Coempt edged out TCS by nearly 60% in race to secure CBSE's OSM portal contract

HYderabad-based Coempt Edu Teck Pvt Ltd secured the telephone exchange room of Secondary training’s (CBSE) undertake for digital scanning and e-evaluation of respond booklets, edging out Mumbai-headquartered Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) in the technical evaluation by two marks and submitting a financial bid that was nearly 60% lower than TCS’s, according to tender records reviewed by HT.Complaints from students and evaluators regarding glitches in the OSM platform and delays in post-result services, including the launch of the re-evaluation portal, have resulted in a scrutiny of the vendor and the procurement process.The “Technical Evaluation Sheet” shows that Coempt scored 91 (of a possible 100) in the technical round, compared with 89 for TCS. The two bidders were closely matched across several categories. Both secured full marks for employee strength, certifications including CMMI and ISO standards, solution architecture, security and compliance, training and change management, and disaster recovery and business continuity planning.ALSO READ | CBSE rejects Rahul Gandhi's ‘erroneous, misleading' allegations over Coempt Edu Teck contractAccording to the technical evaluation, Coempt received 2 of 5 marks for “Average Annual Turnover”, having recorded over ₹50 crore but less than ₹60 crore across the last three financial years. The Hyderabad-based firm says it has over 25 years of experience in examination technology and employs 51-200 people, according to LinkedIn. In contrast, TCS, India’s largest software services exporter with 584,519 employees and ₹267,021 crore revenue in 2025-26, received the full 5 marks for turnover.Despite the difference in turnover, both Coempt and TCS were awarded the maximum 15 marks for manpower, reflecting CBSE’ assessment that both firms possessed more than 100 persons workforce capacity to execute the project.ALSO READ | Govt seeks detailed report from CBSE on OSM tender amid row over Class 12 evaluationThe decisive difference emerged in the “Past Experience of Bidder” parameter, where Coempt secured 32 out of 35 marks against TCS’s 25. The biggest gap came under the criterion relating to “experience in scanning and distribution of subjective answer booklets for digital evaluation”, where Coempt received the full 10 marks, while TCS scored zero.The evaluation sheet shows Coempt also secured full 10 marks for large-scale digital evaluation projects and full 5 marks in experience in handling multiple evaluation centres simultaneously.TCS, however, outperformed Coempt in the technical presentation and live demonstration segment, scoring 14 out of 15 marks against Coempt’s 9. It also secured the maximum 5 marks under the turnover criterion, while Coempt received 2 marks, reflecting TCS’s larger financial strength.ALSO READ | CBSE's own ‘corrigendum’ means it can't blacklist company linked to OSM mess. Here's how that unfolded in tender processWhile CBSE did not respond to HT’s queries. A senior CBSE official said:  “The only discretion which the board has in the technical round is in terms of presentation and TCS has scored more marks in presentation than Coempt. It only proves that the bidding process has been done in a completely objective and unbiased manner.”Officials defended Coempt’s participation in the tender process, saying the company fulfilled all conditions prescribed in the bid document.“The company has not been blacklisted by any state government or examination board. Eligibility and technical merit are assessed strictly against the conditions prescribed in the tender, not on the basis of public perception,” the official quoted above said.The financial bids revealed a far wider gap between the two contenders .According to the Bill of Quantities (BoQ) documents, Coempt quoted rates ranging from ₹24.75 to ₹25.74 per answer booklet depending on the volume slab of answer books to be processed, while TCS quoted between ₹53 and ₹65 per booklet across the same volume categories. The evaluated bid value worked out to approximately ₹384.6 crore for Coempt and ₹951.3 crore for TCS, a difference of nearly ₹566 crore.CBSE evaluated nearly 9.86 million Class 12 answer books through its OSM.The contract was awarded through the Quality and Cost Based Selection (QCBS) method, under which technical scores carried a weightage of 70% and financial bids 30%. Under the system, the bidder with the lowest financial quote (L1) receives the maximum financial score, which is then combined with the weighted technical score to determine the final ranking.ALSO READ | CBSE opens portal for Class 12 results re-evaluation, verification of marks after multiple delaysThe tender pertains to digital scanning and e-evaluation of answer booklets for various CBSE examinations, a project that has come under public scrutiny following recent disruptions in the board’s Class 12 post-result processes and the On-Screen Marking (OSM) ecosystem, which CBSE rolled out fully this year.A former central government official aware of the procurement process said that in a QCBS framework, “a bidder with a marginal technical lead and a sharply lower price often gains a decisive advantage in the final ranking.”Another CBSE official said the board followed established procurement norms while selecting the vendor.“The selection was made strictly as per QCBS provisions. TCS’s prices were significantly higher than Coempt’s for the scope of work sought by the board. The company that met the technical requirements and emerged L1 was selected in accordance with the rules,” the official said.Both Coempt and TCS did not respond to HT’s queries seeking comment on the tendering.