Public authorities can cancel tenders without assigning reasons, provided the decision is made bona fide to safeguard public funds, and being the lowest bidder does not guarantee contract award.

JUDGMENT

Vipin Sanghi, J. This writ petition has been preferred by the petitioner primarily to assail the decision of the respondent, namely South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) to cancel the E-tender Notice No. DIT/SDMC/2020/15/D-09 dated 30.04.2020, which was a Request of Proposal (RFP) for selection of vender for providing internet bandwidth, AMC & Maintenance of IT Infrastructure, Network Management for the three Municipal Corporations of Delhi, communicated to the petitioner vide order dated 16.07.2020. The petitioner also seeks a direction to the Administrative Officer of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation to complete the process of tender in pursuance of E-tender notice dated 30.04.2020 from the stage as was on 03.06.2020.

2. The petitioner is a company engaged in the business of providing Information Technology Services. The petitioner has disclosed that in the year 2009, the then Municipal Corporation of Delhi had awarded a contract to M/S Tech Mahindra Ltd. for providing services of the kind in respect whereof the aforesaid RFP was issued on 30.04.2020. In January 2012, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi was trifurcated into three Municipal Corporations, namely the South, North and East Delhi Municipal Corporations. The petitioner further states that as per its information, M/s Tech Mahindra sub-delegated the work to Leading Edge Communication Pvt. Limited which is presently providing the relevant services. The petitioner further states that the contract with M/s Tech Mahindra came to an end on 31.12.2019, yet the respondent is continuing to avail services from Leading Edge Communication Pvt. Limited. On 06.12.2019, the South Delhi Municipal Corporation floated a tender vide E-tender notification No. DIT/SDMC/2019-20/14/D-899 for selection of a vendor for providing Internet Bandwidth, AMC & maintenance of IT Infrastructure, Network Management for South, North and East Municipal Corporations of Delhi, calling upon the prospective bidders to submit tenders upto 26.12.2020.

3. The petitioner states that it participated in the said process. However, on 15.04.2020, the Tender Evaluation Committee recommended the scrapping of the ongoing tender process, and to invite fresh tenders. This recommendation of the Tender Evaluation Committee was accepted by the Commissioner, SDMC, and consequently that tender was cancelled. On 30.04.2020, fresh online tenders were invited for the second time vide a tender notice No. DIT/SDMC/2020/15/D-09, by the IT Department, South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) for selection of vendor for providing Internet Bandwidth, AMC & Maintenance of IT Infrastructure, Network Management for South, North and East Delhi Municipal Corporations. On 06.05.2020, a pre-bid meeting was organised, where 9 prospective bidders participated. The petitioner states that it submitted its bid on 19.05.2020. The last date for submitting the bid was up to 03:00 PM on 20.05.2020.

4. In all, seven vendors made their offers. On 20.05.2020, the Techno Commercial Bids of all the bidders were opened on the E-Tendering Portal of SDMC. Five of the seven bidders qualified, including the petitioner. They were eligible and qualified for further evaluation. On 03.06.2020, the SDMC after evaluating the Techno Commercial Bids, declared 3 bidders as qualified which included the petitioner, apart from Bharti Airtel Ltd.,