NEW DELHI: The road transport and highways ministry will now give higher scores to project consultancy firms that have good technical strength and better ratings based on their previous works, and submit the maximum bank guarantee (BG), as it does away with the norm of accepting lowest price (L1) bid for preparation of detailed project reports (DPRs).As per the proposed norm made public by the ministry, bidders will be assessed on three parameters —technical competence (30 marks), DPR rating (30 marks) and bank guarantee (BG) quote (40 marks). Sources said that by submitting higher BG, players will be taking the risk of forfeiting some of it for non-performance.“So, only serious players who are confident of completing the task on time will bid. So far, we have faced the problem of plenty. Now, we want the best bidders for the job,” said a senior ministry official.A DPR is a comprehensive blueprint for any project, outlining all technical, financial and logistic details necessary for its execution.For decades, highway-owning agencies had been following the ‘Quality and Cost Based Selection (QCBS)’ model, which worked on an 80:20 ratio — technical proposals were evaluated with 80% weightage and financial bids, with 20% weightage — to bid out consultancy works. Last Sept, NHAI started bidding out consultancy works by setting a fixed cost for the project, and companies having the best technical competence bagged works.The ministry has now improved this process by adding scores for ratings of consultancy firms and quantum of BG. The payment of contract price and release of BG will be linked to stages of approvals and projects becoming operational. There will also be a provision for a 5% bonus in contract cost for DPRs that facilitate completion of projects on time and without any changes or additions.The ministry has said consultancy firms will be rated on the basis of projects where 180 days have elapsed after the appointed date; those for which provisional completion or completion certificate has been issued; and four-six lane projects longer than 10 km and two-lane projects longer than 25 km.The ministry said this will allow objective assessment of performance of DPR firms and help identify performers and non-performers. The rating exercise will happen twice a year.