BMC floats global tender for 1 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses

vaccine global tender — Image Source : PTI (FILE)
BMC floats global tender for 1 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses

The interested parties will have to submit their expression of interest before 1 pm on May 18 and they will be opened on the same day at 3 pm, the official said.

Due to the shortage of vaccines, the vaccination drive in the city has been badly hit since the last one month. The civic body was even forced to suspend the drive for a few days and keep many of the nearly 175 centres shut from the last few days due to unavailability of doses.

The official said that the company will have to supply all the vaccines within three weeks from the day work order is issued.

COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers, their Indian partners, wholesalers of manufacturers, authorised distributors of manufacturers can participate in the tendering process, the EoI said.

"The applicant should not belong to the countries sharing borders with India," the tender reads.

It further states that the applicant should have a valid licence to manufacture or export COVID-19 vaccines to India from the competent authority, and/or Food and Drug Administration of Government of India.

The vaccine should be as per the guidelines issued by Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR), and should have DCGI approval for the supply of COVID-19 vaccines in Indian territory, it added.

As per the conditions mentioned in the EoI,the supplier of vaccines will have to provide the required storage facility for COVID-19 vaccine till the vaccination points.

The BMC, the country''s richest civic body, also kept the rights to call all those eligible firms that are willing to match the lowest (L-1) rates, reserved with itself, besidesthe right to decide the number of suppliers to be given the purchase orders depending upon the requirement of the vaccines.

As per the EoI, the BMC currently has 20 hospitals and 240 vaccination centres.