in Aruba, and (iii) RFP for the Cultivation & Processing of cannabis for Medicinal purposes in Aruba.
The issuance of the above-mentioned Request for Proposals does not imply that the Government of Aruba is bound to select Proposers or to appoint the Successful Proposers for the Projects.
Registration to participate:
Interested parties must register in order to participate in one of the Request for Proposal processes. - RFP for the Cultivation of cannabis for Medicinal Purpose in Aruba,
- RFP for the Processing of cannabis for Medicinal Purpose in Aruba,
- RFP for the Cultivation & Processing of cannabis for Medicinal Purpose in Aruba.
The Registration links shall be published on the website of the Bureau Medicinale Cannabis Aruba (http://www.bmca.aw/) on January 22nd, 2021 at 6:00 PM (UTC-4)
Registration to participate will close on February 16th, 2021 at 11:59 PM (UTC -4). Registrations that are not received by the Contracting Authority within this period will not be accepted by the Contracting Authority for participation.
Timeline
The three (3) RFP processes will be executed in parallel, and each adhere to the same timeline as describe here.
Participants have the opportunity to register to participate in one of the above-mentioned RFP processes during the registration period starting on January 22, 2021 at 6:00 PM (UTC-4) and ending on February 16, 2021 at 11:59 PM (UTC-4). The registered participants shall receive the applicable RFP Documents on February 19, 2021 at 6:00 PM (UTC-4). Deadline for Submittal of Proposals shall be on March 22, 2021 at 10:00 AM (GMT-4). Opening of the Proposals by the civil notary shall commence on March 22, 2021 at 10:01 AM (GMT-4).
Notification of Successful Proposers resulting of each of the three (3) RFP processes are projected on April 12, 2021 at 10:00 AM (GMT-4).
The issuance of the Letter of Award is condition precedent to the signing the corresponding Agreement with each party. Such will depend on the progress in the negotiation phase and the authorization by the Council of Ministers (Ministerraad, MR). Subsequent of the signing of the Agreement, the issuance of applicable exemptions shall take place.
Applicable regulations
Decision of the council of Ministers authorizing the Minister of Tourism, Public Health and Sport to conduct RFP procedures. The completion of the RFP Processes and the issuance of Letter of Award to Successful Proposers are all contingent to the implementation of applicable legislation adjustments (landsverordening houdende wijziging van de landsverordening verdovende middelen, AB 1990 no. GT7) by the Parliament of Aruba. The Government of Aruba reserves the discretionary right to terminate this process at any time. Under no circumstances the Government of Aruba is liable for any costs incurred by participating in these RFP processes.
