IRF seeks PM's intervention to ensure govt depts prioritise quality over cost while awarding contracts

New Delhi, Jan 27 (PTI) Global road safety body IRF on Tuesday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to instruct government departments to ensure that contracts and procurement orders are finalised based on quality and not on cost.
     International Road Federation (IRF), in a letter to Prime Minister Modi, cited the amended General Financial Rules and said that projects can be awarded and procurement of goods can be done based on Quality-cum-Cost-Based-Selection (QCBS), where quality carries 30 per cent weight, and cost weighs 70 per cent.
     IRF said that despite the revised GFR rules, contracts are being given to the lowest bidders, affecting the quality of work.
     "Although the GFR has been amended to have the above provision, it is not being implemented," IRF president emeritus K K Kapila wrote in the letter.
     According to Kapila, this results in works still being awarded to the lowest bidder, and the contracting industry has been quoting obnoxiously low rates, which results in poor quality of work, elongated arbitration and long drawn court cases.
     IRF said it has urged the prime minister to suitably direct respective secretaries to strongly advise offices under them, who undertake works, to follow the above stated General Financial Rules and ensure appropriate quality of work.
     General Financial Rules (GFR) 2017 are a comprehensive set of instructions by the Ministry of Finance, Government of India, regulating public financial dealings to ensure accountability, transparency, and efficiency.
     Applicable to all central ministries, departments and attached bodies, GFR mandates using the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) for procurement, strict compliance in financial transactions, and prudent management of public funds.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)