Types of Tenders in Government
In earlier article, we
studied how procurement of goods and services is done with or without quotation in Government. The process and limits specified for procurement with or
without quotation have also been detailed. In this article, we will study how
tender is used in public procurement. We know that the procurement rules can
easily be understood by categorizing the purchases in various types like, (i)
Purchase Without Quotation, (ii) Purchase With Quotations, (iii) Tender System,
(iv) Online Procurement
(iii) Tender
System:
The central and state
government organizations in India, are fully empowered to make their own
arrangements for procuring goods and services. However, the procuring
authorities are bound to follow the rules in procurement. The rules sometimes
become so complicated to ensure the compliance and in such cases, the
procurement process is usually delayed and even most of the times, the
procurement is cancelled during the process itself.
Role of
Directorate of Supplies and Disposal (DS&D) and GeM:
On behalf of Government,
the Directorate of Supplies and Disposal was empowered to make the purchases.
Now the same has been replaced with Government e-Marketplace (GeM)
organization. In case of procurement through tender, the departments provide
the details of annual requirement to the Directorate of Supplies and Disposal
(DS&D) and the DS&D further float the tender for procurement of goods
on behalf of departments. For this purpose, the DS&D charges administrative
charges from the departments. After award of tender, the supplier is negotiated
and agreed to deliver the goods on the basis of Rate Contract (RC) between the
department and supplier. Now such contracts have taken the shape of e-contracts
and the suppliers have been asked to provide or upload the details of their
products online at the portal of Government e-Marketplace (GeM).
Types of
Tenders:
There are three types of
tenders i.e. open tender, limited tender, and single tender.
(a) Limited
Tender:
In case of amount of purchase
becomes more than the speficied limit of quotations (i.e. Rs. 1 Lac in Central
Government and Rs. 50000 in Haryana Government); it becomes mandatory to float
the tender. In such cases, the tender details are provided in the form of
Tender Document also known as Bid Document. The Tender Document is sold to the
vendors or supplier interested to give their bids. In order to make wide
publicity, the advertisement is provided on the website of the government
organization, at notice board of the organization, and to all the suppliers
registered with the organization (i.e. on panel of the organization) for supply
of goods and services.
Generally, the bid
document is sent through speed post or registered post. At least one week’s
period is provided to give the bid for supplying goods as per the details
provided in the bid document.
In Central Government
Organizations, the specified limit for such tenders is from 1 Lac to 25 Lac. In
Haryana Government, generally the limited tenders are not floated, only open tenders
are floated; however, the organizations can take approval of the procuring
authorities to float limited tender.
(b) Open
Tender:
In case, the amount of
procurement is more than the amount specified for the limited tender; then open
tender is floated by the procuring authorities. In open tender, wide publicity
is done with advertisement in Indian Trade Journal, One National Daily
Newspaper having wide circulation across the nation, and the same is published
on the websites of organization and NIC’s website.
In open tender,
three-week period is provided to the vendors or suppliers to apply with the
bid.
(c) Single Tender:
The single tender is
applicable when there is only one supplier or vendor to supply the goods or
services. It happens in case the goods are manufactured only by a particular
vendor or supplier and there is no competitor. It can also happen if there is
emergent need to procure the goods and there is no time to wait even for the
limited tender. The third case may be related to technical specifications of
the goods or services. Sometimes, only a particular company can provide the
standardized service required by the organization, then also single tender can
be used for procurement purposes.
In case, limited tender
or open tender is used and only single bid is received then such tender is not
known as ‘single tender’. The Single tender is applicable in only above three
circumstances i.e. only a particular firm is the manufacturer or emergent need
to procure from a particular source or technical reason is recorded citing
standardization of machinery or service.
Copyright
© 2019 Dr. Lalit Kumar. All rights reserved.
