PANAJI: The contract awarded by the Kala Academy (KA) for supply, installation and commissioning of the close-circuit television surveillance system in its premises appears to have grossly violated the conditions to be followed while deciding the bid winner.
The decision to install CCTV surveillance system at the Kala Academy was reached in February, earlier this year, in view of the safety and related necessity of this system.
It was also proposed to take up this work in two phases: Phase I covering areas like classrooms of the department of Indian as well as Western music and school of drama, administrative block, library, painting collection room, art gallery, and foyer area cum canteen area, while Phase II including total promenade of the exit and entry gates, and parking lanes.
The sealed bids for the purpose were invited by the Member Secretary, Kala Academy, Nilkant Singnapurkar, earlier this year.
Altogether six agencies responded to the tender namely Salgaonkar Sanchar, Aspmind India, Target Innovations, Reconnoitre System, R K Engineering and Psytech Infosolution.
Eventually, Salgaonkar Sanchar, which quoted an amount of Rs 3,66,500 – against the estimated cost of the technical section of Kala Academy standing at Rs 4,63,575 – was awarded the contract.
To begin with, as per the documents in possession of this daily under the Right to Information Act, the tender document should be submitted in duplicate, with one copy of the tender document clearly marked ‘ORIGINAL’ on the front page. However, any of the tender copies submitted by the bid winner, has no ‘ORIGINAL’ written on it.
Secondly, as per the specifications asked by the Kala Academy, the taxes if any should be specified, separately, while as per the documents of the bid winner, the taxes are not specified separately.
Furthermore, the bidder should necessarily furnish details of the brand of the accessories provided with warranty on them, while the documents of the bid of the winning party mention no brand.
The specifications asked by the Kala Academy state that the party responding to its tender should enclose attested work order certificates from its other clients, while the party that has bid the lowest in this tender/ L1 bidder has not submitted such documents along with its tender documents.
The most shocking aspect is that, in spite of the clear direction from Kala Academy that the contractor should give minimum 2 years warranty for the full CCTV project, the L1 bidder has given only one year warranty, as well as the price quoted in the bid submitted by this bidder is only for one year warranty.
The RTI information clearly shows that the L1 bidder fails on technical bid as it has not adhered to the most important terms and conditions of the Kala Academy tender specifications, mainly because the entire pricing depends on the brand and number of years of warranty.
As per the tender norms, Kala Academy cannot call or accept any letters from the bidders after opening the tender. However, since L1 bidder having failed, and technically not qualifying for the bid – as it has not mentioned the brand/ make, and having mentioned warranty for only one year period – Kala Academy called the L1 bidder and directed it to submit a different separate letter specifying the brand/ make of different accessories to be installed at Kala Academy premises, which is clearly mentioned in the noting.
Ironically, after awarding the contract in March 2016, the party winning the bid was called by Kala Academy for negotiations and was requested to negotiate the rates L1 from Rs 3,50,000 against its offer of Rs 3,66,500.
The party expressed its difficulty in considering Kala Academy’s request to reduce Rs 16,500, as the party stated that it had quoted the lowest price. However, the rates were subsequently negotiated from Rs 3,66,500 to Rs 3,60,000 on its offer that is the discount of Rs 6,500 has been agreed as negotiated amount.
This was done by flouting the tender norms, wherein there cannot be a negotiation on the price quoted. The Kala Academy Member Secretary issued the work order to Salgaonkar Sanchar vide a letter dated May 25, 2015, stating that it should commence the work within 15 days from the date of receipt of the order.
Furthermore, the CCTV wires asked in the tender are RG 59 coaxial copper cable but what is physically put in the KA premises is an ordinary cable, which costs approximately Rs 7 to Rs 8 per metre.
The hard disc too, that had been asked in the tender specifications is of 4 Tb, but the actual quoted hard disc in the tender is of 2 Tb.
The violation of norms while awarding the particular contract gathers more seriousness as a number of public institutions are proposing to install the CCTV surveillance system in Panaji, including the Corporation of the City of Panaji proposing to soon install 200 CCTV cameras at the city municipal market, besides in other places like its garbage disposal site at Patto.