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P. Manoj

New Delhi , Dec. 23

THE Government has tightened the contracts for consultants preparing Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) to ensure greater accountability and has incorporated changes in the pre-qualification and selection of civil contractors for highway projects in the wake of alleged irregularities in the implementation of National Highways Development Project (NHDP).

In the new DPR contracts, specific provisions have been incorporated on performance security, retention money, penalty and penal action. Accordingly, the DPR consultants will have to submit a bank guarantee worth 10 per cent of the consultancy contract value as performance security till the completion of the civil works contract, the Minister of Road Transport & Highways, Mr B.C. Khanduri told the Lok Sabha in a written reply.

Besides, the DPR consultants will have to give a retention money of 5 per cent of the contract value which will be returned only after the civil works contract is completed.

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will impose a penalty of 5 per cent of the consultancy contract value on the DPR consultants if variation of individual quantities or overall cost is more than plus or minus 15 per cent.In case of major deficiency, other penal action including debarment will be considered.

The Minister said that the Government has initiated action against DPR consultants in cases where major variations were necessitated due to deficiencies in the DPRs.

For the pre-qualification and selection of civil contractors, Mr Khanduri said that the norms for calculating bid capacity of the bidders have been revised to limit the value of contracts any single contractor can have at any point of time.

In the case of joint ventures, all partners are now required to submit performance guarantee in proportion to their share in the joint ventures. Earlier, in most cases, any one partner could give the entire guarantee.

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