CYBERAGE - RS 260 CRORE SCAM- THE CAT IS OUT OF THE BAG Copy/Paste: The Goan on Saturday It is one of Goa’s best kept secrets. A handful of suppliers in cahoots with state government officials have been rigging the Cyberage Tender for supply of personal computers, laptops, tablets and other computer peripherals to school children, since its inception. Data collated by The Goan and information collated through Right to Information requests have revealed that over 1,20,500 personal computers and laptops under Cyberage Student Scheme besides the 47000 tablets that had been fraudulently tendered under the newly launched Cyber student Scheme, had been awarded to the same cartel of state based suppliers. It has now been established that Panjim based Apex Computer and Engineering Services (ACES), Syscon Automation, Technoworld, Vasco based J P Computer Services (JPCS) and Ponda based Delta Technologies have been regularly cornering the Cyberage Tender valued at Rs 260 crores since its inception in 2002. The Usual Suspects Of these Campal based ACES has been regularly bagging the tender since 2002 as the L1 or the lowest bidding supplier. How was one supplier consistently able to get the numbers right and the rest of the computers and laptops equally distributed between four more suppliers leaves the case begging for an answer. In fact, two of the above suppliers JPCS and Technoworld too have been consistently figuring on the list of successful bidders on most of the occasions since the scheme first began. While Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has been consistently defending local suppliers saying The reason why we did not buy the tablets and laptops in bulk from the manufacturer, was because we took a policy decision when the Cyberage Scheme began. We wanted to give business to local dealers. We give the contract for supply to 15 dealers, not one or two. Business is distributed among 10 to 15 people”. Why then are the tenders being cornered by the Cyberage cartel of five suppliers? Cross Party Patronage. Scheme doctored to favour chosen few Interestingly, the Cartel (at least ACES, Technoworld and JPCS) have had the patronage of both the current ruling Bharatiya Janata Party that had kick started the scheme in 2002 and ran it till 2004 as well as Congress party since 2005 till 2011. Since 2012, the usual suspects find favour. What is interesting is the fact that the entire Cyberage Tender scheme was doctored to favour the chosen few. In 2002, when the first Cyberage Scheme was launched at a budget of Rs 11.12 crores, ACES the L1 bidder won half of the order. The next year, 2003, when the budget was increased to Rs 27.02 crores, ACES won 30% of the order under Open Category, 30% under the Successful Category (having got the order the previous year) and another 4% under the Goan category. The system was devised to ensure that ACES won a whopping 64% of the tender in its second year of inception. “In 2004, ACES grabbed 80% of the Cyberage order in 2004 using the same formula” says a source in Education Department. By then the allocated budget was a whopping Rs 51 crores. A system was designed that handed over a Rs 40 crore order to one supplier. The diff in bids between one bidder and next: Re 1 Here is just one snapshot of how the bidding process was completely manipulated. In the comparative statement of commercial bids that was opened for Supply of Computers under Cyberage Student Scheme on June 9, 2008, one of the most remarkable pieces of rigging happened. Under Option I “Computers of specific kind”, the lowest bidder L1 ACES had bid at Rs. 12688 per computer. The rest of the cartel - JPCS had bid at Rs 12689, Technoworld at Rs 12690 and Syscon at Rs 12691. The bids were apart by one Rupee each and the lowest bidder ACES grabbed 46% of the total tender valued at around Rs 30 crores. The rest of the spoils were equally shared by the cartel equitably. But then the Cartel did not bid just for the Option I like that. Even the Option II for computers had ACES, JPCS, Technoworld and Syscon bidding at Rs. 13572, Rs. 13573, Rs 13574 and Rs 13575 respectively in that order. The Education, Finance, Information Technology Department officials sitting on the Committee noticed nothing weird in this bidding and awarded ACES with the supply contract. Cross Departmental Amnesia From Directorate of Education to Goa Electronics Limited to Infotech Corporation of Goa, the Cyberage Cartel has found patronage across departments and the people who have sullied their hands with tactical support to this cartel reads like a Who’s who of Goa’s bureaucracy. For example in the period of 2007-8 till 2011-12, the then Director of Education Celsa Pinto, Deputy Director Education Anil Powar and Deputy Director (Technical) Praveen Volvotkar besides Joint Secretary (Finance) Dattaram Sardessai had all been a part of the Tender Evaluation Committee that evaluated these bids. How did they not notice a pattern year after year in the final list of bidders being the same group? These officials were clearly under instructions or influence to clear the usual suspects. This is a direct charge by The Goan While the ambitious scheme that promised a supply of one multimedia computer with peripherals moved on to be a scheme for supply of laptops and even tablets to make Goa an IT savvy state for its future generations. What has not changed are the usual suspects who have a stranglehold on the supplies for Cyberage Scheme. And no Chief Minister has managed to log out of this stranglehold. Meet the Cyberage Cartel Year Quantity Outlay Successful Bidders 2002 3000 11.12 ACES, Ace Brain 2003 15000 27.02 ACES, GTPL, Technoworld & JPCS 2004 15000 51 ACES, GTPL, Technoworld & JPCS 2005-06 /2006-07 22000 30 ACES, GTPL, Technoworld & JPCS 2007-08 10000 30 ACES, GTPL, Technoworld & JPCS 2009-10 11000 30 ACES, Syscon, Technoworld, Delta, JPCS 2011-12 26000 40 ACES, Syscon, Technoworld, Delta, JPCS 2013-14 18500 40 ACES, Syscon, Technoworld, Delta, JPCS, Amey, Computronics, Comtech
Posted on: Sat, 18 Jan 2014 03:51:20 +0000
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