Para 10 — GOODS_MANUAL
Original Rule Text
Section 10 – Other provisions 1) This agreement is subject to Indian Law. The place of performance and jurisdiction is the place from where the Tender/ Contract is issued. 2) Changes, supplements, and termination notices must be submitted in writing. Side agreements have not been made. 3) If the Contractor is a partnership or a consortium, this agreement must be signed by all partners or consortium members. 4) Should one or several provisions of this agreement turn out to be invalid, the remainder of this agreement remains valid. In this case, the parties shall strive to come to an agreement according to their original intentions. 5) Issues like Warranty / Guarantee, etc., shall be outside the purview of IEMs. 6) In the event of any contradiction between the Integrity Pact and its Annex, the Clause in the Integrity Pact shall prevail.
(For & On behalf of the Principal) Place -------------- Date -------------- Witness 1: _________________________ (Name & Address
(For and on behalf of Bidder/ Contractor) Witness 1: _________________________ (Name & Address
1.2 Registered agents shall file an authenticated Photostat copy duly attested by a Notary Public/Original certificate of the Principal confirming the agency agreement and giving the status being enjoyed by the agent and the commission/remuneration/salary/ retainer ship being paid by the Principal to the agent before the placement of an order by the Procuring Entity.
1.3 Wherever the Indian representatives have communicated on behalf of their principals and the foreign parties, have stated that they are not paying any commission to the Indian agents, and the Indian representative is working based on salary or as a retainer, a written declaration to this effect should be submitted by the party (i.e., Principal) before finalising the Contract.
2.0 Disclosure of Particulars of Agents/ Representatives in India, if any. 2.1 Bidders of Foreign nationality shall furnish the following details in their offer:
2.1.1 The name and address of the agents/representatives in India, if any and the extent of authorisation and authority given to commit the Principals. If the agent/representative is a foreign Company, it shall be confirmed whether it is a real functioning Company, and details of the same shall be furnished. 2.1.2 The amount of commission/remuneration included in the quoted price
(s) for such agents/representatives in India. 2.1.3 Confirmation of the Bidder that the commission/ remuneration, if any, payable to his agents/representatives in India, may be paid by the Procuring Entity in Indian Rupees only.
2.2 Bidders of Indian Nationality shall furnish the following details in their offers: 2.2.1 The name and address of the foreign principals indicating their nationality as well as their status, i.e., whether manufacturer or agents of manufacturer holding the Letter of Authority of the Principal specifically authorising the agent to make an offer in India in response to tender either directly or through the agents/representatives. 2.2.2 The amount of commission/remuneration included in the price
(s) quoted by the Bidder for himself. 2.2.3 Confirmation of the foreign principals of the Bidder that the commission/remuneration, if any, reserved for the Bidder in the quoted price
(s) may be paid by the Procuring Entity in India in equivalent Indian Rupees on satisfactory completion of the Project or supplies of Stores and Spares in case of operation items.
2.3 In either case, in the event of the contract materialising, the payment terms shall provide for payment of the commission /remuneration, if any, payable to the agents/representatives in India in Indian Rupees on expiry of 90 days after the discharge of the obligations under the contract.
2.4 Failure to furnish correct and detailed information as called for in paragraph - 2.0 above shall render the concerned bid liable to rejection or, in the event of a contract materialising, the same liable to termination by the Procuring Entity. Besides this, there would be a penalty of banning business dealings with the Procuring Entity or damage or payment of a named sum.
Annex-1 to Integrity Pact - Guidelines for Indian Agents of Foreign Suppliers (Refer Section 2-d) of Annexure 30) 1.1 There shall be compulsory registration of agents for all Global Tender Enquiries (GTE) and Limited Tender Enquiries (LTE). An agent not registered with the Procuring Entity shall apply for registration with them.
9. Role of IEMs in Integrity Pact Contracts: a) Bidders or their authorised representative may address to the IEMs all the representations/grievances/complaints related to any discrimination on account of lack of fair play in modes of procurement and tendering systems, tendering method, eligibility conditions, bid evaluation criteria, commercial terms & conditions, choice of technology/specifications etc. b) The entire panel of IEMs should examine the matter jointly, who would investigate the records, conduct an examination, and submit their joint recommendations to the Management of the Procuring Entity. If the entire panel is unavailable for unavoidable reasons, the available IEM
(s) shall examine the complaints. Consent of the IEM(s), who may not be available, shall be taken on record. The IEMs would be provided access to all documents/records of the tender for which a complaint or issue is raised before them, as and when warranted. c) The role of IEM is advisory, and the advice of IEM is non-binding on the Organization; however, their advice would help properly implement the Integrity Pact.
