New Delhi: The tender process has been left behind CBSEThe large-scale On-Screen Marking (OSM) project has come under more intense scrutiny after procurement records revealed that Hyderabad-based Koempt Edutech Pvt Ltd had narrowly lost out to Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) in the technical evaluation before gaining a decisive lead through extremely low financial bid.The scoring pattern has raised questions among some procurement observers whether the tender design disproportionately benefited companies with narrowly defined prior examination-scanning experience compared to companies with larger technology and systems integration capabilities.The contract involved scanning and digital evaluation of approximately 9.9 million answer sheets of Class XII under the CBSE’s fully digitized evaluation system introduced this year.Tender documents reviewed by TOI show that Coempt scored 91 out of 100 in the technical evaluation, just ahead of TCS, which scored 89 points. Both companies were closely matched across several parameters including certification, manpower, security compliance, disaster recovery systems and solution architecture.The main difference emerged in the “previous experience” category, which specifically related to the scanning and delivery of subjective answer scripts for digital assessment.According to the technical evaluation sheet, despite scoring high marks in the technical presentation and live demonstration section, Koempt received full marks, while TCS received zero marks in that category.Koempt also received full marks for its experience in handling large-scale digital assessment projects and managing multiple assessment centers simultaneously. However, TCS got maximum marks under the turnover criteria due to its larger financial scale and operational efficiency.An even bigger difference was revealed in the financial bids.According to the bid documents, Coempt quoted rates ranging between around Rs 24.8 to Rs 25.7 per answer booklet, depending on the processing volume, while TCS quoted between Rs 53 and Rs 65 per booklet in the same categories.The estimated bid price for TCS was around Rs 384.6 crore compared to around Rs 951.3 crore for Koempt – a difference of around Rs 566 crore.Under the Quality and Cost Based Selection (QCBS) model adopted by CBSE, the weightage of technical scores was 70% while the weightage of financial bids was 30%. “The bidder with a slight technical edge and a significantly lower bid gets a big advantage when the weighted scores are combined,” said a former central government procurement official.The procurement process has also attracted attention as CBSE did not finalize a qualified vendor in the two earlier tender rounds before modifying some technical conditions in the subsequent request for proposal issued in August 2025.However, officials rejected suggestions that Koempt was favored.CBSE sources said the evaluation was done strictly as per the norms prescribed in the tender document and under the general financial rules governing public procurement. Officials argued that the board had limited discretion in the technical round and that Koempt met all the eligibility requirements set out in the bid conditions.“The company which met the technical requirements and achieved the highest combined QCBS score was selected as per QCBS provisions,” an official said.The tender has acquired wider significance amid growing scrutiny of CBSE’s digital assessment ecosystem and questions over the pace of rolling out the OSM system nationwide for the 2026 board exams.