NHAI consultants, contractors alert! National Highways Authority of India develops this new system

National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has taken a big step to establish a transparent and comprehensive ‘Performance Rating’ System for its Consultants, Contractors and Concessionaires. NHAI has developed a ‘Vendor Performance Evaluation System’.  The portal based objective assessment of vendors’ has been initiated to track the performance of the vendors for various NHAI projects.

The Portal is available on the NHAI website under ‘Vendor Performance Evaluation System’. Under this portal, the vendors are required to conduct a self-assessment and upload the documents related to the project activities being executed by them, on the portal. The submissions are reviewed at multiple levels by NHAI, based on which a vendor rating is generated.  

The portal contains provision for rating the projects according to the mode of implementation and status of completion under BOT (Toll), BOT (Annuity), HAM, EPC works and for Authority’s Engineer, Independent Engineer and DPR Consultants. To ensure that the evaluation is done in the most objective and balanced way, the vendor rating generated post multi-level reviews, shall be shared with the vendor. The vendor will also be given an opportunity to appeal against the generated rating.

As on date, vendors have filled data for 853 projects (519 Consultants and 334 Contractors) which are under review at different stages.  The vendors who fail to upload the requisite documents on the portal shall not be allowed to participate in the bids of NHAI.  Suitable amendments in bidding documents are being incorporated to make rating of vendors as one of the qualification criteria for awarding new projects. This rating system will increase the accountability of vendors thereby improving the quality of highways.

Recently, NHAI had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi to set up a Centre of Excellence (CoE) for Use of Artificial Intelligence in Data Driven decision making and Advance Data Management System for Highways.

Under the partnership, IIT Delhi will work with NHAI on developing advance analytics based on AI and ML, prepare simulation models, enhance data storage and retrieval capacities to further strengthen NHAI’s capabilities in data-driven decision making.  The collaboration will be undertaken on the identified thrust areas like the Project Management and Data Management, Highway Network Traffic Demand and Incident Management, Highway safety, Highway Work-zone Management, Highway Pavement Management System. IIT Delhi will also give inputs for NHAI data management policy.