MAA VINDHYAVASINI CONSTRUCTION Vs. STATE OF U P

JUDGEMENT

(1.) On 28 May 2014, a tender notice was published under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana1 by the Superintending Engineer in the Public Works Department, Bareilly for the upgradation of various roads in district Hardoi. Tenders were invited on the basis of an E-Procurement Module. The last date for the submission of bids was 10 July 2014. The tender conditions stipulated in Clause 22 that the first part containing the technical bids would be opened initially and the result of the evaluation would be made public on the E-Procurement Module before opening the second part of the bid document. The bids submitted in the second part which contained the financial bids were to be opened only of those bidders who had qualified in respect of part one.

(2.) According to the petitioner, the evaluation of technical bids was uploaded on the PMGSY website and the bid submitted by the petitioner was found to be technically compliant. Subsequently on 11 November 2014, the Bid Evaluation Committee recommended the award of the contract for construction and maintenance of roads of district Hardoi to the petitioner as the lowest bidder. The petitioner had submitted a bid in the amount of Rs.11 crores which was 3.81% in excess over the technically sanctioned estimate. This decision of the Bid Evaluation Committee was accepted by the Chief Engineer who was also the Chairman of the Committee on 11 November 2014. On 14 November 2014, the Chief Engineer granted his approval for uploading the result of the evaluation of the financial bids in the second part of the bid document on the website. This was uploaded on the website on 14 November 2014 at 16:25 hours.

(3.) A government order was issued on 8 October 2014 constituting a Committee inter alia consisting of (i) the Chief Executive Officer of the U.P. Rural Roads Development Agency; (ii) the Chief Engineer; (iii) the Chief Engineer (PMGSY) of the district concerned; and (iv) the Financial Controller of the U.P. Rural Roads Development Agency. The Committee conducted an evaluation of all the bids on 23 December 2014. The Committee noted that in respect of all other projects in various districts under PMGSY-2, the bids which had been accepted as the lowest responsive bids were lower than the DPR (Detailed Projected Report) rates. On the other hand, since the rates quoted by the petitioner were found to be 3.81% above of the estimated rates, the Committee resolved to re-invite fresh tenders.