National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), with an installed capacity of 44,398 mw, has initiated a pan-India vendor-enlistment drive to bring uniformity and transparency in the procurement process at its power plants.
The power plants procure materials worth about Rs 2,000 crore and awards work contracts of about Rs 1,600 crore for operational and maintenance every year.
So far, for operational requirements, each plant used to procure separately by issuing tenders in the local area of the plant and issuing tender notices to known sources of materials and services. “The cost of procurement has increased and there always exists chances of cartelisation.
This has resulted in long procurement time and uncertainties over the period of procurement. This has resulted in increased inventory cost of the power plants,’’ R Venkateswaran, regional executive director (South), NTPC, said.
“The vendors are usually located in the vicinity of power stations. With the new single-window procurement system, we will get larger participation, better quality of products at reasonable prices,” he said. “We will be enlisting the vendors and contractors for procurement of all materials and works contract on all-India basis. By this, the future tenders of all power stations of NTPC will be sent to only enlisted agencies which will result in 30 times more business opportunities for the vendors and contractors to expand their businesses for a period of three years, he added.