UP eases conditions in global tender for Covid vaccines; opens doors for Pfizer & Moderna to join bid process

This has cleared the way for companies such as Pfizer and Moderna to participate in the tendering.

The Uttar Pradesh government has revised its bid document inviting global tenders for the supply of 4 crore vaccines to accelerate the Covid vaccination drive in the state and broaden the response from suppliers for its global tender for jabs.

In the amended bid document, the state health department has halved the earnest money deposit amount and also announced major relaxations in the terms and conditions. The relaxation would now allow several global vaccine manufacturers, including Pfizer and Moderna, to participate in the tender process.

The state had, on May 7, floated a global tender for the purchase of Covid-19 vaccines, in which it had fixed the earnest money amount at Rs 16 crore. It had also fixed certain terms and conditions regarding temperature at which the vaccine were to be transported and stored.

However, after the pre-bid meeting with representatives of vaccine manufacturers on May 12, in which representatives of Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Serum Institute, Zydus Cadila, Dr Reddy’s, which is manufacturing Sputnik, and Bharat Biotech were present, the government felt the need to relax certain terms and conditions of the global tender in order to enable more companies in participate in the process.

“The government has relaxed the condition in which vaccine storage was sought to be at 2-8 degree Celsius temperature. Now, even manufacturers of vaccines which can be stored at temperatures ranging from -20 to -80 degrees Celsius will be able to participate in the tender. This has cleared the way for companies such as Pfizer and Moderna to participate in the tendering.

“The companies will have to safely transport the vaccines to the government warehouses and will also have to make arrangements for their storage at -20 to -80 degrees Celsius,” said a state government spokesperson, adding that companies from neighboring countries, including China, will have to get the approval from the central government to join the global tender process.