Winner had highest bid among shortlisted firms

NEW DELHI: HCP Design which was awarded the contract for redesigning the Central Vista was the highest bidder among the four firms that qualified for the financial round for the project, according to the bid documents.

To be sure, a competitive bidding process — termed Quality and Cost Based Selection — was adopted to choose the designer, giving 80% weightage to the technical scores and 20% to financial scores. A five-member jury led by PSN Rao, director of the School of Planning and Architecture (SPA), Delhi selected the winner.

The Centre last week, announced that the final contract for the ambitious redesign of New Delhi’s Central Vista, or Rajpath, the seat of power in the national capital, was awarded to Ahmedabad-based HCP Design, Planning And Management Private

Limited. The financial bids quoted in the bid documents, which have been reviewed by Hindustan Times, show that among the four shortlisted firms, HCP Design quoted a consultation fee of ₹229 crore. This was the highest among the four firms. CP Kukreja quoted ₹218 crore, Sikka Associates, ₹54 crore and INI Design ₹75 crore. The Centre has sanctioned a consultancy cost of ₹229.75 crore for the project. The estimated cost of construction of the entire project is around ₹12,000 crore, according to senior government officials. “The final awarded price is way below the upper limit to which the tendering could go,” Union urban development minister Hardeep Puri said last month.

As per the bid document, to qualify in the technical evaluation criteria, a bidder has to secure a minimum 50% in all attributes such as financial strength and experience, project capabilities, and core project team . Further, the total of these should aggregate to at least 60% of the total marks.

The bid document circulated in September stated that a combined Quality and Cost Based Selection (QCBS) process would be adopted for the selection of the consultant.

It added the first stage in the selection process would be evaluation of the technical proposal submitted by the bidders and that the financial proposals of only those bidders qualifying in the technical proposal would be opened. Technical scores weren’t disclosed, though, a matter of concern to some of the firms. “As per the practice, technical scores are disclosed before the opening of financial bid,” a representative from one of the firms said on condition of anonymity.

“Technical scores are not meant to be revealed to the bidders,” Union urban affairs ministry secretary Durga Shankar clarified.