Annex-2 to Integrity Pact – Extract of Standard Operating Procedure (Refer Para 3.3.-3) 1. “The pact essentially envisages an agreement between the prospective vendors/bidders and the buyer, committing the persons/officials of both sides not to resort to any corrupt practices in any aspect/stage of procurement process and the contract. Only those vendors/bidders who commit themselves to such a pact with the buyer would be considered competent enough to participate in the tender process. In other words, entering into this Pact would be an eligibility criterion. The essential ingredients of the Pact include: b) Promise on the part of the Procuring Entity to treat all bidders with equity and reason and not to seek or accept any benefit that is not legally available; c) Promise on the part of bidders not to offer any benefit to the employees of the Procuring Entity not available legally; d) Promise on the part of Bidders not to enter into any undisclosed agreement or understanding with other bidders with respect to prices, specifications, certifications, subsidiary contracts, etc; e) Promise on the part of Bidders not to pass any information provided by Principal as part of business relationship to others and also not to commit any offence under Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 or Indian Penal Code141 (IPC) 1860; f) Foreign bidders are to disclose the name and address of agents and representatives in India, and Indian Bidders are to disclose their foreign principals or allied firms; g) Bidders to disclose the payments to be made by them to agents / brokers or any other intermediary; h) Bidders are to disclose any transgressions with any other public/ government organization that may impinge on the anti-corruption principle. The date of such transgression, for the purpose of disclosure by the bidders in this regard, would be the date on which the competent authority took cognizance of the said transgression. The period for which such transgression
(s) is/ are to be reported by the bidders shall be the last three years to be reckoned from the date of bid submission. The transgression
(s) for which cognizance was taken even before the specified period of three years but is pending conclusion shall also be reported by the bidders. (Please refer to para 3.2-1-b) of the Goods Manual).; i) Any violation of the Integrity Pact would be considered as a violation of the Code of Integrity (para 3.2- 1 of the Goods Manual) and would entail punitive provisions thereof (para 3.2-2 of the Goods Manual) including disqualification of the bidders and exclusion from future business dealings, as per the of GFR, 2017, PC Act, 1988 and other Financial Rules/ Guidelines, etc., as may be applicable to the organization concerned; 2. The integrity Pact would be implemented through a panel of Independent External Monitors (IEMs). 3. All organisations are called upon to make sincere and sustained efforts to imbibe the spirit and principles of the Integrity Pact and ensure its effective implementation. The final responsibility for implementing Integrity Pact vests with the Head of organisation/CMD/CEO. The Procurement wing of the organisation would be the focal point for the implementation of the Integrity Pact. 4. The provision for the Integrity Pact (as per Annexure 30) is to be included in all Requests for Proposal/Tender documents issued in future in respect of the procurements that meet the criteria laid down in Para 3.3-2 of the Goods Manual. 5. In all tenders covered under the Integrity Pact, the particulars of all IEMs, including their email IDs, should be mentioned instead of the details of a single IEM. 6. Through an appropriate provision in the tender document, it must be ensured that the Integrity Pact is deemed as part of the contract so that its conditions bind the parties concerned. A clause should be included in the Integrity Pact that a person signing the Integrity Pact shall not approach the Courts while representing the matters to IEMs, and they shall await their decision. 7. In the case of a joint venture, all the partners of the joint venture should sign the Integrity Pact. In the case of sub-contracting, the principal contractor shall take responsibility for the sub-contractor's adoption of the integrity pact. It is to be ensured that all sub-contractors also sign the Integrity Pact. In the case of contractors, the integrity pact shall be a tri-partite arrangement to be signed by the Organization, the contractor, and the sub-contractor. With respect to a particular contract, the Integrity Pact shall be operative from the date both parties sign it.
