Rahul Gandhi Raises Concerns Over CBSE's Tender Process for Digital Evaluation

On Friday, May 29, Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, expressed his worries regarding the transparency of the tender process for the Central Board of Secondary Education's (CBSE) On-Screen Marking (OSM) digital evaluation system. He accused the board of repeatedly relaxing technical criteria to favor COEMPT. Sharing a media report on X, he claimed that CBSE modified the tender conditions multiple times before awarding the contract, lowering requirements related to scanning resolution, robotic scanners, and software certification.

Gandhi stated that CBSE had invited tenders for OSM three times. Initially, there were no bids, and in the second round, no qualified bidders emerged. Ultimately, the technical standards were reduced until COEMPT met them. The scanning resolution was decreased, the requirement for robotic scanners was eliminated, and the CMMI certification level was downgraded from level 5 to level 3. Additionally, penalties for errors in answer sheets were removed.

He further noted that despite Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) meeting the qualification criteria in the third round, the contract was awarded to COEMPT, which he described as having a poor track record. Gandhi highlighted that teachers had warned CBSE against implementing OSM nationwide without adequate preparation. He pointed out that TCS, India's largest IT services company, qualified in the third round but lost to COEMPT, a company with a history of failures. He questioned the complaints from CBSE students regarding poorly scanned answer sheets, missing pages, and a malfunctioning evaluation portal. Teachers had advised that the OSM system required at least one or two additional years of preparation before national implementation, yet it was rushed into action.

Gandhi raised questions about whether the contract was awarded fairly to the most capable company and demanded an independent judicial inquiry, emphasizing that the futures of 1.8 million students are at stake. He asked who wanted COEMPT to receive the contract and who had gradually lowered the standards to allow this company to qualify. He criticized the government and CBSE for claiming that 'legal procedures were followed,' stating that this was not an adequate response and lacked accountability. The real question is whether the contract was honestly awarded to the best company capable of performing the task correctly. He insisted that the future of 1.85 million children should not be entrusted to a company that only became eligible after manipulating the rules. He reiterated his call for an independent judicial inquiry into every contract awarded from CBSE to COEMPT.

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