Wrong Timing

CWG timing system procured at excessive rates

Headlines Today Bureau

There is yet another charge against the Commonwealth Games (CWG) organising committee (OC), which faces new allegation of corruption and favouritism almost everyday. This time it is of misappropriation in the procurement of timing, scoring and result systems.
Headlines Today's investigation has revealed that the contract for setting up the systems at the stadiums was given to a Swiss company at least three times the original cost.
The contract for setting up the result systems was awarded at a cost of Rs 112 crore. The tender in this regard had a strict stipulation that the bidder must have experience in events such as Olympics and CWG. Only two bidders -- Swiss Timing II and MSL -- responded to the tender. After a final analysis, the MSL bid was rejected on the grounds that it did not meet evaluation criteria and the contract was awarded to Swiss Timing.
The process may look above board but investigation revealed the shocker. The amount paid for the system was a whopping five times the amount paid in Melbourne for a similar work.
These inflated figures were even misrepresented to the finance sub-committee. Had a competitive bidding taken place, the price of the installing the systems would have been in the range of just Rs 35-40 crore.