Improvements to the 108 and 104 systems have been one of the core focus areas of the expert committee formed to comprehensively assess various aspects of the health sector, said a statement released by the Chief Minister’s Office on Tuesday.
Explaining how the tender process for procurement of vehicles for 108 and 104 services was followed, it said: “It is wrong to indicate that single tender has been finalised. Due procedure of judicial preview was followed and tenders were finalised in the second and third calls.”
Elaborating on the price difference between the previous service provider (BVG) and current service provider (Aurobindo Consortium) for 108 services, the statement said: “It is wrong to mention that reverse auction did not happen in service provider tenders. The process of reverse auction and negotiation resulted in combined overall reduction in price of about ₹399 crore from 108 and 104 services over seven years.
Service provider issue
Referring to the change of the service provider, it explained that the government entered into an agreement with BVG on October 7, 2016, valid till November 6, 2019.
However, due to delay in the handing over of the vehicles to the service provider, the service started from December 13, 2017, and the contract extended till December 12, 2020. Due to performance issues, the government served notices on BVG and decided to change the service provider for smooth functioning of the services.
Accordingly, the BVG officially communicated to the Director, Health and Family Welfare that it would withdraw from the existing contract agreement in good faith whenever new service provider is appointed by the government.
In respect of 104 services, the contract services expired in March 2019 and the government was operating the services.
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