CHENNAI: Hinting at possible corruption, impropriety and misuse of official position, a Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) report said 289 tender bids related to road projects in the state were filed by private companies using the computer systems of state highways department officials between 2019 and 2021 during the AIADMK regime.
Highways department sources said an investigation is under way to determine whether officials themselves filed the tenders on behalf of the companies or facilitated representatives of those companies to file tenders using their office systems.
The CAG report on performance audit of the department tabled in the Assembly on Friday revealed that 289 bids were filed for 214 projects using 57 computer systems of highways department officials from multiple locations between August 2019 and August 2021 on behalf of 87 contractors. Of these 289 bids, 71 were successful and projects were awarded to various L1 contractors or lowest bidders.
“Submission of bids through departmental computers indicated breach of tender ethics by bidders,” the report said. Similarly, 2,091 bids were submitted by 528 contractors using same IP addresses. This means, a single construction company has submitted multiple bids using different names using the same system. Of those 2,091 bids, 490 were awarded to L1 contractors, the report said.
A total of 276 tenders were found to have been submitted by all participating contractors using the same IP address, indicating that certain contractors may have colluded with each other. For instance, for a road widening project in Thiruchengodu subdivision during 2019-20, three bidders --- VRV Construction, T Kolandivelu & Co and P Sivaperumal --- submitted bids from the same IP address.
Although two bidders quoted the same amount of Rs 5.69 crore, VRV Construction emerged the lowest bidder and was awarded the contract. Similarly, a few more road companies, suspected to have been working as a cartel, were awarded road contracts in Salem circle and other regions of the state on multiple occasions.
Last August, principal secretary of highways department responded to these observations made by the CAG stating that instructions have been issued to authorities responsible for inviting tenders to investigate such lapses and take strict action.