Tender value reduces by 8-15% with the e-Tendering Solution

The department (MMRDA) is able to receive competitive bids and reduce tender value by 8-15% and increase transparency in the tender process
- Preeti Gaur

Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) is engaged in long term planning, promotion of new growth centers, implementation of strategic projects and financing infrastructure development. There was a need for an easy and transparent mechanism for creating and procuring tenders, opening, and closing tender. The exercise was meant to make the whole system easy, transparent and more secure for all the stakeholders.

Project Head
Shankar Deshpande
Joint Project Director

The Implementation
The system is a full-fledged e-Procurement system driven through a well-defined workflow engine, user engine and the template engine. All these engines operate in the integrated manner in the system. The workflow is Time Schedule driven i.e. each and every activity in the workflow is driven by date and time. The system covers requisition, indent, tender preparation, bid submission, bid closing, bid opening and evaluation, bid negotiation, award and contract management modules for all kind of procurements. This system is also capable to integrate with the legacy/existing system in order to map the existing data into the newer one which reduces the effort of reloading the data to much extent.
The system has been enabled with the features like SQL injection, Cross site Scripting, URL encryption and the US and UK patented Secure Bid Process. CITE’s Legal & Security Issues Group are currently piloting and evaluating the use of electronic signatures and various data encryption technologies, in an attempt to offer maximum security to project partners when exchanging data electronically.
The Challenges
Customization of the solution was a challenge because of the elaborate requirements for MMRDA. In addition, it involved uploading of very high value tenders like Metro Rail Tender (worth 25,000 Crore), which further made it imperative to have clearly defined processes, user access and authorization at each level. The challenge was addressed by implementing the solution in a phase wise manner with the help of consultants from top management organizations of the world. Moreover, it involved integration of new applications with the existing application, such as the Payment Gateway.
MMRDA internal stakeholders, contractors/ bidders saw the use of an e-tendering process as ‘burden-some process. Some consultants perceived e-Tendering as being of more use to contractors than to themselves. Even though increasing number of contractors are capable of, and encouraged to return their tender bids electronically, majority of contractors and consultants have yet to adopt the e-Tendering process. These barriers can be overcome through increased efforts in highlighting the potential benefits and opportunities available to contractors, consultants and clients, when adopting an e-Tender process.
Therefore, an appropriate awareness and change management was required. To help achieve this increased knowledge and awareness, MMRDA institutionalized e-tendering awareness sessions on a regular basis. A Capacity building session is being undertaken every Friday ‘Tech Friday’ on e-Tendering system for bidders, MMRDA Stakeholders etc.
The Result
MMRDA has rolled out approx. 120 tenders till date over a value of 700 Cr. As per the Tender Analysis, it has been able to crunch 8-15% of the tender value as compared to the projected value. This is because the e-Tender solution has opened the gates for other players in the market due to its easy & transparent mechanism. Due to the varied participation of the bidders, MMRDA achieves the best and the most competitive rates.