Reliance says airport bid changes 'untenable'

After losing the Delhi airport project to rival GMR-Fraport consortium despite emerging as the top financial bidder, Anil Ambani's Reliance Airport Developers today lashed out at the bid process, saying changes in tender conditions hours before the final decision were 'untenable'.

Immediately after the financial bids for the Rs 5,400 crore airport modernisation projects at Delhi and Mumbai were opened, a Reliance spokesperson said: "To our utter shock and surprise, substantial changes to the published tender conditions have been telephonically  ommunicated, in strange circumstances, barely two hours before opening of financial bids."

"We are advised these changes are a complete departure from the tender conditions and are untenable," he said in a statement.

GMR-Fraport, the sole technically qualified bidder in the race, was given the option of choosing one of the two airports and matching the highest bidder. It accordingly matched Reliance's 46% revenue share bid for the Delhi airport although the group had finished second with 43.64% revenue share.

GMR was also the second highest bidder for the Mumbai airport with a revenue share bid of 33% behind top bidder GVK which had quoted a revenue share of 38%.

Stating that the company was among the two highest technical bidder for both the airports, the Reliance spokesperson said that the last minute changes were a complete violation of tender conditions as stipulated in request for proposal (RFP).

"There was no provision in RFP or tender condition to give any bidder an option to match the highest bid, that  too selectively for only one airport," he said, adding that these changes also reverse the fundamenral philosophy of the tender to favour select bidders and deny Reliance either of the airport.

The strong reaction from Reliance comes amid reports that some of the bidders were contemplating moving the court against the bidding process.