Czech Republic vaccine supplier opts out of BMC tender race
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Mumbai: A vaccine supplier from the Czech Republic, which had submitted a bid to supply Pfizer and AstraZeneca Covid-19 shots to the Mumbai civic body, has withdrawn its proposal, leaving seven firms in the fray as of now, BMC officials said on Friday. On May 12, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) floated a global expression of interest (EOI) to procure one crore Covid-19 vaccine doses from the open market. Earlier this week, the BMC extended the deadline for submitting bids till June 1 (from May 25 earlier) though it had received a positive response from eight firms for supplying Covid-19 vaccines, one of them from the Czech Republic.
The Czech Republic-based vaccine supplier, through an email, informed the BMC about the withdrawal of its proposal on Wednesday, the officials said. Therefore, only seven suppliers offering Russia-made Sputnik V (double dose) and Sputnik Light (single shot) vaccines are in the race, they said. "The (Czech Republic) supplier has taken back its proposal," confirmed P Velarasu, additional municipal commissioner. Earlier this week, municipal commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal had informed media persons that the BMC had received eight bids so far in response to its EOI for procurement of 1 crore vaccine doses."One bid is for Pfizer/AstraZeneca and the remaining 7 bids are for Sputnik," he had said, adding the EOI deadline has been extended by one week to enable other bidders to submit all relevant documents in support of their proposals.
