Top cops slug it out over Bengaluru’s Rs 620-cr CCTV project

Soon after Additional Commisioner of Police (Administration) Hemant Nimbalkar, who is chairman of both the tender inviting and tender scrutiny committees for the project, addressed a Sunday morning presser, Home Secretary (PCA&S) D Roopa alleged in a Sunday afternoon statement that he was putting out wrong facts and misleading both the government and the public.

According to Roopa

Roopa said that the ‘Nirbhaya’ tender call-3 is presently available online on the e-procurement portal and claimed that the following gross irregularities still exist.

(1) As per the finance department’s standard bid document KW4 for such tenders, the minimum annual turnover of the bidder must be two times the value of the tender. Here, the tender value is Rs 620 crore but the minimum turnover fixed is Rs 250 crore. Even with the latest amendment, the minimum requirement is 100% of the tender value or amount payable in the first year. Even that would be about Rs 500 crores. So there is a clear violation of the finance department’s directives.

‘BEL complaint’

(2) BEL is the ‘navratna’ that has expertise in this work as floated in the tender (installation of CCTVs) . It has repeatedly complained that this (the tender) was done to favour a particular vendor. It has brought out how the vendor that was favoured was giving Chinese cameras that are a security risk.

(3) Further, as per Rule 3 of the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurement (KTPP) rules, the tender is for ‘supply of goods and services’, because it is about CCTV procurement and installation. This is NOT a ‘consultancy services” tender.

(4) As per Rule 28H of the KTPP rules, only for ‘consultancy services’ can the QCBS (quality cum cost-based selection) method be used. It is not permitted to be used for this tender. Hence the KTPP rules were violated by the tender.

(5) Rule 28H of the KTPP rules prescribes that a standard bid document must be used. But neither the KW4 nor the KW5 standard bid document issued by the finance department was used.

Alleging that the violations of the KTPP Act and its rules were ‘endless’, Roopa said the “irregularities make it all the more necessary to investigate the role of Nimbalkar, who has been misguiding the higher authorities in the government.”

According to Nimbalkar

Earlier on Sunday, Nimbalkar addressed a presser where he issued a press note which reads: “Additional Commissioner of Police (Administration) and Chairman, Tender Inviting Authority, Safe City project, Bengaluru City, had written a letter to the Chief Secretary, Government of Karnataka, dated 07.12.2020 that there was an attempt in the name of Home Secretary to the Government of Karnataka to access the classified information on preparation of the RFP by contacting the Project Management Consultant appointed by the Government of Karnataka through the due tender process.

“On a subsequent development, due to various social media/media reports with respect to the Safe City project, it has become important to clarify certain issues. It is alleged that Bharat Electronics Limited was wrongly disqualified by the Tender Scrutiny Authority, which is far from the truth. For the Call-1 of the tender, Bharat Electronics Limited never participated in the process. The Call-1 was cancelled on 16.01.2020 as all three participants could not qualify for the pre-qualification requirements for the tender, and even the matter did not go on to Technical Evaluation during Call-1.

‘No bias against BEL’

“For Call-2 of the tender, the Tender Scrutiny Committee on 20.06.2020 after verification of pre-qualification and technical qualification accepted three bids, namely Larsen & Toubro, Matrix Security & Surveillance Private Limited, and Bharat Electronics Ltd. It is amply clear that claims made that Bharat Electronics Ltd was wrongly disqualified is thus proven to be absolutely false. The Call-2 was cancelled because of the Government of Karnataka Order No.HD58EFS2020, dated 16.07.2020, banning Chinese-make/Chinese-origin products in any procurement process, including the ongoing tender process for procurement, in the light of national security, and was never cancelled for non-existent allegations about a biased and unfair tender.

“With respect to the ‘approach’ to the Project Management Consultant for the Safe City project ‘unauthorizedly’, the Government of Karnataka has instituted an independent enquiry. With respect to personal allegations, as the matter is subjudice, it is inappropriate to discuss the same.”

Nimbalkar’s statement ended by saying, “Call-3 of the tender for the Safe City project is in process in an absolutely transparent manner.”