Para 7.4.7 — WORKS_MANUAL

(A sample classification - Source CPWD website)

Class Tendering Limit Class Tendering Limit Class-I (Super) Rs 500 crore Class-II Rs 5 crore Class-I (AAA) Rs 200 crore Class-III Rs 1.5 crore Class-I (AA) Rs 100 crore Class-IV Rs 60 lakh Class-I (A) Rs 50 crore Class-V Rs 15 lakh Class-I Rs 20 crore

7.4.8 Procedure for Enlistment: Enlistment of contractors should be done by any Ministry/ Department in case it desires to enlist contractors for works which are exclusively needed by it by keeping fundamental principles of public procurement in view (especially the transparency principle - transparency, fairness, equality, competition and appeal rights) with the approval of CA after carefully assessing and verifying credentials, capability, quality control systems, past performance, after-sales service facilities, financial background, and so on, of the contractor/ service provider(s):

7.4.7 Class of Enlistment (Tendering Limits) Enlistment should be done by Class of the firms (Grade A, B, and so on) on their capability for executing contract orders of different monetary limits in the relevant category of requirements. The monetary limits should be carefully fixed keeping in view the banker’s reports, capacity and capability of the firm and other financial information indicated in the balance sheets, profit and loss statements:

i) Details of the procedure for enlistment of new firms may be uploaded on the website and also published in the form of a booklet for information of the contractors. Timeframes and criteria for enlistment of new contractors may be clearly indicated; ii) Possible sources for any category/ group of requirements can be identified based on internal and external references. Data of new contractors can be obtained from the response received from contractors, open tender advertisements, pre-qualification bids, Expression of Interest (EoI), against various enquiries on the website, dedicated websites, exhibitions, buyer-seller meets, various publications of BIS, trade journals, and so on. The e-procurement portal does pre-registration of contractors online. Such data can be a source of information on prospective contractors; iii) New contractor

(s) may be considered for enlistment at any time, provided they fulfil all the required conditions. For any larger scale or critical enlistment of contractors, Procuring Entity should call for EOI by publicising its need for development of sources. The stages to be followed together with the applicable guidelines for EOI have been detailed in Chapter 3; iv) While registering the firms, an undertaking may be obtained from them that they will abide by the CIPP enclosed with the application with a clear warning that, in case of transgression of the code of integrity, their names are likely to be deleted from the list of enlisted contractors, besides any other penalty or more severe action as deemed fit; and v) Along with the new/ renewal application for enlistment, the contractors should also be asked to declare that, if awarded a contract in any LTE in which they participate, they bind themselves to abide by the Procuring Entity’s General Conditions of Contract (GCC). Such GCC should be part of the application.

vi) Eligibility i) Any firm, situated in India or abroad, which is in the business of providing goods/ works/ services of specified categories of interest, shall be eligible for enlistment; ii) Contractors should possess valid Digital Signature Certificate (DSCs) Class III b with the company name at the time of enlistment/ renewal, so as to enable them to participate in e-procurements iii) Firm, against whom punitive action has been taken, shall not be eligible for reenlistment during the currency of punitive action. Enlistment requests may not be entertained from such firms, stakeholders of whom have any interest in de-Enlisted/ banned firms; vii) The application form, complete in all respects and accompanied with the requisite processing fee and prescribed documents shall be submitted by the firms to the registering authority. The enlistment application form, duly filled-in, when received from the firms shall be scrutinised carefully for assessing the capacity and capability of the firms including credentials, capability, quality control system, past performance, financial background, and so on, of the applicant. References shall be made to other firms of standing of whom the applicant firm claims to be a contractor. Likewise, the applicant firm’s bankers may also be requested to advice about the financial standing of the firm. Enlistment of contractors should be done with the approval of CA. viii) In cases where the firm is not considered capable and enlistment cannot be granted, the concerned authority shall communicate the deficiencies and shortcomings direct to the firms under intimation to the appellate authority. Where a request for re- verification and review is made by the firm, along with any fee as prescribed and within the period prescribed by the department, review shall be undertaken. Requests for re-verification after expiry of the said period would be treated as a fresh application and processing fee, if any prescribed, charged accordingly; ix) Enlistment should be for specific category of works; x) It should be mentioned in the letter of enlistment that the enlistment is valid for a period of three years and would be considered for extension based (on application by the contractor/ service provider) on satisfactory performance of the firm. However, the enlistment would be initially treated as provisional and it would be treated as confirmed only after the firm has satisfactorily executed one contract of the relevant category and value from Procuring Entity. The extension of validity of enlistment is not a matter of right and Procuring Entity reserves the right not to extend such enlistment without assigning any reason;

