CESL Launched its Mega Procurement Tender for 5,690 E-Buses in India

To empower the electric mobility revolution in India, Convergence Energy Services Ltd (CESL), a fully owned subsidiary company of EESL, has invited bids to select bus operators for the procurement, along with operation and maintenance of newly manufactured 5,690 electric buses and development of EV infrastructure under National E-Bus Program (Phase-1).

As per recent sources, procurement is divided into seven different phases. And the last date for submitting a bid online is 4 November 2022, when bids will be checked the same day. It's a unified tender requesting proposals for the provision of mobility services with the participation of Delhi, Haryana, Gujarat, Telangana, and Arunachal Pradesh. It's the first tender issued by CESL under the "National eBuses Program," which aims to manufacture and run 50,000 e-buses across India.

If the bidder gets selected for the procurement, they will have to furnish 3% of the contract amount as performance security within 28 days of approval. Moreover, the successful bidder will also have to submit the 10% of the contract amount within 90 days from the date of contract approval.

Standard facilities and benefits are applicable to micro and small enterprises (MSE) to perform in the tender. Around 25% of purchase preference is available for MSE, 3% is reserved for women-owned MSE, and 4% is reserved for SC/ST-owned MSE firms. If the provided price of MSE ranges within L1+15%, such MSE is eligible to supply 25% of the total tendered quantity by taking its price near to L1.

To perform in this bid, the MSE must have manufactured at least 25 electric buses and 1,000 CNG buses in India. Moreover, the L1 bidder must have an average annual turnover of Rs 38 billion; for L2, the company should have a minimum turnover of Rs 556.9 million; for L3, the company has an average annual turnover of Rs 560.3 million from the last three financial years. Moreover, for lot 4, the bidder must be witnessing the minimum average turnover of Rs 1.17 billion; for L5, the bidder should have at least Rs 158 million average annual turnover; for lot 6, it's essential to have Rs 3.3 million. For lot 7, it's essential to have Rs 757.4 million turnover from the last three financial years.

Along with this, the bidder must also have a positive net worth and have not eroded by more than 30% from the last three financial years. There will be liquidated damages if the operator fails to deliver the required quantity. As per sources, 0.55 of the value of delayed equipment for each week of delay and a maximum of 5% of the total contract will be liable to pay the damage charges.

This January, CESL launched this bid under the "Grand Challenge Program," where it was selecting the operator for procurement, operation, and maintenance of 5,450 e-buses, 135 double-decker e-buses, and electric and civil infrastructure. Before it, this company also launched a tender to empanel vendors to lease 1000 electric wheelers for various government departments and clients in India.