Full text of the CEO of the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee Jarianil Singh's letter regarding the choice of Swiss Timing for the time scoring deal for the 2010 Commonwealth Games Delhi:
Jarnail SinghChief Executive OfficerFebruary 15, 2010Dear Shri Bhatnagar,The complaint from one Mrs. Sangita Goyal dated 24 Nov 2000 forwarded by Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) vide its letter dated 24 Dec 2009 to M/o Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS) and now referred to us is the same complaint that was referred to the undersigned (Reference ID No.1/12/Secy(SP)/2009 dated 01 Dec 2009) by Secretary (Sports). Detailed para-wise comments on the complaint were forwarded by me vide letter dated December 5, 2009 and complete set of tender documents, the status of the case and the procedure followed was enclosed. This is being enclosed afresh as enclosure-I.2. At the time of receiving the complaint from Secretary (Sports). the TSR tender was at a very initial stage and even the commercial bid had not been opened. Chairman and the Executive Management of the OC decided to immediately freeze the process and forward all related documents such as RFP, pre-qualification evaluation reports, comments of independent institutions such Telecommunications Consultants lndia Ltd. a Govt. of India Enterprise, and the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) to the Ministry of Sports for an independent evaluation and further direction to OC on next steps. This decision was taken to ensure that the Committees examining and processing this tender case indeed followed a valid and fair process and these officials remain protected from any allegations of mala fide which in such cases are levelled against officials by business rivalries and mischievous elements. By freezing the tender process and seeking direction on further steps from the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, OC was open to taking any corrective/remedial action in the tender process if it was pointed out that there was indeed an error of judgement by any of the Committee members or on the part of the OC Management. My comprehensive report of 5th December 2009 also highlighted that -i. The complainant Ms. Sangita Goyal, as also the organisation of which she claims to be the Convenor, are non-existent and fraudulent as confirmed by physical verification carried out by a team of OC officials, who visited the address given in the complaint and made extensive inquiries about Ms. Sangita Goyal and her organisation (exhibit 'A').ii. As the four-member bid evaluation committee had a difference of opinion, the OC Executive Management decided to seek independent evaluation from M/s TCIL, a Govt. of India Enterprise, engaged by the OC as its Technology Consultants.This decision was again aimed at ensuring transparency and neutrality of evaluation. The verdict from TCIL was that of the two bidders, i.e., M/s Swiss Timing, Switzerland and M/s MSL, Spain, only M/s Swiss Timing met the pre qualification criteria in the context of the Scope of Work that was defined in the RFP.iii. To further validate the issue, all tender documents, evaluation reports, TCIL report etc. were referred to Mr. Mike Hooper, Chief Executive Officer, Commonwealth Games Federation, who confirmed the fact in his e-mail dated 25 Nov 2009 as under:-"…we are not aware of a situation whereby MSL Software has provided the full TSR solution to a major multi-sport event such as the Olympic or Commonwealth Games, they certainly have provided elements of this e.g. some of the OVR at the last Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.…it would therefore seem that the only remaining respondent that fulfils your assessment against the RFP issued is Swiss Timing/Omega, as you will be aware they have had a long association with major multi-sport events including the last two Commonwealth Games in Manchester and Melbourne and as such we would if deemed appropriate by the Organising Committee, support their appointment as the TSR provider."3. Despite the above evidence and validation, the OC decided to freeze the process and forwarded the tender document to the M/o Youth Affairs and Sports for independent evaluation and further direction.4. During further examination of the files carried out in the OC, the following significant issues merit consideration:a) Mr. Brian Nourse, Technology Consultant, who headed the Technology Department during Commonwealth Games Melbourne 2006 and Mr. Derek Phillips, Director (Technology) have clarified that during the pre-qualification evaluation, they never confirmed to Mr. Sujit Panigrahi, the then Addl. DG (Technology) that MSL, Spain meets the criteria. It may be recalled that Mr. Sujit Panigrahi in his independent report on pre-qualification had implicated these two experts and made a statement that the experts supported his evaluation. In fact, Brian Nourse and Derek Phillips have stated that "M/s Swiss Timing is the only service provider who has provided end-to-end delivery of Timing, Scoring and Results equipments and services as the main contractor to the Organising Committees for the Melbourne Commonwealth Games 2006 and in a similar capacity for the Beijing Olympic Games 2008. Recorded statements of Mr. Brian Nourse and Mr. Derek Phillips are placed as exhibits 'B' and 'C'.During the meeting of the Finance Sub-Committee comprising -i. Secretary (Urban Development), Govt. of Indiaii. Secretary (Sports), MYAS, Govt. of Indiaiii. iii. Addl. Secretary (Expenditure), Financewhich met on Jan 8, 2010 and Jan 11, 2010 and again to the Executive Board of the OC, which met on 19 Dec 2009 and 15 Jan 2010, Mr. Derek Phillips categorically stated that M/s MSL, Spain have never before provided end-to-end solution in these Games in the last five years as required by the Scope of Work in the tender document. It seems that it may have been some extraneous factors that made Mr. Sujit Panigrahi record this incorrect statement on behalf of Mr. Brian Nourse and Mr. Derek Phillips in his pre-qualification report.b) For issuing the Expression of Interest (EOI) for Timing, Scoring and Results (TSR) system, the eligibility criteria of TSR was referred to Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports on 6th March 2009 by the Secretary General, which clearly stated that the bidder should have supplied this service in Olympics/Asian Games/Commonwealth Games. The expression of interest was published on March 21, 2009 in leading newspapers (copy of the EOI placed as exhibit 'D') as per the same procedure that was adopted for finalising synthetic athletics track, synthetic hockey turf and the process advised to the Ministry of Sports. The EOI issued for TSR like the EOIs issued for Synthetic Surfaces of track, turf etc. stated the qualifying criteria and name of the qualified vendor(s) as per data available with the OC and invited other vendors to respond to the OC if they had documentation to support their claims of meeting this criterion. In response to the EOI for TSR where it was stated that M/s Swiss Timing met the prequalification criteria by virtue of their having supplied at all previous Olympic Games/Asian Games/ Commonwealth Games etc. only the following two vendors responded - i. M/s Mondo_ A-11/A, Savitri Nagar,Near Malviya Nagar, New Delhiii. M/s Technovision S.p.A, Via Archimede, 19, 20090 Buccinasco (MI) - ItalyM/s MSL, Spain did not respond to the EOI.The Evaluation Committee, constituted to evaluate responses to the E01 with Mr. Sujit Panigrahi, the then Addl. DG (Technology) as a member, rejected both the offers as the vendors were in the business of supplying video-boards and not TSR. This Evaluation report with signature of Mr. Sujit Panlgrahi is placed at exhibit 'E'. As an outcome of the EOI process Secretary General, OC advised the Ministry of Sports vide letter No.NlL dated 04 May 2009 addressed to Shri Rahul Bhatnagar JS (ISD), MYAS recommending that Swiss Timing be appointed as TSR provider (exhibit'F') c) Technical conduct of the Commonwealth Games is under the regulations of International Federations (IFs) governing each of the sports, which figure in the programme of CWG Delhi 2010. Mr. ASV Prasad, Joint DG (Sports), who represented the Organising Committee in meetings with 15 International Federations in March 2009 during Sports Accord in Denver confirmed in his report (e-mail of March 29, 2009 placed, as exhibit 'G') that all International Federations wanted M/s Swiss Timing as the robust, tested system for the CWG Delhi 2010.d) The OC was required to brief the Member Associations during the General Assembly of CGF on all Functional Areas including technical conduct of the Games, which includes type of competition surfaces, competition equipment including TSR. The CGF General Assembly was held from October 14-16, 2009. Briefings of Members were in the form of providing interim status reports based on information available/processed by the OC at this given point in time. These briefings are neither legal nor contractual commitments with the Member Associations.In keeping with the assurance given to Member Associations that Delhi will host the best-ever Games in 2010, DG had explained that all competition-related products and services will be world-class as these equipments/services including TSR will be