The High Court here has upheld the plea of the Ansaldo-Gammon consortium against its disqualification by state-run NTPC for its Rs 19,000-crore, 800-Mw bulk supercritical tender.
The consortium will now give a price bid, as the tender was not opened because of the pending judgement.
A consortium of Ansaldo and Gammon had taken NTPC to court, after it was disqualified from bidding in stage –I on the grounds that certain parts in the equipment were outsourced.
The court said in accordance with the terms of the bid documents, NTPC would allow the Ansaldo-Gammon consortium to not only proceed to the next stage — stage-II (price bid) — but also allow it to participate in the technical discussions according to the tendering process.
The court had earlier asked NTPC for original records of the bids by Monday, while “maintaining an interim arrangement till the pronouncement of the judgment”. It could not be ascertained whether NTPC will appeal against the decision in the Supreme Court. A senior company executive said, “We are studying the judgment and a final decision will be taken in the interest of the company”.
NTPC had ordered 11 boilers, nine for its own projects and two for the Damodar Valley Corporation. According to the tender, the lowest bidder for boilers will be given an order for six units. If BHEL is not the lowest bidder, the government will award it the order for the remaining five units if it agrees to match the lowest bid. In case BHEL does not match the bid, others would be given a chance in the order of bid rankings.
