RE Bids: Govt Asks Agencies to Comply with GFR Rules

New Delhi, Oct 3 (PTI) The government on Friday directed renewable energy (RE) agencies to invite fresh bids for clean power projects that were issued in haste to circumvent the ALMM guidelines for cells.

It is observed that recently a few government agencies in renewable energy sector in August issued bids with less window for bid submission, as low as seven days for procurement.

"This seems to have been issued clearly to circumvent the Approved List of Models & Manufacturers (ALMM) for cells mandate," the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy said in a notification.

The ministry further said "any existing bid with short bidding timelines, which have been issued without complying with the existing GFR (General Financial Rules) rules and CVC regulations may be scrapped, if required and new bids may be issued with full compliance to the extant provisions".

MNRE said all Renewable Energy Implementing Agencies (REIAs)/PSUs/other government tender issuing agencies are required to strictly adhere to the rules issued by the Ministry of Finance and Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), time to time, in matters related to public procurement for maintaining financial propriety and transparency.

All agencies must strictly comply with existing rules and regulations when issuing bids procurement.

The ALMM is a mechanism to ensure the reliability of a producer, for protecting consumer interests, while ensuring a larger energy security of the country. The government introduced the ALMM order (List I) in 2019 for solar modules to boost the manufacturing and usage of made-in-India solar panels.

It was made mandatory to source PV modules from models and manufacturers included in the ALMM List I.

Later with amendments to the Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM), the government included cells to the list as well.