NTA floats Rs 7.5 crore tender to boost security after paper leak

The agency has floated a tender estimated at Rs 7.5 crore to hire a security firm for its headquarters at Minto Road, regional office in Okhla and other notified locations.

NEW DELHI: After a paper leak exposed weak links in India’s biggest entrance examination, National Testing Agency (NTA) is moving to put its premises, confidential records and examination material under round-the-clock watch. The agency has floated a tender estimated at Rs 7.5 crore to hire a security firm for its headquarters at Minto Road, regional office in Okhla and other notified locations. Issued on July 25, the tender is part of a procurement exercise covering security, housekeeping and examination-grade printing. Together, the bids signal an attempt to tighten controls across the examination chain — from printing and storage to access control and protection of digital infrastructure. The security contract will initially run for two years and may be extended twice by a year each. Bids can be submitted until 3 pm on Aug 17. The printing-services tender closes on Aug 20. The selected agency will watch over NTA employees, visitors, premises, confidential examination material, server rooms, strong rooms, warehouses, record rooms and other sensitive facilities. It will regulate entry and exit, verify staff and visitors, maintain logs and ensure that “only authorised persons enter restricted areas”. The security apparatus will include door-frame and hand-held metal detectors, GPS-enabled guard patrol tracking, biometric attendance and digital incident-reporting systems. NTA has moved away from choosing a bidder mainly on cost basis. Citing the “sensitive nature of NTA’s examination ecosystem and confidentiality requirements”, it has adopted the quality-and-cost based selection model. Technical capability will carry 70% weightage and the financial bid 30%.

Only agencies securing at least 70 marks in the technical assessment will reach the financial round. Bidders must have at least five years’ experience in professional security, an average annual turnover of Rs 10 crore in past three financial years and must have done prior work at high-security establishments such as central govt institutions, examination agencies, universities, airports, hospitals or metro systems.