New Delhi, February 23 The FIDIC, a body of consulting engineers, said on Monday that it has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to implement amended general financial rules for awarding government contracts based on the quality assurance of bidders, rather than selecting bids with the lowest cost.
The amended general financial rules (GFR) allow for the quality-cum-cost-based selection (QCBS) of bidders for awarding government contracts, including those related to infrastructure projects and the procurement of goods.
It is no longer necessary to award work based on the least cost offered, nor is it necessary to have at least two quotes for comparison, said the International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC) in a statement.
Works can now be awarded at the lowest workable rates, and not based on the least cost offered. Contracts can also be awarded on a single quotation, explained K K Kapila, Emeritus President of the International Road Federation (IRF), who previously served as FIDIC's ambassador for the Asia-Pacific region.
According to the amended GFR, projects can be awarded or goods can be procured based on Quality-cum-Cost-Based-Selection (QCBS), where quality has 30 per cent weightage and cost carries 70 per cent weight.
Despite the amendments, government projects are being awarded to the lowest bidder. The contracting agency has been quoting excessively low rates, which results in poor quality of work, prolonged arbitration, and long-drawn court cases, said Kapila, also a former president of the Indian Buildings Congress (IBC).
Kapila, who previously served as the president of the Consulting Engineers Association of India (CEAI), suggested that the quality-cum-cost criteria should be implemented uniformly across all ministries and departments.
He has requested the prime minister to issue necessary directions to all secretaries of various ministries to immediately adopt the QCBS provision for all public works and procurement processes.