BIDDER QUALIFICATION CRITERIA –

A reality or a myth

Bidder Qualification Criteria always appears to have a mysterious background and is accepted as a concoction of various formulations which is expected to discover the right supplier or contractor for execution of a project. In view of this background, the industry, more often than not, accepts the criteria as laid down by the buyer. There may be some requests for changes, but in the end, the buyers are able to proceed with whatever criteria they specify.

The industry has always looked for a forum to communicate its views to the buyer and have an analytical debate before a tender is published. In fact, it is industry’s right to demand a pre-tender meeting for a thorough debate on a BQC before the tender is published. The industry has two other rights also, one to have an advance copy of the BQC received at least a few days before the pre-tender meeting and secondly, to get a signed copy of the record notes of discussion of the pre-tender meeting before the tender is published. These steps will ensure the following :

1- The buyer will have to take into account the industry realities and will not be able to formulate a discretionary BQC which either eliminates bidders not preferred by him or favours certain bidder(s). Thus, the BQC will be transparent, fair and equitable.

2- The buyer will be held accountable for poor competition after bidding if it is noticed that he had deliberately ignored industry’s suggestions during the pre-tender meeting. The record notes shall ensure that the industry’s voice is heard.

This is not to imply that all buyers have vested interests. Rather, sometimes, lack of a complete understanding on account of some shortcomings in experience on certain equipment/construction contracts may lead to difficulties in framing an appropriate criteria.

Similarly, many bidders which are small in size do not have the necessary infrastructure to analyse a BQC at the pre tender meeting stage. We intend to increase their awareness through arranging discussion fora so that they can take up the real issues with Buyers during the pre tender meeting. They can request us for such fora and we would arrange a video conference to discuss the issues alongwith industry experts.

It is a matter of pride to say that in a lot of situations, a manufacturer or a contractor may not have the proven track record but is quite capable of carrying out the work. This capability may be demonstrated through similar (if not same) contracts, development of some prototype, entering into a collaboration, forming a consortium etc. This is a very welcome concept for the success of start-ups. This has been successfully proven over the years.

More to come

After a tender is published, any issues faced by the industry due to certain provisions in the tender, are proposed to be discussed through similar discussion fora.