CBSE’s OSM contract value to Coempt Edu Teck rose by ₹10 crore for same workload

BEtween the number one deuce tenders issued by the telephone exchange room of Secondary breeding for on-screen marking (OSM), and the work order for the third, which was issued to the successful bidder Coempt Edu Teck, the estimated contract value increased by ₹10 crore for the same volume of work, from ₹28 crore to ₹38.46 crore, a review of the three documents shows.And based on the actual price for the actual number of answer sheets scanned, the value of the work comes to ₹25.39 crore, roughly 66% of the value mentioned in the work order, despite the volume of work being only 42% of that mentioned in the two tenders and also the work order.The mismatch of the numbers only serves to highlight the opaqueness of the process which has dominated headlines, threatened the careers of students, and resulted in the transfer of the two top officials of CBSE.HT’s reporting has presented a picture of a process that was rushed through without adequate preparation and training -— with the inevitable tragic consequences.Conditions relaxed before third tenderIn the first tender, issued in February 2025, and the second, issued in August 2025, the volume of answer scripts to be scanned and digitally evaluated was mentioned as 23.8 million. This number appears to have been based on an initial expectation that OSM would be used for both Class 10 and Class 12. It was eventually implemented only for Class 12.As HT reported on May 29, the first tender attracted no bids, and none of the four bidders for the second cleared the technical round of evaluation. That report also pointed out that the qualifying conditions were relaxed between the second and the third tender, including in the critical area of scanning (the first two mandated automated robotic scanning; the third did not). The resolution was also relaxed from 300DPI to 200DPI (dots per inch).Also Read: Exclusive | CBSE whistleblower's message for CJP's Abhijeet Dipke: 'Internet activism fine, but…'Hyderabad-based Coempt Edu Teck Pvt Ltd secured the contract after 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, HT reported on June 2. 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.“It is not compulsory to include estimated cost value in the tender document but it is desirable to enable bidders for informed decision. The entity inviting tender has to justify the contract value if it is increasing for the same quantity or same type of work,” said a senior official from EdCIL (India) Limited, a Mini Ratna Category-1 central public sector enterprises under the Union ministry of education.What was the final contract value?HT also reported on May 30, that the OSM contract was awarded to Coempt Edu Teck on December 5, just 74 days before the first board examinations began on February 17.The contract value, according to the work order accessed by HT, was ₹38.46 crore “for the digital evaluation of answer books of class 10 and 12 examinations conducted by the board.”To be sure, this work order did not mention volumes, but given that it was meant for both Class 10 and Class 12, it is unlikely to have changed from the first two tenders.CBSE did not respond to HT’s queries seeking logic behind the increase of more than ₹10 crore in the contract value between the first two tenders and the work order for the third.Also Read: CBSE 3-language rule defies earlier decisionHowever, a senior board official said that the work order was given on the basis for an estimate for 15 million answer scrips. The math does not work out even then: ₹28 crore for 23.8 million answer sheets should work out to ₹17.64 crore for 15 million ones, not ₹38.46 crore.“There will always be differences on either side, increase or decrease between estimates and actuals. The bill payment is made on actual copies. The rates for the range of 10 million to 15 million copies is the same. The actual payment to Coempt will be made on the basis of actual copies scanned and uploaded on OSM portal for evaluation,” the official added, asking not to be named.On May 17, CBSE stated that a total of 98,66,222 (9.86 million) Class 12 board answer books were scanned. A total of 68,018 answer books were rescanned owing to deficient quality of scanning and 13,583 answer books had persistent poor quality and hence were marked manually. The work order document dated December 5, 2025 specifies per-answer-book processing charges linked to different volume slabs. The quoted rate is ₹25.74 per answer book for quantities up to 15 million answer booklets, while the rate reduces to ₹24.75 per answer book for quantities of 25 million and above.Calculated for 9,866,222 answer books at a rate of ₹25.74 per answer book, the figure for actual payment stands at ₹25.39 crore. This is what CoEmpt is eligible to be paid. CBSE has not made any payment to Coempt yet and payment will be made after the completion of all exam related formalities including announcement of results based on re-evaluated answer copies for 2025-26 batch of Class 12.CBSE is currently accepting objections against questions in various subjects as part of its re-evaluation process.Meanwhile, a one-member committee has been appointed by the Union government to examine the procurement of the OSM system by CBSE.