Hyderabad: The official portal of the state government for online receipt of tenders for irrigation and other contracts eprocurement.gov.in is not foolproof, says the World Bank.
The WB has denied permission to the irrigation department to float tenders for the Rs 4,400-crore Nagarjunasagar modernisation works through the official portal. It has also asked the municipal and R&B departments not to use the state portal for projects funded by it.
The WB, which is funding the modernisation project, wants the tenders to be floated through a portal belonging to the National Informatics Centre.
The World Bank‘s doubts about the official portal has given credence to complaints by several infrastructure companies earlier that tender quotations were manipulated on the state portal.
Official sources told DC that the AP Water Sector Improvement Project, the nodal agency for Nagarjuna sagar modernisation, informed the irrigation department about the WB’s objections, and sought the department’s permission to float tenders on the National Informatics Centre platform. “The World Bank wants e-tender portals to be audited by a third party to check manipulations,” said an official.
For instance, officials, in connivance with a particular contractor, can know the tenders submitted by other companies and allow the contractor concerned to make changes to his quote accordingly and grab the contract. A third party audit will reveal the login timings and the changes made, the official explained.
Information Secretary Sanjay Jaju said the government has decided to upgrade its portal. About audit by an independent authority, he said the new portal would have security features that would be acceptable to all agencies including the World Bank.
