Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) employs around 84,000 people — drivers, conductors, mechanics, supervisors and office staff. It has now put out a tender to medically screen all of them every year, produce a health report for each person, and give each one a teleconsultation to explain the results. The tender is titled “Selection of agency to provide Annual Medical Screening, Health Reporting & Teleconsultation for MSRTC Employees” (tender no. 2026_MSRTC_1325452_1, ref. ST/CLO/02/2026) and is published on mahatenders.gov.in.
I read the full 66-page document. This post covers what the contract involves, the eligibility requirements, how the winner is picked, and — most usefully for a smaller business — where a normal Indian or Maharashtra-based healthcare or health-tech company can realistically fit in. The short version: the eligibility bar is set for large national diagnostics and corporate health-check providers, but the tender’s structure creates a genuine role for regional labs, hospitals and technology partners.
This is my reading of the RFP, not legal advice. Always work from the official document and any addenda published on the portal.
What MSRTC actually wants
The winning agency has to run the entire programme, at MSRTC’s own depots, divisional offices and workshops across the state:
- Medical camps. Set up temporary screening camps at the locations listed in the RFP, bringing all the manpower, equipment, consumables and sample-collection tools. MSRTC only provides the space.
- 21 tests per employee (Annexure J), including a full blood count, thyroid, HbA1c, lipid profile, liver and kidney function, bone density, chest X-ray, ECG, CRP, eye check-up, spirometry, audiometry, urine routine, blood grouping, electrolytes, iron, ferritin and magnesium.
- Health reports. A report for every employee, delivered to the divisional office within 7 days of the test, as two hard copies and a soft copy, with strict confidentiality.
- Teleconsultation. Registered doctors explain the reports and advise employees, with referrals for abnormal findings. Marathi is mandatory. Employees pay nothing extra.
- Timeline. All screening and reporting completed within 6 months of the work order.
- Contract length. 3 years, which MSRTC may renew for up to 2 more years, one year at a time, at the same rates.
The agency must also use a “modern and reliable technology solution” for accuracy and traceability, and give MSRTC advice on workplace wellness and preventive healthcare strategy.
How the winner is chosen: lowest price after a pass/fail check
Unlike a scored tender, this one has no marks for quality. The process is:
- Your tender fee and EMD must be in order.
- Your technical bid must meet every qualification criterion (TQ 1 to TQ 11 below). Miss one and your financial bid is never opened.
- Among the qualified bidders, the lowest total price per employee (L1) wins. MSRTC also reserves the right to negotiate with L1.
The financial bid is a price sheet (the BOQ) where you quote a rate for each of the 21 tests plus the total per employee per year including teleconsultation, excluding GST. The total is what is compared. Rates stay firm and fixed for the whole contract, including any renewal years. So once you qualify, it becomes a pure price contest across 84,000 people.
The eligibility checklist (technical qualification)
| Criterion | What the RFP requires |
|---|---|
| Legal entity | A company (Companies Act 1956/2013), partnership firm, LLP, or a sole proprietorship holding a Shops & Establishment licence, registered in India. |
| Tax | Valid PAN and GST registration at the time you submit the bid. |
| Labour and licences | EPF and ESIC registration, Contract Labour licence and wage-law compliance where applicable (with an Annexure G undertaking), plus “any licence required to provide health service”. |
| Turnover | Average annual turnover of at least ₹76 crore across FY 2023-24, 2024-25 and 2025-26, with a CA/auditor certificate carrying a UDIN. The UDIN values must match the ICAI portal or the bid is rejected. Provisional figures are accepted if the latest year is not yet audited. |
| Net worth | Positive net worth in each of the last 3 audited financial years, CA-certified with a UDIN. |
| Similar experience: value | “Similar service” means comprehensive medical screening and health reporting. In the last 5 years, for a government body, PSU, local body, government institute or corporation, or state transport undertaking, you need completed work of either 3 projects of ₹10 crore each, or 2 of ₹13 crore each, or 1 of ₹20 crore. |
| Similar experience: scale | Completed projects covering 3 projects of 33,000+ employees each, or 2 of 42,000+ each, or 1 of 67,000+. Listed corporates also count here as clients. |
| Hospital and lab network | A signed MoU with at least one multispecialty hospital or medical group with NABL-accredited laboratories in each of six regions: Mumbai, Pune, Nashik, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Amravati and Nagpur. You must attach the NABL certificates for each lab. |
| Doctors | More than 100 doctors with at least an MBBS, on payroll or contractual, with supporting engagement records. |
| Local office | At least one office in Maharashtra when you bid, or open one within one month of the Letter of Intent. |
| Integrity | Not debarred or blacklisted by any government, PSU or transport organisation. This needs a notarised affidavit on ₹500 stamp paper (Annexure B), plus a data-security declaration (Annexure D) and a no-relationship-with-MSRTC-directors undertaking (Annexure K). |
Consortia, joint ventures and “similar joint collaboration” are prohibited (clause 2.4), and only one bid per bidder is allowed. Every page of the bid must be signed and stamped by an authorised signatory, and submission is online only, in English.
The money you need
- Tender document fee: ₹28,320 (₹24,000 plus 18% GST), non-refundable.
