Favouritism in JMC tender process alleged

JAIPUR: Bidders have alleged violation of contract norms to favour a particular firm at JMC. The bidding process is to restart on Tuesday when work is resumed after an extended weekend. The tender for construction of traffic police umbrellas and assistance booths is to open on December 29. Some bidders accuse the civic body of gross violation of norms to help a firm grab the contract worth, according to JMC, Rs 3 crore.
Senior corporation officials deny any anomaly in the process. When approached. K G Goyal, revenue commissioner, said, "Those who feel we have violated norms are free to go to the court." According to a bidder, the entire process has been flawed from the beginning.
"There has not been any pre-bid meeting which is mandatory for such contracts, the civic body seems to have been closely working to give the contract to a party of their choice," said the bidder. As per the records, bids for 183 kiosks (103 traffic umbrellas and 80 police assistance booths) have been invited. The work would be awarded on the basis of build-operate-transfer (BOT) and the JMC would get the revenue for each booth for a specified period.
Another bidder claimed, "Contrary to norms, the JMC has given just five days before it finally opens the tender on Tuesday, whereas it should be a minimum of 20 days."
Most bidders out of seven seem to believe the corporation has tried to disqualify all others but the preferred one. "The JMC has asked for Rs 5 crore financial capacity in contrast to the norm of maximum of 100% of the project cost. In this case the project cost has been pegged at Rs 50 lakh," the bidder added.
Alleging corruption, a bidder told TOI, that Rs 5 lakh have been paid to the decision-makers in this case. "Ten per cent the project cost must have been paid to the people concerned for paving the way for the firm," said the bidder.
Goyal responded to this charge saying, "Everything has been done in a transparent manner and in a democracy anyone can go to the court if his rights have been infringed. The entire bidding process involves every one from CEO to director law to the chief accounts officer."