AP set to reap dividends from e-procurement bid

C1 India was allowed to collect Rs 4,500 as hosting fee for each contract and 0.24 per cent of the agreement value of the work as the transaction fee. But these charges will be progressively decreased along with restructuring of the transaction fee formula.

With around Rs 8,000 crore average annual spend of AP government alone, and the proposed commercialisation of the e-market place, the promoters are already looking at the huge revenue prospects in the project.

The irrigation department alone contributed Rs1,547 crore so far to the total turnover, followed by the R&B works at Rs 286 crore, APHMHIDC Rs 97.93 crore, Panchayat Raj Engineering department Rs 71 crore, Public Health department Rs 19.38 crore , AP Technology Services Rs 14.62 crore, and from APSRTC Rs 1 crore .

According to the IT department's figures, the average number of bids received per tender has increased from 3.4 to 6.7 reflecting an increase in participation. The average time for tender processing decreased from 6 months to 3 months, and would come down further with the automatic bid evaluation facility.

"One of the most important achievements in the e-procurement process is that we could save up to 24 percent in the project cost through the tender process, saving around Rs 100 crore from 300-odd projects," an official said.

The government is also thinking of processing all the future works being taken up with the World Bank's assistance through e-procurement. The work orders of APTransco, APGenco, power distribution companies and Singareni Collieries are being planned to be brought under the e-procurement fold in the second phase of the project, beginning from the next financial year.