The pre-bid meeting for the captioned tender was held on January 20, 2021 at 11:00 AM in the Board Room, Main Office Building, Reserve Bank of India, Thiruvananthapuram. The meeting was chaired by Shri P Manoj, General Manager, Estate Department. Officials from Estate Department and representatives from various companies/agencies (list attached in Annex) participated in the meeting.
Shri V Jayaraj, Assistant General Manager, Estate Department welcomed all participants to the meeting and invited for queries, if any, from the prospective bidders regarding the captioned tender.
Details of queries raised by representatives of various companies/agencies and clarification/comments of the Bank are tabulated below.
| Sl. No. |
Query |
Comments/Corrigendum |
| 1 |
Whether the contractor is mandated to submit any documents/certificates to Bank, obtained from Pollution Control Board regarding the disposal of plastic waste |
Contractor is not mandated to submit any documents/certificates to the Bank. However, it is the responsibility of the contractor to obtain all necessary statutory approvals from various Government agencies concerned, regarding the disposal of plastic waste. The Bank shall not be held responsible in any way for any loss/damage/penalty caused/imposed to the Contractor in this regard. |
| 2 |
Whether any transaction fee has to be paid to the Bank for participating in the Tender |
No payment has to be made to the Bank in this regard. Payment of applicable transaction fee has to be made only through MSTC Gateway/NEFT/RTGS in favour of MSTC Limited. |
| 3 |
Any relaxation of age criteria for staff employed by the contractor is expected from the Bank |
No. The contractor shall engage men/women under the captioned contract whose age shall be between 18 and 55. |
| 4 |
Whether gardeners deployed by the contractor should fall under the category of semi-skilled labour |
No. The gardeners shall fall under the category of unskilled labour. |
| 5 |
Whether the contractor has to utilize any specific materials/brands of manure for horticulture works. |
No particular brands of manure is specified by the Bank. However, it is the responsibility of the contractor to utilize the best quality manure for the proper maintenance/upkeep of horticulture works. Any failure in proper upkeep will constrain the Bank to impose penalty as specified in the tender document.
About the materials/brands for cleaning materials/handwash/consumables/chemicals etc., the contractor has to strictly adhere to the brands specified in the tender document. |
| 6 |
Whether the Bank will reimburse the additional expenditure incurred by the contractor in the event of increase of statutory minimum wages by Government of India |
The quote offered by the Contractor in the financial bid shall be firm and final and the Bank will not entertain the Contractor’s claim for revision of rates during the currency of contract except when changes in two components of minimum rates of wages only viz. the Basic rates and Variable Dearness Allowance (VDA), as announced by the Government of India under the Minimum Wages Act. The amount of such hike in monthly contract amount, in proportion to the monthly duties, will be restricted only to the increase in Basic rates and Variable Dearness Allowance (VDA). As specified in para 2.3. of the tender document, any other components which form part of wages or allowance which are statutory in nature viz. EPF, ESI, Bonus etc. which are dependent on the Basic rates and/or Variable Dearness Allowance (VDA) will not be considered by the Bank for the revision in monthly contract amount. |
| 7 |
Clarification on number of working days |
Labours employed by the contractor may be granted 4 days paid off every month (5 days paid off for months having 31 days). Additional payment towards wages for relievers, services rendered by labours on National and Festival holidays etc. shall be borne by the contractor. Contractor is bound to maintain prescribed number of workers/supervisors at all days in a week as specified in the tender document. Any shortfall observed in maintaining the specified manpower requirement will force the Bank to impose penalty as stipulated in the tender document |
| 8 |
Whether any relaxation in EMD available for NSIC registered agencies |
No |
| 9 |
Clarification on arrangements available at the Bank for waste disposal. |
Food wastes and other wastes collected from various residential flats and Main Office Premises have to be segregated into degradable and non-degradable wastes by the workers. The contractor may utilize the Organic Waste Converters and Bio-Digester plant installed at various premises for processing of food wastes and other wastes like garden wastes, dry leaves, figs, branches etc. may be incinerated by utilizing the full capacity of incinerator package installed at colonies, without resorting to open burning of waste. In case of substantial increase in the amount of waste generated in the Bank’s premises, the contractor may arrange for disposal of wastes from the Bank’s premises and the cost of such arrangement should be borne by the contractor. All plastic/glass wastes, non- biodegradable wastes, recyclable wastes etc. shall be disposed from the Bank’s premises without affecting the environment as per Pollution Control Board regulations. The contractor shall be solely responsible for disposal of waste at appropriate avenues and the Bank shall not be liable or held responsible in this regard. |
| 10 |
Whether the contractor has to submit the police verification reports of employees deployed at residential colonies. |
Yes, the contractor has to submit the necessary Police Verification Certificate of each workmen / supervisors / officials deployed at Main Office Premises and residential colonies, from Local Police Authorities about his/her antecedence within 45 days of deployment. Any change of deployment also needs to be submitted for the above provision without any lapses. |
| 11 |
As per the tender document, hand wash bottles have to be provided at each washbasins and fragrant urinal screen mats at each urinals, installed at Main Office Premises. What is the approximate number of washbasins and urinals installed at Main Office Premises. |
The approximate number of washbasins is 35 and urinals is 25. |
| 12 |
Whether the cleaning of canal at RBI Staff Quarters, Thamalam fall under the scope of work of the contractor. |
Yes. As the cleaning works of canal at Thamalam quarters warrants deployment of additional manpower, the contractor may keep in mind the additional expenses which are likely to be incurred in this regard, while offering their financial bid, to accommodate these incremental costs. |
| 13 |
Clarification on the format prescribed in the tender document for Client’s certificate. |
The format prescribed for Client’s certificate is prepared based on RBI’s Premises Department Manual and hence no deviation is allowed from the prescribed format. However, the Bank will accept the client certificate, if all the particulars as mentioned in the prescribed format are furnished in the format submitted by the contractor. |
| 14 |
Whether the Bank has specified any standards in the uniforms to be provided to workers/supervisors. |
No. The Bank has not specified any standards in this regard and the contractor is free to provide uniforms of their choice which suits the decorum of the Bank. The contractor need to ensure wearing of uniforms by their workers during the working hours |
| 15 |
Other clarifications |
The Bank has arrived at the estimated cost of the tender after taking into account the current minimum wage rate i.e., the basic wage and variable dearness allowance, announced by the Office of Chief Labour Commissioner (C), Government of India and minimum service charges for the company/agency. However, while offering the financial bid, the contractor may keep in mind, likely expenses on account of price escalation in wage components, incidental expenses related to disposal of various wastes from the Bank’s premises, cleaning of canals, choice of brands of cleaning materials to be utilised by the agency/company, etc. |
Smt. Swapna Nair S, Assistant Manager, Estate Department thanked all the participants. The meeting concluded at 12:15 PM.