Some commonly used abbreviations
NIT: Notice inviting Tender
EMD: Earnest Money Deposit
ICB: International Competitive Bid NCB:
National Competitive Bidding
RFQ: Request for Quotation
RFP: Request for Proposal
P&F: Packing and Forwarding
DGSD: Directorate General of Supplies & Disposals (Under
the ministry of Commerce and Industry)
ST: Sales Tax CST:
Central Sales Tax
IC : Interchangeability Certificate
These are some abbreviations,
which you will come across when you do business with the Indian Public Sector.
It is an irony that the very rules, which were, enforced for transparency in
Public Sector dealings have now become the bane of the Public Sector, for you
can take advantage of them if you wish to.
It should not be assumed that
the Indian Public Sector is totally corrupt. It is nothing like that.
Corruption is a way of life in the states but not in the centrally administered
Public Sector Units. If fingers can be pointed to the Public Sector then it is
only in the respect that they are bound and tied by the lowest rule, even if
they are well aware that the lowest party got through the technical scrutiny
only based on assumptions.
What is true is that the Public
Sector Officers remain confined to their departments. If the maintenance department and the planning
department have got some overlaps, no one co-operates officially because “it’s
not my job”. This attitude and the so called transparency attitude are now the
major woes of the Indian Public Sector. As a reputed Materials Manager once
told me “As per the existing rules, we can remove our clothes. But if you think
that we are going to show you our briefs, you got another think coming”. Bully
for him.
In this section, I’ll guide you
through the quagmire of doing business with the Indian Public Sector, but never
in a negative way. The State Government departments.... They are beyond
salvation now. What do you say about the Chief Engineer of a WB State
department who on asked to state the reason for the discrepancy of official treated water figures and actual
treated water says that he will be risking his pension if he makes public the
figures for the public works that his department has done. All this in a linked
in discussion forum, too. And this gentleman is now looking for a consulting position (after his impending retirement) abroad in the US(probably where his
sons or daughters are settled) so that he can pass on his expertise in showing
1 equals to 2, to his US bosses.
Here I conclude this prologue,
friends with the hope that you will like it.
It is not my intention to thrill or educate but only to tell you what you will be able to find yourself but at the cost of time. The novel, the plot of which, is outlined here. starts from my next post.
Till then,
It's
Merci et Adieu
Bilbo
