Reserve Bank of India, Department of Currency Management, Central Office, 4th Floor, Amar Building, Sir P.M. Marg, Fort, Mumbai had invited global tenders for supply of Currency Verification & Processing Systems (CVPS) on July 28, 2017.
2. In this context, it is notified that:
(a) The last date for submission of tenders has been extended to 3.00 pm on September 13, 2017.
(b) The Technical Bids (Part-I) will be opened at 5.00 pm on September 13, 2017 at:
Minutes of the Pre bid meeting - Supply of Currency Verification & Processing Systems (CVPS)
Shri Jayant Kumar Banthia, Independent Monitor for pre-bid/ pre-contract Integrity Pact for this tender observed the Pre Bid meeting.
2. The issues raised by the vendors regarding the technical and commercial specifications and other terms and conditions of the tender document were clarified/noted. The clarifications to the points raised by the vendors are furnished in Annex B.
| Sr. No | Name of the vendor | Clause/page no/Particulars | Query Raised by the vendor | Our Comments |
| 1 | Toshiba & CPS | XIII – Closing date and time of tender | Request RBI to extend the tender submission by 3 to 4 weeks | The Tender submission date has been extended to 1500 hrs. on September 13, 2017. |
| 2 | CPS | X - Earnest Money Deposit (EMD) along with the tender | Request RBI for reducing the EMD to INR 25,000,000 | No, EMD will be as specified in the tender document. |
| 3 | CPS | Page 4, point 8 - | Clarity on type of reports to be furnished to the RBI from customers of the CVPS Machines and if the reports to be submitted along with technical bid | The bidder has to submit along with the Technical Bid, a letter issued by the Central Bank / Monetary Authority to which the bidder has supplied similar CVPS machines, certifying that they have purchased the CVPS machines from the bidder and are satisfied with the performance of machines and after sales service provided by the bidder. |
| 4 | CPS/Toshiba, G&D | G – 1.1.iii, page 23 | Benchmark testing would be more productive at respective vendor’s manufacturing site. | Benchmark testing will be done at bidder’s site or a site to be identified by the bidder after mutual consultation with the purchaser. |
| 5 | CPS | Page 4, point 11 - AMC | Request RBI to consider extend the AMC to 7 years after expiry of warranty | AMC period stands extended by three (3) years, i.e. comprehensive AMC would be for seven (7) years after the warranty period as notified in the tender. Thus, contract period increases from seven (7) years to ten (10) years. The relevant paras in the Tender document may be read accordingly. RBI reserves the right to continue the AMC on an annual basis, post warranty, based on satisfactory delivery of services by the vendor. |
| 6 | CPS | Page 4, point 12 – adaption of machine | Request RBI to limit this requirement to adaptations that can be implemented using the supplied hardware via configuration | Not acceptable. The vendor has to carry out re-adaptation of the machines during the period of contract (3 years warranty plus 7 years AMC). |
| 7 | CPS | Page 13, point 2 – Tender Currency | The majority of costs for most tenderers will be in US$ or Euros so the ability to quote in either of these currencies will enable tenderers to provide the best value to the RBI as they will not need to factor currency risk into the pricing | The tenderer has to quote the price in INR only. |
| 8 | CPS | Page 30, point 10.2 - part shipments and /or tran-shipments | Would the RBI allow tenderers to bid on the basis of part shipments to enable a phased roll-out to reduce cost and risk? | Yes, provided, deliveries are made of complete machines. The successful bidder can deliver the machines in lots in consultation with the purchaser within the prescribed delivery schedule. |
| 9 | CPS | Page 36, 5.1 – Security deposit/bond guarantee | Request that the RBI reduce the performance security to 5% of the contract value following the SAT (i.e. during the warranty period) to reflect the reduced risk to the RBI following a successful SAT. | No, Performance Security will be as specified in the Tender document. |
| 10 | CPS/G&D | Page 42/43 – Terms of payment | Request that RBI modifies the payment terms to 20% on completions of FAT, 60% on delivery, 20% on completion of SAT. | The modified terms of payment is as under : (i) Payment terms specified in clause 19.1.a remains unchanged. (ii) Clause 19.1.b has been modified as under; 30% of the contract price on completion of erection, testing and commissioning of the equipment(s)/system(s) and after completion of site acceptance tests and verification of Performance security submitted along with LOI. (iii) Clause 19.1.c stands deleted and 19.1.d has been modified as under: Pro-rata milestone payments as indicated above in para b) can be made at the option of the vendor upon successful completion of activities at individual sites. |
| | CPS | Page 48/49 – service contract | Clarify how many shifts will be in operation at each of the sites. | Normally one (1) shift. However the number of shifts may increase depending upon the requirement of the bank. |
