Tamil Nadu Transparency in Tenders Act, 1998, Tamil Nadu Transparency in Tenders Rules, 2000 and Tamil Nadu Transparency in Tenders (Public Private Partnership Procurement) Rules, 2012

What the publication covers

The Tamil Nadu Transparency in Tenders Act, 1998, the Tamil Nadu Transparency in Tenders Rules, 2000 and the Tamil Nadu Transparency in Tenders (Public Private Partnership Procurement) Rules, 2012 are presented together in an edition published by the Government of Tamil Nadu, Finance (Salaries) Department, dated 14 August 2018. The text incorporates amendments made up to 26 June 2018, with footnotes identifying the amendment Acts and Rules.

The framework is intended to improve transparency in public procurement decisions and reduce subjectivity. It applies to procurement of goods, execution of works and hiring of consultants by government organisations, subject to the cases excluded under the Act.

General tender framework

The Tamil Nadu Transparency in Tenders Act, 1998 provides the overall legal framework for inviting, evaluating and accepting public tenders. Its listed provisions cover:

• Procurement through tender and regulation of tenders.
• Appointment and functions of Bulletin Officers.
• Appointment of Tender Inviting Authorities and Tender Accepting Authorities.
• Opening, evaluation and acceptance of tenders.
• Appeals, rejection of tenders and government powers to obtain information or call for records.
• Cases where the Act does not apply.

The Tamil Nadu Transparency in Tenders Rules, 2000 provide procedures for procurement categories and tendering methods. They address publication in tender bulletins and newspapers, information required in tender notices, technical specifications, commercial conditions and evaluation criteria.

The rules also cover receipt and opening of tenders, withdrawal before opening, scrutiny committees, confidentiality during evaluation, determination of the lowest evaluated price, speculative tenders, purchase preferences and special procurement procedures.

Public private partnership procurement

The Tamil Nadu Transparency in Tenders (Public Private Partnership Procurement) Rules, 2012 govern procurement planning and competitive tendering for public private partnership projects. Key subjects include:

• Two stage open competitive tendering.
• Expressions of interest, qualification requests, technical proposals and proposals.
• Applicant eligibility, qualifying criteria and conflicts of interest.
• Tender security, meetings, clarifications and modification of documents.
• Project scope, revenue sharing or support mechanisms and consortium changes.
• Selection of the lowest tenderer, equal or speculative tenders and contract award.
• Independent auditors, independent engineers and monitoring of concession agreements.

Relevance to property interests

The publication does not set out private land sale, ownership or registration procedures. It may be relevant where a government organisation is procuring works, services or a public private partnership project connected with land or infrastructure.