Cement, Energy and Environment

('qflT II ~ 3(i)] 17 9. Bidding Process.- (1) Subject to the provisions of rule 5, the State Government shall.issue a notice !nvili~g tender, including on their website, to commence the auction process and such nottce shall contrun bnef particulars regarding the area under auction, including,- (a) particulars of the area identified and demarcated using total station and differential global positioning system divided into forest land. land owned by the State Government. and land not owned by the State Government and (b) estimated mineral resources and bnef particulars regarding evidence of mineral contents with respect to all minerals discovered in the area during exploration in accordance with the provisions of the Minerals (Evidence of Mineral Contents) Rules, 2015. (2) The tender document issued by the State Government shall contain,- (a) geological report pursuant to the Minerals (Evidence of Mineral Contents) Rules, 2015 specifying particulars and estimated quantities of all minerals discovered in the area: and (bl revenue survey details of the area identified and demarcated using total station and differential global positioning system divided into forest land, land owned by the State Government. and land not owned by the State Government. (3) The bidders shall be provided a fixed period, as notified by the State Government, to study the tender document and such reports and the bidding process shall commence only on expiry of such period. (4) The auction shall be an ascending forward onli ne electronic auction and shall comprise of the following rounds, narnely:- (a) First Round of Auction to be held in the following manner, namely:– (i) the bidders shall submit- (A) a technical bid comprising amongst others, documentary evidence to confirm eligibility as per the provisions of the Act and the rules made thereunder to participate in the auction, bid security and such other documents and payments a may be specif~ed in the tender document: and (B) an initial price offer which shall be a percentage of value of mineral despatched: (ii) only those bidders who are found to be eligible in ac~ordance with the tenns and conditions of eligibility specified in rule 6 and whose initial price offer is equal to or greater than the reserve price, referred to as ..technically qualified bidders", shall be considered for the second round of auction; (iii ) the highest initial price offer amongst the technically qualified bidders shall be the floor price for the second round of online electr0nic auction: (iv) the technically qualified bidders shall be ranked on the basis of the descending initial price offer submitted by them and the technically qualified bidders holding the first fifty per cent. of the ranks (with any fraction rounded off to higher integer) or the top five technically qualified bidders, whichever is higher, shall qualify as qualified bidders for participating in the second round of electronic auction: Provided that where the total number of technically qualified bidders is less than three. then no technically qualified bidder shall be considered to be qualified bidder and the auction process shall be annulled: Provided further that the State Government may, in its discretion, decide not to annul the auction process if even in the third or subsequent attempt the total number of technically qualifJed bidders continues to be less than three and the State Government may, in such case, decide to consider the technically qualified bidders as qualified bidders so as to continue with the bidding process: .~ Provided also that if the number of technically qualif~ed bidders is between three and five. then all the technically qualified bidders shall be considered as qualified bidders: Provided also that in the event of identical initial price offers being submitted by two or more technically qualified bidders, all such technically quahfied bidders shall be assigned the same rank for the purposes of determination of qualified bidders and in such case. the aforementioned fifty per cent shall stand enhanced to fifty per cent. plus the number of technically qualified bidders, whose initial price offers are identical less the number of such identicaJ initial price offer!.. 22