‘Heads must roll’, say MPs as CBSE fails to answer questions on OSM

THe telephone exchange room of Secondary breeding (CBSE) officials failed to satisfactorily reply questions raised by a division 12 student about the tender procurement process of the board’s controversial On-Screen Marking (OSM) system during a parliamentary panel meeting on Tuesday, prompting some lawmakers to remark that “heads must roll” over the episode, people aware of the development said.The “Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports” had sought records relating to three OSM tenders issued between February and August 2025, including requests for proposals (RFPs), pre-bid clarifications, corrigenda, technical and financial evaluation details, and contract award or cancellation documents. However, CBSE officials did not furnish the requested documents and instead provided only a timeline of key dates associated with the procurement process, the people said.They added that the board did not provide any details about a September 20 corrigendum that removed CBSE’s power to blacklist the vendor. When MPs cornered the board about the corrigendum, several officials appeared unaware of the change and were unable to adequately explain it, according to the people mentioned above.HT had on Monday reported that though the blacklisting provision criterion made it into the August tender, it was removed in a corrigendum issued on September 20, 2025. Coempt Edu Teck was awarded the contract on December 5.The meeting was convened to examine the rollout of the OSM system in Class 12 board examinations and issues faced by students. A 17-year-old Class 12 student Sarthak Sidhant, who appeared before the panel and laid out a detailed account of the evolution of the OSM tender process and the concerns he had identified while studying procurement documents, people aware of the development said.According to people familiar with his presentation, Sidhant told the committee that CBSE had floated three separate tenders for the OSM system. The first, issued in February 2025, was eventually cancelled without a successful bidder. The second, issued in May 2025, received four bids but was not awarded. The third, floated in August 2025, attracted bids from Rankguru, TCS and Coempt, with the contract ultimately going to Coempt after Rankguru failed to qualify the technical stage.Sidhant’s presentation highlighted changes between the May and August tenders that he argued altered bidder eligibility and evaluation criteria.According to people aware of the matter, he pointed out that ownership of primary and secondary Tier-III data centres carried significant weightage in the May tender but was diluted in the final version. He also noted that a clause requiring bidders to own or have rights over the complete source code of the software was removed in the August tender. The student further argued that technical evaluation parameters shifted from emphasising project size and scanning capacity to cumulative answer books processed and the number of completed projects, changes that he said could have altered the competitive landscape among bidders, according to people familiar with the presentation.Sidhant also referred to answer sheets exposed during the alleged OnMarks data breach and argued that visible folds and shadows on the documents suggested they had been photographed rather than conventionally scanned, people aware of the development said.According to people familiar with the proceedings, MPs repeatedly sought CBSE’s response to the specific issues raised in the presentation but received few direct answers. In response, CBSE chairperson Rahul Singh, who has now been transferred, told the committee: “I do not actually have the facts of the matter right now and only what I have from memory.”People aware of the proceedings said Singh did not respond to Sidhant’s presentation point-by-point. Instead, he outlined general government procurement norms and said changes across successive tenders from February to May and then August were introduced to ensure a successful bidding process.People aware of the proceedings said CBSE’s presentation focused largely on operational challenges faced during the rollout of the system rather than the tender process itself. Officials acknowledged that the board’s re-evaluation portal had experienced payment failures and that the OSM platform had suffered a cyberattack, but stressed that the board was currently focused on ensuring smooth re-evaluation services for students.Several MPs expressed dissatisfaction with the explanations provided by the board and repeatedly pressed officials for specific answers on procurement-related questions, people familiar with the discussions said. Following Sidhant’s presentation, some members remarked that “heads must roll” for the lapses that had emerged during the implementation of the OSM system, the people said.Congress MP and panel chairperson Digvijaya Singh said after the meeting: “He (Sarthak Sidhant, one of the students affected by the CBSE’s On-Screen Marking (OSM) system) has made his presentation. It is for the committee to decide (on the replies given by the CBSE). The full committee is concerned, and we will consider whatever can be done in the interest of the students.”People aware of the proceedings said none of the MPs appeared satisfied with the answers provided by CBSE officials, particularly on questions relating to the tender process, changes made across the three procurement rounds and the rationale behind key modifications in the final contract conditions.