The All Meghalaya Contractor and Supplier Association has alleged manipulations in tendering processes in the North Eastern Hill University (NEHU) flouting central government rules in all procurements, works and services.
The association stated that the university has invented a “unique idea” in award of tenders that has become breeding ground for corruption.
“The University is having a clause in their tenders that only up to 10 per cent below the estimate can be accepted. So any one who puts tender 10.01 per cent or more below the estimate stands automatically rejected,” the association said, adding, “This sort of condition is absurd, unheard and bears no logic. If the University is following Central Rules, as per GFR 2017, then there should not be any lower limits as it violates GFR rule 21 (i).”
While applying the clause all bidders would quote the minimum acceptable rate, that is 10 per cent below the estimated amount, the association said, this puts all the bidders in a tender on an equal platform where the university applies its discretion and “arbitrarily awards works to preferred contractors.”
Stating that the issue was taken up with NEHU Executive Engineer, Vice Chancellor and Registrar asking them to predefine the selection criteria in the bid documents by selecting first among the equals the association said nothing has been done so far.
Furthermore, the association said calling for bids was done through e-tenders which the university never uploads the documents of the bidders for viewing by competitors. “Everything is done so secretly that no contractors know why they are awarded or not awarded with works. It also lacks transparency as no minutes of meetings of Tender Evaluation Committee are put up on e-tender portal.”
Meanwhile, the association has lodged a complaint with the Secretary of the Central Vigilance Commission seeking an inquiry into the manipulations and to remove the set condition by strictly adhering to the guidelines laid of e-procurement system of the Department of Information Technology. It also sought fixing of responsibility to all erring officers to cleanse the e-tendering system.
