Para 1.16 — CONSULT_MANUAL

1.16 Nomenclature Conundrum 1. There is no standardised nomenclature in Public Procurement in India, and a mix of American, European, and British/ Indian nomenclature has become common. ‘Tender’ is taken to mean

(i) ‘Tender Document’ or ‘Tender Process’ as well as

(ii) the ‘Bid’ submitted by the ‘bidders.’ The Tender Document floated by Procuring Entity is also called a Bid (or Bidding) Document. Similarly, participants in a ‘tender’ are alternatively called bidders and tenderers. This duality is reflected in “Notice Inviting Tenders’ and ‘Instructions to Bidders’ etc. 2. An attempt is made to standardise the term ‘Tender’ for ‘Tender Document’ (document prepared and published by the Procuring Entity, instead of bid/ bidding document) or ‘Tender Process’ and Bid for the ‘bid’ submitted by the ‘bidders’ and hence ‘bidder’ is used instead of tenderer. Similar attempts are made to standardise other nomenclature in this document without disturbing the nomenclature (e.g., Pre-qualification Bidding) embedded in the CPPP or GeM portals.

2.2 Procurement Proposal (Concept Paper) for Consultancy services 2.2.1 Preparing Procurement Proposal/ Concept Paper As a first step towards procurement of services, a formal written brief Proposal and Justification for the Services should be prepared (Please see a suggested format in Annexure 3: Format of Procurement Proposal). It is akin to the Indent for Materials/ Material Requisition in case of Procurement of Goods. The User should prepare in simple and concise language the requirement, purpose/ objectives and the scope/ outcomes of the assignment and justify the procurement based on analysis of in-house available capacity/ capability. The eligibility and pre-qualification criteria to be met by the consultants should also be clearly identified at this stage. Justifications for procurement of Consultancy Services as given in para 1.11 may be kept in view. It is the basic document for initiating procurement of services. It is also the document from which the subsequent detailing of Terms of Reference (ToR) for consultancy services is drawn up. A procurement proposal should contain:

2. Terms of Reference containing Scope of Work, Time-frame, Key Staff, Deliverables/ Milestones is of fundamental importance in ensuring value for money, transparency, competition, and level playing field in procurement of Consultancy Services. The user Department shall maintain all documents relating to the determination and technical/financial/budgetary approvals of the need for procurement.

1. Purpose/ Objective Statement of Services: The user should prepare “Purpose/ Objective Statement of Services”. One of the important contents of this statement is description of service to describe the subject matter of procurement which would be used in all subsequent documents. Bringing out the background and context, this should justify how the proposed procurement of services would fit in with short-term and strategic goals of Procuring Entity. Making such a statement is important to put the need for services in clear perspective. It may seem elementary or academic but is a necessary and critical first step in properly designing a procurement proposal.

2. Service Outcome Statement: Once the "Purpose/ Objective of Services" has been clearly defined, the next step is to formulate a 'Service Outcome Statement'. This should list out qualitatively and quantitatively the outcomes expected from the Procurement of Services,

Chapter 2: Need assessment and Procurement Planning 2.1 Need Assessment 1. Procurement Proposal: A critical part of the procurement of Consultancy Services process is preparing an appropriately staffed and budgeted Procurement Proposal/ Concept Paper (which serve the function that an Indent serves in procurement of Goods). The authority in the user Department initiating the procurement proposal shall first determine the need (including anticipated quantum) for the subject matter of the procurement. Purpose/ Objective Statement of Services, Service Outcome Statement, and justification for the procurement of Consultancy Services are important parts of the procurement proposal.

2.2.2 In-principle Approval for initiating procurement of Services Based on the justification contained in the Procurement Proposal, in-principle administrative approval and budgetary sanction for initiating procurement of such services should be accorded by the Competent Authority (CA) as laid down in SoPP. Further stages may be proceeded with, only after such approvals. (Rule 180 of GFR 2017)

Chapter 2: Need assessment and Procurement Planning as well as the expected Time-frame and a rough estimate of cost of Procurement of services (including related costs to be incurred by the organization). At this stage, it is not necessary go into details of all the activities required to achieve the service outcomes, but it should list at least the broad activities, would help in putting a rough estimate to the cost of the assignment. A 'Service Outcome Statement' should provide a concrete basis for subsequently defining the type and amount of work that needs to be done by the Consultant and the time-frame within which the output needs to be received by the user. The estimated cost is needed to ascertain the level of approval necessary as per SoPP.

3. Justification for the procurement of Services: The Concept Paper/ Procurement proposal should analyse the capabilities/ capacities required to carry out the assignment. It should also analyse the available in-house capabilities/ capacities and compare these with the ones required for the assignment. Based on this assessment the Procurement should be justified in the light of para 1.11.