TSR contract was `pre-decided`: Shunglu

The Shunglu Committee has found that officials of CWG OC "pre-decided" to choose a Swiss firm for giving the Timing, Scoring and Result.

New Delhi: The Shunglu Committee has found that senior officials of Commonwealth Games Organising Committee "pre-decided" to choose a Swiss firm for giving the Timing, Scoring and Result (TSR) project "prior to the award of contract".

In its report, the Committee was critical on the role of top OC brass for manipulating tender process in the Rs 141 crore-controversial contract. The CBI is currently probing the contract for alleged financial bunglings. "At various meetings prior to the award of contract, senior OC officials had asserted that Swiss Timing would be awarded the contract for TSR," the Committee said in its report submitted to the Prime Minister`s Office. CBI officials have arrested sacked Games Organising Committee chief Suresh Kalmadi, secretary general Lalit Bhanot, director general V K Verma, deputy director General (Procurement) Surjeet Lal and joint director general (Sports) A S V Prasad for their alleged involvement in the deal that caused a loss of Rs 95 crore to the exchequer. "There was an apparent bias of the OC functionaries towards Swiss Timing. There is adequate evidence that Swiss Timings was interacting with OC officials long before the Expression of Interest (EOI) was issued. This opportunity was not provided to any of the other potential vendors," the report said. "In the 3rd meeting of the Committee for Sports Surface and Equipment, held on July 22, 2008, Lalit K Bhanot mentioned that in the case of TSR, choice is very limited and `Swiss Timing has monopoly in multi sporting events`. "In this meeting, it was unanimously resolved to recommend Swiss Timing for all games except Shooting...," it said.Citing another instance of "apparent bias", it said, "In the first meeting of the Centralised Coordination Committee (CCC) of OC for the finalisation of overlays held on September 26, 2008, Lalit Bhanot again recommended Swiss Timing as the TSR provider." In the second meeting of the CCC held on December 16, 2008, it was clarified that the budget provision for Timing and Scoring System would be made by the venue owners as this was a legacy requirement (and not an overlay) and the hardware would be supplied by Swiss Timing, the report said. The Shunglu panel has found various instances to show how eligibility criteria was tailored towards Swiss Timing and disqualification of another bidder -- MSL Software. "The key officials of the OC have consistently indulged in malpractice to manipulate OC rules and procedures and to mislead the Executive Board and OC Sub Finance Committee solely with the intention to eliminate competition and to favour a particular vendor."The loss caused due to their misconduct would be at least Rs 18 crore due to delayed award of a contract to `pre-decided` vendor and Rs 49 crore as compared with the bid of the rejected vendor," the Committee said. It said that "the OC officials deliberately delayed the tender process resulting in a two-year-nine-month-long process. The vendor included an amount of approximately Rs 18 crore in the bid citing delays as a reason for cost increase." PTI