The abeyance at office made me surf arbitrary things over internet....so i just googled India... then clicked on images...the first image that i got was the Taj Mahal.....
Taj Mahal "the epitome of love", "a monument of immeasurable beauty". The beauty of this magnificent monument is such that it is beyond the scope of words.The purity of the white marble, the exquisite ornamentation, precious gemstones used and its picturesque location,.....everything is so perfect.
This article is not about Taj Mahal.....The image of Taj Mahal made me recall a quote which i saw in a restaurant at Rajkot...
The quote says: " If Shahjahan would have asked for quotations and have gone for the lowest bidder, Taj Mahal would not have been so beautiful"
(The relavance of the quote was understood when i looked at the menu....as the restaurant was very beautiful and definitely not the cheapest one.)
I had enough incidents in my tenure at IOCL associated with the word lowest bidder.....so just thought of sharing it...
But, before coming to the thoughts let me explain what is quotation, biddin...etc etc (as my blog should also have something knowledgable [:P]), in short the entire process is called tendering I have been working for IOCL since 8 months and i have enough experience of tendering to write something about it.
The various steps of tendering are
1. Purchase requestion (PR) wherein you decide what you want and then prepare specifications.
2. Request for quotation( RFQ): You publist the NIT( notice for inviting tender) on local/national/ global newspaper depending upon the type of job and value for the job and invite contractors to quote for the same.
3. The offers are opened and Work order is given to lowest bidder meeting our specifications.
Lowest Bidder (L1): He is the person who is going to do the dirtiest of job almost for free. He is the person who has not read your specification and just quotes a rate such that he can get the job and then he will say " haan sahab kya karna hai".
I was once told....." Prepare your specs in such away that these kind of parties gets filtered out and you are left with only good parties". But good parties are also contractors and they are bound to cheat.......
I have seen contractors having annual turnover of around 400 crores and still they are considered as bad parties....so whom do you qualify as good party!! Gujarat being an industrial hub many people earn their bread and butter by taking contracts of these industries and many by working as sub-contractors and labours to these giant contractors. I sometimes think why don't i become a contractor....
But i think all of us are contractors.....working for someone or making someone work under us.
Hence Tajmahal was also constructed by contractual labours.....only the name of contractor was Shahjahan and he would have definately taken the cheapest of things meeting his specifications.
I am not sure what I have writen?? why am i writing,?? are you getting the point what i tried to convey???
But whatever....i am not forcing you to go through this post....so just chill !! I was bored and had nothing to write.......so whatever came to mind i punched it..... :-)
Taj Mahal "the epitome of love", "a monument of immeasurable beauty". The beauty of this magnificent monument is such that it is beyond the scope of words.The purity of the white marble, the exquisite ornamentation, precious gemstones used and its picturesque location,.....everything is so perfect.This article is not about Taj Mahal.....The image of Taj Mahal made me recall a quote which i saw in a restaurant at Rajkot...
The quote says: " If Shahjahan would have asked for quotations and have gone for the lowest bidder, Taj Mahal would not have been so beautiful"
(The relavance of the quote was understood when i looked at the menu....as the restaurant was very beautiful and definitely not the cheapest one.)
I had enough incidents in my tenure at IOCL associated with the word lowest bidder.....so just thought of sharing it...
But, before coming to the thoughts let me explain what is quotation, biddin...etc etc (as my blog should also have something knowledgable [:P]), in short the entire process is called tendering I have been working for IOCL since 8 months and i have enough experience of tendering to write something about it.
The various steps of tendering are
1. Purchase requestion (PR) wherein you decide what you want and then prepare specifications.
2. Request for quotation( RFQ): You publist the NIT( notice for inviting tender) on local/national/ global newspaper depending upon the type of job and value for the job and invite contractors to quote for the same.
3. The offers are opened and Work order is given to lowest bidder meeting our specifications.
Lowest Bidder (L1): He is the person who is going to do the dirtiest of job almost for free. He is the person who has not read your specification and just quotes a rate such that he can get the job and then he will say " haan sahab kya karna hai".
I was once told....." Prepare your specs in such away that these kind of parties gets filtered out and you are left with only good parties". But good parties are also contractors and they are bound to cheat.......
I have seen contractors having annual turnover of around 400 crores and still they are considered as bad parties....so whom do you qualify as good party!! Gujarat being an industrial hub many people earn their bread and butter by taking contracts of these industries and many by working as sub-contractors and labours to these giant contractors. I sometimes think why don't i become a contractor....
But i think all of us are contractors.....working for someone or making someone work under us.
Hence Tajmahal was also constructed by contractual labours.....only the name of contractor was Shahjahan and he would have definately taken the cheapest of things meeting his specifications.
I am not sure what I have writen?? why am i writing,?? are you getting the point what i tried to convey???
But whatever....i am not forcing you to go through this post....so just chill !! I was bored and had nothing to write.......so whatever came to mind i punched it..... :-)
hey...u built the story very well..but it ended so suddenly...would have loved to see few more paras...on how shahjahan would have behaved if he had to bid for a contract at IOCL...
ReplyDelete@ Kshman....then there wud nt have been any tajmahal....
ReplyDeleteInstead a building wud have been built.... you can imagine a one storied building at that picturesque location....with his great grand sons playing in its corridor.....
There wud not have been any Tajmahal and i wud not hv written this blog....