sourced from manufacturers/service providers who had a proven track record at the level of the-Olympics/Asian/Commonwealth Games and that there will be no compromise on proven quality. The information available at the time of the Assembly was based on the fact that the EOI process had been completed leading to M/s Swiss Timing as the only service provider who met the eligibility criteria as stated and published in the EOI. The process of EOI was open and transparent and M/s MSL, Spain had not even responded to the EOI. The other relevant information in this context was provided by Joint DG (Sports), Shri A. S. V. Prasad, who is the end-user of the TSR as he heads the Sports Functional Area that would be responsible for staging the competition. Shri Prasad vide his e-mail dated March 29, 2009 had confirmed to the Chairman, Secretary General, OC and the Director General, OC that during his meeting with 15 International Federations at Sports Accord in Denver, they had categorically stated acceptance of M/s Swiss Timing for their Sports events.5. As briefing of the Member Associations was in the nature of an interim status report, it is understood by all that any alternate solution, iNhlCh was compatible to the requirements of the Commonwealth Games Federation and International Federations (lFs) as per the Scope of Work to be delivered and as per the compliance standards maintained in the previous Commonwealth Games, will be decided by the OC and position advised to the CGF/Member Associations.6. I would also like to advise you further steps taken by the OC to ensure that selection of M/s Swiss Timing was done by putting every stage through the highest level of scrutiny not only by the OC Finance Committee, which has Shri Sanjeev Mittal, Joint Secretary (USD). MYAS as its members but also by the empowered Finance Sub-Committee constituted by the Government, which is chaired by the Secretary (Urban Development) with two sering Secretaries as its members and by the Executive Board of the OC, which has as many as five Officers of the level of Secretary to the Govt. besides the President and the Chief Executive Officer of the CGF.i) While the Commercial bids remained in sealed covers, all Minutes, the RFP and all Minutes of Evaluation Committees, the OC Finance Committee etc. were sent to the Finance Sub-Committee constituted by the Government to scrutinise all high value procurement cases of the OC. The Finance Sub-Committee is chaired by the Secretary (Urban Development) with Secretary (Sports) and Special Secretary (Expenditure) and the undersigned as Members. The Finance Sub-Committee in its meeting held on 08 Jan 2010 sought extensive clarifications from the then Head of Technology, (Mr. Sandeep Arya, Joint DG (Tech.) and Mr. Derek Phillips, Director (Technology) and minuted the following:-"The Committee also noted that the time available for re-tendering is practically nil and there is significant amount of risk In the successful installation of technology required for the Games in time. In the case of re-tendering and in the light of the view, which appeared as o consensus even among the technology consultants, that a single tender enquiry may yield the same result of zeroing in on the same viz., M/s Swiss Timing Omega. In view of the fact that the selection of M/s. Swiss Timing Omega appeared to be the correct decision in the present situation and in view the criticality of time involved the Executive Board is required to take appropriate action in the case"7. To ensure one more level of scrutiny, the Finance Sub-Committee suggested that the Executive Board also examine the status and decide about opening the Commercial bids. The EB in its meeting held on 19 Dec 2009 once again discussed the matter and its decision is recorded as under -"The procedure followed by the QC was noted by the Board as M/s Swiss Timing is the only bidder who fulfils the requisite" specification and the Scope of Work. The Executive Board authorised OC to open the Commercial and Sponsorship bids and proceed further to conclude the contract at the earliest."8. Based on clearance from the Finance Sub-Committee and the Executive Board, the Commercial Bids were opened on 20 Dec 2009 at 13:00 hrs. and a Tender Committee-cum-Negotiating Committee constituted to take further steps. Even though this was a case of single offer, the OC managed to get discount equivalent of Rs. 26.35 crores comprising cash discount of Rs. 1.18 crore, Sponsorship in cash Rs 4.5 crores (VIK) (videoboards of Rs.15.45 crores). Another software called Games Information Services (GIS) valued at around Rs. 5.21 crores was also secured free of charge along with the package. A