Upper Tamakoshi Hydropower Company considers blacklisting bidder
KATHMANDU, JAN 04 -
Upper Tamakoshi Hydropower Company (UTHC) is considering blacklisting India-based ALSTOM—the second lowest bidder for the Lot 3 tender of the Upper Tamakoshi project—for violating the Public Procurement Act.
According to the UTHC management, ALSTOM’s recent activities is against the Public Procurement Act which prohibits competing companies from making comments or carrying out any action that could impact the evaluation process before the technical and financial proposals of the bidders are finalised. “ALSTOM’s recent activities are being taken seriously by the management,” said UTHEP Project Manager Mrigendra Shrestha. “A final decision on whether to blacklist the company will be taken by a board meeting soon.”
Shrestha said the overall construction work was being delayed due to unnecessary interventions and legal cases filed time and again by competing companies.
ALSTOM India—which bid the second-lowest amount for Mechanical and Electrical Equipment (Lot 3) of the project—recently filed a case in the Patan Appellate court. Besides, ALSTOM also filed complaints at the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and Public Procurement Monitoring Office (PPMO) against Austria-based ANDRITZ Hydro GmbH over the inclusion of the latter’s subsidiary ANDRITZ Hydro Pvt Ltd India in the bidding process.
The ‘Conduct of Bidder’ clause under the Public Procurement Act states, “A bidder or proponent shall not contacting the public entity from the time of the opening of bid or proposal until the notice of acceptance of bid or proposal is given with the objective of causing interference upon bid or proposal or committing an act of interference in the examination or evaluation of bid or in the evaluation of proposal.”
While ALSTOM says ANDRITZ did not inform about its joint venture with Andritz Hydro Pvt Ltd India at the time of the submission of application, UTHC says the Austrian company had mentioned that it would involve its Indian subsidiary after it bags the contract. Last August, the project decided to resume the contractor evaluation process for the Lot 3, after CIAA and PPMO gave a go ahead.
The Austrian company has quoted the lowest amount of Rs 6.46 billion for the import of mechanical and electrical equipment among the six pre-qualified bidders, while the second lowest bidder-ALSTOM India-has quoted Rs 6.74 billion.
“The process to finalise the technical and financial proposals of the pre-qualified bidders has reached its final stages. And ANDRTIZ is the top contender,” Shrestha said. “However, we are waiting for the court’s decision that is expected to come on Wednesday.”
The construction of UTHEP, the country’s largest hydel project till date, was formally started on May 18. With the estimated cost of Rs 35.29 billion, the project is expected to be commissioned by 2015.
Source: Kantipur
