Guwahati, September 21 (MExN): The Northeast Frontier Railway has allotted 58 contracts via e-auctions held over five divisions under its jurisdiction till September 15, an official release said.
The total value of contracts awarded was of Rs 43 crore, including contracts of parcel van leasing, pay & use toilets, advertisement rights, AC waiting rooms, parking lots etc were successfully imbedded by NFR through Indian Railway e-Procurement System, it said.
This initiative is part of steps taken Indian Railways to bring Commercial Earning and Non-Fare Revenue (NFR) contracts under the ambit of electronic auction through Indian Railway e-Procurement System (IREPS), stated the release from the NFR Chief Public Relations Officer Sabyasachi De.
Railway Minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw launched e-auction for commercial earning in June 2022 and since then 1,200 contracts have been awarded covering 8,500 assets at the total value of Rs 844 crores via E-Auctions over 68 Divisions of Indian Railways, it said.
The earning assets up for auction include parcel van, pay & use toilets, advertisement rights on station circulating area and coaches, AC waiting rooms, cloak rooms, parking lots, plastic bottle crushers, ATMs, station co-branding, video screens for content on demand etc.
These assets will be mapped location-wise in the portal once, and the system will remember forever if it is covered for earning or not. This will improve monitoring of assets on real time basis and will minimize asset-idling, it maintained.
The auctions are conducted online through ‘E-Auction Leasing’ module of IREPS www.ireps.gov.in and earlier system of physical registration of contractors Division-wise has been done away with, it added.
Only financial criteria – based on self-declaration of past turnovers by contractors will be accepted and financial turnover criteria have been rationalised and standardised.
There is no financial turnover requirement for annual contracts upto Rs 40 lakh and one time online self-registration of contractors is required. This would specially give a boost to small entrepreneurs and start-ups, the release said.
All assets will be fed in the system for better monitoring and ensuring issuing contracts in advance which in turn will reduce asset idling, it noted.
Auction catalogues with all details of the assets will be published online on IREPS portal, minimum 15 days in advance and all auctions will be conducted online, it added.
The online mode makes potential bidders from distant location across country to participate in the bidding process, the release added.
