Section 15 in Rajasthan Minor Mineral Concession Rules, 2017
15. Guidelines for submitting any bid on e-auction platform.
(1)A Bidder shall be required to possess a valid Digital Signature Certificate of signing type to be able to submit its bid and to participate in the electronic auction on e-auction platform. For this purpose, bidders or its authorized signatory shall be required to procure Digital Signature Certificate as per the procedure given on the website www.eproc.rajasthan.gov.in. The Digital Signature Certificate will be used to digitally sign the bids.(2)The bidder and its authorized representative shall be responsible to maintain the secrecy of the password for the Digital Signature Certificate. The bidder and its contact person shall be solely responsible for any misuse of the Digital Signature Certificate and no complaint or representation in this regard shall be entertained at any stage by e-auction service provider or the Government.(3)A bidder shall register itself with the e-auction website of e-auction service provider to submit bids for the mining lease, quarry licence, royalty collection contract or excess royalty collection contract, as the case may be, with the e-auction website of e-auction service provider. The registration shall always open for all prospective bidders to get registered with the e-auction service provider and shall be one time. After registration, prospective bidder shall be eligible for participating in e-auction conducted by the department for grant of mineral concession and contracts. Bidder shall fill an online registration form and create its "user id" and "password" and keep note of the same. Bidder should ensure that the secrecy of its user id and password is maintained at all times and bidder alone shall be responsible for any misuse of its user id and password.(4)On successful submission of the online registration form, bidder shall receive a confirmation email at the registered email address advising the bidder to submit various documents for verification and activation of its account. Once the complete set of aforementioned documents is received from the bidder, the e-auction service provider shall activate such bidder's login after verification or scrutiny of the documents. On completion of the above stated registration process, a bidder shall be able to log in to e-auction service provider's website. After activation of login, bidder will be issued a "Photo Identity Card" by e-auction service provider bearing the photograph and signature of the contact person. The Photo Identity Card shall be duly authenticated by e-auction service provider.(5)The Technical Bid shall be submitted on the e-auction platform. The Bidder has an option to edit Technical Bid as many times as it wishes till the final submission. The final submission of Technical Bid shall be digitally signed by the bidder using the digital signature, the use of which has been duly authorized on behalf of the bidder and which was used at the time of registration. Any digital signature certificate other than the above shall not be acceptable for bid submission. Upon successful final submission, the bidder shall receive a bid acknowledgment from the system automatically. The bidders may note that the Technical Bid submitted online as above shall be encrypted by the e-auction service provider's own software before storage in the database to protect the sanctity and confidentiality of the bids before the actual opening of the same. Before scheduled closing time for bid submission on the bid due date, bidder may have an option to modify, withdraw or resubmit a new bid. Scanned copy of bid letter, affidavit, copy of no dues certificate and power of attorney or resolution, as the case may be, shall be submitted by the bidder online and bid security shall be deposited as per the provisions of rule18. Technical Bids shall be evaluated in the manner provided in these rules. The e-auction service provider will conduct training and mock-auctions for all the qualified bidders on e-auction platform.(6)The bidder shall receive intimation regarding admission of bid for second round of e-auction. It shall be the sole responsibility of the bidder to regularly check the e-auction service provider website and login to see whether it has qualified for a certain mining lease, quarry licence, royalty collection contract or excess royalty collection contract or not. The Government or e-auction service provider shall not be responsible for non-receipt of e-mail by the bidder and its consequences.