Airport panel for quick re-bidding

The E Sreedharan panel, responding to an empowered group of ministers' request for more clarifications, has suggested a quick bid by the pre-qualified bidders for the modernisation of the Delhi and Mumbai airports, according to agency reports.

The EGoM is expected to meet on January 24 to take a decision on awarding contracts.

The three-member panel, which maintains that top-class airport developers have been left out of the process, is learnt to have said that the re-bid process can be completed in eight weeks.

Referring to the method adopted by the National Highway Authority of India for major highway projects in Rajasthan, the experts' group is learnt to have told the government that the same process of re-bidding among shortlisted bidders should be adopted, as it will not only be legally sustainable but financially beneficial also.

A re-bidding will allow the eight shortlisted bidders to regroup and engage top-class airport partners.

Last week, the EGoM decided to ask for more details from the E Sreedharan panel, including its method of evaluating bids and why it examined only the Reliance-ASA bid.

Insiders say that, at the EGoM meeting, two members had said the group should go ahead with the recommendations of the Sreedharan panel while another two had opposed that.

The committee of secretaries, headed by Cabinet Secretary B K Chaturvedi, had sided with the Sreedharan panel recommendations on downgrading the Reliance-ASA bid and also suggested that either fresh bids be invited or the current process be scrapped altogether.

The three-member panel, headed by Delhi Metro Corporation Managing Director E Sreedharan, had recommended the Reliance-ASA consortium's bid be downgraded, leaving only one qualified bidder (GMR-Fraport) for the two airports.

According to the Sreedharan panel, GMR-Fraport alone has made the cut by scoring over 80 points out of 100 in the technical evaluation.

Since that leaves only one eligible bidder and both airports cannot be given to the same party, the committee of secretaries has suggested that the other five short-listed bidders be asked to submit fresh bids.

The committee has suggested that the EGoM may consider fresh bids by all the bidders that made it after the screening of their expressions of interest (EoI). This will require GMR-Fraport, too, to bid again. Or, the process can start all over again from the stage of request for proposal.

The Planning Commission and the Airports Authority of India, too, are in favour of fresh bids while the finance ministry has advocated scrapping the process, rather than calling for fresh bids.