Para 4.5.3 — CONSULT_MANUAL

4.5.3 Procurement through Centralized Agencies or other Organizations Departments/ Organisations, who have not built-up their own infrastructure for purchase, may engage procurement agents (for individual procurement or as outsourcing of service) with the approval of its Secretary. Many canalized agencies authorised by the Government and some CPSEs 43 do provide such end-to-end procurement services, i.e., framing procurement documents, bidding process, evaluation, and contract management. Procurements by such agencies would have to conform to these Procurement Guidelines. In such cases a Contract can be placed on them for procurement services, at mutually agreed terms. Guidelines for procurement through such agencies are detailed in Chapter 4 of the Manual for procurement of Goods, 2024, which may be referred. For sake of brevity, these are not repeated here.

5.1.2 Tender Documents47 1. The tender document is the fundamental document in the public procurement process as after award of the contract it becomes part of the contract agreement. A carefully prepared tender document avoids delays and complaints. This will also attract more bidders to formulate and submit their competitive bids with confidence. Hence, it is worth spending time and effort on this even in cases of urgency. 2. Provisions/ clauses in the tender document should be clear, self-contained, and comprehensive, without any ambiguity. to avoid differences in interpretation and possible disputes, time overrun, cost overrun and quality compromises. While tender document should be complete in themselves and may be slightly different for various categories of procurements, these must necessarily address the essential aspects mentioned below (Rule 186 of GFR 2017). Model Tender Documents, issued by the DoE, which comply with all these requirements, may be used, with due customisation, as per the guidance notes annexed to the MTDs: a) A letter of Invitation b) Information to Consultants regarding the procedure for submission of proposal. c) Terms of Reference (TOR). d) Eligibility and pre-qualification criteria in case the same has not been ascertained through Enquiry for Expression of Interest. e) List of key position whose CV and experience would be evaluated. f) Bid evaluation criteria and selection procedure. g) Standard formats for technical and financial proposal. h) Proposed contract terms. i) Procedure proposed to be followed for midterm review of the progress of the work and review of the final draft report

Department of Expenditure (DoE), Ministry of Finance, Government of India has issued Model Tender Documents for Procurement of Goods 44 (October 2021), Procurement of NonConsultancy Services45 (October 2021) and Procurement of Consultancy Services46 (April 2023). Procuring Entities are urged to customise relevant MTD for preparing tender documents for their procurements. Guidance notes annexed to the MTDs, detail the process of customisation of MTD for an Organisation and for each procurement.

Chapter 5: Bid Invitation Process 5.1 Preparation and Uploading/ Floating of Tender Documents 5.1.1 Model Tender Documents

5.2 Preparation of the Request for Expression of Interest (REoI) Document

Chapter 5: Bid Invitation Process 3. Procuring entities may issue instructions regarding appropriate delegation of authority for approval of the Tender Documents before these are floated/ uploaded. 4. Eligibility criteria specify the very basic criteria that a bidder should meet to be considered a responsive bid to be evaluated further beyond the preliminary evaluation/ screening of bids. 5. Qualification Criteria: Technical and Financial qualification Criteria for the bidders are important in the public procurement process. They shall be clear and fair, having regard to the specific circumstances of the procurement. Appropriate parameters should be prescribed in the qualification criteria for bidders, to enable selection of the right type of bidders in public interest, balancing considerations of quality, time, and cost. 6. Evaluation Criteria: Procuring Entity may include in the evaluation criteria in the Tender Document based on one or more of quality, price, technical merit, aesthetic and functional characteristics, environmental characteristics, running costs, cost- effectiveness, aftersales service and technical assistance, delivery date and delivery period or period of completion etc. No criteria shall be used for evaluation of tenders that cannot be verified or has not been specified in the Tender Document. 7. Open online tendering should be the default method to ensure efficiency of procurement. Public authorities should also keep the experience criteria broad based so that bidders with experience in similar nature of services/ goods can participate. 8. The Procuring Entity should allow enough time to the bidders to prepare their proposals. The time allowed shall depend on the assignment, but normally shall not be less than three weeks. In cases where participation of international consultants is contemplated, a period of not less than four weeks should normally be allowed. 9. Tender documents should invariably reserve Procuring Entity’s right without assigning any reason to: a) reject any or all of the Bids, or b) cancel the tender process; or c) abandon the procurement of the Services; or d) issue another tender for identical or similar Services.