By IANS
Chandigarh : The Haryana government Thursday launched an e-tendering facility for its projects.
The process has initially been launched in the public works department (PWD) as a pilot project.
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda launched the facility for the prime minister’s rural roads project involving 15 tenders worth Rs.2.66 billion.
Hooda announced that e-tendering will be started in other government departments shortly.
“It will not only bring transparency but also check delays. Roads and canals are indicators of a state’s development,” Hooda said.
He said that shortly, Haryana government departments would start the e-procurement process for their purchases.
“Government purchases and tendering will be done through the Internet,” Hooda said.
The chief minister said that a plan for e-tendering worth Rs.5 billion had already been prepared and this would be subsequently extended to Rs.10 billion.
“It will be a completely transparent process and yet maintain the secrecy of the applicants,” PWD secretary K.K. Jalan said at the launch.
Jalan said that with e-tendering, one could file tenders from anywhere.
The service providers have introduced a unique system for the maintenance of secrecy of the financial bids. In case of any tampering in the process, it will be known. The department would also open a help desk to solve the problems that contractors might face initially, he said.
He said that earlier the system used to take 21 days to process the tenders, but now these would be processed within a few hours.