BEL ahead in Maharashtra MSWAN project race

Public sector major Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) has emerged as the front-runner with the lowest bid for the first phase of the state government's Rs 350-crore Maharashtra State Wide Area Network (MSWAN) project.

Indian Telecom Industries (ITI) is close behind, while Tata group companies"" Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and CMC Ltd"" are in the third and fourth positions.

According to sources in the state IT department, the four companies were short-listed after technical evaluation process.

The scrutiny for the last phase "" 'Commercial Bidding'"" is in the advanced stages and the winner would be announced soon.

BEL was the lowest bidder with a bid of around Rs 117 crore, compared with the Rs 134 crore bid placed by ITI, while TCS had placed a bid of around Rs 170 crore and CMC around Rs 200 crore.

The phase-I project"" setting up a vertical IT backbone for the government's e-governance project"" would be awarded to the lowest bidder according to tender documents.

When contacted, Maharashtra state IT secretary K Shivaji declined to comment on the bidding project, stating it was "confidential". However, he admitted that the government was close to finalising the deal.