Advocating For Quality: Engineers' Push For Procurement Reform

The International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC) urged Prime Minister Modi to enforce amended financial rules to prioritize quality over cost in awarding government contracts. The Quality-cum-Cost-Based-Selection (QCBS) method, giving weightage to quality, aims to improve work quality and reduce legal disputes in infrastructure projects.

A prominent engineers' body, the International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC), has called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to implement revised financial rules to emphasize quality over cost in governmental contracts. The amendments introduce the Quality-cum-Cost-Based-Selection (QCBS), which balances quality and cost in bid evaluations.

The amendments, currently not widely adopted, aim to prevent the awarding of contracts solely based on the lowest bid, a practice criticized for yielding substandard work and lengthy legal wrangling. K K Kapila, President Emeritus of the International Road Federation, highlighted the necessity of this reform.

Kapila stressed that the quality-cum-cost criteria should be uniformly adopted across all government ministries. He urged the prime minister to direct ministers to implement these rules, aiming for improved work quality and reduced dispute resolution processes.