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IPS officer Hemant Nimbalkar on Sunday said that the tender process in the multi-crore Bengaluru Safe City Project was not biased amid allegations of irregularities in the tender process. Karnataka Home Secretary D Roopa on Saturday had alleged that there were irregularities in the tender called for the project, particularly that Hemant Nimbalkar was trying to favour a private company.
Hemant Nimbalkar is the chairman of both the Tender Inviting Committee and the Tender Scrutiny Committee for the project. EY is a multinational professional services network, which was preparing the request for proposal document (tender document) in consultation with the tender committee.
In a press conference on Sunday, Hemant Nimbalkar stated that the tender process is not biased, "There is no bidder (for the project) at the moment since the final date (for submission of bids) is January 8. After the bid submission, technical bids will be opened and quality and cost will be considered. Then pre-qualification and technical qualification will be checked and they will be asked to give a proof of concept."
Speaking about the first two tender processes, he said, "BEL did not compete in Call 1 as a bidder. Three bidders who came forward did not qualify beyond the pre-qualification process and were not considered for the technical qualification process. So there is no question of bias coming here. Then in Call 2, three companies qualified in June - Larsen & Tourbo, Matrix and BEL. BEL's bid was accepted," he said.
"After this, it was decided by the tender committee that Chinese-made products should not be considered and decided to cancel the second tender," he said.
"I am not prepared to speak about personal statements or statements made in social media as the matter stands in court," he added.
In response, Roopa D said that the press conference by Hemant Nimbalkar did not answer questions of irregularities in the tender process. "He has called the tender with many irregularities. He has been misleading and giving misinformation to higher ups in the government upto the highest level. Today, (27-12-2020) he held a press conference but did not answer the questions of irregularities and the complaints that led to cancellation of tender two times," Roopa D said.
Roopa had earlier mentioned that the tender (request for proposal) was eventually dropped following a complaint made to the Prime Minister’s office by Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), a Ministry of Defence company, which had also placed a tender for the project but lost out to a private company. A letter by the company written to the Bengaluru Police Commissioner in November 2019 highlights that the terms and conditions for the request for proposal were in favour of one or two companies.
Roopa shared an official memorandum dated June 30 2020 by the Ministry of Commerce and Industries stating that the tender process will not be finalised before grievances raised by a company are not disposed off. She shared another letter by the vigilance wing of the Karnataka Government seeking a report from the Tender Committee on the irregularities.
She also said that there were irregularities even in the latest tender (call 3). According to her, one violation is related to the finance department. "The minimum annual turnover of a bidder must be 2-times the value of tender. Here tender value is Rs 620 Crores but minimum turnover fixed is Rs 250 Crores. Even with the latest amendment the minimum requirement is 100% of tender value or amount payable in the first year. Even that is about Rs 500 crores," Roopa stated.
The Bengaluru Safe City Project also known as the Nirbhaya Project involves setting up 7,500 cameras and other surveillance measures as a means of crime prevention against women and children in the city.
On Friday, Times of India published a report saying that an unnamed IPS officer had impersonated the Home Secretary to get confidential information about the project from a private auditor tasked with drawing up the tender documents for the project. While the complaint doesn't explicitly mention Roopa, it does refer to calls made by her.
It is unclear where the accusation of impersonation arises since Roopa is the Home Secretary.
Roopa hit back with a complaint against Nimbalkar stating that he was trying to avoid scrutiny of the tender as he was allegedly favouring a private firm for the project. She said that she was scrutinising the tendering process under the instructions of Additional Chief Secretary Home Rajneesh Goel, IAS. She said that she spoke to the auditor EY in her official capacity to collect details about the tender. She alleged that Nimbalkar made a false and motivated complaint against her.
Hemant Nimbalkar has been chargesheeted by the Central Bureau of Investigation in the multi-crore IMA Ponzi scheme case.