REM Rapport Annuel No. 1 OIF Congo Brazzaville - Forests Monitor

It should be noted that appendices to the Forest Code that provide information to applicants,
were added in 2007 by the Directorate-General of Forest Economy following the
recommendations of a World Bank study on the allocation of logging permits. The Forest
Administration has also established a system for rating the responses to calls for tender based
on indicators divided into three categories of criteria (administrative/legal, technical, and
economic/financial). This system, not included in the existing legal framework, is based on
indicators that correspond to the procedural standards enacted by the forest law, its
subsequent texts, and national management directives. These measures were adopted with the
goal of moving progressively towards a clarification of applicant obligations and improving
the call for tender evaluation system. 25 This rating system was used for the first time during
this call for tender that was, in this way, based on dossiers being admissible only if they
received at least 50% of all possible points.
In addition to the party winning the call for tender, 26 the Forest Commission designates a best
runner-up for each forest area offered in the call for tender. 27 Approved and disqualified
applicants are notified by the Forest Commission, and a procedure leading to the signature of
the agreement is then begun by the parties. It is only following the signature of the agreement
and the publication of the order approving the agreement that a forest unit is actually
attributed.
B. Forest Commission Meeting
The purpose of the Forest Commission meeting on 08 March 2008, under the chairmanship
of the Minister of Forest Economy, was to examine the dossiers submitted following the call
for tender issued by Order No. 5069/MEF/CAB of 26 June 2007 for the development of the
Enyellé Ibenga FMU located in the department of Likouala. The outcome of this meeting was
to identify the applicant that should be approved by the Commission.
Four dossiers were submitted for the development of the Enyellé-Ibenga FMU by the logging
companies PAMELA, Million Well Congo Bois, BUIC-Forest and DDF.
The results presented by the technical committee (DGEF) are supposed to guide the members
of the Forest Commission when choosing which dossiers to approve. There is therefore an
open discussion during the Forest Commission meeting with the goal of the members
designating, after discussion, the approved candidate. In this specific case, the technical
committee (DGEF) shared its conclusions with the Forest Commission members and guests.
The proposed ratings were, however, not discussed by the other members of the Forest
Commission. Among the dossiers examined, the Forest Commission deemed the dossiers
submitted by the PAMELA, Buic-Forest and DDF 28 companies to be unacceptable because
25 The World Bank does not yet deem this system to be able to comply with the competition conditions for calls for tender.
26 Beyond applicants whose dossiers have been approved by the Forest Commission.
27 The purpose of designating a runner‐up candidate is to begin negotiations with this party if the candidate approved by
the Forest Commission steps aside, and to avoid re‐issuing a new call for tender.
28 These companies received scores of less than 50: 23 for PAMELA and 10.75 for DDF. The company BUIC was not rated
since, lacking articles of association, it does not officially exist.
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