At a time when a series of scandals is rocking the country, the Uttarakhand government has decided to introduce e-tendering process in all the departments in order to maintain transparency and eliminate any discrimination and discretion.
Under the new system, fresh bids, floating of tenders, pre-bid qualification meetings, opening of bids and final selection would be carried thorough e-tendering.
“We will develop new software for e-tendering process for procurement of different commodities and various construction works with a joint collaboration with the National Informatics Centre (NIC),” said Jain.
The introduction of e-tendering is being seen as a major step towards transparency. “We believe that through this process, Uttarakhand will enter into a new phase of reforms where the entire tending system has to be transparent,” said Jain.
Though PWD had introduced e-tendering last month, the system could not be operationalised. It might take another six months for the opeationalisation of the full e-tendering process, he said.
Jain said the e-procurement would not only bring about efficiency in the functioning of the tendering departments but also reduce paper work through automated bid evaluation system. The new system would be error free and promote transparency in the process thereby eliminating discrimination and discretion.
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He said that the process would be instrumental in promoting fair competition thereby resulting in cost reduction. He said that the new process would make bid/tender process more efficient and save time.
Jain said that the existing manual procedure was time consuming, leaving less time for monitoring and implementation of projects.
Inefficiency and lack of transparency were major concerns in the existing procedure, while the web based online tool to make the processes of procurement and tendering is more efficient, he said adding that the new system would minimze procurement costs and maximize procurement efficiency.