Single bid for national highway projects will be acceptable: Morth

Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) on Wednesday said that even a single bid for national highways work will be considered if it is reasonable.

As per the circular, the bidding process will not be cancelled if there is only one bidder for a highway project.

"Even when only one bid is submitted, the process should be considered valid, provided the procurement was satisfactory advertised and sufficient time was given for submission of bids, the qualification criteria were not restrictive and prices are reasonable in comparison to market value, " it said.

Regarding reasonableness of the prices, the circular said the evaluation committee may examine the rates taking into consideration the comparison with the similar contracts awarded elsewhere.

The purchase price of similar contracts may be updated taking into consideration inflation during the interim period, geographical conditions etc, it added.

The circular said the purchase price of similar contracts may also be corrected to match the carriage of materials required for the instant projects vis-a-vis carriage of materials in the project being compared.