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Patna, 06 November (HS). The controversy over the tender opened for pathology services at the health centers of State Health Society Bihar has now reached the Patna High Court. POCT Services, a company which is already providing pathological test services in all the health centers of Bihar, has filed a petition in the Patna High Court demanding cancellation of the tender of the State Health Society. It has been said in the petition that there are irregularities in the entire tender process. Ignoring the terms and conditions of the tender, work order is being given to a particular company.
It is noteworthy that the State Health Society Bihar has issued a letter of intent to the L2 company Hindustan Wellness by excluding the L1 company in this tender from the tender process due to different rates being quoted. POCT Services has challenged the technical qualifications of Hindustan Wellness in the High Court, claiming that Hindustan Wellness did not meet the tender conditions. The hearing on POCT Services' petition No. CW, 25376/2024 is likely to be held soon after the Chhath holiday.
POCT Services has stated in the petition that Hindustan Wellness Pvt Ltd (which has been classified as L2 in the tender evaluation process) does not have the required testing capacity of 20 lakh tests per annum as per Section V, Clause 2.4 of the tender document. A major requirement is to have a capacity of 20 lakh tests under the conditions prescribed under. Without this essential capability it is difficult for any company to participate further in the tender process. Strict adherence to the eligibility criteria outlined in the Bihar Financial Rules is mandatory to ensure that only competent bidders are allowed to proceed who can fully comply with the requirements of the tender.
The petition also states that the bid of Hindustan Wellness Pvt Ltd is non-compliant. Therefore it cannot be declared as the successful bidder. Allowing such a bidder to proceed in the tender process directly means compromising the quality of pathology services provided to public health facilities in the state of Bihar. It is noteworthy that since October 23, there are allegations of irregularities in the open tender of Bihar Health Department. Six of the seven companies participating in this tender say that in the financial tenders for Pathology Services which were opened by the Health Committee late in the evening on October 23, there is a lot of disparity in the financial bid of the L1 company Science House.
In the tender opened, this company has quoted different rates at different places. When other companies involved in this tender raised this issue, the Health Department officials were seen looking away and after about one and a half hour, they sent all the companies out saying that the tender committee will look into this issue and whatever decision will be taken, it will be posted on the website. Will be uploaded on. The biggest irregularity seen was that the Health Department did not get anyone's signature on the action sheet after the tender was opened and the officials were seen ending the action in a hurry.
It is noteworthy that Bihar Health Committee floated tender for pathology tests at all government health centres. Its last date was October 3. Under NIT No. 09/SHSB/Pathology Services/2024-25, seven companies were found technically capable for this. The tender was opened on October 23 at 5 pm. In this, Science House Company was described as L1.
It is being said that during this process, representatives of some companies participating in the tender noticed that different rates were quoted at different places in the video of Science House. Science House gave the figure of 1% discount on two sheets and 77% discount on one sheet. It was also seen that the officers who opened the video were seen manually converting the 1 percent sheet into 77 percent. When other participants lodged an objection on this, all the officers went to the ED room and after about an hour an officer was told that this objection will be considered by the Health Committee and whatever decision will be taken, it will be uploaded on the website. . The officials even refused to accept the written objection. For this reason, the companies participating in the tender sent their objection to the department through e-mail.
Later, the State Health Society Bihar itself admitted that the objection lodged regarding Science House was correct and, excluding it from the tender process, issued a letter in favor of the company Hindustan Wellness Private Limited, which came as L2 in the tender evaluation process. . Now the matter is in the High Court and the future of this tender has to be decided from there.