AP government amends Amaravati tender process

Changes were notified after the govt's advocate general had assured the Hyderabad High Court of revising the bidding process

Andhra Pradesh government on Monday extended the deadline for submission of counter bids for Amaravati capital city start-up area by little over three weeks. It has also proposed to disclose the commercial offer made by the original project proponent (OPP) to the qualified bidders one week prior to the bid due date.

The changes were notified after the government's advocate general had assured the Hyderabad High Court of revising the bidding process related to these matters on Friday. The court was hearing a writ petition filed by a local construction company, which has questioned non-disclosure of the commercial offer made by the OPP in the Swiss Challenge method adopted for the selection of the government partner.

On July 18, 2016 Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority (APCRDA) had invited counter bids to a proposal submitted by a consortium Singapore-based companies comprising of Ascendas-Singbridge Pvt Limited for the development of Amaravati start-up area of 6.84 square km.

However, the commercial offer-the share in gross sales revenue offered to the government in this case-made by the Singapore consortium was not disclosed in the bid document by the authorities. Incidentally, the share in gross sales revenue was the sole criteria for the selection of the master developer.

The petitioner questioned the legality of non-disclosure of this key information to the potential bidders. As the court found merit in the petitioner's argument the government offered to make suitable amendments to ongoing bidding process. The court is expected to take a view on these changes when the case comes up for hearing on Tuesday.

According to the original time line, the bidders were supposed to file their counter bids by September 1, 2016. As per the revised process, the applicants were given time up to September 23, 2016. The declaration of the list of qualified challenging bidders and the opening of the OPP's commercial offer will be done on September 16.