DRAFT MODEL TENDER

Jan. 17, 2021

The Finance Ministry (Expenditure Department) has drafted a model tender document for public procurement by all central government departments, in a bid to standardise the language and clauses included, and avoid contractual disputes.

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Public procurement refers to the purchase of goods and services by the public sector or the government, accounting for an average 15% of GDP globally.
In India, government procurement is estimated to constitute about 30% of GDP with the central government accounting for a major chunk.
There is no standardised nomenclature in public procurement in India and a mix of American, European and Indian nomenclature has become common. E.g. participants in the Tender are called tenderers and bidders.
The standard bidding document developed now, seeks to ease out this duality by mooting that
- the ‘Tender’ should refer to the tender document and process, while the term ‘Bid’ shall refer to the bidders’ pitches;
- ‘Bidder’ is to be used instead of ‘Tenderer’ to refer to potential suppliers and the usage ‘Bid document’ be done away with, as per the proposed model.