Courier Service Tenders – A Government Initiative:

Introduction: When courier is mentioned, one tends to think of a package from Amazon or Flipkart of such shopping mall. Many private sector firms courier items from factories to the distributors and finally to the end user consumers. Just as the private sector, government agencies courier a variety of items. This article analyses the courier service tenders published by the government agencies in India during the last year.

Annual Analysis of Courier Service Tenders: During the previous year, the governmental agencies in India published a total number of 413 tenders for the courier services. Among these, the highest number of tenders was published in the state of Maharashtra at 51 tenders. Delhi and Karnataka ranked second and third respectively in the list by advertising 42 and 37 tenders.  These 413 tenders were published by 132 government agencies spread across India. A few notable agencies are the department of post and the Cotton Corporation of India. These 2 agencies published 64 and 28 tenders respectively. 

Courier Service for Mail Transportation: The Department of Post published the most number of tenders for courier services during the last 12 months. Most of the tenders sought by the postal department were for rental of 14 FT LCV for transportation of goods. There were also cases where the postal department sought to hire a 3 light duty wheeler auto rickshaw to transport postal bags. This possibly is for the last mile delivery of the postal bags. The payment for these bags is paid on a per KM basis. They released 64 tenders in 2023 all over India. For example, 9 tenders were published in West Bengal to transport postal mails in closed body LCV trucks. In Assam, 10 tenders were advertised to deliver postal mail bags and articles in closed body containerized trucks.

Courier Service in Healthcare Sector: The healthcare sector requires fast courier service to deliver medicines, medical samples or other medical equipment in any case of emergency. The healthcare sectors all over India published 26 tenders for courier service in the last year. For example, the Health and Family Welfare Department advertised 4 tenders West Bengal.  They also published 3 tenders in Gujarat. Of which, 2 were for the transportation of Sputum Samples. The Health Department of Andaman and Nicobar Islands sought for PAN India courier service. SE National Health Mission State Health Mission Society of Mumbai, Maharashtra and Dr. Bharmbhai P Patel Institute of Medical Education also released a tender for the appointment of courier services. Along with those, The Indian Council of Medical Research published 9 tenders, the Medical Education in Karnataka released 2 tenders, and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Delhi released 2 tenders in Delhi and Maharashtra for courier service.

Courier Service in Defence Sector: Courier services are required in the defence sector of the government as well. The Department of Defence Production advertised a total number of 10 tenders and the Department of Defence advertised 3 tenders seeking for courier services. For example, the Department of Defence Production published 4 tenders in Uttar Pradesh, 2 for courier service in packets and other 2 for courier service in KG. They also published 2 tenders in West Bengal for logistic and courier service by air and surface. Apart from that, the Department of Defence advertised 3 tenders in Assam, Odisha and other states for this purpose.

Courier Services for Insurance Sector: The government department for insurance services is the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC). They advertised 7 tenders for courier service during the last year. They published 2 tenders in Rajasthan for courier services AMC in Jodhpur division. They also published 2 tenders in Maharashtra, and 1 each in Bihar, Chhattisgarh ang Gujarat for courier services.

Courier Services for Other Essential Goods: The government agencies often need to transport other essential goods like cotton, copper or other metals, fertilizers etc. For example, the Cotton Corporation of India Limited advertised 28 tenders during the previous year seeking for courier services. The Hindustan Copper Limited advertised 9 tenders in Jharkhand, and 1 tender in another state for this purpose. Also, the Ministry of Steel and the Steel Authority of India published 1 tender each in West Bengal last year. The Steel Authority of India published another tender in Tamil Nadu for courier services.

Contract Value of Courier Service Tenders: The estimated contract value of the tenders was not published by most government agencies. However, a few did which is analysed here to provide an idea of the size of these opportunities. The estimated value of the projects widely varied depending up on the expenditure. The advertised budget was mostly in the 1-50 lakh budget range, but there were a few tenders in crores of rupees as well. For example, U.P. State Road Transport Corporation advertised a tender for the selection of authorised agent for operating courier and parcel services through buses of UPSRTC. The estimated budget for this project was Rs. 16 crores, which was highest advertised budget for courier service tenders in the last year. The National Fertilizers Limited in Punjab published a tender of worth around Rs. 38.13 lakh. Starting from Rs. 1 lakh, the estimated budget for most tenders stayed within Rs. 50 lakhs.

Live Tender Analysis: As of April 11, 2024, there were a total number of 17 live tenders for courier services in India. Among these 17 live tenders, Delhi was ranked at the top with 5 live tenders. Bihar was ranked second in the list with 3 live tenders. Telangana, West Bengal, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh were ranked third in the list with 2 live tenders each, as per shown in the graph below. Until April 21, 2024, the State government agencies and Public Sector Undertakings published courier service tenders and parcel handling tenders.

Conclusion: This analysis shows that the government agencies are constantly hiring courier services to transport essential goods and services all over India. The demand for courier services will only increase in the upcoming years as well. This opens up a wide opportunity for the courier service providing firms. The agencies with the expertise in providing fast and secured courier services are suggested to actively monitor these opportunities and participate in them. This way, the government agencies along with the help of private firms can deliver the best services to the citizens of the country.