xi) All Enlisted contractors should be allocated a unique enlistment number. Once the firms are enlisted, a circular shall be issued by the enlistment authority indicating the names and addresses of the enlisted contractors with details of the requirements and monetary value they will execute as well as the validity period, and so on, for which they are enlisted; xii) Performance and conduct of every enlisted contractor is to be watched by the concerned department. Procuring Entity should also reserve the right to remove firms who do not perform satisfactorily, even during the validity of enlistment (after giving due opportunity to the contractor to make a representation) if they fail to abide by the terms and conditions of the enlistment or fail to execute contracts on time or do substandard work or make any false declaration to any government agency or for any ground which, in the opinion of the government, is not in public interest; xiii) Procuring Entity shall retain its option to reassess firms already enlisted, at any later date, to satisfy itself about the current financial soundness/ credit worthiness, facilities available, and so on. Thereafter, Procuring Entity may decide to retain them as enlisted contractors for the requirements and monetary limit earlier considered or with necessary changes as deemed fit. In case of adverse reports from the team of Procuring Entity officers who reassess the firm, Procuring Entity shall delete such firm from the enlisted contractors list;

7.5.1 Rule 151 of GFR, 2017 deals with debarment which is as under: i) A bidder shall be debarred if he has been convicted of an offence a) under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988; or b) the Indian Penal Code or any other law for the time being in force, for causing any loss of life or property or causing a threat to public health as part of execution of a public procurement contract.

ii) A bidder debarred under sub-section

(i) or any successor of the bidder shall not be eligible to participate in a procurement process of any procuring entity for a period not exceeding three years commencing from the date of debarment. Department of Commerce (DGS&D) will maintain such list which will also be displayed on the website of DGS&D as well as Central Public Procurement Portal.

iii) A procuring entity may debar a bidder or any of its successors, from participating in any procurement process undertaken by it, for a period not exceeding two years, if it determines that the bidder has breached the code of integrity. The Ministry/ Department will maintain such list which will also be displayed on their website.

iv) The bidder shall not be debarred unless such bidder has been given a reasonable opportunity to represent against such debarment.

7.5.2 Guidelines on Debarment of firms from Bidding52 1. The guidelines are classified under following two types:- i. In cases where debarment is proposed to be limited to a single Ministry, the appropriate Orders can be issued by that Ministry itself, thereby banning all its business dealing with the debarred firm. ii. Where it is proposed to extend the debarment beyond the jurisdiction of the particular Ministry i.e. covering to all central Ministries/ Departments, the requisite Orders shall be issued by Department of Expenditure (DoE), Ministry of Finance (MoF).

i. Firm: The term 'firm' or 'bidder" has the same meaning for the purpose of these Guidelines, which includes an individual or person, a company, a cooperative society, a Hindu undivided family and an association or body of persons, whether incorporated or not, engaged in trade or business. ii. Allied firm: All concerns which come within the sphere of effective influence of the debarred firms shall be treated as allied firms. In determining this, the following factors may be taken into consideration: a) Whether the management is common; b) Majority interest in the management is held by the partners or directors of banned/ suspended firm; c) Substantial or majority shares are owned by the banned/ suspended firm and by virtue of this it has a controlling voice. d) Directly or indirectly controls, or is controlled by or is under common control with another bidder. e) All successor firms will also be considered as allied firms.

The terms “banning of firm”, ‘suspension’, ‘Black-Listing’ etc. convey the same meaning as of “Debarment". 2. Debarment by a Single Ministry/ Department

Orders for Debarment of a firm

(s) shall be passed by a Ministry/ Department/organizations, keeping in view of the following:

i. A bidder or any of its successors may be debarred from participating in any procurement process for a period not exceeding two years. ii. Firms will be debarred if it is determined that the bidder has breached the code of integrity as per Rule 175 of GFRs 2017. (Refer to para 7.2 of this Manual for further reading on Code of Integrity). iii. A bidder can also be debarred for any actions or omissions by the bidder other than violation of code of integrity, which in the opinion of the Ministry/Department, warrants debarment, for the reasons like supply of sub-standard material, non-supply of material, abandonment of works, sub-standard quality of works, failure to abide “Bid Securing Declaration” etc. iv. It shall not be circulated to other Ministries/ Departments. It will only be applicable to all the attached/ subordinate offices, Autonomous bodies, Central Public Sector Undertakings (CPSUs) etc. of the Ministry/ Department issuing the debarment Order. v. The concerned Ministry/ Department before issuing the debarment order against a firm must ensure that reasonable opportunity has been given to the concerned firm to represent against such debarment (including personal hearing, if requested by firm). vi. Secretary of Ministry/Department may nominate an officer at the rank of Joint Secretary/Additional Secretary as competent authority to debar the firms.

