(LiveMint)
Railway board chairman Vinod Kumar Yadav on Sunday said that 44 semi-high speed Vande Bharat train set tender was cancelled as some of the bidders had disclosed some details of financial offers while submitting technical bids. The new tender document, which is expected to be floated in a week, will include provision for local component of more than 50%, in line with the government’s Aatma Nirbhar Bharat initiative.
“While evaluating the technical bids of train set tenders, tender committee has noticed that some of the details of financial offers have been revealed in the technical bids. To maintain the complete transparency, tender committee has recommended canceling this tender and inviting fresh tenders,” Yadav said in a virtual briefing. “The tender accepting authority—General Manager ICF (Integrated Coach Factory, Chennai) has accepted the recommendations of tender committee.”
Once a tender is floated, technical bids are opened and evaluated, after which financial bids of only those bidders are opened who qualify in the technical bids. To have the ‘transparency’ in evaluation, Yadav said that while evaluating the technical bids, financial bids are not available to tender evaluation committee. “Tender has been cancelled to maintained highest level of transparency,” he said.
