In these difficult times where people are fighting hard against the odds, not sure if the morrow will bring cheer or sorrow,  medical personnel and service providers are making a huge sacrifice, risking their lives, the common man understands and comprehends the seriousness of the situation. He knows what it is to be disciplined, even children follow the rules.

Let us all hope the virus spread ends and we all go back to being our normal selves without much stress and struggle.

What we want to narrate in this blog is a peculiar instance, where there was a bid from customer asking manufacturers and agents to quote for incinerators of a sizable quantity to be installed in hospitals for disposal of used masks, gloves and tissues, to avoid infection being carried further. The reasoning behind this is that the bug should stop with the incinerator.

When makers of incinerators took part in the bid, a big surprise was waiting for them. There was one bid which was 1/4th the lowest bid in terms of price. Everyone scrambled around to see where they made a mistake in the bill of materials and costing and if at all it is possible to make an incinerator at such a low cost. No mistake. What happened then? When the lowest bidder’s specs were compared to the tender specs, it was found that the thickness of steel mentioned was less than 1 mm!! The thickness of refractory mentioned was simply unheard of.

What will happen if the customer decided to go by the price alone? The so-called incinerator would have lasted a few days, yes just a few days because neither the body has sufficient thickness to withstand the very high heat, nor the refractory lining good enough to contain and radiate the heat within.  The customer also found out the bidder’s credentials. Surprise, surprise! He was into making steel furniture!

You see the danger in sending open tenders without going through the credentials of bidders and pre-qualifying them.

Fortunately it did not go beyond that.

Just to bring to everyone’s notice that there are always people waiting to take advantage of others’ problems and are ready to make a fast buck, no matter what quality, what performance and extremely limited life of the machine.