Wednesday, June 8, 2011

PWD Tenders Offer Big Business Opportunities In India

Whenever it comes to construction works; name of the agency that crops up in the mind of the prospective bidders is the PWD or Public Works Department. True, with growing industrialization in the country and rapid expansion of real estate business many private construction tenders are also coming up but they will still take some time to cope with or outrun the official agency entrusted with all types of public construction works; the PWD. No wonder that PWD tenders offer big business opportunities in India.

Two Nodal Agencies
Basically there are two nodal agencies functioning in the country undertaking all public construction works and floating PWD tenders. These are –
  • CPWD or the Central Public Works Department; and
  • State PWD or Public Works Department of various states.

Though with gradual privatization and globalization; other agencies are also slowly creeping in taking up public construction works, but in general it is the CPWD and PWD that are responsible for all the public sector construction, maintenance, and renovation works in the country.

Different Wings
In recent years many wings have come out from the all-encompassing PWD department that was having all the works under its purview. One of them is the National Highways agency that takes care of all the NH works in the country and the other one is the Rural Development or Rural Works department that takes care of works like rural roads and constructions. Besides these organizations, Municipalities, Notified Area Councils, Zilla Parishads, Panchayat Samittees, and Gram Panchayats are also taking up various construction works under their respective jurisdiction that has squeezed the scope of floating PWD tenders to a large extent.

Areas of PWD Tenders
PWD tenders are basically floated in respect of construction, maintenance, and renovation of the followings.
  • State highways.
  • Major district roads.
  • Other district roads.
  • Bridges of different types.
  • New office and public buildings.
  • Old office and public premises.
  • Quarters for officials.

Volume of work is quite substantial and there is no dearth of PWD tenders that are floated at regular intervals.

Important Aspects of PWD Tenders
Some of the important aspects of PWD tenders are as follows.
  • Unlike the past; most of PWD tenders are e-tenders and floated online these days.
  • Bidders can view, bid, win or withdraw bids online without having to run to the offices of the Executive Engineer or Superintending Engineers where previously bids for the tenders were filed and also contested.
  • Bidding and opening of tenders are all performed online.
  • E-tender system was introduced in order to improve efficiency, and ensure a corruption free and transparent way of allotment of works.
  • Not only the bid papers can be downloaded online but the filled out tender papers can be uploaded with the digital signature of the bidder as well.

What is Expected of the Bidder?
Bidders responding to PWD tender notice must ensure best works at minimum costs and adhere to the timeline. Time bound completion will save escalation of the cost of the work. It will also give a good track record to the bidder who will not only earn profits but good will of the department as well as reputation in business.

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