Point of Law: Contract Work of providing cleaning and sanitation services was awarded to it. By putting in such a condition, the petitioner had sought to alter/modify the condition set forth in the invitation made by the tendering authority, thus, making its offer as a conditional one

JUDGMENT :

This writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India has arisen out of an Invitation for E-Bid [IFB] [‘the NIT’, for short] dated 21.01.2021 through National Competitive Bidding issued by the respondent no. 3 i.e. the Director of Medical Education, Assam [the DME, Assam].

2. By this writ petition, the petitioner, a company incorporated under the provisions of the Companies Act, 1956, has assailed a report dated 26.04.2021 submitted by the Technical Committee in respect of the NIT dated 21.01.2021 issued by the respondent no. 3. By the said report dated 26.04.2021, the Technical Committee did not accept the technical bid of the petitioner submitted in response to the NIT. The petitioner has preferred this writ petition seeking interalia direction to the respondent authorities to accept its technical bid and to declare the petitioner qualified in the technical bid evaluation stage with the further direction to open the financial bid submitted by the petitioner along with the other financial bids submitted in relation to the NIT.

3. The background facts leading to the institution of the instant writ petition may be exposited first in order to appreciate the issues sought to be raised by the petitioner.

4. The respondent no. 3 as the tendering authority published the NIT dated 21.01.2021 inviting Re-e-tender bids through e-procurement system i.e. through website, www.assamtenders.gov.in from intending and experienced agencies for selection of suitable Agency[s] for providing ‘Cleaning & Sanitation Services to different Medical College Hospital[s] under the DME, Assam, under the Health & F.W. Department, Government of Assam’ [‘the Contract Work’, for short] on outsourcing basis.

4.1 As per the original NIT, the period of downloading of e-tender was from 21.01.2021 to 10.02.2021. A pre-bid meeting was scheduled at 11-00 a.m. on 28.01.2021 in the office of the respondent no. 3 i.e. the tendering authority. The bids were to be submitted within the period from 28.01.2021 to 10.02.2021. By a Corrigendum dated 09.02.2021, the last date of submission of bids was extended up to 20.02.2021. By another Corrigendum dated 20.02.2021, the last date of submission of bids was extended up to 26.02.2021. On 23.02.2021, another Corrigendum was published whereby Point no. 4 of Part-IV : Eligibility Criteria of Qualification and the Supplementary BOQ were modified for larger participation of bidders.

4.2 In response to the NIT, 8 [eight] nos. of bidders participated in the bidding process by submitting their bids. After the time period for submission of bids was over, the technical bids of all the participating bidders were opened and evaluated. A Technical Committee constituted for the purpose of evaluation of technical bids, evaluated the technical bids of all the 8 [eight] participating bidders in reference to the eligibility criteria stipulated in Part-IV : Eligibility Criteria of Qualification of the NIT. A comparative statement was prepared by the Technical Committee based on the criteria stipulated in the said eligibility criteria for qualification. Upon such evaluation, the Technical Committee had declared 3 [three] nos. of bidders as qualified for technical evaluation on weightage matrix, meaning thereby, the bids of the remaining 5 [five] nos. of bidders were found disqualified in reference to Part-IV : Eligibility Criteria of Qualification of the NIT. As per the minutes of the meeting of the Technical Committee, held on 26.04.2021, the Technical Committee had found 3 [three] nos. of bidders as qualified based on eligibility criteria. Thereafter, the bids of those 3 [three] qualified bidders were examined for technical evaluation on weightage matrix and after awarding technical scores, the Technical Committee found that only 2 [two] bidders had got more than 50 marks, which was the minimum score for the technical bid for qualification as per the Technical Criteria and Weightage Matrix stipulated in the NIT.

4.3 In the compar