How to complain against Tender Proceedings?

All government tenders are published after the approval of the 'Competent Financial Authority'(CFA). However various stages of the tender are generally progressed / monitored by procurement committee / evaluation committee and the case would be seen by the CFA only at specified stages of the tender process. Therefore in case of any complaints against the conduct of proceedings by the various committee the complaint may be made directly to the CFA. However in case there is a complaint against the CFA itself then the complaint may be addressed to the next higher CFA in the channel. The option of seeking legal recourse always exists.

In numerous cases of tendering, especially government tendering, we find that the tender process is not followed in accordance with the specified procedure / rules. This may be due to ignorance or a deliberate act to favor a particular bidder. Most government officials involved in the tender process have a sense of immunity since they feel that the bidders would not be aware of the procedures / rules and would also hesitate to raise a complaint in the government hierarchy. However this is a wrong notion since today all officials are held accountable and punished in case any such violations by them are brought to notice of their superiors.

The problem remains that most bidders are not familiar with the hierarchal structure of the government organizations and therefore would not know the correct authority to approach for complaint / grievance. There are also the 'Integrated Financial Advisors' (IFA) associated with every government office and these may also be approached for highlighting any irregularities during the tendering process.

In general the complaints can be addressed as under:-

• During the Tendering Process

  • GeM Procurement A ticket for complaint can be made on the GeM portal itself. Also the details of tender issue authority are available on the GeM portal, under the details of the tender bid / supply order. In addition to filing a complaint online the bidder may also approach the tender issue authority / Competent Financial Authority (CFA) or the Integrated Financial Authority (IFA) through formal letter also.

  • Advertised Tender Enquiry In this case a bidder gets opportunity to see the progress of the case at stages of Technical Evaluation, Opening of Commercial Offers & Award of contract. In case a bidder feels aggrieved, their firm may directly approach the tender issue authority for the complaint. However in case it is felt that the tender committee itself is deliberately not acting in a fair manner, a complaint may be made to their next higher authority. In most cases the details of the next higher authority are available on internet, however the bidder has the option to seek these details through 'Right of Information Act' (RTI) appeal.

• After Receiving Supply Order Once a supply order has been signed the complaints may be addressed to the appellate authority defined in the supply order / tender bid document for Arbitration. In case the arbitration process fails, the bidder may seek further legal recourse.

Conclusion While there is a lot of procedural complexity attached to the tender process of government bodies, however it is clear that the Tender Issue Authority can be held accountable for any misappropriations / procedural flaws. In most cases bidder tend to back out of such dispute, however in my opinion that is a mistake. In case a complaint is progressed at appropriate levels / channels the erring government official is likely to be severely punished and therefore has a lot at stake. https://managemytender.com/ is a website that helps you in fighting your case against unfair deal / conduct of the buyer / supplier. So go ahead and give it a try.

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