| 12 | CPS | Page 48/49 – Service contract | Are the requirements for the Warranty Period the same as those stipulated for the Annual Maintenance Contract e.g. the requirement to have one qualified engineer at each site per shift? | Yes |
| 13 | CPS | Page 69, point 1 - Eligibility Criteria | Will the RBI accept Tenderers that have supplied the requisite 10 CVPS machines to a single customer or does the RBI require that Tenderers have supplied CVPS machines to multiple customers. | The requirement is that the bidder should have supplied 10 CVPS machines of similar specifications either to a single customer or multiple customers. Customer/s should be Central Banks/ Monetary Authorities. |
| 14 | Toshiba | Benchmark testing | Elaborate on schedule and requirement for benchmark testing Is it as per Annexure II, which is Technical evaluation matrix | Benchmark testing to be done as part of the Technical evaluation process before opening of Part II (price bid) of the tender. The Bench mark testing will usually be carried out for 3 to 5 days. Requirement has been specified in Technical evaluation matrix – Annex II of tender document. Benchmark testing shall be as per Annex II. All tests will be done at least three times till the three consecutive successful tests. Shredding function will also be tested. |
| 15 | Toshiba | Page 12, Note 2 - Third party sensors | Does this mean the machine supplier should (can) specify its own interface to use for integrating third party sensors? If yes, this means the bank will prepare the sensor with the interface according to the specs specified by the machine supplier.
If not, could you please kindly specify the interface for the third party detectors?
(Mechanical, electrical and communication method, etc.) By when such information will be made available. Please advise. | The machines should have capability for installation of third party sensors. On authorisation from RBI, the bidder will contact supplier of the sensor and then it will be the responsibility of the bidder for coordinating with the supplier of sensor for successful integration of the sensor with the machine. The Purchaser will facilitate, if necessary. |
| 16 | Toshiba | Page 14, point 4 – Agent | As Toshiba Corporation is manufacturing these machines in Japan and therefore it’s 100% owned Indian subsidiary Toshiba India Pvt. Ltd, having all Govt. of India compliance as per the tender requirement will be bidding the tender. Kindly confirm. | A wholly owned subsidiary is allowed to bid subject to authorisation from the Parent Company. In such case, the bidder shall provide details of experience for past supplies of the parent company. |
| 17 | Toshiba | | What is discount factor | The process of converting future AMC payments to present value for arriving at TCO and discount factor on account of it was explained. |
| 18 | Toshiba | Page 54, point 3 – Ultimate Consignee | In case of parallel contract, how site allocation will be done between different supplies. Please clarify. | Site allocation would be done at the time of awarding of contract. |
| 18 a | Toshiba | Sec 1 – NIT – EMD | As Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) is a Scheduled Commercial Bank (SCB) in India (as per attached document), so please confirm that EMD BG issued by SMBC can be accepted as valid EMD along with this tender | Yes |
| 19 | G&D | Page 23, point 9, GIT clause G(1.1.iii) | Whether bench mark testing would be conducted prior to the awarding of contract at tenderer's site by the purchaser at its discretion or after commissioning of the equipment at the project site | Benchmark testing to be done as part of the Technical evaluation process before opening of Part II (price bid) of the tender. The Bench mark testing will usually be carried out for 3 to 5 days. Requirement has been specified in Technical evaluation matrix – Annex II of tender document. Benchmark testing shall be as per Annex II. All tests will be done at least three times till the three consecutive successful tests. Shredding function will also be tested on dummy notes to be provided by the bidder. |
| 20 | G&D | Page 49, point 30.3 - System uptime | System uptime should be calculated based on Average uptime of 90% for all CVPS machines calculated on a quarterly basis. | System uptime should be as specified in the tender document, i.e. 95%. |
| 21 | G&D | Page 96, Annex II, technical evaluation | All currently available features can be authenticated by the systems however we cannot be sure of the future features that RBI may incorporate into the banknote. Sensors for these would need to be purchased by RBI separately and also the adaptation for the same would need to be carried out at extra cost. | RBI will inform the successful bidder the new security features as and when they are introduced during the contract period and third party sensors, if any, required to identify the security feature. It will be the responsibility of the successful bidder to carry out necessary modification of the machines including re-adaptation for processing any new denomination or new series of notes, notes with new security features and integration of additional sensors to identify the security features. During the contract period no extra cost will be borne by the Purchaser for this purpose. The Purchaser will facilitate, if necessary. |
