NTPC faces further delay in award of its Rs 20,000-crore contract for the bulk supply of 660 mw supercritical boilers, with the Delhi High Court on Wednesday restraining the central utility from opening price bids while acting on a petition filed by disqualified Italian bidder, Ansaldo Caldie. NTPC was expected to open price bids for the project on Thursday. Bidding for the project is already running behind schedule because NTPC had to re-tender after L&T Power was disqualified on technical grounds earlier, leaving Bhel as the sole bidder for the project.
A Division Bench comprising justices Sanjay Kishen Kaul and Rajiv Shakdar while asking the power ministry and NTPC to file replies within a week also directed the corporation to keep in abeyance the commercial bids till February 3, the next date of hearing.
Four bidders — L&T, Bhel, Ansaldo and BGR Energy — had responded to the NTPC’s fresh tender for the supply of 11 units of 660 mw supercritical units. Only Bhel and L&T Power had shown interest against the original tender issued by the public sector generator for the project. NTPC had to scrap the tender after L&T Power’s bid was rejected on technical grounds, leaving Bhel as the sole bidder for the project. Ansaldo Caldaie Boilers India, jointly promoted by leading construction company Gammon India and Italian firm Ansaldo Caldaie SpA, was also disqualified for the supply of turbine-generators to the NTPC’s project on a similar ground. However, the developer decided to go ahead with tendering as three bidders were still in the race. Bharat-Alstom has emerged as the lowest bidder for the project.
The high court’s interim order came on a petition filed by Ansaldo challenging its disqualification on tecghnical grounds. Stating that NTPC had excluded it from participating in the commercial bid unfairly on technical grounds. Ansaldo said it complied fully with the technical bid requirements of the project. The petition filed through counsel Prashant Kumar said that NTPC being a State should “act in a fair, reasonable and transparent manner in dealing with all tenderers and not act capriciously failing which such actions would be construed as violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India.”
It also sought a direction to NTPC to permit the company to participate in the tender process including the technical discussions and to furnish its commercial bid in the project.
When NTPC issued original tender for the procurement of boilers in September 2009, Ansaldo had expressed interest in bidding for the project. However, it wanted two-month's extension in bid submission date. In a hurry to expedite procurement process, NTPC declined Ansaldo’ request. As a result, only Bhel and L&T submitted bids. While nine units will be used in NTPC’s projects, the balance is meant for Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC).
The government has envisaged introduction of supercritical power equipment in the country through bulk orders by central utilities like NTPC and DVC for their 12 th plan projects. Following a decision by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) in January 2009, NTPC initiated tendering for the bulk procurement of eleven sets of 660 mw supercritical boilers and turbines. While nine sets of equipment will be used in NTPC's own projects, two are meant for DVC. Bidders are required to have equipment manufacturing facility in India.
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