vii. Ministry/ Department that issued the order of debarment can also issue an Order for revocation of debarment before the period of debarment is over, if there is adequate justification for the same. Ordinarily, the revocation of the Order before expiry of debarred period should be done with the approval of Secretary concerned of Ministry/Department. viii. The Ministry/Department will maintain list of debarred firms, which will also be displayed on its website. ix. Debarment is an executive function and should not be allocated to Vigilance Department. 3. It is possible that the firm may be debarred concurrently by more than one Ministry/ Department. Ministries/ Departments at their option may also delegate powers to debar bidders to their CPSUs, Attached Offices/ Autonomous Bodies etc. In such cases, broad principles for debarment in para 2 as above are to be kept in mind. Debarment by such bodies like CPSUs etc. shall be applicable only for the procurements made by such bodies. Similarly, Government e-Marketplace (GeM) can also debar bidders up to two years on its portal. In case of debarments done by CPSUs, revocation of the debarment orders before expiry of debarred period should be done only with the approval of Chief Executive Officer of concerned CPSUs etc.

4. Debarment across All Ministries/ Departments i. Where a Ministry/ Department is of the view that business dealings with a particular firm should be banned across all the Ministries/ Departments by debarring the firm from taking part in any bidding procedure floated by the Central Government Ministries/ Departments, the Ministry/ Department concerned, should after obtaining the approval of the Secretary concerned, forward to DoE a self-contained note setting out all the facts of the case and the justification for the proposed debarment, along with all the relevant papers and documents. DoE will issue the necessary orders after satisfying itself that proposed debarment across all the Ministries/ Departments is in accordance with Rule 151 of GFRs, 2017. This scrutiny is intended to ensure uniformity of treatment in all cases. ii. The firm will remain in suspension mode (i.e. debarred) during the interim period till the final decision taken by DoE, only in the Ministry/ Department forwarding such proposal. iii. Ministry/ Department before forwarding the proposal to DoE must ensure that reasonable opportunity has been given to the concerned firm to represent against such debarment (including personal hearing, if requested by firm). If DoE realizes that sufficient opportunity has not be given to the firm to represent against the debarment, such debarment requests received from Ministries/ Departments shall be rejected. iv. DoE can also give additional opportunity, at their option, to firm to represent against proposed debarment. DoE can also take suo-moto action to debar the firms in certain circumstances. v. No contract of any kind whatsoever shall be placed on the debarred firm, including its allied firms by any Ministries/ Departments/ Attached/Subordinate offices of the Government of India including autonomous body, CPSUs etc. after the issue of a debarment order. vi. DoE will maintain list of such debarred firms, which will be displayed on Central Public Procurement Portal.

5. Revocation of Orders i. An order for debarment passed shall be deemed to have been automatically revoked on the expiry of that specified period and it will not be necessary to issue a specific formal order of revocation. ii. A debarment order may be revoked before the expiry of the Order, by the competent authority, if it is of the opinion that the disability already suffered is adequate in the circumstances of the case or for any other reason.

6. Other Provisions (common to both types of debarment) i. No contract of any kind whatsoever shall be placed to debarred firm including its allied firms after the issue of a debarment order by the Ministry/ Department. Bids from only such firms shall be considered for placement of contract, which are neither debarred on the date of opening of tender (first bid, normally called as technical bid, in case of two packet/two stage bidding) nor debarred on the date of contract. Even in the cases of risk purchase, no contract should be placed on such debarred firms. ii. If case, any debar firms has submitted the bid, the same will be ignored. In case such firm is lowest (L-1), next lowest firm shall be considered as L-1. Bid security submitted by such debarred firms shall be returned to them. iii. Contracts concluded before the issue of the debarment order shall, not be affected by the debarment Orders. iv. The Debarment shall be automatically extended to all its allied firms. In case of joint venture/ consortium is debarred all partners will also stand debarred for the period specified in Debarment Order. The names of partners should be clearly specified in the “Debarment Order”. v. Debarment in any manner does not impact any other contractual or other legal rights of the procuring entities. vi. The period of debarment shall start from the date of issue of debarment order. vii. The Order of debarment will indicate the reason

(s) in brief that lead to debarment of the firm. viii. Ordinarily, the period of debarment should not be less than six months. ix. In case of shortage of suppliers in a particular group, such debarments may also hurt the interest of procuring entities. In such cases, endeavour should be to pragmatically analyze the circumstances, try to reform the supplier and may get a written commitment from the supplier that its performance will improve. x. All Ministries/ Departments must align their existing Debarment Guidelines in conformity with these Guidelines. Further, bidding documents must also be suitably amended, if required.