Para 5.1.12 — NONCONSULT_MANUAL

5.1.12. Important provisions of ITB As already mentioned, ITB contains all relevant information as well as guidance to the prospective bidders regarding - obtaining tender documents, preparing and submitting a responsive bid, the process of establishing the eligibility/ qualification credentials of the bidders, Code of Integrity in Public Procurement (CIPP), the process of grievance redressal, as well as evaluation and comparison of tenders and award of contract. It also contains an introduction/ overview of its contents. It mentions the type of entities that may participate, specifically if Consortium/ JV/C are permitted to participate. It shall also mention that the consulting company should be registered under the applicable act with registered offices in India. It also excludes insolvent, bankrupt, debarred, and convicted firms with conflict of interest from participation. Restriction of participation of bidders from certain countries with land borders with India is also applicable. Other important provisions in an ITB are:

5. Proposed form of contract: a) The contract includes Description of Services - accepted activities, methodology, deployment of resources (Personnel, Equipment and Material), Price Schedule, as well as general and specific conditions of contract, etc. Wherever possible, the Procuring Entity shall use the Standard Form of Contract. The general conditions of contract shall include all such conditions which are common in nature and not project specific. Such conditions include clauses pertaining to sub-contracting, methods of payment, termination and extension of contracts, arbitration, variation in quantities, indemnity and insurance, force majeure, conflict of interest, compliance with local laws and taxes and duties, etc. The project specific conditions include clauses relating to the assignment in hand. These clauses should be carefully developed to protect the interest of the Procuring Entity. b) Applicable Law and Settlement of Disputes: The contract shall include provisions dealing with the applicable law, which should be the law applicable in India and the forum for the settlement of disputes – applicable Arbitration Clause and procedures.

5.1.13. Uploading of Tender Documents: Mandatory e-Publishing (Rule 159 of GFR 2017) 1. It is mandatory for all Ministries/Departments of the Central Government, their attached and subordinate offices, and autonomous/statutory bodies to publish their tender enquiries, corrigenda thereof and details of bid awards online on the Central Public Procurement Portal (CPPP) and also on their website. These instructions apply to all Tender Enquiries, Requests for Proposals, Requests for Expressions of Interest, Notice for pre-qualification/ Registration or any other notice inviting bids or proposals in any form, whether they are advertised, issued to a limited number of parties or to a single party. These instructions would not apply to the purchase of services without quotations or the Purchase of services by the purchase committee.

1. Eligibility and Preferential policies: Provisions relating to Eligibility Criteria, Conflict of Interest and applicable preferential policies regulate the participation of bidders of various categories and their agents, if any.

3. Bid Prices, Taxes and Duties: Provisions regarding Price components, Price Schedule, GST, Currencies of Bid, Firm/ Variable prices, Payments are detailed in the ITB.

4. Bid Security and Performance Security: Provisions relating to Bid Security and Performance security are detailed in ITB. Please refer to para 6.1 for details in this regard.

2. Period of Contract: a) A very short period of contract would require spending needless administrative time in repeating the exercise at short intervals while a very lengthy contract period may affect service quality. The period of contract would depend on the nature of services to be procured, however, in the normal course, the period of initial contract may be fixed normally for two years. b) Extension of Contract: The clause of extension of the contract beyond the period of two years may be for a further period of one year, subject to the service provider providing satisfactory service. Thereafter, fresh bidding for a new tender for the said service may be undertaken. In all cases where the Service Provider has been levied a cumulative penalty of 5 (five) percent (or any other %age specified for the upper limit of LD) of the total contract value, extension beyond the initial period may be considered after obtaining assurance for timely delivery of services.

5.1.14. Amendment of Tender Documents (Rule 173

(iii) of GFR 2017) At any time prior to the date of submission of bids, the procuring entity may, Suo-moto or in response to a clarification sought by a prospective bidder (directly or in a pre-bid conference), amend tender documents by issuing a corrigendum. Copies of such amendment / modification should be uploaded on the E-publishing portal and Procuring Entity’s own website. In case of off-line tenders, the copies of such amendment / modification are to be simultaneously despatched, free of cost, by registered/ speed post/ courier/ e-mail, to all the parties who have already purchased the tender documents and copies of such amendments are also to be prominently attached in the unsold sets of the tender documents (which are available for sale). When the amendment/ modification changes the requirement significantly and/ or when there is not much time left for the bidders to respond to such amendments and prepare a revised tender, the time and date of submission of tenders are also to be suitably extended (not less than 3 days) as per para 5.1.15 below.

2. Individual cases, where confidentiality is required for reasons of national security, would be exempted from the mandatory e-publishing requirement. The decisions to exempt any case on the said grounds should be approved by the Secretary of the Ministry/ Department with the concurrence of the concerned Financial Advisor. In the case of ‘Autonomous Bodies’ and ‘Statutory bodies’ approval of the head of the body with the concurrence of the head of the finance should be obtained in each such case. Statistical information on the number of cases in which exemption was granted and the value of the concerned contract should be intimated on a Quarterly basis to the Ministry of Finance, Department of Expenditure.