| 22 | G&D | Page 36, clause 7.3.2 (v) | Currently the machine interface supports known 3rd party sensors however in case RBI chooses an new feature with a special sensor the necessary compatibility would need to be checked and maybe additional cost may be necessary for the hardware interface. | Machines should be capable of accommodating third party sensors. No additional cost will be paid by the purchaser for integrating any additional sensor during the contract period of 10 (ten) years. |
| 23 | G&D | Technical evaluation – Annexure II | For Self Certification and Physical evaluation of the machine which has separate points. Kindly confirm if the self certification by the tenderer will still get 2 points for confirming compliance even if he gets no points in the physical evaluation | Yes, the self-certification by the tenderer will still get 2 points for confirming compliance even if he gets no points in the physical evaluation. However, the bidder has to score minimum required marks, in each category as well as in total, as provided at Annex II to technically qualify. |
| 24 | G&D | Continuous Feeder – technical evaluation – Annexure ii | In the Technical evaluation matrix in the physical evaluation you are awarding 3 points for a system which provides for 4000 – 6000 banknotes feeder and you are awarding 5 points to a system with 6000 to 8000 banknotes capacity. This is a clear move to favor Toshiba since theirs is the only system offering 6000 banknotes feeder capacity while G&D and DLR are 4000 banknotes each Your tender states that no additional weightage would be given for specifications in addition to the minimum tender requirement yet you are willing to give weightage to Toshiba for this feature though it does not improve the machine throughput as the feeder has a continuous ‘top up’ and hence notes can be added to the feeder continuously. | Higher feeder capacity is desirable from operational point of view and therefore a machine with higher feeder capacity will have a higher score. Thus, the allegation is baseless and unwarranted. The score as per the technical evaluation will be used for deciding minimum eligibility. Bidders scoring less than the minimum prescribed score will be considered ineligible. There will not be any additional weightage in the price evaluation for machines with higher specifications. |
| 25 | G&D | Stackers – technical evaluation | Please clarify - as stated on the tender that Minimum 6 stackers, extendable upto 2 more stackers with banding. We understand 6 deposit stackers with banding and 1 Reject/Suspect notes stacker is the minimum requirement. In the Technical Evaluation additional Marks are being awarded for 6 stackers including reject – Why is this so? This seems to be a move to accommodate a Toshiba system with 4 stackers and 2 reject stackers while G&D and CPS systems are both 4+1 reject or 6+1 reject stacker and hence need to add an extra module (extra cost) to meet the requirement. | Availability of additional stackers is considered desirable and therefore the marking will be higher for machines with 6 stackers. There is no any additional weightage in the price evaluation for machines with higher specifications. The allegation is baseless and unwarranted. |
| 26 | G&D | Sensor – classification of notes – page 95 | Please clarify which series of Pre-2005 banknotes are to be evaluated as there are many different variants (Ashoka Pillar, Mahatma Gandhi, releases, etc) | List of notes to be processed will be under: Pre 2005
Ashoka Pillar Series
Mahatma Gandhi Series |
| 27 | G&D | Third party sensors | How will the third party Sensor be tested at Customers place? Please clarify – since the location/country may not be using the same feature and this is unique to India. It would necessitate carrying of the required sensor to site. It is also not known whether the host would allow installation of additional hardware on their system. | The test will be carried out either at the place of the bidder or purchaser. |
| 28 | G&D | Hybrid/polymer notes | What notes will be used to test polymer/Hybrid-(Vendor to prepare?)—The tender specifies that the vendor would arrange this – How and where would we get these banknotes in a sufficient quantity to certify the same. Also even if we can arrange them who would organize for transport / shipment of such notes? | It will be the responsibility of the bidder to arrange for different types of plastic notes – polymer, paper-polymer-paper, polymer-paper-polymer. |
| 29 | G&D | Price schedule, point no 1 “training for official | Kindly clarify the following:
a) How many such trainings are required (periodicity).
