Mumbai University's attempt to save money cost lakhs of students a year

Mumbai University's attempt to save some money has proved to be costly for lakhs of students. Response to an RTI application has revealed that it handed over the contract for providing technology for the On-Screen Marking system to the lowest bidder solely on the basis of the rate it promised, as opposed to Tata Consultancy Services' 'higher' price. The varsity ignored Merit Trac's failure to meet the required technical score. Activist Anil Galgali said MU tweaked tendering pro-cess in Merit Trac's favour.

Mumbai University

The bidding took place this April. While Merit Trac had quoted Rs 23.9 per answer sheet, TCS had quoted Rs 49.9. "To benefit a specific firm, the tender was issued four times. After not getting any response for the first two, MU diluted the pre-qualification criteria by reducing the minimum required turnover of the company from Rs 100 crore to Rs 30 crore. The technical score required too was reduced from minimum 70 points to 60. In March, when tenders were presented, TCS scored 95 points and Merit Trac scored 45. Merit Trac officials were not even present at the technical tender selection meeting to give a demonstration of the technology. Yet, the purchase committee gave the contract to the firm the next day," alleged Galgali. Varsity officials were not available for comment.

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