Firm that won contract for Central Vista revamp had highest bid among those shortlisted

india

Updated: Nov 05, 2019 10:04 IST

HCP Design, which was awarded the contract for redesigning the Central Vista, was the highest bidder among the four firms that qualified for the financial round for the project, according to the bid documents.

To be sure, a competitive bidding process — termed Quality and Cost Based Selection — was adopted to choose the designer, giving 80% weightage to the technical scores and 20% to financial scores. A five-member jury led by PSN Rao, director of the School of Planning and Architecture (SPA), Delhi selected the winner.

The Centre last week, announced that the final contract for the ambitious redesign of New Delhi’s Central Vista, or Rajpath, the seat of power in the national capital, was awarded to Ahmedabad-based HCP Design, Planning And Management Private Limited.

The financial bids quoted in the bid documents, which have been reviewed by Hindustan Times, show that among the four shortlisted firms, HCP Design quoted a consultation fee of Rs 229 crore. This was the highest among the four firms. CP Kukreja quoted Rs 218 crore, Sikka Associates, Rs 54 crore and INI Design Rs 75 crore.

The Centre has sanctioned a consultancy cost of Rs 229.75 crore for the project. The estimated cost of construction of the entire project is around Rs 12,000 crore, according to senior government officials.

“The final awarded price is way below the upper limit to which the tendering could go,” Union urban development minister Hardeep Puri said last month.

The short-list of four was arrived at after six companies submitted bids.

As per the bid document, to qualify in the technical evaluation criteria, a bidder has to secure a minimum 50% in all attributes such as financial strength and experience, project capabilities, and core project team .

Further, the total of these should aggregate to at least 60% of the total marks.

The bid document circulated in September stated that a combined Quality and Cost Based Selection (QCBS) process would be adopted for the selection of the consultant. It added the first stage in the selection process would be evaluation of the technical proposal submitted by the bidders and that the financial proposals of only those bidders qualifying in the technical proposal would be opened.

Technical scores weren’t disclosed, though, a matter of concern to some of the firms.

“As per the practice, technical scores are disclosed before the opening of financial bid,” a representative from one of the firms said on condition of anonymity.

“There are plenty of parameters involved in the technical evaluation. Technical scores are not meant to be revealed to the bidders,” Union urban affairs ministry secretary Durga Shankar clarified.

“When they declare the result it is based on technical competence and financial bids therefore technical score must definitely be revealed to the bidders. How else will one evaluate how the tender has been awarded?” asked the former president of Indian Institute of Architecture Vijay Garg.