Thursday, May 22, 2008

BSNL Has Thinned Its Procurement Guidelines

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd has thinned its procurement guidelines and will permit non-profit making equipment makers to supply mobile network gear. BSNL''s earlier tender for 45 million lines was highly controversial after the company had prohibited loss-making manufacturers from even bidding for the project. As a result, Motorola was not allowed to submit its bid. But now BSNL has given $90 million contract to Motorola to supply GSM network equipment for supporting an additional 2.3 million subscribers in the southern region. Motorola will be able to bid for BSNL''s upcoming 93 million line project, which is estimated to be worth $10 billion.

BSNL has also done away with the need that its suppliers should already have a manufacturing facility in India if they want to bid for projects. As per the new tender conditions for supply of 93 million GSM lines, companies without manufacturing facilities can bid for the contract and need to open a unit in the country only if they win the tender. In another move, the company has divided the tender into different parts of the network comprising core equipment, IT, billing among others.

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