Rajasthan Electronics and Instruments Limited (REIL), a joint venture between the government of India and the Rajasthan government, has invited bids to procure 200,000 multicrystalline solar cells of wattage output 4.62W.

The tender has been floated to procure solar cells under the domestic content requirement (DCR) category.

Interested bidders will not be required to submit any earnest money deposit to participate in the tender.

The last date to submit the bids is June 21, 2021, and bids will be opened on June 22.

The tender is for the supply of four to five busbar multicrystalline silicon solar cells that are 156*156 ± 1.0 mm or 156.75*156.75 ± 1.0 mm in dimension. The thickness of the solar cells should be 200 +/- 20 µm.

The cells must be free of cracks, holes, cuts, edge chipping, missing gridlines, patches, spots, marks, mechanical damage, or color and pattern mismatches.

The solar cells should be packed in boxes of 100, and one box should contain solar cells in the power band of 0.05W. The total quantity is to be supplied in two to three lots within two weeks from the delivery clearance.

The solar cells should be manufactured in India using undiffused silicon wafers, classified under the customs tariff head 3818. Additionally, all steps required for manufacturing the solar cells should have been carried out in India.

The vendors who have not supplied these cells earlier should submit a sample of 140 solar cells free of cost to REIL for evaluation and acceptance before the tender’s due date. New vendors will be considered for trial orders subject to the sample’s approval and suitability of terms and conditions.

As per the tender documents, 25% of the tendered quantity has been earmarked for micro and small enterprise (MSE) suppliers. Out of the 25% reserved for MSE suppliers, 20% has been allocated for procurement from MSEs owned by Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe entrepreneurs.

All the consignments will have to come with a test report and qualification certificate from the manufacturer of the product, indicating compliance with the required specification.

REIL reserves the right to split the quantity and award on two or more vendors as per the project requirement. If both the lowest and second-lowest quoting vendors are approved vendors to REIL, 100% of the tender quantity would be split amongst the approved vendors only in the ratio of 70:30 at the rate and terms applicable in the tender, keeping in view the objective that the per-unit landed cost to REIL in case of purchase from lowest and second-lowest approved vendor remains same.

If the delivery of the items is not made by the stipulated date, the party will have to pay liquidated damages at 1% of the value of the items per week, subject to a maximum of 10% of the unit delivered price of each unit so delayed.

REIL further reserves the right to adopt reverse auction at any point of time after technical evaluation, at its discretion. REIL may also open the price bid at its discretion.

In March this year, REIL issued two tenders for procuring multicrystalline solar cells. The first tender was for a rate contract supply of 150,000 multicrystalline solar cells of 4.5W output. The second tender was for the supply of 140,000 multicrystalline silicon solar cells of 4.67W output under the DCR category.

Earlier, REIL had invited bids for the supply of 200,000 multicrystalline solar cells of 4.50W and 4.60W capacity under the DCR category.

According to Mercom’s India Solar Tender Tracker, REIL has floated tenders for 790,000 solar cells under the DCR category as of now.