TechMahindra may have to review BSNL contract

Following the acquisition of Satyam Computer Services by Tech Mahindra, one of the two companies may have to opt out of the race for Bharat Sanchar Nigam's billion-dollar IT outsourcing project. Both Satyam and Tech Mahindra had bid for the ambitious project that is being rolled out across the north, south, east and west zones.

"The decision will be taken before the financial bids are opened. As of now, it is possible that the Satyam bid will not be considered, but a final call will be taken by the evaluation committee," said Kuldeep Goyal, CMD, BSNL. Tech Mahindra has bid for all four zones, while Satyam has bid only for the east and south zones.

A Tech Mahindra representative said: "These (Satyam and Tech Mahindra) are two separate publicly listed entities. We would soon own 31% in Satyam and follow it up with open-offer later. From a business perspective, nothing has changed."

Other bidders competing for the project include HCL Infosystems, TCS, Spanco, Wipro and Infosys. HCL and TCS have bid for all zones, Wipro bid for the east and south zones, Infosys for the west and south zones and Spanco for the north and west zones. In the south zone, Tech Mahindra and Satyam are competing with Infosys , Wipro, HCL and TCS.

It is learnt that the technical bids for the tender are currently being evaluated. "Part 3 of the tender, which was the telecom infrastructure part, has already been awarded . Part 4, which is IT part, is likely to be finalised in four weeks. According to the bidding conditions, a single company cannot put in two bids. Since both Satyam and Tech Mahindra will now have the same management, only one bid is likely to be valid," said a person close to the bidding process.

There could be two possible scenarios in this situation. In the first scenario, Tech Mahindra may have the leverage to decide which bid to continue with. In the second scenario, if Satyam qualifies on technical grounds and has also put in the lowest bid, BSNL may insist that the bid should be honoured.