b) How many people need to be trained and at what intervals.
c) Whether same set and no. of people are to be trained | One round of training will be provided at all RBI sites where the machines supplied by the successful bidder have been installed. The first round of training should be conducted before Site Acceptance Test (SAT) and the same will be part of SAT. Thereafter, training will be repeated every 6 months. |
| 30 | G&D | Scope of supply – point no 4.1 | Can RBI share how many series of banknotes are going to be released in next 7 years and what would be the features that would be in these banknotes? | No. |
| 31 | G&D | Schedule for service contract, page 73 | In table 2 schedule for service consumables covered in the maintenance we understand that these are machine parts and other consumables such as bander rolls, printer cartridge, etc are not included. | The word consumables be replaced by “spares”. However, bidders shall submit the list of consumables in a separate schedule in the Technical bid. |
| 32 | G&D | Eligibility criteria | We understand that tenderer should have supplied, installed & commissioned at least 10 CVPS machines with a similar capacity to Central Banks during the period from 1st January, 2014 to 31st December, 2016 for which credentials and past performance needs to be submitted for becoming eligible for this tender. We understand that since the tender is asking for machines of at least 30 banknotes/Seconds, the references must be of systems of at least this capacity. | The requirement is that the bidder should have supplied 10 CVPS machines of similar specifications (speed of at least 30bn/s) either to a single customer or multiple customer. Customer/s should be Central Banks/ Monetary authorities. |
| 33 | G&D | Eligibility criteria | We also understand that tenderer should have an annual capacity and supply at least 35 CVPS machines and we would assume that to justify this the vendor must be able to show installation of at least 35 machines per year which will be one of the important eligibility criteria for this tender | Tenderer should self-certify that, it have an annual capacity of 35 machines but it is not necessary for the vendor to show installation of at least 35 machines per year. |
| 34 | G&D | Page 64, clause 7.2 | Please refer to point no. 7.2 of the tender wherein we understand that system should be designed to take care of 30 banknotes/second without tearing of notes while in transit or any stoppage of system. It also states that it shall be possible to adjust the speed of the note transport system. It is understood that the capacity of the system will stand reduced at reduced speeds. This is a point that is only available with the Toshiba system and is clearly indicating a bias of RBI towards this vendor. G&D and DLR CVPS machines have been in use at RBI for over 15 years and do not tear banknotes. | Variable speed is only a desirable functionality and optional and is not part of the technical evaluation. The allegation is baseless and unwarranted. |
| Some Other Modifications in the Tender document |
| 35. | Page 5, Clause 15, Validity of EMD | At least up to January 16, 2018. (165 days from the last date of submission) | At least up to February 5, 2018. (165 days from the last date of submission) |
| 36. | Page 11, Clause 4, Parallel Contract | Further, if number of technically qualified bids are more than three and in case only L2 or L3 or L4 accepts the L1 price, split between two Tenderers will be in the ratio of 70:30. | Further, if number of technically qualified bids are three or more and in case only L2 or L3 or L4 accepts the L1 price, split between two Tenderers will be in the ratio of 70:30. |
| 37. | Page 11, Clause 4, Parallel Contract | In case, none of the L2 /L3 / L4, as the case maybe, is willing to match the price offered by L1, the Purchaser reserves the right to place the entire order with the L1 bidder. | In case, none of the L2 /L3 / L4, as the case maybe, is willing to match the price offered by L1, the Purchaser reserves the right to place the entire order with the L1 bidder. The L1 Shall be bound to accept the order at the same price. In such case, reasonable extension of delivery period can be considered. |
| 38 | Page 13, Clause 3.3
Sales Tax / VAT /CST /GST | If a tenderer asks for sales tax/ VAT/ CST/ GST, as applicable, to be paid extra, the rate and nature of such taxes applicable should be shown separately. Such taxes will be paid as per the rate at which it is liable to be assessed or has actually been assessed provided the transaction of sale is legally liable to such taxes and is payable as per the terms of the contract. | Cost of the machine is inclusive of all the taxes, therefore, if a tenderer asks for sales tax/ VAT/ CST/ GST, as applicable, to be paid extra, purchaser will not pay any such taxes and the cost for the same shall be included in the Total Cost of the machine. |
