Hindustan Times (Chandigarh)

I did no wrong in re-tendering, writes PSEB ex-chief Brar

PATIALA: I find the report ‘PSEB ex-chairman in trouble over Rs 350cr tender to Spanco’ (October 6, 2012) biased. I had told the reporter on Thursday, October 4, that the re-tendering (that led to Spanco getting the contract) was done on technical grounds, which finds no mention in the report.
Being the chairman of the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB), I was the person responsible to take the final call as per the powers bestowed on me. But the final decision comes after the file stops at the desks of a long list of other authorities, is reviewed, and the decision is taken in best interests of the organisation.
This decision (of re-tendering) was taken in line with the recommendations on the file sent by concerned officials, who included the chief engineer and Mr KD Chaudhary (the present CMD of PSPCL). Mr Chaudhary was also the IT head of the PSEB at the time. No dissent note was ever brought to my attention, and the file was put forward to me by Mr Chaudhary’s office.
The recommendations on the file, which find mention in your report, were: Save money by re-tendering Go ahead with the ongoing tender
It is important to know that during the time of the ongoing tender, the Power Corporation of India changed guidelines. I chose to save the money of PSEB by re-tendering, and approved Option 1, as mentioned above, to encourage competitive bidding.
All the offers were scrutinised to approve the technical bids. Thereafter, the price bids were opened to find the company with the lowest price. In this case, it was Spanco. The chairman had no role in the technical evaluation.
The memorandum to award work to Spanco was also put forward in the full board meeting by Mr Chaudhary, and a unanimous decision was taken to allot work to Spanco (“collectively”, as reported by you).
Like with any failure, the shortcoming of Spanco in providing service to PSPCL needs analysis.
It will not be surprising to me that the monitoring process of the PSPCL may be the reason behind the failure. It was only after the “successful” trial of the software of Spanco that the system was introduced.
The tendering process is the only fair process for giving out work, and if re-tendering is needed to get the best price, it should be encouraged and not challenged.