The interpretation of tender criteria by the awarding authority is presumed reasonable unless proven arbitrary or in bad faith, validating their discretion in evaluations.

JUDGMENT

Jasmeet Singh, J.

1. The present petition has been filed by the petitioner seeking amongst others the following relief:

"i) Issue a Writ/Order/Direction in the nature of mandamus and direct the Respondent to provide clarifications on the basis of which it has awarded a technical mark of 9245.35 to the Petitioner.

ii) Issue a Writ/Order/Direction in the nature of mandamus and direct the Respondent to issue a fresh evaluation of final markings of the Petitioner by considering the Lucknow project of the Petitioner as two separate projects as per the terms of the RFP.

iii) To quash the Letter of Award dated 16.05.2021 issued by the Respondent if "Yuksel Proje India - Tumas India JV" does not come out to be the most successful bidder after a fresh evaluation of the final markings of the Petitioner;"

2. The case of the petitioner is that the petitioner is a company incorporated under the laws of Spain. In accordance with the Companies Act, 2013, the petitioner has set up and is operating its branch at D-99, 4th Floor, Sector-2, Noida, Uttar Pradesh - 201301. The respondent No.1/Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd. is a company incorporated under the Companies Act, 1956 and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ministry of Railways, Government of India.

3. The petitioner is engaged in the business of design consulting and project management of projects including projects of urban mass transport. On 02.12.2019 the respondent No.1 issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) from experienced and reputed Consultants to provide General Consultancy cum Project Management Consultancy (GC cum PMC) Services for: Construction of Elevated and Underground Metro Railway works from Mominpur (Ex.) to Esplanade, approx. 5.30 Km in connection with Joka - BBD Bag Metro Corridor, in the state of West Bengal, India (hereinafter called the "Project"). The RFP was revised in June 2020.

4. The RFP was based on "Quality and Cost Based Selection" (QCBS) process. It is submitted that in QCBS, bids the successful bidder is selected on the basis of marks given for both - technical experience, as well as financial quote. As per the RFP, 80% weightage was reserved for technical bid score, and 20% weightage was reserved for financial bid score. The bidder getting the highest combined marks would be considered for award of the project. Since the scope of the Project included performance of GC Cum PMC, the bidders were required to possess the experience of both GC and PMC in past projects. Clause 5.7.2.2.3 of the RFP prescribed "Hurdle Criteria" under which bidders were supposed to possess past experience as both: (i)GC and (ii)PMC in similar projects.

5. The bidder was to be evaluated on a maximum of 10000 marks in accordance with Clause 5.7.2.3 of the RFP. Marks were to be awarded in the following manner:

"The following three criteria shall be used to evaluate the technical proposals for assessing the technical scores:

(i) Experience of similar work (3000 for GC + 1000 for PMC),

(ii) Average Annual Consultancy Turnover (1500 marks),

(iii) Qualification and Experience of Key Personnel (Expat) for consultancy services (4500 marks)"

6. The petitioner submits that in a pre-bid meeting, a specific question was asked regarding execution of work relating to twin tunnel, to which the respondent No.1-rather than giving cl