Mumbai: The State government’s use of two e-tendering platforms has violated Central Vigilance Commission guidelines, which calls for a unified platform to achieve economies of scale and reduce threat to data security.
In its latest report tabled during the Legislative Assembly’s monsoon session, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has claimed there are serious shortcomings which undermines the effectiveness of the e-tendering process. The findings are based on an IT audit of the two systems between 2010 and 2016.
The State government adopted the e-tendering system in August 2010 to enhance transparency in procurement of goods and services and implementing works, reduce time taken and costs. It is using the Sify-NexTenders developed by a private agency, and one by the National Informatics Centre (NIC). “The State government also did not ensure development and implementation of all essential features in both systems to ensure transparency in e-procurement process,” the report said.
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As per the procedure for purchase of stores by government departments, a minimum of one week is to be allowed for submission of bids from the date of issue of the tender notice. The audit observed that in many cases involving Sify-NexTenders, time given for submission of bids was only 15 minutes to 34 minutes. “Inadequate time and odd hours specified for bid submission indicated absence of fair play and transparency in the e-procurement process, thus defeating the objective of competitive bidding,” the report said. It added that details of vendors awarded contracts were not available in the system.
Among its many flaws, the privately-developed system does not map purchases made outside the e-tendering process, and lacks the facility for blacklisting suppliers. “Comprehensive audit of Sify-NexTenders System was not done by Standardisation Testing and Quality Certification Directorate, GoI and the State government also failed in its role to ensure this. The monitoring of the systems was poor due to insufficiency of Management Information System (MIS) reports. Inadequate IT security, non-documentation of IT security policy, business continuity and disaster recovery plans, and deficiencies in audit trail made the systems further vulnerable to errors and manipulations,” the report said.