BMC extends Covid vaccine global tender deadline by a week

The decision came in the wake of the civic body failing to get any response from Covid-19 vaccine manufacturers as the deadline of May 18 ended

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Tuesday extended the deadline for its global tender for vaccine supply to Mumbai by a week, to May 25. The decision came in the wake of the civic body failing to get any response from Covid-19 vaccine manufacturers as the deadline of May 18 ended.

Representational Image. (HT file)

The BMC has planned to procure 10 million vaccine doses from the international market in order to speed up the vaccination drive in city. For this, it floated global expression of interest on May 12 and the last date of bidding was May 18.

A BMC official confirmed on Tuesday, “We have extended the last date of participation by another week as we would like to give more time to the market to respond.”

P Velrasu, additional municipal commissioner of the BMC, had told HT a day ago, “We have not got any response yet, and we are likely to extend the last date for bidding by one more week. We expect the market to respond once we give the extension.”

According to officials, any interested supplier can bid for the tender. However, China has been restricted from bidding. Further, the vaccines that do not have Centre’s approval will have to get the same on their own, according to BMC’s tender document.