Eligibility: similar work, turnover and tender capacity

The qualification section is the gate. It sits near the front of every tender document, usually headed "Qualification criteria" or "Instructions to Tenderers, clause 3", and it is the first thing to read after the notice. If you do not clear it, close the document; if you do, everything else is work you can control.

The standard documents set the bar

Karnataka does not let each engineer invent the criteria. Every works tender is issued on one of six standard tender documents, K/W-1 to K/W-6, prescribed by the Finance Department in 2005 and amended by government order since. The form the tender uses is printed on every page, and it tells you before you read a word of the criteria how hard the gate is.

1. Similar work

The test: as prime contractor, in the last five financial years, you have satisfactorily completed (at least 90% of its contract value) at least one work similar in nature and of a stated value. The value is the part that changes with the document:

• Works up to ₹1 crore (K/W-2 and K/W-3): one similar work of at least 50% of the estimated cost, the figure the 2008 and 2014 orders fixed for this band.
• Works above ₹1 crore (K/W-4): one similar work usually not less than 80% of the estimated value.
• What counts as similar is defined in the document: "road works including asphalting" is not met by a building; "civil works" is broad. Read the definition, not the heading.
• Whose name. Completed by you, as contractor of record, and certified by the client's engineer for the completed value. Sub-contract work counts only if the document says so.

2. Turnover

Turnover in civil engineering construction works only, certified by a CA. Up to ₹1 crore the test is an average annual turnover, in at least two of the last five financial years, usually not less than the estimated cost of the work. Above ₹1 crore it is a minimum turnover in at least two years of not less than twice the estimated annual payments under the contract (the estimate divided by the years to complete it). Your turnover certificate from Module 2 answers both directly.

3. Tender capacity

Every K/W document asks that your {{bid-capacity|assessed available tender capacity}} be more than the tender value. The formula, and the one number in it that changes with the tender:

Three lessons hide in the formula. A long completion period raises your capacity (N is bigger), which is why an 18-month work is easier to qualify for than the same value in 6 months. Every work you win reduces your capacity for the next one (B grows), which is the department's way of stopping a contractor from taking on more than it can build. And the factor is a gift to small contractors: at ×2.5 a ₹40 lakh year supports a ₹1 crore bid, which at ×1.5 it does not.

4. Quantities, equipment and people

From K/W-3 upward the document lists minimum quantities executed in any one year, usually 80% of the peak annual rate the work needs (so many cubic metres of concrete, of earthwork), equipment to be owned or leased (a paver, a roller, a hot-mix plant, a transit mixer) and personnel (a graduate engineer with so many years, a diploma holder). Ownership proofs or lease agreements and the engineers' CVs go in the technical cover. Building tenders add that you or a named sub-contractor hold the electrical and water-supply licences for those parts. The KPWD Code separately requires Class I and II contractors to engage a graduate engineer on works of ₹15 lakh and above.

5. Declarations, and no joint ventures

An affidavit that you are not blacklisted or debarred by any government body, have no litigation history the document asks about, and that the information is true. False declarations forfeit the EMD and can debar you. Joint ventures are not accepted in K/W-1 to K/W-4; only the prequalified large works on K/W-6 take them. A small contractor cannot borrow a bigger one's turnover by partnering on paper.

Reading 'and' versus 'or'

"One work of 50% or two of 30%" gives you two routes. "Turnover and similar work and tender capacity" gives you none; every test must pass. When a clause is ambiguous, ask at the pre-bid meeting, in writing; the answer binds the evaluator.