Odisha’s Global Vaccine Tender: Cabinet approves changes in T&Cs; Know the amendments

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Cabinet in its meeting today approved the amendments made to the terms & conditions of state government’s global tender for procurement of 3.80 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccine.

To facilitate the participation of manufacturers of vaccines in the bidding, the storage condition has been revised up to minus 20°C, subject to the condition that the vaccines will remain stable and maintain its potency at 2°C to 8°C for at least 12 hours. The previous storage condition was 2°C to 8°C.

The global e-tender was floated on May 14 while the pre-bid meeting was held on May 19. Basing on the queries of bidders and to make the participation of bidders more flexible, amendments were incorporated as suggested by the designated committee of Odisha State Medical Corporation Limited (OSMCL).

Keeping the overall view of vaccinating the targeted population within a period of 4 months and limited supply of vaccines in the world market, the bid document has been prepared in a manner which will send a positive signal to the sellers. Relaxation in EMD, bid security and liquidated damage has been provided to attract the bidders.

Price bid evaluation of an item will be made by comparison of basic quoted prices of each bidder excluding GST. The lowest eligible bidder i.e. (L1) bidder will be the bidder who has quoted the lowest basic price in Bills Of Quantity (BOQ), out of the rest bidders for that item.

Since each vaccine is proprietary in nature and is not comparable to any other vaccine, the price evaluation mechanism will be made by comparison of basic quoted prices of each bidder excluding GST. All bidders will be treated independently.

In terms of award of contract, it was previously stipulated that 50% of the total tender quantity shall be allocated to the L1 bidder and the balance 50% to be split among L2, L3, L4 and so on at negotiated rates. To make the participation flexible, a potential bidder will be allowed to apply for any quantity. 

It was provided that Performance Security of 3% of Letter Of Intent(LOI) value excluding Taxes shall be paid by the successful bidder(s). The payment of Performance Security has been completely waived off to enable larger participation.

OSMCL will issue separate purchase orders for each of the 4 phases for supply. In the amendment, the clause successive purchase orders will be issued after execution of the previous one is added.