Para 8.1.5 — CONSULT_MANUAL

8.2 Composition and Role of Consultancy Evaluation Committee (CEC) 8.2.1 Composition of CEC: 1. For all cases having financial implications of less than Rs. 50 (Rupees Fifty) lakhs the evaluation of the Bids may be entrusted solely and directly by individual competent authority, without involvement of a Consultancy evaluation committee or any evaluation report. He would himself carry out all the steps in evaluation described in this chapter, instead of the CEC and directly records reasons and decision on the file itself. He may ask for a Technical Suitability report from user departments, if so needed.

2. For all cases having financial implications of more than Rs. 50 (Rupees Fifty) lakhs (including SLTE or Nomination Basis), a Consultancy Evaluation Committee (CEC), comprising of normally three members including Financial Adviser or his representative and a representative of the user, shall be constituted as per SoPP, in order to carry out the consultant selection procedure. The CEC should not be very large as it may slow down the evaluation process. However, suitable domain/technical experts may be included in the committee to render assistance in evaluation of the bids.

3. As per Rule 173

(xxii) of GFR 2017 no member of the tender committee (or the accepting authority) should be reporting directly to any other member of such committee in case estimated value of the procurement exceeds Rs. 50 lakhs. Though the GFR stipulates this provision only when the estimated value of procurement exceeds Rs 50 lakh, it is desirable that the same provision should be followed in the constitution of all purchase committees irrespective of the value of procurement.

4. The representative of the Procuring Entity shall work as a convenor of the CEC. He shall distribute the RfP to the CEC members and request them to familiarize themselves with the characteristics and requirements of the assignment, the selection procedures, and the

8.1.5 Contacting Procuring Entity during the evaluation: From the time of bid submission to awarding the contract, no Bidder shall contact the Procuring Entity on any matter relating to the submitted bid. If a Bidder needs to contact the Procuring Entity for any reason relating to this tender and/ or its bid, it should do so only in writing or electronically. Any effort by a Bidder to influence the Procuring Entity during the processing of bids, evaluation, bid comparison or award decisions shall be construed as a violation of the Code of Integrity, and bid shall be liable to be rejected as nonresponsive in addition to other punitive actions for violation of Code of Integrity as per the Tender Document.

Manual for Procurement of Consultancy Services, Second Edition, 2025 evaluation criteria and sub-criteria. The convener of the CEC should also call meeting of the CEC members to review any questions they may have on the evaluation principles, procedures, and objectives etc.

5. CMC may be constituted with the approval of one level higher than the competent authority. It is advantageous for organisations doing procurements regularly to have prenominated (by designation) CMC and lay down their powers, jurisdiction, composition, and corresponding Competent Authority for various categories of procurement and different threshold values of procurements. Procuring Entity should lay down a Schedule of Procurement Powers (SoPP) detailing such thresholds. It can also lay down the powers, jurisdiction, and composition of various levels of Tender Committee and corresponding Competent Authority for various categories of procurement and different threshold values of procurements. A suggested format for SoPP is in Annexure 2; however, the exact values of thresholds may have to be decided by the Procuring Entity in conformity with DFPR (Annexure 1).