comprehensive proposal indicating the original commercial bid, discounts secured through negotiations were once again taken back to the Finance Sub-Committee for another round of scrutiny. The Sub-Committee in its meetings held on 08 Jan 2010 and 11 Jan 2010 minuted its decision as under:-"The Finance Sub-Committee noted that the final negotiated cost from M/s Swiss Timing for provision of Timing, Scoring and Result System of Rs. 107.00 Cr., after taking into account the cash discount of Rs 4.50 of three (3) Score Boards, essential to the conduct of the Games valued at Rs. 15.45 Cr., free of cost. The cost to OC would be Rs. 107.00 Cr. Plus Service Tax and Customs Duty, if any.In view of the above, the Finance Sub-Committee recommended the proposal to appoint M/s. Swiss Timing for the supply of Timing, Scoring and Result System at the cost and sponsorship mentioned above."9. The case was then listed on the Agenda of the EB meeting that was held on 15 Jan 2010. After a thorough discussion, the Executive Board decided as under:-"It was resolved to approve the appointment of M/s Swiss Timing as service provider for TSR as per the negotiated Commercial/sponsorship terms (inclusive of VAT and CST) as mentioned in agenda note. The separate tender floated for GIS declared redundant."10. As the appointment of TSR provider, which was delayed over six months, had become so critical that the Games' conduct was subject to great risk and as per direction of the Executive board, LOI was issued to M/s Swiss Timing on 18 Jan 2010.11. In conclusion, I would like to state that the award on contract to M/s Swiss Timing for TSR has been subject of intensive scrutiny right from the inception stage of this tender. It has been scrutinised by Committee, which has two Senior Government officials, the Finance Sub-Committee, which is chaired by Secretary (Urban Development) with two other serving Secretaries of the Government and finally, by the Executive Board of the OC, which has several senior Government officials besides the President and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) as members to ensure compliance of quality standards and maintaining fairness of the processes as that the outcome cannot be questioned for transparency and adherence to procedures.12. It is also relevant to mention that even though M/s Swiss Timing knew after technical evaluation that they are the only bidder, they need not have given any discounts from their commercial offer. Yet, the OC was successful in obtaining a total discount (Cash + Value in Kind) to the extent of Rs.26.35 crores, which reflects on the integrity of both the vendor and the buyer.13. Note may also be taken of the fact that M/s Swiss Timing has been the TSR provider for recently-held major multi-sport events such as Sydney Olympic Games in 2000, Athens Olympic Games in 2004, Beijing Olympic Games in 2008, Commonwealth Games Manchester 1998, Commonwealth Games Kuaka Lumpur 2002 and Commonwealth Games Melbourne 2006. As opposed to this, the other bidder, namely, M/s MSL, Spain, had provided some Results services and Scoring services in only a few sports over that period in the specified events. In Timing and Scoring, MSL had no full delivery experience and that when delivering as a partial supplier, had done so as a sub-contractor and not as a main contractor. This was confirmed in the Executive Board (EB) by Technology Expert, Mr. Derek Phillips, that the choice of M/s Swiss Timing is absolutely imperative for successful conduct of Commonwealth Games Delhi 2010 where the country is ambitious of presenting to the world the best-ever Commonwealth Games. Further, in the 16th Meeting of the EB held on Dec. 19, 2009, Mr. Michael Fennell, President, CGF, mentioned, that the RFP process followed by the OC seems to have fully satisfied the Government procedures and advised that M/s Swiss Timing was regarded one of the best TSR service providers. He noted that the OC was very late and any further delay would jeopardise the Games. 14. Whereas the details and documents provided above leave absolutely no doubt that the complaint (signed by a person/address which does not exist) is aimed to only vitiate the process and is clearly motivated by business rivalry, comments, as appropriate, have been furnished on the specific paragraphs of the enclosures received along with Letter No.70-16/2010-CWG-I dated Jan. 21, 2010 from Shri Rahul Bhatnagar, Joint Secy. (ISD) and Letter No.F.70-21/2010-CWG-I dated Jan. 28, 2010 from Shri Pramod Agrawal, Director (ISD) Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.(Jarnail Singh) Chief Executive Officer
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