Indian Railway introduced ‘General Conditions of Contract for Services (GCC)’

Indian Railway on February 5, 2018, first time introduced ‘the new policy of General Conditions of Contract for Services” (GCC).

What is GCC: It is a simplified, outcome focused GCC catering specifically to Services to improve contract management, delivery of services and to reduce government litigation.
Objectives: To define the terms & conditions for contractors engaged in service contracts for non-operational areas such as Housekeeping, Facilities Management, Consultancy etc., as distinct from Works.
Main features: The concepts of Digital Labour Management System, stepped Performance Guarantee in place of Security Deposit, access to liquidity as a qualifying criteria and specific provisions violation of which will lead to disqualification of bidders.

  • The digital management labour system mandates contractor to maintain a data base of all workers including their attendance data and salary details.
  • It also states that a contractor bidding for a service will be disqualified if penalty has been levied three times in last two years for violation of labour laws.
  • Service contracts are characterized by regular requirement of funds; therefore, access to liquidity has been included as a qualifying criterion.
  • Apart from labour laws, non-performance in previous contracts will also lead to bidders being disqualified in future. This is expected to put a premium on good performance.

Advantages: The new contract system will:
1. Ease the registration process for bidders,
2. Promote competitiveness,
3. Help Railways to save more on cost.
4. Will bring transparency & accountability in the system to make it more efficient and beneficial for the people.

Standard Bid Document (SBD): Indian Railways had recently issued Standard Bid Document (SBD) for Housekeeping. During the development of SBD, the need was felt for this service.
Background: A committee of Executive Directors of Railway Board was formed with a mandate for simplification and improvement of service contracts with a view to improve the quality of services and service contract management.

    • The recommendation of the Committee after approval of concerned directorates and approval of Railway Board was adopted as “The general conditions of contract for services on 02.01.2018”.
    • The new GCC is a result of wide ranging consultations, profound erudition and of immensely valuable contribution of various directorates of Railway Board.



Written by 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *