Team Goemkarponn
PANAJI: The Public Works Department (PWD) was in disarray after an Executive Engineer made a “human error” in an e-tender procedure, and the Goa Contractors Union (GCU) objected to a non-Goan contractor participating in the tender.
The GCU’s president, Sunil Signapurkar, led a team that met with PWD Chief Engineer Santosh Mhapne to express their adamant objection to a construction company from Madhya Pradesh taking part in Goa’s e-tendering process. They advised him to turn down bids from contractors who were not from the State and did not have a GST registration headquartered in Goa.
Signapurkar underlined the union’s dedication to protecting Goa PWD-registered contractors’ interests. “The livelihood of Goan contractors would be threatened if out-of-state contractors were permitted to participate in the tendering process,” he stated.
According to GCU spokeswoman Jitesh Kamat, accepting the technological evaluation and calling it a “human error” creates a risky precedent. He cautioned that such mistakes should not be made again since they could seriously harm Goan engineers and contractors.
In addition to Signapurkar and Kamat, the delegation also comprised Ashok Harjan, former president Sangram Kerkar, general secretary Rajesh Haldankar, treasurer Amol Navelkar, secretaries Sandesh Potnis and Umesh Gadekar, and other prominent members.
The two-step e-tendering system process—technical evaluation and financial bid opening—was emphasized by the delegation. They claimed that an outside-State contractor should have been disqualified outright for the oversight that allowed them to pass the technical evaluation step.
During the technical evaluation phase, the union encouraged the PWD Minister to issue a notification requiring the rejection of non-registered contractors. They also asked that tender announcements make it explicit whether or not contractors from other states are allowed, particularly for specialized work.
