DIMAPUR, DECEMBER 6 (MExN): The Directorate of Social Welfare today issued a rejoinder to allegations that the department had flouted an “illegal” tender.
A press note from the Directorate stated that the calling of the tender with the stipulated delivery period was done with the sole idea to decide procurement formalities on an urgency basis considering that the approval for the larger part of the Supplementary Nutrition Programme for the year 2017-18 is yet to be released by the concerned Ministry which will be done only once the tender formalities are over.
“The allegation of calling of tender on a short notice is also supported by CVC guidelines para 6.2 which purport that in case of urgency, tender of short notice can be called,” it added.
Further, the department said that the notice inviting tender “clearly indicate that the bidder who have the facilities in the North Eastern region shall be preferred only.” “This has been done in view of the fact that most of the food products have shelf life of 120-180 days under normal conditions,” it added.
It also noted that food products procured from far off areas leads to shorter shelf life as the transportation itself from manufacturing point up to the project level takes almost 3 to 4 weeks. “The typical hilly terrain and topography in the North Eastern states are quite different from other states across the country. It was therefore expected of the bidder to have experience of supplying the food items in the north eastern states,” it added.
Further, the department said that the criteria of having the minimum annual turnover are “only reflective of the financial capability of the qualifying bidder.”
It also clarified that the condition of Cash Credit facility as envisaged in the NIT is to take care of the contractors executing capabilities. These conditions are adopted by all different states to ensure smooth execution of the assigned works, the department pointed out.
The department also claimed that the NIT tender was “uploaded on the state portal on November 28, 2017 at https://nagalandtenders.gov.in/nicgep/app and not at Tiger.com as alleged by the complainant.”
