Central Vigilance Commissioner, GoI, inaugurates 2 day workshop on contracts and arbitration at Hyderabad

Hyderabad: Inaugurated by the Central Vigilance Commissioner, GOI Shri Sharad Kumar at Hyderabad today, more than 100 PSU executives participated in the 2 day workshop on contracts and arbitration for strengthening contract formulation. CMD, NMDC Shri N. Baijendra Kumar, independent Directors Shri Ashok Kumar Angurana, Shri D Kuppuramu along with Director - Production Shri P. K. Satpathy, Director - Finance Shri Amitava Mukherjee, Director - Commercial Shri Alok Mehta, Director - Personnel Shri Sumit Deb, and Shri VVS Sreenivas, Chief Vigilance Officer, were also present during the inauguration.
The workshop is designed to help improve the quality of tendering by mentoring front line staff from junior management level to middle management level on various stages of tendering and how adequate care to be taken to ensure successful execution without complications. Hosted by NMDC, the workshop also has participants from Mishra Dhatu Nigam (Midhani), Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL), Electronic Corporation of India (ECIL).

Speaking on the occasion, Shri Sharad Kumar, CVC, GOI said, “, “This is an important workshop as the PSUs have to be extra vigilant to check that no mistakes happen during both tendering and during execution of contract”. He added that L1 system in tenders is under review for achieving quality and rate reasonableness in public procurement. “L1 may not be the best way to decide on a tender as quality may suffer if we only decide on this basis of Cost and that will have adverse impact on the organization and that Independent External Monitors (IEM) role starts when a contractual matter is referred and not as alternative to vigilance”, he added.

Shri N. Baijendra Kumar, IAS, CMD, NMDC in his address said, ““For PSU organizations like NMDC preparing a foolproof contract is of utmost importance as there have been many cases when the organization had to go into arbitration due to vague contracts.” He urged officials of CPSEs to have thorough knowledge of tendering to achieve best results and avert arbitrations/ disputes and added that understanding of contract preparation and management will lead to expertise and help in finalizing contracts in a transparent way.

Shri VVS Sreenivas, Chief Vigilance Officer, NMDC, said, “This workshop on Contracts and Arbitration is to equip officials of CPSEs to take efficient decisions & handle arbitrations confidently. “Arbitration should be an exception as it outlines context-specific standards, knowledge, skills, and attributes that the CPSEs need in order to support the tendering and contract process, as well as content to support the development of the organizational objectives”, he concluded.

Mr. K Rama Subramania Pillai, FA & CAO (rtd), Southern Railway, Mr. E R Sreekumar, Executive Director (rtd), NMDC, and Mr. A Preetam Kumar, General Manager (rtd), Materials Management, NMDC, are the facilitators of the workshop. The models were developed through consultation with experts and practitioners with support from officials of the CVC office, GOI and the Chief Vigilance Officer, NMDC.