Para 4.16.1 — GOODS_MANUAL

4.16.1 The procedure of Two-Stage Bidding The procedure for two-stage tendering shall include the following, namely: 1. In the first stage of the tender process, the procuring entity shall invite EoI bids containing the broad objectives, technical and financial qualification criteria, terms, and conditions of the proposed procurement, etc., without a bid price. On receipt of the Expressions of Interest, manufacturers/suppliers, which are prima facie considered technically and financially capable of supplying the material or executing the proposed work, shall be shortlisted. 2. Thereafter, technical discussions/presentations may be held with the short-listed manufacturers/suppliers, giving equal opportunity to all such bidders to participate in the discussions. During these technical discussions, the procurement agency may also add other stakeholders who could add value to the decision-making on the various technical aspects and evaluation criteria. A proper record of discussions/presentations and the process of decision-making should be kept. 3. Based on the discussions/ presentations so held, one or more acceptable technical solutions could be decided upon by laying down detailed technical specifications for each acceptable technical solution, quality benchmarks, warranty requirements, delivery milestones, etc., in a manner that is consistent with the objectives of the transparent procurement. At the same time, care should be taken to make the specifications generic in nature to provide equitable opportunities to the prospective bidders. 4. In revising the relevant terms and conditions of the procurement, if found necessary because of discussions with the shortlisted bidders, the procuring entity shall not modify the fundamental nature of the procurement itself;

4.16.2 Invitation of EoI Tenders 1. In EoI tenders, an advertisement inviting expression of interest should be published. The invitation to the EoI document should contain the following information:

5. In the second stage of the tender process, the procuring entity shall invite only those bidders whose bids at the first stage were not rejected to participate in a two-envelope tendering in response to a revised set of terms and conditions of the procurement; 6. Any bidder invited to bid but not in a position to supply the subject matter of procurement due to modification in the specifications or terms and conditions may withdraw from the tendering proceedings without forfeiting any bid security that he may have been required to provide or being penalised in any way, by declaring his intention to withdraw from the procurement proceedings with adequate justification. 7. If the procuring entity is of the view that after the EoI stage, there is likelihood of further participation by many more bidders and to avoid getting trapped into a legacy technology, the second stage tendering may not be restricted only to the shortlisted bidders of EoI stage, and it may be so declared in the EoI document ab-initio. Thereafter, in the second stage, normal OTE/ GTE tendering may be performed. Such a variant of EoI is called ‘Noncommittal’ EoI. Instances of ‘Non-committal EoI’ should be rare since it may de-incentivise the participants from giving a diligent/ sincere EoI. There should not be any bid-security requirement in such non-committal EoI.

a) A copy of the advertisement; b) Objectives and scope of the requirement: This may include a brief description of objectives and the broad scope of the requirement. It may also include the validity period of empanelment; c) Instructions to the bidders: This may include instructions regarding the nature of supply, fees for empanelment (if EoI is for empanelment), last date of submission, place of submission and any other related instructions; d) Formats for submission: This section should specify the format in which the bidders are expected to submit their EoI; e) Qualification criteria: The invitation to EoI should clearly lay down the qualification criteria that should be applied for shortlisting. The required supporting documents need to be clearly mentioned. An example of EoI qualification criteria is shown in Table 1. However, appropriate qualification criteria must be designed, keeping in mind the specific objectives of the EoI.