Introduction:
The fuel that we consume, the coal used in the power plants and the food grains delivered in the fair price shops, are transported across long distances in India. These items are measured in tonnes, given the large volume of consumption. In the year 2023-24, 821 million tonnes of coal were used for power generation. This demand is expected to increase to 1192 million tonnes by 2030. So far in the 2023-24, the Indian government has procured 55.8 million tonnes of rice and 26.2 million tonnes of wheat. These food grains are typically moved to a warehouse at first, where they are stored and then transported further to a location closer to the end user. The government of India is a large imported of oil. In 2020, the Indian government imported 88.2 billion litres of diesel and 37.2 billion litres for petrol. Just as the coal and food grains, the fuel needs to be transported as well. Government, unlike the private sector, does not select a vendor arbitrarily. Instead, it follows a procedure to select a capable vendor at the lowest possible price. This article analyses the transportation tenders advertised by government agencies in India during the last year.
Annual Analytics: There was a significant demand for transportation tenders in India during the last year. A total of 4623 tenders were advertised by 206 procuring entities in India. These tenders were published from 34 States and Union Territories. Hence, it can be concluded that the demand for transportation tender is spread across the country and also that such tenders are advertised at regular intervals. The top 3 states which advertised transportation tenders are Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan. They published a total of 2778 tenders, 728 tenders and 296 tenders respectively. The Uttar Pradesh Cooperative Federation is the top ranked buyer with 1895 tenders, followed by Haryana government at 691 tenders. The Food Corporation of India advertised 243 tenders.
Food Grains Transportation: A total of 2522 tenders were published for handling and transportation of wheat tenders. These tenders accounted for most (i.e., 54.55%) of the procurement advertised during the last year. A few tenders were advertised for transportation of wheat from one Godown to another. For example, the Women and Child Development agency in Karnataka advertised a tender for food transporation for 327+43 anganwadi centers of bagaklote taluka from cdpo godowan to anganwadi centers of bagalkote taluk and bpl rice & wheat from fci hubli/vijaypur godown to cdpo or msptc godown of bagalkote taluka 2023-24. The UP Cooperative federation limited sought to appoint transportation agencies at the district level for transportation of wheat. A few of the tenders sought to engage transportation agencies for transportation of both wheat, rice and other food grains. A few tenders were published for transportation of rice. The District Magistrate in Rajasthan for example published a tender for lifting of rice from fci /dcfs and transport to 8 icds project godown under jhargram district.
Coal Transportation: Not as many tenders were published for coal transportation as for food grains. The number of tenders requiring coal transportation was 43. State electricity boards such as the Tamil Nadu State Electricity Board, and Gujarat State Electricity Corporation Limited advertised tenders for transportation of coal. Many of these tenders required the vendors to do multiple works, along with the coal transportation, For instance, TNEB limited advertised a tender for TTPS Operation Circle MPM I Unit III Collecting of Coal rejects from the mill chute, dumping in the specified area, clearing the same, loading, transporting and dumping in a specified area of TTPS for a period from 01.04.2023 to 31.03.2024. A few coalfield agencies published coal transportation tenders. The Eastern Coalfields Limited published a tender for Transportation of coal from 5 and 6 pit tippler to coal depot and to boilers and loading of coal by pay loader into tippers at coal depot of Manderboni Colliery, Pandaveswar Area and transport the same to POCP-II siding for two (02) years. Though most of the tenders published for coal transportation is in the 1 crore – 10 crore range, there was one substantially large value tender. The Singareni Colleries company limited in Telangana published a tender with an estimate value of 17.65 Crores for Transportation of Coal from RK-5&5B, RK-6 and RKNT mines, Srirampur area to SRP CHP, on weight basis for a period of 2 Years.
Household and Office Goods Transportation: Interestingly, a few tenders were advertised for transportation of household goods . The Indian Oil Corporation Limited in Tamil Nadu issued a tender for the transportation of household goods/articles from Chennai to various locations, with an estimated contract value of 1.7 Crores. A tender for the provision of monthly goods transportation services for office and domestic items as well as security personnel inside the city was released by Jharkhand’s Western Coalfields Limited The Central Armed Police Forces in Rajasthan and Meghalaya sought to hire open-body LCV trucks to transport office and domestic products. A few agencies sought to hire trucks on a monthly basis. The Chief Engineer, Andaman Public Works Department sought to hire a truck for transportation of construction material within the city. Besides the monthly model, other models of engagement were used as well. The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion sought to engage goods transportation agencies on a per kilometer basis.
Miscellaneous Transportation: A couple of tenders were published for transportation of items in cold storage. The Indian council of medical research in Tamilnadu released a tender to transport biological samples in cold storage. The Director of Agriculture in Tripura sought to engage a seedling tuber from different Agri/Horti Sub Division to different cold storage. Certain hazardous goods were transported as well such as transportation of biohard sputum by the Health and Family Department in West Bengal and engagement of a close body truck by the department of defense for transportation of dangerous goods. In addition, a few fly ash transportation tenders were published as well. Also, many fuel transportation tenders were advertised during the last year.
Live Tender Analysis: The live tender break-up is quite representative of the annual tender analytics with the State of Uttar Pradesh ranked at the top with around 50% of the tenders. The next ranked States are Haryana followed by Rajasthan.
Conclusion: This analysis shows that government spends significant amount of money in procurement of transportation services. While food grain transportation account for more 50% of the advertised tenders, there is a significant demand for transportation of household items and other goods. Also, there is a small demand for transportation of hazardous and dangerous items as well. The transportation and especially those with a national presence can do well keeping track of these opportunities and participate in them with the intent to win.
