Tatas’ bid puts them in front to bag new Parliament building contract

Two Mumbai-based construction companies - Larsen & Toubro Limited and Tata Projects Limited - on Wednesday submitted financial bids after qualifying in the technical round for the tender to construct the new Parliament complex in which Tata Projects has emerged as the lowest bidder.

A spokesperson for Tata projects Ltd confirmed that the firm has emerged as the lowest bidder for the project.

Tata Projects Ltd has quoted a figure of ₹861.90 crore and Larsen and Toubro Ltd has quoted its bid of ₹865 crore for constructing the new Parliament complex.

According to the CPWD’s tender, the estimated cost of construction for the new building is ₹889 crore.

In total, three bidders had qualified in the technical round but only two firms ended up submitting their financial bids. The firms were scheduled to submit the financial bids on Wednesday.

“Only three parties had technically pre-qualified in the first round and only two have quoted their bids today. The firm that bags the contract will be issued a letter of award within a few days,” a senior government official said requesting anonymity.

The contract is likely to be awarded to the lowest bidder, the official added. To be clear, in infrastructure projects the firm is finalised only after getting the letter of award for the project.

The government had narrowed the list of choices for building a new Parliament complex to three Mumbai-based construction companies -- Larsen & Toubro Limited, Tata Projects Limited and Shapoorji Pallonji & Company Private Limited -- after disqualifying four other entities that bid for the contract, bringing it a step closer to tendering out the project, Hindustan Times had first reported on August 12.

In the technical round Mumbai-based construction and civil engineering company ITD Cementation India Limited, Hyderabad-headquartered NCC Limited , PSP Projects Limited of Ahmedabad, and Uttar Pradesh state government’s UP Rajkiya Nirman Nigam Limited were disqualified from the project by the Central Public Works Department (CPWD).

Based on an evaluation, CPWD disqualified four companies for reasons including non-fulfilment of the criteria mentioned in the bid document.

The tender laid out strict eligibility criteria based on a firm’s past work — such as having constructed an assembly hall with a minimum capacity of 1,000 people and a building with a basement — as well as ongoing projects, average monthly turnover, and net worth, among other factors.

Bidders had to specify similar work completed in the past seven years, ongoing projects, as well as tentative plans to meet their manpower requirement, source of construction materials, and establishment of facilities such as those meant for fabrication.

The proposed work is of very prestigious nature and is required to be completed strictly within the prescribed time limit of 21 months with the highest standards of quality and workmanship, the bid document said. The bid document also specified that 50% of the workers will need to be skilled for work of stone masonry, carving, fresco, furniture, and adequate health and safety measures would need to be taken in view of the prevailing Covid-19 pandemic.

Initially seven firms had evinced interest in the construction of the new Parliament building after pre-qualification bids invited by the Centre for its ambitious Central Vista redevelopment project.

Work on the new Parliament, a ground plus two-storey triangular-shaped building, is expected to begin after the ongoing monsoon session, HT reported on September 15.

India’s national emblem is likely to sit atop the new Parliament building, according to the latest design iteration prepared for the tendering process, replacing a spire that was meant to come up in an earlier version.

The new complex, with a built-up area of approximately 60,000 metre square, is set to come up on plot number 118 of the Parliament House Estate, which currently houses a reception, boundary walls and other temporary structures.

It will be among the first projects to be finalised and tendered out as part of the Central Vista redevelopment, which includes plans to turn North and South Block, situated opposite each other on Raisina Hill and which house top central government ministries, into a museum and the construction of new administrative offices with an underground metro.