BSNL North deal hangs in balance for HCL Info

HCL Infosystems has yet again quoted the lowest amount for executing an IT implementation project for BSNL in the north zone. However, whether or not it will be awarded the contract remains to be seen as BSNL officials have 'found some discrepancies' in the Rs 860-crore bid, two persons familiar with the development told Business Line.

"Total bid prices are calculated as the product of unit rate and quantity quoted (per man month). HCL seems to have erred in quoting the same figures for unit price and the total bid price," a source close to the development told Business Line.

Another source said: "HCL seems to have miscalculated at the line item level thereby increasing the actual bid prices to the extent it has become the highest bidder in all zones."

On being asked about the discrepancy in bid prices, the company's official spokesperson said: "HCL has been working with the Government and PSUs for decades now and we take pride in successful completion of such large projects. BSNL is the authority qualified to make a statement on this issue. HCL Infosystems being a vendor cannot comment on this, as we are not privy to any information. We have not received any formal information from BSNL as yet."

BSNL had invited bids for setting up operations support systems (OSS) and business support system (BSS) software TCS, Spanco stand better chance.

For the north zone, the second lowest and third lowest bidders - Tata Consultancy Services and Spanco Telesystems - have a decent chance of bagging the contract, sources say.

TCS was the second lowest bidder at Rs 906 crore followed by Spanco Telesystems at Rs 1020 crore and Infosys Technologies at Rs 1067 crore. HCL was the lowest bidder for BSNL`s contracts in the other three zones.
Taken from Business Line