murali772 - 8 February, 2010 | Bangalore | governance | Media Reports | efficiency | accountability | outsourcing | Others | Everything else

In order to ensure quality and speedy implementation of the works undertaken by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), the civic body has hired a third party at a cost of over Rs 4 crore. Civil Aid Techno Clinic Pvt Limited has been chosen by the BBMP to monitor all projects undertaken by it in the city. It will be mandatory for the contractors to get a certificate of approval on bills for construction works, in order to get payments from the BBMP. “We have hired their (the agency) services to improve the quality of the works, and if they fail to deliver or should something go wrong, they will be held accountable,” BBMP Commissioner Bharat Lal Meena told Express.

Civil Aid can make visits to the project locations to monitor construction progress and also check the quality of the materials used. The agency, which will further its services to all projects costing over Rs 80 lakh, may not include smaller drains and other maintenance works.

For the full text that appeared in the New Indian Express, click here

When the Bangalore Metropolitan Planning Committee eventually takes charge, in furtherance of the 74th amendment bill, it will have to take on city water supply, power supply, public bus transport services ( presently being handled by the parastatals), and possibly even functions like traffic policing, in addition to the 31 obligatory and 21 discretionary functions the BBMP is currently handling (check this).

It's plainly inconceivable (besides being inadvisable) that the government will be able to mobilise the capacity to handle all these functions directly. As such, outsourcing of most of the functions is plainly inevitable as we go forward. And, while doing so, if you go by the traditional 'lowest tender' route, you will land up with the kind of problems we have been facing all these years - poor quality, delays, etc, eventually leading to the costs to the city going up in very many ways - both tangible and intangible. Therefore, there has necessarily to be processes of proper assessment and approval of vendors in order to qualify them for bidding to take up the jobs. Apparently, this is where the problems have been all these years. And, the solution lies plainly in instituting proper regulatory mechanisms - check this

While helping to apply for a UK family visitor visa for my m-i-l, I notice that a large part of the preliminary work has been outsourced to a commercial company - VFS Global (check this), who go about the job in a most professional way. A friend whose daughter took up a job in the UK recently tells me that as a part of the process of checking her credentials, the agency sent its people to physically verify all particulars with some three neighbors. That's the thoroughness with which they undertake the job. Compared to that, I suppose I don't need to elaborate on how the police goes about the job here.

There needn't be a debate any more - outsorcing is very clearly the way forward - check this also

In the present instance, however, the BBMP has awarded this task to a firm belonging to Mr CS Vishwanath, chairman of the state task force on quality assurance in public works. Though the BBMP Commissioner has justified the choice saying that Civil Aid was chosen because of its good track record and market reputation, there could arise a question of conflict of interest here. As such, while wholeheartedly welcoming the idea of outsourcing of the function, the arrangement here doesn't appear a satisfactory one. Perhaps, Mr Vishwanath would do well to give up the chairmanship of the government task force.

Muralidhar Rao

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