Gurugram: Bus fleet tender rejigged after concerns over restrictive rules

Officials increased financial weightage and penalties while issuing a corrigendum and extending the submission deadline to April 1

Gurugram Metropolitan City Bus Ltd (GMCBL) has amended the terms of a tender to select a new firm to operate its bus fleet after the Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (DIMTS) wrote to the authority flagging “discrepancies” and alleging that the original terms “seriously restrict wider participation,” officials said Friday.

Multiple representations highlighted that earlier clauses could deter bidders and lead to higher costs for operations. (HT Archive)

The tender was floated on February 6 to select a firm to manage GMCBL’s bus fleet, which is expected to grow with the addition of electric buses, with the initial bid submission deadline set for February 26, officials aware of the matter said.

DIMTS, which currently manages GMCBL’s fleet, wrote to the authority on February 19 and again on February 26 suggesting changes and highlighting what it alleged were “major discrepancies” in the tender.

When no action was taken, DIMTS wrote to GMDA chief executive officer PC Meena – who also serves as chairman of the board of directors of GMCBL – on March 9, stating that the discrepancies in the tender “seriously restrict wider participation and fair competition.” HT has accessed the letters.

Following these issues, GMCBL rescheduled the bid submission deadline to March 16, and then again to April 1, issuing a corrigendum that amended several clauses red-flagged by DIMTS.

In its letter, DIMTS noted that the “Request for Proposal” document was “quite similar” to one floated by a municipal corporation in Maharashtra in 2023, which had resulted in only two bids being submitted.

DIMTS had flagged the tender’s selection criteria, which used Quality cum Cost Based Selection with 80% weightage to technical score and only 20% to financial aspects, suggesting this could result in high costs for the firm. The letter also highlighted that liquidated damages during the implementation period were capped at ₹3 lakh – “insignificant in view of the size of the project” – while penalties were limited to 2.5% of monthly fees. DIMTS recommended penalty caps of 10% to 20% as per standard practice.

Following these concerns, GMCBL issued a corrigendum raising the penalty limit to 10% of the monthly invoice amount. The bid evaluation criteria were also revised, increasing the financial aspect weightage to 30% while reducing technical weightage to 70%.

GMCBL also amended the financial bid submission terms, specifying that figures quoted in physical annexures must be consistent with online submissions, with online values taking precedence in case of discrepancies.

Vishwajeet Chaudhary, CEO and director, GMCBL said all discrepancies raised by DIMTS have been rectified. “We have increased penalties and changed the weightage to the financial aspect after discussion with DIMTS. We have amended clauses to ensure the tender is no longer restrictive,” he said.

He said that the tender was floated because GMCBL never had a formal agreement with DIMTS. “DIMTS joined GMCBL as a consultant when it started functioning in 2018. The aim was to develop GMCBL’s capability to run its own fleet in five years, which didn’t happen. Thus, DIMTS continued handling fleet management,” he said, adding that the new firm will be selected to operate only as a consultant.

According to GMCBL official website, after approval from the Haryana government, Municipal Corporation of Gurugram, one of the promoters of the city bus limited, had signed a memorandum of understanding with the DIMTS in 2017 for knowledge support including project management and transaction advisory service for city bus operations in Gurugram metropolitan area.