Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd has finalised a contract to buy 10 lakh data cards for 3G services from three vendors. The deal, valued at Rs 120 crore, will be given to HFCL, Teracom and Chinese supplier Huawei.
BSNL had conducted online bidding for the first time to select the vendors.
While HFCL will supply 5.25 lakh 3G cards for Rs 61 crore, Teracom has bagged contract for 4.25 data cards at Rs 51 crore .
Huewei will supply the balance 50,000 cards for Rs 7.5 crore. This is the first time BSNL has adopted online-reverse auction for purchase of any equipment.
The tender was for procuring 10 Lakh 3G USB Datacards in three variants offering a speed of 3.6, 7.2 & 14.2 Mbps.
According to Teracom, BSNL saved Rs 41 crore by adopting this online-reverse auction process. Teracom had earlier supplied 3 lakhs data cards to the PSU.
The adoption of online auction process by BSNL is a significant departure from the past. Processes adopted earlier had come under severe criticism as it resulted in delays and allegations of corruption and manipulation in awarding contracts.
A committee headed by Mr Sam Pitroda had suggested changing the procurement process.
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