Call for Expressions of Interest (EOI) No. PCD/07/029

For a loan for the construction of the extension of the WIPO Administrative Headquarters

Date of publication: 07.05.2007

Deadline for submission: 02.07.2007

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is an intergovernmental organization with headquarters in Geneva, in the French-speaking area of Switzerland. It is one of the 16 Specialized Agencies of the United Nations System and has a mandate to promote the protection of Intellectual Property throughout the world, which includes administration of the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) system and the international registration of marks.

Following an international architecture competition, WIPO selected the project submitted by Behnisch Architekten, Stuttgart, for the new extension of its headquarters on a neighboring plot of land which it owns, and for which the building permit has been obtained from the Geneva authorities. A revised project has been studied and an application for an additional permit for the changes made has been submitted to the Geneva authorities. WIPO has entrusted the piloting of the project to the company Burckhardt+Partner SA which will carry out this mandate from its Geneva office. The process to select the general contractor, which will be responsible for the construction, is in progress and the selection will be made by an independent Selection Board before the end of 2007.

The aim is for the construction work to begin in February 2008. The program of work will be spread over a period of 26 months.

The revised project includes an administrative building with five floors of offices, containing a total of 560 work places, a ground floor consisting mainly of an entrance hall and a cafeteria, four basement levels (technical and storage premises, and parking spaces), as well as a construction on five basement levels linking the new building and the current WIPO headquarters.

The volume of the revised project is approximately 190,000 m ³ and the surface area about 47,000 m ². The total cost of the project is estimated at approximately 140,000,000 Swiss francs.

WIPO has decided to finance the project up to about 114,000,000 Swiss francs by means of a loan and the difference with equity capital.

WIPO reserves the right to amend the amount of the loan and the proportion of the equity capital.

WIPO wishes as of now to draw applicants’ attention to the following points:

the headquarters agreement between WIPO and the Swiss Federal Council provides for immunity from criminal, civil and administrative jurisdiction as well as immunity from other measures, including enforcement measures, except insofar as this immunity has been formally lifted by the Organization’s Director General;
the buildings or parts of buildings, adjoining land and property owned by the Organization or used by the Organization for its purposes, irrespective of whether it owns such property, may not be the subject of any search, requisition, seizure or enforcement measure, except insofar as this immunity has been formally lifted by the Organization’s Director General;
WIPO must have the capacity to reimburse the loan early, either partially or in full, before the deadline, without penalty.

On the basis of the criteria included in the Annex, an independent Selection Board will preselect, freely and without appeal, from among the institutions that have responded to this call for expressions of interest, those which will receive from WIPO a request for proposal file and will alone be authorized to submit a bid; no bid submitted as part of a syndicated loan by institutions other than one of those that have been preselected will be taken into consideration.

The selection of the financial institution (or, where appropriate, financial institutions in the case of a syndicated loan) will also be made, freely and without appeal, by the independent Selection Board mentioned above. Any financial institution wishing to participate in the preselection procedure is invited to download the electronic version of the Questionnaire by clicking below on one of the two icons:

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The applicants’ files, including the Questionnaire duly completed and signed, together with all the requisite documents mentioned in the Questionnaire and in the Annex, must arrive by post at the latest on July 2, 2007 (date of receipt, the postmark having no legal force), at the following address:

World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
Call for Expressions of Interest No. PCD/07/029
Procurement and Contracts Division
34, chemin des Colombettes
1211 Geneva 20 – Switzerland

ANNEX

To the Call for Expressions of Interest (EOI) No. PCD/07/029

For a loan for the construction of the extension of the WIPO Administrative Headquarters

PRESELECTION CRITERIA FOR FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS

Financial capacity of the institution to grant the whole of the requested loan, solely in Swiss francs:

Forms of proof:

          1.      Last audited balance sheet.

          2.      Declaration contained in the Questionnaire concerning the institution’s rating and the rating agency.

          3.      Other information contained in the Questionnaire.

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