(7)During e-auction process, the qualified bidder will be able to submit its Final Price Offer as many times as it wishes against the same mining lease, quarry licence, royalty collection contract, or excess royalty collection contract. The qualified bidder shall remain anonymous to other qualified bidders participating in the electronic auction process as well as to e-auction service provider or Government. The qualified bidder will be able to see the prevailing highest Final Price Offer against the mining lease, quarry licence, royalty collection contract or excess royalty collection contract, but the name of the highest qualified bidder at any point of time shall not be displayed. The qualified bidder shall have to put its Final Price Offer over and above the displayed highest bid by a minimum increment as mentioned in notice inviting bid (NIB) to become the highest qualified bidder. The electronic auction process will have a scheduled start and close time which will be displayed on screen. The qualified bidder shall be able to put its Final Price Offer after the start of bid time and till the close time of electronic auction. The current server time (IST) will also be displayed on the screen. In the event a Final Price Offer is received during the last eight minutes before the scheduled close time of electronic auction, the close time of electronic auction will be automatically extended by eight minutes from the last received bid time to give equal opportunity to all other qualified bidders. This process of auto extension will continue till no Final Price Offer is received during a period of eight minutes.Explanation: - For example, assuming that the initial scheduled close time for a particular electronic auction is 1:00 pm and a Final Price Offer is received at 12:55 pm, the scheduled close time shall be extended to 1:03 pm. Again if a Final Price Offer is received at 1:01 pm, the scheduled close time shall be extended to 1:09 pm and so on. In the event that no further Final Price Offer is received till 1:09 pm, the electronic auction will close at 1:09 pm. The extended close time will be displayed on screen and the qualified bidders are advised to keep refreshing its webpage to get the latest information.(8)During the process of electronic auction, the bidder shall be required to sign their bids with their respective digital signature certificate (DSC) and the use of which has been duly authorized on behalf of the bidder and which was used at the time of registration. Any digital signature certificate other than the above shall not be acceptable for bid submission by the system. Bidders in their own interest are advised to get themselves acquainted with the electronic auction process of e-auction service provider by getting their authorized representative trained beforehand through some demo electronic auction.(9)It shall be deemed that by submitting a bid, the bidder has, -(i)made a complete and careful examination of rules or guidelines for e-auction and unconditionally and irrevocably accepted the terms thereof;(ii)reviewed all relevant information provided by the Government, as may be relevant to the bid;(iii)accepted the risk of inadequacy, error or mistake in the information provided by or on behalf of the Government relating to any of the matters related to the e-auction process;(iv)satisfied itself about all matters regarding the e-auction process for submitting an informed bid, in accordance with the rules; and(v)acknowledged and agreed that inadequacy, lack of completeness or incorrectness of information or ignorance of any of the matters related to the e-auction process hereinabove shall not be a basis for any claim for compensation, damages, extension of time for performance of its obligations, loss of profits etc. from the Government.(10)The Government shall not be liable for any omission, mistake or error in respect of any of the information provided or on account of any matter or thing arising out of or concerning or relating to the tender process, including any error or mistake therein or in any information or data given by the Government.(11)The Government reserves the right to verify all statements, information and documents submitted by the bidder and the bidder shall, when so required by the Government, make available all such information, evidence and documents as may be necessary for such verification. Any such verification or lack of such verification by the Government shall not relieve the bidder from its obligations or liabilities hereunder nor will it affect any rights of the Government there under.(12)Technical Bids along with the scanned copy of documents as mentioned in sub-rule (8) of rule 14 or sub-rule (7) of rule 37, as the case may be, should be uploaded. The Government may, in its sole discretion, extend bid due date by issuing an amendment that is made available to all bidders.(13)Notwithstanding anything contained in these rules, the Government reserves the right to reject any bid and/or to annul the tender process and reject all bids at any time without any notice, without any liability or any obligation for such acceptance, rejection or annulment and without assigning any reasons thereof. In case such cancellation is pursuant to non-compliance by the relevant bidders vis-a-vis submissions of bid then the Government reserves the right to forfeit the bid security submitted by such non-compliant bidders.(14)Without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, the Government reserves the right to reject any following bid on any criteria specified in the rules: -(i)bids have not been submitted with all the information;(ii)bids have been submitted without bid security; or(iii)bids have otherwise not been submitted in accordance with the rules and guidelines.