(1) No officer or employee of a procuring entity or a person participating in a procurement process shall act in contravention of the code of integrity prescribed by the State Government.
(2) The code of integrity referred to sub-section (1) shall include provisions for,-
(a) prohibiting - 13
(i) any offer, solicitation or acceptance of any bribe, reward or gift or any material benefit, either directly or indirectly, in exchange for an unfair advantage in the procurement process or to otherwise influence the procurement process;
(ii) any omission, including a misrepresentation that misleads or attempts to mislead so as to obtain a financial or other benefit or avoid an obligation;
(iii) any collusion, bid rigging or anti-competitive behaviour to impair the transparency, fairness and progress of the procurement process;
(iv) improper use of information shared between the procuring entity and the bidders with an intent to gain unfair advantage in the procurement process or for personal gain;
(v) any financial or business transactions between the bidder and any officer or employee of the procuring entity;
(vi) any coercion including impairing or harming or threatening to do the same, directly or indirectly, to any party or to its property to influence the procurement process;
(vii) any obstruction of any investigation or audit of a procurement process;
(b) disclosure of conflict of interest;
(c) disclosure by the bidder of any previous transgressions with any entity in India or any other country during the last three years or of any debarment by any other procuring entity.
(3) Without prejudice to the provisions of Chapter IV, in case of any breach of the code of integrity by a bidder or prospective bidder, as the case may be, the procuring entity may take appropriate measures including-
(a) exclusion of the bidder from the procurement process;
(b) calling off of pre-contract negotiations and forfeiture or encashment of bid security;
(c) forfeiture or encashment of any other security or bond relating to the procurement;
(d) recovery of payments made by the procuring entity along with interest thereon at bank rate;
(e) cancellation of the relevant contract and recovery of compensation for loss incurred by the procuring entity;
(f) debarment of the bidder from participation in future procurements of the procuring entity for a period not exceeding three years under section 46.
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