Para 5.5.2 — WORKS_MANUAL

5.5.2 Right of Bidder to question rejection at Techno-commercial Stage A tenderer shall have the right to be heard in case he feels that a proper procurement process is not being followed and/ or his Techno-commercial bid has been rejected wrongly. The tenderer is to be permitted to send his representation in writing. On receipt of representation it may be decided whether to withhold opening of the financial bids and bidder may be expeditiously replied. Certain decisions of the procuring entity in accordance with the provision of internal guidelines shall not be subject to review as mentioned in para 5.7.3 below.

5.5.3 Evaluation of Financial Bids and Ranking of Tenders i) Unresponsive Tenders: Unresponsive tenders may again be identified after Financial Bid opening, as in case of Technical Bid opening. If the price bid is ambiguous so that it may very well lead to two equally valid total price amounts, then the bid should be treated as unresponsive. ii) Non-conformities between Figures and Words: Sometimes, non-conformities/ errors are also observed in responsive tenders between the quoted prices in figures and in words. This situation normally does not arise in case of e-Procurement. This should be taken care by defining the treatment of bids in the tender documents in the manner indicated below: i) If, in the price structure quoted for the requirements, there is discrepancy between the unit price and total price (which is obtained by multiplying the unit price by the quantity, or the total price is not worked out by bidder), the unit price shall prevail and the total price corrected accordingly; ii) If there is an error in a total corresponding to the addition or subtraction of subtotals, the sub-totals shall prevail and the total shall be corrected; and iii) If there is a discrepancy between words and figures, the amount in words shall prevail. iv) Such a discrepancy in an offer should be conveyed to the tenderer asking him to respond by a target date and if the tenderer does not agree to Procuring Entity’s observation, the tender is liable to be rejected.

iii) Correction of Bids: Tender document should indicate that the evaluated bid prices will be adjusted after taking into account:

(a) correction for errors;

(b) adjustments for any acceptable variations, deviations; and

(c) adjustments to reflect any discounts or other modifications offered. Unless announced beforehand explicitly in the tender documents, the quoted price should not be loaded on the basis of deviations in the commercial conditions. If it is decided to incorporate such clauses, these should be unambiguous and clear – and thereafter there should be no relaxation during evaluation. Variations, deviations, or alternative offers and other factors which are in excess of the bidding documents or otherwise result in unsolicited benefits for the contractor should not be taken into account in bid evaluation. All duties, taxes and other levies payable by the bidder under the contract or for any other cause shall be included in the rates, prices and total bid prices, and considered in evaluation of bids. Bids should be checked for any arithmetical errors. These corrections shall be done in accordance with the provisions of the bidding document. In cases other than eProcurement, the quoted rates in the bids shall be protected with lamination by the committee, if not done by the bidders. In accordance with the corrections as approved by the TC, the amount stated in the bid will be adjusted with the concurrence of the bidder, and shall be binding on him. If the bidder does not accept the corrected amount, the bid will be rejected and the bid security forfeited. The arithmetical corrections will be done by the representatives of the Finance Division and the concerned (technical) division in the committee.

iv) Financial Evaluation: All responsive bids are evaluated by the TC with a view to select the lowest (L1) bidder - the lowest evaluated, substantially responsive, bid which meets the eligibility/ qualification criteria and techno-commercial aspects.