Defer online procurement tender, govt tells BU

The State government has directed Bangalore University (BU) to defer the e-procurement tender process initiated by it for printing and supply of answer booklets, OMR sheets with barcode, scanning and capturing image of the facing sheets of answer scripts, printing of dummy numbers, etc, for the UG/PG examinations scheduled for April. 

In a circular issued on Tuesday, Prakash Rao Kesarkar, Under Secretary, Higher Education (universities-I), directed BU Registrar (Administration), B C Mylarappa, to furnish information about, and clarify, various issues pertaining to the tender system. 

Kesarkar has sought to know whether BU Registrar (Evaluation), T R Subramanya, placed an advertisement in newspapers calling, through e-procurement mode, for the Rs 4-crore tender. If so, date of the tender and details of the total sum should be furnished, he instructed. 

The official also wanted to know under which Act the tender was called through e-procurement. Was a manual tender called before the duration of the e-procurement tender ended, he asked. If so, was the e-procurement tender cancelled, the reasons for the same, and under which Act was it cancelled. 

Other clarifications sought include whether the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurement Act, 1999, applies to BU or not. Were the BU personnel trained about the e-procurement tender process or not? If the training was imparted, what was its use? 

Meanwhile, D S Ravindra, Chief Executive Officer, Centre for e-governance, has recommended the cancellation of the manual tender. In a note, Ravindran termed “incorrect” the varsity’s publishing of a manual tender vide notification on February 21, 2012. 

According to him, the university should not have published the manual tender when the e-procurement tender, published on February 1 and closed on February 11, was yet to be evaluated. Only two bidders took part in the tender.