L& T appeal in bid for patrol vessels dismissed

The Supreme Court has upheld the Delhi high court ruling and dismissed the appeal of Larsen & Toubro in its lost bid for fast patrol vessels for the Indian Coast Guard. The government sent request for proposal to several parties, and L & T claimed its bid was the lowest. However, in its commercial and technical bids, it declared its intention to claim the benefit of ‘foreign exchange rate variation benefit’, without specifying which currency was the basis of the foreign exchange component. The contract negotiation committee concluded that the offer was non-responsive. The company withdrew the first offer and made another bid without referring to the benefit. However, the committee again rejected the offer and selected another bidder. The company moved the high court against the selection, which was dismissed. The high court strongly deprecated the practice of submitting a foreign currency rate card with the rates of various currencies, without specifying the currency in respect of which the foreign exchange rate was to be considered. The high court also stated that the entire exercise was mala fide and imposed costs on the company. Upholding the high court decision, the Supreme Court affirmed that “in the absence of compliance with the terms and conditions relating to firm and fixed price offer, the company stood excluded from consideration.”