8. Appointment of IEMs a) Integrity Pact would be implemented through a panel of Independent External Monitors (IEMs) nominated by CVC at an organisation's request from its list of empanelled IEMs. Three IEMs shall be appointed for Maharatna and Navratna PSEs, and two IEMs shall be nominated in all other organisations. b) The IEMs appointed should be eminent persons of high integrity and reputation. A periodical notice inviting applications from eligible persons shall be published on the CVC’s website. After due scrutiny and verification of the applications and accompanying documents, as may be deemed appropriate, the name
(s) would be included in the panel for nomination as IEM. c) The zone of consideration of eminent persons for empanelment as IEMs would consist of: i) Officers who have held the post of Additional Secretary to Govt of India or were in the equivalent or higher pay scale at the time of retirement (whether serving with Govt of India or any State Govt.). ii) Persons who held the CMD post of Schedule ‘A’ Public Sector Enterprise and were equivalent to Additional Secretary to Govt of India at retirement. iii) Persons who have held the post of CMD/MD and CEO of Public Sector Banks, Insurance Companies, and other Financial Institutions at retirement. iv) Chief Executive Officer of an organisation (other than listed above and were equivalent or higher to Additional Secretary to Govt, of India, at the time of retirement). v) Armed Forces Officers in the pay scale equivalent or higher to Additional Secretaries to Govt of India at retirement. vi) The age of IEM should not be more than 70 years at the time of appointment. vii) If a retired person has accepted a full-time assignment, post-retirement, either in the government sector, private sector, or elsewhere, he shall not be eligible to be on the panel of IEMs. All those empanelled persons who accept full-time assignments elsewhere would cease to remain on the panel from the date they have taken the assignment. In this regard, it would be incumbent upon the empanelled persons to immediately inform CVC about the acceptance of full-time assignment by them. viii) All IEMs should sign non-disclosure agreements with the organisation in which they are appointed. ix) A person acting as an IEM shall not be debarred from taking up other assignments, such as consultancy with other organisations or agencies, subject to his declaring that their additional assignment does not involve any conflict of interest and is not a full-time assignment. The IEMs must also sign a declaration of absence of conflict of interest with existing assignments. In case of any conflict of interest arising later from an entity wherein he is or has been a consultant, the IEM should inform the CEO and recuse themselves from that case. x) A person may be appointed as an IEM in a maximum of three organisations at a time. An empanelled person cannot be appointed in one organisation for over three years.
11. Dispute Mediation: In case of any dispute between the management and the contractor relating to those contracts where an Integrity Pact is applicable, in case both the parties are agreeable, they may try to settle the dispute through mediation before the panel of IEMs in a time-bound manner. If required, the organisations may adopt any mediation rules for this purpose. However, no more than five meetings shall be held for dispute resolution. Both parties shall equally share the fees/expenses on dispute resolution. If the dispute remains unresolved even after mediation by the panel of IEMs, the organisation may take further action as per the terms & conditions of the contract.
d) IEM should examine the process integrity; they are not expected to concern themselves with fixing the responsibility of officers. IEMs should not associate CVO and /or the officials of the vigilance wing during the examination of the complaints in any manner. A matter being examined by the IEMs can be separately investigated by the CVO if a complaint is received or directed to them by the CVC. 10. Systemic Improvements: a) The Procurement wing of the organisation shall hold quarterly meetings with the IEMs. A summary of contracts awarded in the previous quarter, covered under the Integrity Pact, shall be shared with the IEMs during the quarterly meeting. Such a summary of contracts should include details like tender number, mode of tendering, the period allowed for publicity, number of bids received, number of bidders considered eligible, and name and address of the successful bidder. b) The above summary of contracts is to help the IEMs in analysing whether an appropriate mode of tendering is being adopted by the organisation, i.e., limited tender mode or nomination mode is not unduly used, the number of bidders is not too low, a large number of bidders are not excluded while judging the eligibility or during the technical bid evaluation stage, and whether particular firm or set of specific firms is repeatedly getting contracts etc. Based on their analysis, the IEMs can suggest to the management suitable systemic improvement
(s) and measures to improve objectivity in decisionmaking, capacity building, etc. c) It would be desirable to have structured meetings of the IEMs with the Chief Executive of the Organization on a half-yearly basis to discuss and review the information on tenders awarded during the preceding six-month period. Additional such meetings, however, can be held as per requirement. All such meetings with the Procurement wing or with the organisation's Chief Executive should be minuted.
12. Entitlements of IEMs: a) IEMs shall be paid fees of ₹ 25,000/- per sitting subject to a maximum of ₹ 3,00,000/- in a calendar year for the sitting fees. b) The travel and stay arrangements for the IEMs for such meetings shall equal their entitlements at retirement. Booking travel tickets, as per the mode of travel indicated by the IEM in writing (including email), the organisation shall do local transport and stay. The organisation concerned shall provide a place for meetings and secretarial assistance to IEMs for rendering their job. No payment instead of secretarial aid shall be paid to the IEMs. c) As mentioned above, the travel/ stay arrangements and fees for meetings held by IEMs for mediation between the management and the contractor shall be the same but in addition to the fees for the regular meetings and would be over and above the ceiling of 3,00,000/- as per calendar year.