Whether a relative of government servants can take part in tenders in India? Other Services

The answer is Yes. But there should not be any conflict of interest. The goverment officials are supposed to be the custodian of public funds. Hence all public procurement must be transparent and efficient. There are variuous rules and act which defines conflict of interests as below:

GFR 2017 (Rule 173 (xxii)

In case a purchase Committee is constituted to purchase or recommend the procurement, no member of the purchase Committee should be reporting directly to any other member of such Committee in cases estimated value of procurement exceeds Rs. 25 lakhs

------------------------------------

Manual for Procurement of Works 2019

5.6.10 Independence, Impartiality, Confidentiality and ‘No Conflict of Interest’ at all Stages of Evaluation of Bids

All technical, commercial and finance officials who have contributed to the techno-commercial or financial evaluation of bids, even though they may not be part of the TC should deal with the procurement in an independent, impartial manner and should have no conflict of interest in the form of any liaison or relationship with any of the bidder involved in the procurement. They should also maintain confidentiality of the information processed during the evaluation process
and not allow it to reach any unauthorised person. All TC members should sign a declaration at the end of their reports/ noting stating that, “I declare that I have no conflict of interest with any of the bidder in this tender”. TC members may make such a declaration at the end of their reports. GFR 2017 (Rule 173 (xxii) mandates that In case a Tender Committee is constituted to purchase or recommend the procurement, no member of the purchase Committee should be
reporting directly to any other member of such Committee, to ensure independent expression of views.

7.2.2 Code of Integrity for Public Procurement

v) “Conflict of interest”: participation by a bidding firm or any of its affiliates that are either involved in the consultancy contract to which this procurement is linked; or if they are part of more than one bid in the procurement; or if the bidding firm or their personnel have relationships or financial or business transactions with any official of procuring entity who are directly or indirectly related to tender or execution process of contract; or improper use of information obtained by the (prospective) bidder from the procuring entity with an intent to gain unfair advantage in the procurement process or for personal gain.