Rlys scraps tender for thermal cameras

IN A LETTER WRITTEN TO RAILTEL, ONE OF THE VENDORS SAID THE PRE-QUALIFICATION CRITERIA LAID DOWN HAVE SOME ANOMALIES AND AMBIGUITIES

nNEWDELHI: Railways has scrapped a tender for thermal cameras meant for Covid surveillance following complaints from Indian firms alleging that the tender specifications favoured a Chinese firm, Hikvision .

Railways’ telecom arm Railtel Corp of India Ltd (RCIL) in June, sought expressions of interest (EOI) for artificial intelligence (AI) based surveillance cameras. These can detect elevated body temperatures of people and can be used to screen people.

Railtel has decided to issue a fresh tender with modified specifications. “EOI for selection of partner for thermal temperature screening solution to RCIL’S customers stands cancelled with immediate effect. Fresh EOI will be published soon,” a notice by the state-owned company said.

This comes at a time when the Indian government has banned 59 Chinese apps (or apps with Chinese links), citing data security and privacy issues. The ban comes against the backdrop of escalating tension between India and China.

In a letter written to Railtel, one of the vendors said the prequalification criteria laid down has some anomalies and ambiguities. Hindustan Times has seen a copy of the letter.

“Specifications issued are biased to Chinese OEM i.e. Hikvision, Specs clearly mentioned Deepinmind technology which is proprietary feature of Hikvision NVRS,” the letter said. OEM stands for original equipment manufacturer and NCR for network video recorders. Deepinmind is Hikvision’s proprietary AI technology. The name is a ripoff of Deepmind, an AI pioneer currently owned by Google parent Alphabet Inc.

“As per latest Revised Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Policy dated June, 4 2020, wherein various provisions related to local suppliers and purchase preference has been appended. This policy has clearly stated in clause no. 3(a) in procurement of all goods, services or works, in respect of which the nodal ministry/department has communicated that there is sufficient local capacity and local competition, only “class-1 local supplier”, as defined under the order, shall be eligible to bid irrespective of purchase value. It is also stated that Global tender inquiry shall not be issued except with the approval of competent authority. (in case estimated value of purchase is less than ₹200 crore,” the vendor added in the letter.