Mandatory Tender Conditions Requiring Integrity Pact Upload Apply to Registered Vendors Despite General Policy Exemptions

The petitioner, Aone Exploration Private Limited, challenged the rejection of its bid by ONGC for a tender involving the hiring of chemical dosing pumps at Mehsana

ONGC rejected the bid on the grounds that the petitioner failed to upload a complete, signed Integrity Pact (IP) along with the tender documents on the GeM portal

The petitioner argued that as a "Registered Vendor," it was exempt from resubmitting documents approved during registration, including the IP

During the evaluation, ONGC sought clarification when it found only 4 of the 6 pages of the IP were uploaded

Although the petitioner replied that it was resubmitting the full document, it failed to attach the file

The final signed IP was only submitted after the bid was officially disqualified

1. Whether ONGC was justified in rejecting the petitioner’s bid due to the non-submission of a complete Integrity Pact despite the petitioner’s status as a registered vendor.

Clause 8 of the Registration Terms states that registered vendors "may be exempted" from document evaluation, indicating the exemption is not absolute but subject to specific tender conditions

Principle of Strict Compliance with Tender Conditions, noting that "Buyer Organization specific Integrity Pact shall have to be complied by all bidders," which mandates the submission of a scanned, signed IP regardless of prior registration status

The court reasoned that Clause 8 of the registration policy used the word "may," meaning the exemption was not automatic and remained at the discretion of the tendering authority

The specific tender notification explicitly required “all bidders” to upload a signed IP, thereby overriding any general administrative registration policy

the court found the petitioner’s conduct inconsistent with its legal argument; by attempting to upload a partial IP and later admitting a "technical error" in failing to attach the full document, the petitioner conceded that the IP was a mandatory submission

The court emphasized that a bid is technically defective if mandatory documents are missing at the time of submission or within the clarification window

The requirement to upload a signed Integrity Pact was a mandatory term applicable to all bidders, including registered vendors

Since the petitioner failed to upload the document due to its own negligence and only provided it after the rejection of the bid, the respondent’s decision to disqualify the petitioner was legally sound