(15)The Government, in its sole discretion and without incurring any obligation or liability, reserves the right, at any time, to -(i)suspend and/or cancel the tender process and/or amend and/or supplement the tender process or modify the dates or other terms and conditions relating thereto;(ii)consult with any bidder in order to receive clarification or further information;(iii)retain any information and/or evidence submitted to the Government by, on behalf of, and/or in relation to any bidder; and/or(iv)independently verify, disqualify, reject and/or accept any and all submissions or other information and/or evidence submitted by or on behalf of any bidder;(16)It shall be deemed that by submitting the bid, the bidder agrees and releases the Government, its employees, agents and advisers, irrevocably, unconditionally, fully and finally from any and all liability for claims, losses, damages, costs, expenses or liabilities in any way related to or arising from the exercise of any rights and/or performance of any obligations hereunder, pursuant hereto and/or in connection with the tender process and waives, to the fullest extent permitted by Applicable Law, any and all rights and/or claims it may have in this respect, whether actual or contingent, whether present or in future.(17)The bidders and their respective officers, employees, agents and advisers shall observe the highest standard of ethics during the tender process. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained herein, the Government may reject a bid, without being liable in any manner whatsoever to the bidder, if the Government determines that the bidder, has, directly or indirectly or through an agent, engaged in Corrupt Practice, Fraudulent Practice, Coercive Practice, Undesirable Practice or Restrictive Practice in the tender process. In such an event, the Government shall be entitled to forfeit and appropriate the bid security or security deposit, as the case may be, as damages, without prejudice to any other right or remedy that may be available to the Government under these rules and/or otherwise;(18)Without prejudice to the rights of the Government under sub-rule (17) hereinabove and the rights and remedies which the Government may have under these rules, or otherwise if a bidder, is found by the Government to have directly or indirectly or through an agent, engaged or indulged in any Corrupt Practice, Fraudulent Practice, Coercive Practice, Undesirable Practice or Restrictive Practice during the tender process, or after the grant of the mining lease, quarry licence, royalty collection contract, excess royalty collection contract or the execution of the same, such bidder shall not be eligible to participate in any tender issued by the Government during a period of five years from the date such bidder, is found by the Government to have directly or indirectly or through an agent, engaged or indulged in any Corrupt Practice, Fraudulent Practice, Coercive Practice, Undesirable Practice or Restrictive Practices, as the case may be.Explanation: - (i) "Corrupt Practice" means, -(a)the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting, directly or indirectly, of anything of value to influence the actions of any person connected with the tender process (for avoidance of doubt, offering of employment to or employing or engaging in any manner whatsoever, directly or indirectly, any official of the Government who is or has been associated in any manner, directly or indirectly, with the tender process or arising therefrom, before or after the execution thereof, shall be deemed to constitute influencing the actions of a person connected with the tender process); or(b)save and except as permitted under these rules, engaging in any manner whatsoever, whether during the tender process or after the grant of the mining lease, quarry licence, royalty collection contract, excess royalty collection contract or the execution of the same, as the case may be;(ii)"Fraudulent Practice" means a misrepresentation or omission of facts or suppression of facts or disclosure of incomplete facts, in order to influence the tender process;(iii)"Coercive Practice" means impairing or harming, or threatening to impair or harm, directly or indirectly, any person or property to influence any person's participation or action in the tender process;(iv)"Undesirable Practice" means, -(a)establishing contact with any person connected with or employed or engaged by the Government with the objective of canvassing, lobbying or in any manner influencing or attempting to influence the tender process;(b)having a conflict of interest; or(c)violating of any Applicable Law; and(v)"Restrictive Practice" means forming a cartel or arriving at any understanding or arrangement among bidders with the objective of restricting or manipulating a full and fair competition in the tender process.(19)In any event of dispute arising out of process of e-auction, the courts situated at Udaipur in Rajasthan shall only have the jurisdiction.
