PIL seeks online tender for ICDS scheme

SHILLONG: A PIL was filed before the High Court of Meghalaya for inviting online tender and publishing the tender in the print media for the implementation of supplementary nutritional programme for children and pregnant women by the Social Welfare Department.
The matter will be taken up for hearing on Wednesday.
The tender was for supply of      ‘ready-to-eat micro nutrient fortified energy-dense food suitable for children up to six years and pregnant and nursing mothers under different ICDS projects in the state’.
The tender was floated on November 30 and December 21 is the last date for submission of quotations. But it was neither published in newspapers nor on any online platform.
The PIL filed by Agnes Kharshiing said the tender notice does not specify the worth of the tender though the total worth will run into crores of rupees.
According to the PIL, offline tender will not be in the interest of transparency, fairness and competitive bidding, and hence this tender should be quashed and an e-tender be floated. Moreover, the tender should also be published in local and national newspapers, she said.
The PIL pointed out that the tender notice allows only those eligible from the North East to participate in the process and not from the whole country which, according to the petitioner, is aimed at accommodating any pre-determined bidder.
Another restricted condition mentioned in the tender is that only manufacturers are allowed to participate in the tender process which ultimately will deny competition.
According to the PIL, the tender is defective since it does not specify items required to be supplied and its quantity. Moreover, there is no mention of the procedure for accepting tender.
The petitioner said in the tender notice, there is no mention of the validity of the cost or financial bid as this will lead to exorbitant increase in the price of products supplied.
According to the petitioner, the extracted copies of the RTI reply shows that some of the food samples sent earlier to the state public health laboratory in Assam did not conform to the prescribed standard.