| 39 | Pg 25, TCO calculations | NPV factor for AMC is calculated annually, while payment would be made quarterly. | As the payment will be made quarterly, NPV factor has been recalculated (quarterly) and TCO stands modified for para 2.4 and 2.6 clause G (Evaluation process), section II (GIT) as under: TCO = X + 4.612 Y It shall be noted that use of Power Consumption in calculation of TCO stands withdrawn. |
| 40 | Page 41, Clause 14.5, Warranty | In the event of any rectification of a defect or replacement of any defective goods during the warranty period, the warranty for the rectified/ replaced goods shall be extended to a further period of twelve months from the date such rectified / replaced goods starts functioning to the satisfaction of Purchaser. | In the event of any rectification of a defect or replacement of any defective goods during the warranty period, the warranty for the rectified/ replaced goods shall be for the rest of the period of warranty of the machine. |
| 41 | Page 47, Clause 25.1 | In the event of any unforeseen event directly interfering with the supply of stores arising during the currency of the contract……….. prior to such termination. | In the event of any unforeseen event directly interfering with the supply/commissioning/installation/handing over the machine arising due to the currency of the contract ……….. prior to such termination |
| 42 | Page 50, Clause 30.5 | Payments shall be made half-yearly after completion of the respective half-year. | Payments shall be made quarterly after completion of the respective quarter. |
| 43 | Page 26, clause 2.7 | The technically qualified Tenderers with the lowest TCO, will be the L1 Tenderer. In case of a tie i.e. TCO of two bidders is same, in such case L1 will be decided on the basis of Total Marks scored in Technical Evaluation. | The technically qualified Tenderers with the lowest TCO, will be the L1 Tenderer. In case of a tie i.e. TCO of two bidders is same L1 will be decided on the basis of capital cost of the machine (excluding AMC cost) |
| 44 | Clause 1.2 page 12 (line 5): | The scope will also include, in addition to adaptation during installation, additional adaptations of all denominations of Indian banknote as and when necessary and the Price quoted in price Bid for the machines should be inclusive of such services /accessories except the Annual Maintenance Charges post expiry of warranty period. | The scope will also include, in addition to adaptation during installation, additional adaptation of all denominations of Indian Bank note as and when necessary during warrantee and comprehensive AMC Period and the Price quoted in price Bid for the machines should be inclusive of such services /accessories except the Annual Maintenance Charges post expiry of warranty period |
| 45* | Page 11, Clause 4, Parallel Contract, This is a suggestion, as most probably we would have only three bidders and in order to have greater competition/ price discovery and administrative convenience (2 vendors instead of 3) we may split the order 70:30 rather than 50:30:20. | The Purchaser reserves its right to conclude Parallel contracts with more than one Tenderer (for the same tender). In such event, where there are three or more than three technically qualified bids, the parallel contract will be executed in the ratio of 50:30:20, wherein the L1 Tenderer will get 50% of the order and L2 and L3 will get 30% and 20% respectively subject to the condition that L2 and L3 accepts the price offered by L1. In case number of technically qualified bids are less than three, the parallel contract shall be in the ratio of 70:30 between L1 and L2 subject to the condition that L2 accepts the price offered by L1. Further, if number of technically qualified bids are more than three and in case only L2 or L3 or L4 accepts the L1 price, split between two Tenderers will be in the ratio of 70:30. In case, none of the L2 /L3 / L4, as the case maybe, is willing to match the price offered by L1, the Purchaser reserves the right to place the entire order with the L1 bidder. | The Purchaser reserves its right to conclude Parallel contracts with more than one Tenderer (for the same tender). In such event, where there are two or more than two technically qualified bids, the parallel contract will be executed in the ratio of 70:30, wherein the L1 Tenderer will get 70% of the order and L2 will get 30% of the order subject to the condition that L2 accepts the price offered by L1. Further, if L2 doesn’t accept the price of the L1, order will be placed with L3/L4/L5 as the case may be subject to the same condition of matching the price of L1. In case, none of the L2 /L3 / L4, as the case maybe, is willing to match the price offered by L1, the Purchaser reserves the right to place the entire order with the L1 bidder. The L1 shall be bound to accept the order at the same price. In such case, reasonable extension of delivery period can be allowed. |