Bidders must ensure timely registration renewal to avoid disqualification; compliance with tender requirements is essential for fairness and integrity in the tendering process.

JUDGMENT

Jasmeet Singh, J. (Oral)--The present writ petition has been filed by the petitioner assailing the petitioner's technical disqualification in the tender process, in respect of RFP bearing No. A/59961/EC Net (Jute)/DGOS/OS-P1/Proc Sec dated 28th October, 2020, communicated to the petitioner vide communication dated 23.07.2021.

2. Briefly stating the facts giving rise to filing of the present writ petition are as under:

3. Petitioner No.1 is a registered partnership firm and petitioner No.2 is the partner of petitioner No.1. Petitioner No.1 firm is registered with the respondent authorities as vendor for supply of various items vide General Registration dated 09.04.2018, which has been renewed from time to time. The last registration of the petitioner was made vide Registration No. 677 dated 09.04.2018 for 71 items which was valid till 08.04.2021.

4. Respondent No.1 is Ministry of Defence and Respondent No.2 is Directorate General of Ordnance Services, and is part of Integrated Headquarters of Ministry of Defence, Ordinance Services (General Stores & Clothing) also known as (GS&C). Respondent No.2 issued the aforesaid Request for Proposal (RFP) dated 28.10.2020, for procurement of certain goods, namely, EC NET (Jute) 16x11M Large Mesh 75 mm Square (hereinafter referred to as `the goods').

5. The RFP was divided into 5 parts, which read as follows:

"Part-I Contains General Information and Instructions for the Bidders about the RFP such as the time, place of submission and opening of tenders, Validity period of tenders, etc.

Part-II Contains essential details of the items/services, required, such as the Schedule of Requirements (SOR), Technical Specifications, Delivery Period, Mode of Delivery and Consignee details.

Part-III Contains Standard Conditions of RFP, which will form part of the Contract with the successful bidder.

Part-IV Contains Special Conditions applicable to this RFP and which will also form part of the contract with the successful bidder.

Part-V Contains Evaluation Criteria and Format for price bids. "

6. The critical dates with regard to the tender process were as under:

"1. Critical Dates The critical dates with respect to the tender No. A/59961/EC Net (Jute)/DGOS/OS-PI/Proc Sec are as follows:

CRITICAL DATE SHEET

7. The petitioner being desirous of submitting its proposal against the said RFP, submitted its bid along with all the documents and information within the timeline prescribed above. The technical bid was submitted by the petitioner on 29.11.2020 within the bid end date under the RFP, and was duly accepted by the respondent on 12.01.2021.

8. The petitioner firm received a communication that the Technical Evaluation Committee (TEC), during evaluation of technical bid of the petitioner, found that certain documents were not submitted. The petitioner was required to submit the said missing documents by 22.01.2021. The petitioner, on receiving the communication dated 12.01.2021, submitted the required documents by 20.01.2021. In the said letter, the petitioner also informed that the registration of petitioner No.1 shall expire on 08.04.2021, and a renewal application with increased production capacity has already been applied for. The petitioner stated