Ashutosh Kumar JUDGMENT
Ashutosh Kumar, J.
1. The petitioner, a company engaged in the business of supply and installation of modular furniture since 1993 and which had submitted its technical bid in response to the notice inviting e-tenders from eligible specialized agencies/manufacturers of modular furniture for supply and installation of modular workstation in PNB Main Branch in Delhi, is aggrieved by and seeks quashing of the letter dated 08.08.2016 issued by respondent no. 2 whereby the technical bid submitted online by it was rejected on the ground of the petitioner not fulfilling the eligibility condition of similar work. In the estimation of the petitioner, the aforesaid decision of rejecting the technical bid is arbitrary, unreasonable and with the sole object of favouring one of the other competitors, the awardee of the contract, which had quoted higher rate than the petitioner.
2. The dispute between the parties is, however, limited to the issue of interpreting the "similar work" criteria which is an eligibility condition in the tender notice. The pre-qualification of the bidders as set forth in clause no. 1.1.2 of the tender document reads as hereunder:
"1.1.2 The specialized Agency / Manufacturer of modular furniture who also fulfill the following requirements shall be eligible to apply.
(a) should have satisfactorily completed the works as mentioned below during the last seven years ending previous day of the last date of submission of bids.
(i) At least three similar works each costing not less than Rs. 626 Lac.
OR
At least two similar works each costing not less than Rs. 939 Lac.
OR
One similar work costing not less than Rs. 1252 Lac.
Similar work shall mean works of "Supplying and installation of Modular work stations (Modular furniture) under single agreement." with scan copy of original certificate issued by an officer not below the rank of Executive Engineer. Original copy of certificate is to be uploaded with the tender documents at the time of uploading of tender. Components of work executed other than those included in definition of similar work shall be deducted while calculating cost of similar work. Bidder shall submit abstract of cost of work in support of this. Value of executed work shall be brought to the current costing level by enhancing the actual value of work at simple interest rate of 7% per annum, calculated from the date of completion to previous day of last date of submission of tender.
(b) ........."
3. The petitioner in support of its claim of meeting the minimum pre- qualification criteria had submitted an agreement dated 29.07.2008 executed between the petitioner and the Bank of Baroda for supply of modular furniture at the specified branches/offices of Bank of Baroda in accordance with terms and conditions stipulated in the tender document dated 20.02.2008 floated by Bank of Baroda.
4. On going through the aforesaid agreement, it has been argued, it would become evident that the petitioner had performed similar work costing not less than Rs. 1252 lacs under a single agreement. The relevant clauses of the agreement specified that the petitioner would supply such items of modular furniture to the Bank of Baroda as may be selected and approved by it and that the petitioner as a vendor was required to furnish security deposit in the form of bank guarantee/DD as security for due performance and defect free liability of the materials supplied. The agreement further specified that the amount of security deposit would be equivalent to the amount of Rs. 1 lac or 10% of the cumulative value of the orders at any point of time whichever would be higher. There was a specific forfeiture clause in the aforesaid agreement whereby the Bank of Baroda (purchaser) could forfeit the security deposit in the e........