Punjab Transparency in Public Procurement Act, 2019
No: 12 Dated: Sep, 10 2019
THE PUNJAB TRANSPARENCY IN PUBLIC PROCUREMENT ACT, 2019
(Punjab Act No. 12 of 2019)
An Act to establish legal foundations for procedures for procurement by public entities so as to ensure timely delivery of intended outcomes with efficiency, economy, integrity and accountability, transparency, fair and equitable treatment of bidders, public confidence regarding good governance in the process and for the matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Punjab in the Seventieth Year of the Republic of India as follows: -
CHAPTER I
Preliminary
1. Short title, extent and commencement. - (1) This Act may be called the Punjab Transparency in Public Procurement Act, 2019.
(2) It shall extend to the whole of the State of Punjab.
(3) It shall come into force on and with effect from the date of its publication in the Official Gazette.
2. Definitions. - In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, -
(a) "bid" means a formal offer made in pursuance of an invitation by a procuring entity and includes any tender, proposal or quotation;
(b) "bidder" means any person, company, firm, agency, institution, etc. participating in a procurement process of a procuring entity for procurement of goods, works or services;
(c) "bidder registration documents" means the documents issued by a procuring entity, including any amendments thereto, that set out the terms and conditions of registration proceedings and includes the invitation to register;
(d) "bidding documents" means documents issued by the procuring entity, including any amendments thereto, that set out the terms and conditions of the given procurement and includes the invitation to bid;
(e) "bid security" means a security provided to the procuring entity by a bidder for securing the fulfillment of any obligation in terms of the provisions of the bidding documents;
(f) "e-procurement" means the electronic process wherein the physical tendering activity is carried out online using the internet and associated technologies;
(g) "goods" includes all articles, material, commodities, electricity, livestock, furniture, fixtures, raw material, spares, instruments, software, machinery, equipment, industrial plant, vehicles, aircraft, ships, railway rolling stock and any other category of goods, whether in solid, liquid, gaseous or intangible form, purchased or otherwise acquired by the procuring entity as well as services or works incidental to the supply of the goods if the value of services or works or both does not exceed that of the goods themselves;
(h) "invitation to bid" means a document published by the procuring entity inviting bids relating to the subject matter of procurement and any amendment thereto and includes notice inviting tender and request for proposal;
(i) "pre-qualification" means the procedure set out to identify, prior to inviting bids, the bidders that are qualified;
(j) "pre-qualification documents" means the documents issued by a procuring entity, including any amendments thereto, that set out the terms and conditions of the pre-qualification proceedings and includes the invitation to pre-qualify;
(k) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act;
(l) "procurement" or "public procurement" means the acquisition by purchase, lease, licence or otherwise of goods, services or works including award of Public Private Partnership projects, by a procuring entity whether directly or through an agency with which a contract for procurement services is entered into, but does not include any acquisition without consideration, and "procure" or "procured" shall be construed accordingly;
(m) "procurement contract" means a contract entered into between the procuring entity and a successful bidder concerning the subject matter of procurement;
(n) "procurement process" means the process of procurement extending from the issue of invitation to pre-qualify or to register or to bid till the award of the procurement contract or cancellation of the procurement process, as the case may be;
(o) "procuring entity" means an entity referred to in sub-section (2) of section 3;
(p) "Public Private Partnership" means an arrangement between the procuring entity on one side and the private sector entity on the other, for the provision of public assets or public services or both, through investments being made or management being undertaken, or both investments being made and management being undertaken, by the private sector entity, for a specified period of time, where there is well defined allocation of risk between the private sector and the procuring entity and the private entity receives performance linked payments that conform (or are benchmarked) to specified and pre-determined performance standards, measurable by the procuring entity or its representative;
(q) "rate contract" means an agreement between a procuring entity and one or more bidders which specifies the terms and conditions, including the price, for the supply of a subject matter of procurement required on a recurring basis;
(r) "registered bidder" means any bidder who is on a list of registered bidders of the procuring entity maintained under section 18;
(s) "services" means any subject matter of procurement other than goods or works and includes physical, maintenance, professional, intellectual, consultancy and advisory services or any service classified or declared as such by a procuring entity and does not include appointment of any person made by any procuring entity;
(t) "State Government" means the Government of State of Punjab in the Department of Finance;
(u) "subject matter of procurement" means any item of procurement whether in the form of goods, services or works; and
(v) "swiss challenge" means a method of procurement in which an unsolicited proposal is received for a project that predominantly involves uniqueness and specificity of design/ technology/ intellectual property for that project and third parties are allowed to challenge the original proposal through open bidding, and then the original proponent is given a chance to counter-match the most advantageous/most competitive offer; and
(w) "works" mean all works associated with the construction, reconstruction, site preparation, demolition, repair, maintenance, or renovation of railways, roads, highways or a building, an infrastructure, or structure or an installation or any construction work relating to excavation, drilling, installation of equipment and materials, as well as services incidental to the works if the value of those services does not exceed that of the works themselves.