National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has decided to make international certification mandatory for all contractors. In an internal circular issued last week, NHAI has said it would adopt a policy to give due preference to consultants and contractors certified for Quality Management System under ISO 9001:2000. “The policy shall come into effect from January 1, 2009 and would cover all procurements of contractors/ concessionaires and consultants etc. After January 1, 2010, the certification shall be a mandatory requirement for qualification of all contractors,” the circular states. “None of the current contracts would be impacted due to this requirement as we have given sufficient time for contractors and concessionaires to comply,” said an NHAI official.” NHAI’s decision to raise quality parameters comes in the wake of a number of projects being cancelled due to ‘slow progress’ or ‘poor quality-compliance’. Just recently, the road development authority terminated the contract for the Tuticorin port connectivity project, making it the third such project to be cancelled in a short span of three months, after similar debacles involving road projects providing connectivity to Kochi and Haldia ports.The ISO 9001:2000 certification is expected to ensure that companies ill-qualified to take on large projects stay away from the bidding process, by putting into place rigorous mechanisms to scrutinise their track-record on project implementation. While industry-watchers have largely welcomed the move, they have also raised concerns about the manner in which such certifications are granted. “Such certification gives the implementing agency the comfort of independent outside evaluation. It would also enable Indian contractors and concessionaires to raise the bar and bid for international projects that require such certifications,” says K L Thapar, former planning commission member and director, Asian Institute of Transport Development. “However, in the case of ISO 9001:2000 certification, the evaluation can be done by ‘third-party auditors’ and that leaves scope for manipulation. So, the basic issue that needs to be addressed is that of systemic manipulations.”
