CAG raises questions on Goa govt's e-tendering process

A report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India tabled in the Goa Assembly on Friday picked holes in the state government's e-tendering policy.

The CAG report, for the fiscal 2017-18, said several activities were done manually, thus defeating the purpose of the e-tendering process.

"The government of Goa implemented an e-tendering solution named TenderWizard with the objective of improving transparency and efficiency in procurement process across all departments, offices, autonomous bodies, and public sector companies/cooperations in the state," it said.

The performance audit of e-tendering was conducted for a five-year period from 2013-14 to 2017-18, the report said, adding that implementation of TenderWizard was not supported by adequate training and awareness among users and many relied on help desk staff of the private technology partner for tendering activities.

"The role and responsibility of Information Technology Goa (ITG) as the implementing agency was not spelt out. As key modules were not implemented, many activities were performed manually thereby delaying finalisation or opening of tenders, awarding of contracts and refund of earnest money deposit," the CAG report pointed out.

It said manual interventions in releasing tender documents to bidders after receipt of tender form fees and the users' reliance on help desk for bids and tenders compromised transparency and secrecy.

"Government rules on minimum time for submission of bids and collection of tender processing fee and earnest money deposit were not built into the system," it said.

The CAG report said inadequate validation controls over data and absence of separation of duties enabled users to perform multiple e-tendering roles affecting the integrity of action done.