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Mandatory Publication of Notice at e-Tender Portal

Finance,

Government of West Bengal
Finance Department
Audit Branch

No. 3739-F(Y), Dated: 03.05.2012.

NOTIFICATION

Sub: Mandatory publication of ‘Tender Inviting Notice’ on e-Tender Portal

For some time past the Government was considering improving the present system of inviting Tender by different Departments of the State Government with a view to establish accountability, transparency and uniformity in the system in a centralised manner.

Keeping in view the above object, the National Informatics Centre [NIC], an organisation of Government of India, developed a portal [http://wbtenders.gov.in] exclusively for uploading the tender related documents of the State Government.

The ‘e-Procurement Solution’ will help both the Government buyers and the suppliers to reduce the cycle time, unnecessary paper work, waiting in long queues and simultaneously enhance the transparency in the entire process thereby ensuring good governance. It is an easy-to-use, web-based solution for conducting dynamic exchanges in an on-line environment. It will provide real-time bidding solutions for the Government buyers and sellers. Some State Government Departments are already using this portal for inviting their e-Tender.

For the purpose of gainful utilisation of the said portal, the Governor has been pleased to decide that:

  1. In addition to existing system of inviting tender, it will be mandatory for all State Government Departments, their subordinate Offices and all Autonomous Bodies/ Local Bodies/ Corporations/ PSUs under their control to publish their ‘Tender Related Information’ [TRI] on the centralized e-Tender Portal [http://wbtenders.gov.in] if the Tender Value is Rs. 50 lakhs and above. The Tender Value less than Rs. 50 lakhs may also be uploaded on the centralized e-Tender Portal [http://wbtenders.gov.in] at the discretion of the Tender floating authority or the concerned Department.
  2. The ‘Tender Related Information’ means and covers e-Procurement, e- Tendering, e-Selling and e-Auction, Request for Proposal, Request for Expression of Interest, Notice for Pre-Qualification, Registration of the Contractors, Notice inviting Tender/Bid or Proposal in any form, Tender Enquiries, Corrigenda and also the details of the contract awarded as a result of finalization of the Tender process.
  3. The Departments or its subordinate offices that are already publishing their ‘Tender Related Information’ on their own websites and/or on any other websites shall ensure that their ‘Tender Related Information’ are simultaneously published/ mirrored on the centralized e-Tender Portal [http://wbtenders.gov.in],
  4. The Digital Signature Certificate, which is essential, for e-Tendering shall be obtained from the NIC-CA which is also acting as a Certifying Authority.
  5. This Order shall take effect from 1st July 2012.

In order to facilitate implementation of aforesaid decisions regarding e- Publication of ‘Tender Related Information’ on the centralized e-Tender Portal, the NIC will provide detailed guidelines for using the said Portal. The guidelines will also be available on the centralized e-Tender Portal [http://wbtenders.gov.in]. On registration by the Government user, ‘User ID’ and ‘Password’ will be created and mailed to the users, The Government of West Bengal will also make arrangements for necessary training to the concerned officials, with technical support from NIC for the users of the e-Tendering Portal.

A Roadmap for implementation of the e-Procurement Process in the Government Departments is enclosed with this Order.

The Departmental heads are requested to circulate this Notification to their subordinate Offices and the Autonomous Bodies/ Local Bodies/ Corporations/ PSUs under their control.

Sd/- H.K. Dwivedi.
Secretary to the Government of West Bengal.

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Roadmap for implementation of e-Procurement Process in the Government Departments

  1. Each Department shall nominate at least one ‘Nodal Officer’ for implementation and monitoring of the e-Procurement in the respective department.
  2. The Nodal Officer of the Department shall handover to NIC the organisation chart related to tendering in his Department mentioning the offices from where tenders will be floated or published in the Portal.
  3. Nodal Officer shall apply to NIC for Digital Signature Certificate [DSC] as Nodal Officer on behalf of that Department for implementing e-Procurement.
  4. The other Departmental Officers who will be authorised to float e-Tender under a Department shall be required to obtain DSC from NIC through the Nodal Officer of that Department. The cost of obtaining DSC from NIC is Rs.555/- per user. Application Form for Digital Signature Certificate [DSC] along with detailed information regarding Digital Signature Certificate is enclosed with this Roadmap.
  5. For uploading the e-Tender document in the Tender Portal it will be required to have minimum two (2) authorised officers who have their own DSC. The DSC is neither transferable nor it can be delegated to other officer.
  6. The DSC issued is Department specific and officer specific. So, it will not be possible for the authorised Officers (having DSC) of one Department to upload e-Tender of other Department.
  7. In the headquarter, each Department shall nominate at least two officers who will be members of each Tender Committee under that Department, so that they can upload the e-Tender document in the Tender Portal on the authorisation of their DSC.
  8. Similarly, in each District or Region (as per requirement of the Department) the Department shall nominate at least two officers who will be members of each Tender Committee on behalf of that Department, so that they can upload the e-Tender document in the Tender Portal on the authorisation of their DSC.
  9. Summary information in respect of the Tender progress in relation to the Tender has to be uploaded in the web-server of the Tender Portal. Documents relating to ‘Notice Inviting Tender’ [NIT] shall be loaded as a .pdf file and the financial bid in the prescribed .xls format. For the financial bid NIC has developed three templates that have to be strictly adhered to. The Tendering Authority shall select any one of the three formats which will be suitable for them for that particular Tender. The software developed by NIC shall take care for selection of L1 rates. The Software shall make automatic encryption of the Financial Bid and no one shall be allowed to open the Financial Bid prior to the date & time earmarked for opening the Financial Bid. Tender should normally be floated in two parts, one Technical bid and other Financial Bid. After evaluation of the Technical Bid, those who qualify their Financial Bid shall be opened.

(i) NIC at headquarter or at any central location, preferably within Writers Buildings, shall provide a “Helpdesk” to render necessary help to the authorised officers of the Departments within Kolkata (including Bidhannagar) to float e- Tender.

(ii) The District Information Officers [DIO] of NIC at the District shall provide a “Helpdesk” to render necessary help to the authorised officers of the Departments at the District level.

No. 3739-F dated 03.05.2012