Para 1.13 — CONSULT_MANUAL

1.14 The Law of Agency – applicable to Procurement of Consultancy services Legally speaking consultant would be an Agent of the Procuring Entity acting as a ‘Principal’ –, to carry out the service on its behalf. Such a relationship is covered by The Law of Agency (Section 182 to section 238, of the Indian Contract Act, 1872) and hence there exists a Principal and Agent relationship between Procuring Entity and the consultant. As per this law, the Procuring Entity is vicariously legally and financially liable for actions of its Agents. For example, a violation of certain labour laws in deputing staff for Procuring Entity’s contract by the consultant may render the Procuring Entity legally and financially answerable for such violations, under certain circumstances. There is a need to be aware of such eventualities. Model tender Documents take care of this aspect.

1.15 Public Procurement Cycle in Procurement of Consultancy Services The entire process of procurement and implementation of Consultancy services shall include the following steps:

1.13 Legal Aspects Governing Public Procurement of Consultancy Services A public procurement contract, besides being a commercial transaction, is also a legal transaction. There are a number of laws that may affect various commercial aspects of public procurement contracts. A public procurement professional is expected to be generally aware of the implications of following basic laws affecting procurement of works; however, he or she is not expected to be a legal expert. In different contexts of the scope of work, an additional set of laws may be relevant. (For salient features of laws applicable to public procurement, please refer to Appendix 2 provided in Manual for Procurement of Goods, Second Edition, 2024)

1. Need Assessment: a) Preparation of Procurement Proposal (Concept Paper) and obtaining in principle approvals; Chapter 1: Introduction to Procurement of Consultancy Services b) Preparation of the Terms of Reference (ToR), cost estimate and seeking administrative and budgetary approval; c) Developing a Procurement Plan

2. Shortlisting of Qualified Consultants – EOI process 3. RfP Invitation Process: Preparing ‘Request for Proposal (RfP) Document’, publication, receipt and opening of bids;

4. Bid Evaluation and Award of Contract: a) Preliminary Examination and Evaluation of technical proposals: consideration of quality; b) Evaluation of financial proposals; c) Selection of winning proposal; Negotiations and award of the contract to the selected firm; and

Contract Management: Execution and Monitoring of Consultancy Assignments. Details and procedures of various stages of the procurement cycle would be described in following Chapters of the manuals.