Tenders, rate contracts and GeM — what a procurement officer needs from us

Registrations a bid document asks for

Certified copies of all of the above are sent with the quotation. Tell us which schedule the tender uses and the set is assembled to match it rather than sent as a generic bundle.

The specification to quote, gas by gas

The most common defect in an industrial gas tender is specifying the gas and leaving the cylinder unstated, which makes bids impossible to compare and lets an under-specified cylinder win on price. Both standards are given here.

Acetylene needs three, not one: IS 308 for the gas, IS 7312 for the cylinder and IS 14814 as the safety code. A plant tender adds IS 8471.

What KIGL bids for

• Cylinder gas on annual rate contract — oxygen, acetylene, nitrogen, argon and carbon dioxide against a schedule of quantities, with cylinders held on deposit and exchanged on delivery.
• Medical gas supply — medical oxygen to the Indian Pharmacopoeia monograph and nitrous oxide, for hospitals and nursing homes.
• Acetylene plants — carbide-to-cylinder plants at 25, 50 and 100 Nm³/h, supplied, erected under supervision, commissioned and handed over with the manual and operator training.
• PSA plants — on-site oxygen and nitrogen generation.
• Gas pipelines — industrial and medical gas pipeline systems, designed, installed and commissioned.
• Safety devices and spares — flash back arrestors to IS 11006, regulators, manifolds, and plant spares.
• Annual maintenance contracts — on plants KIGL built and on plants it did not, after review of the drawings.

How a cylinder gas rate contract actually works

Most public-sector gas supply runs on an annual rate contract rather than order by order, and the clauses that decide whether it works are rarely the rate itself.

• Cylinder float. A continuous supply needs cylinders on your site, in transit and at the works at the same time. The float is normally two to three times your peak weekly draw. A contract that prices the gas but says nothing about the float runs short in its first busy month.
• Deposit or holding. Cylinders sit against a refundable deposit, or a daily holding charge, sometimes with demurrage beyond an agreed period. Which applies, and at what rate, belongs in the schedule — it is the single commonest source of dispute on a gas contract.
• Water capacity, not just the rate. A rate per cubic metre only compares between bidders if the cylinder size is stated. Specify the water capacity in litres in the schedule and the bids become comparable.
• Delivery cadence. Weekly, fortnightly or on call, and who bears the cost of a part-load emergency delivery.
• Retest liability. Cylinders need hydrostatic retest at the interval set under the Gas Cylinders Rules. On a supplier-owned float, that is the supplier's cost and should be stated as such.
• Price variation. Acetylene tracks calcium carbide and the air gases track power. A multi-year contract with no variation clause is priced for the worst case by every honest bidder.

Sending us a tender

Send the tender document, or the NIT number and the portal, to our enquiry form or by telephone. What helps most, in order: the schedule of quantities, the delivery location, the contract period, and any pre-qualification criteria on turnover or past supply. We will tell you plainly whether we can meet the criteria before spending your time on a bid, including when we cannot.

Cylinder gas is radius-limited and equipment is not, so a gas tender outside the Guwahati delivery radius is served through our agent network or declined, while plant and equipment tenders are quoted anywhere in India.