Ambulance tender: Patna HC to hear plea by rejected bidder today, govt says nothing fishy

The petitioners in the case are Mumbai-based BVG India Ltd and Patna-based Sammaan Foundation, whose joint bid was rejected.

The Patna high court on Tuesday will hear a case in which two bidders for a ₹1,600-crore contract to operate a fleet of 2,125 ambulances of the national Dial 102 emergency services across Bihar have challenged the rejection of their bids, even as the state government claimed there was no irregularity in the award of the tender.

The Patna high court. (HT Photo)

The petitioners in the case are Mumbai-based BVG India Ltd and Patna-based Sammaan Foundation, whose joint bid was rejected.

On May 30, the state health department had entered into a provisional agreement with Patna’s Pashupatinath Distributors Pvt Ltd (PDPL), the lowest bidder, more than a month after the HC permitted the firm to work, following the court’s nod to open the financial bids in January this year, according to people familiar with the matter.

The court had, in January, found as “absolutely untenable” and “even contemptuous” the reasoning given by the State Health Society, Bihar, (SHSB), for not opening the financial bid because the matter was pending before the court, and that the opening the bids would mean allotting the work to the lowest bidder (L1).

A division bench of the Patna high court, comprising justices Ahsanuddin Amanullah and Sunil Dutta Mishra, had on December 8 last year allowed the SHSB to go ahead with the next stage of the tender, which was to open its financial bids, but restrained it from taking any final decision without the court’s nod.

Subsequently, a division bench of justices P B Bajanthri and justices Arun Kumar Jha of the high court, on April 26, modified the interim order of December 8, permitting the lowest bidder to execute the work, subject to outcome of the present writ petition, and listed the matter on June 20.

The order came after the state contended that it had incurred a loss of ₹2.679 crore because of the interim order.

The consortium of BVG India and Sammaan challenged the HC order in the Supreme Court, but a bench of justice AS Bopanna and justice CT Ravi of the apex court did not interfere in the matter. It asked the high court to refer to its order of April 10 (on offering work to the lowest bidder) and added that if the writ petition cannot be disposed of immediately, the submissions made by the petitioners be considered after hearing all the parties.

PDPL, the firm awarded the work, has among its directors family members of JD(U) MP from Jehanabad, Chandeshwar Prasad Chandravanshi, who has distanced himself, saying it was his relatives’ company and he had no say or stake in it. The firm is also facing allegations of document leaks and tweaking of tender norms at the stage of request for proposal (RFP).

“The request for relaxation of certain norms were made by the prospective bidders at the pre-bid stage, some of which were considered, which is a common practice either before finalising any tender or through corrigendum later. Objections should not be raised after a particular firm has been disqualified,” said an official in the health department, who refused to be named.

Sanjay Singh, executive director of the SHSB and also the secretary of the health department, said, “There is no irregularity in the tender whatsoever. This is a provisional agreement with the L1 bidder, based on the order of the honourable high court. We are open to any decision of the court.”

Meanwhile, talking to ANI on the issue, BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad, said: “...Several discrepancies have been found about the company that has been awarded the contract... The manner in which the decision has been taken raises serious questions about the safety of pregnant women and children... BJP expects an honest investigation of this matter. Until this becomes clear, their contract should be halted...”