- EMD: ₹1,52,00,000 (₹1.52 crore). Unsuccessful bidders get it back without interest within 180 days of finalisation. It can be paid online or as a bank guarantee from a nationalised or scheduled bank, or as an insurance surety bond from an IRDAI-registered insurer — in which case the original instrument must reach MSRTC before the bids are opened. MSE-registered bidders (Udyam registration for services) are exempt from the EMD, and the tender fee row carries the same exemption note.
- Security deposit: 3% of the total contract value, as a bank guarantee valid for the 3-year term plus 6 months, due within 15 days of the Letter of Intent.
- Contract execution within 30 days of the LOI, with all stamp duty and registration at your cost. Delay costs ₹10,000 a day for up to 15 days.
- Working capital. There is no advance. You invoice each location only after finishing its whole batch, and MSRTC pays within 30 days of receiving the invoice, and only for employees actually screened. Expect to fund camps, sample processing and reporting across the state before the first rupee arrives.
Penalties that hit the margin
With a lowest-price contest, thin margins meet strict liquidated damages:
| Failure | Consequence |
|---|---|
| 1 test missed for an employee | No payment for that test, plus 5% of the per-employee rate deducted. |
| 2 tests missed | No payment for those tests, plus 10% of the per-employee rate deducted. |
| 3 or more tests missed | No payment for that employee, plus ₹1,000 per affected employee. |
| Tests still pending after 6 months | ₹500 per employee per 15 days, rising to ₹1,000 per employee from the 16th day of further delay. |
| Report not delivered within 7 days | 5% of the total test cost. |
| Total penalties reach 5% of contract value | The contract is terminated. |
MSRTC can also encash the security deposit, appoint another agency at your risk and cost (clauses 3.14 and 3.16), and its VC & MD’s decision on penalties is final.
So can a normal business bid?
Be honest against the checklist:
- A clinic, a single-city diagnostics lab or a small health-check company: no, not as the bidder. The ₹76 crore turnover, the ₹20 crore (or 3 × ₹10 crore) project history, the 67,000-employee (or 3 × 33,000) reference, 100+ doctors and lab tie-ups in six regions are each beyond a small provider, and consortia are banned so you cannot pool credentials.
- An MSE with Udyam registration: you save the ₹1.52 crore EMD, but the turnover, experience and network requirements have no MSE relaxation and there is no startup exemption in this RFP.
- A large national diagnostics or corporate health-check provider with government references: this is the intended bidder. It then competes on price.
Where a smaller business can fit in
The RFP requires the winner to work through a statewide network it does not own. It must show signed MoUs with NABL-accredited labs and multispecialty hospitals in six named regions, and the scope says doctors, nurses and paramedics are mobilised from “tied-up multispecialty hospitals or medical groups” and samples are processed “through accredited laboratories”. That is the opening:
- NABL-accredited labs and hospitals in Mumbai, Pune, Nashik, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Amravati or Nagpur are exactly what every bidder has to line up. If you are one, approach the bidders early and be ready with a signed MoU and current NABL certificates. Before agreeing, ask whether a bidder expects exclusivity: the RFP’s conflict-of-interest clause deals with “constituents” of bidders, and a tie-up is different, but confirm it through a pre-bid query.
- Doctors, nurses and paramedic staffing firms: the winner needs more than 100 MBBS doctors (contractual counts) and must run camps in dozens of locations at once.
- Marathi-speaking teleconsultation providers: Marathi is mandatory, and the winner must handle a large volume of consultations.
- Health-tech and software companies: the RFP asks for a technology solution for accuracy and traceability, secure digital reports before each consultation, camp scheduling, attendance records that must accompany every invoice, and periodic progress statistics. A bidder that wins on a thin margin will want a cheap, reliable system for this.
Whichever route you take, the RFP also requires the winner to keep data confidential, keep it on MSRTC premises and delete it in front of an MSRTC official when the project ends, so any partner has to be able to work within that.
How to become eligible for a tender like this
- Get the registrations right. GST, EPF, ESIC, labour licences, and whatever health-service licences apply to what you do. For a diagnostic business that typically means clinical-establishment or nursing-home registration and, for X-ray, radiation-safety registration — check what applies to you. Our guide to hospital licences is a starting point.
- Get NABL accreditation for your lab. It is a requirement for every lab a bidder ties up with, and it takes months, so start early.
- Clean audited accounts with a UDIN. The figures on the certificate must match the ICAI portal exactly.
- Build the reference chain. Win smaller employee health-check contracts from municipal bodies, PSUs and government corporations. Ask for a work order and a completion certificate each time, showing the value and the number of employees covered.
- Register as an MSE (Udyam) if you qualify. It removes the biggest cash item, the EMD, on tenders that allow it.
- Read every RFP for contradictions and ask about them. This one has several. The tender notice says the fee is paid through the portal’s payment gateway, while a note says net banking to the MSRTC Fund account at SBI. The value test for experience lists government-type clients but not listed corporates, while the scale test includes them. It is not clear whether the same projects can satisfy both the value and scale tests. The BOQ uses abbreviations (BGR, SEP, SIT, SFT, SMT) that appear to map to blood grouping, electrolytes, iron, ferritin and magnesium. And the BOQ asks for a rate “for 1 year” while fixing rates for a 3-year contract. Pre-bid queries cost nothing and the answers become part of the RFP.
The takeaway
This tender is a large, price-driven contract to screen 84,000 employees across a state. To bid as the lead agency you need ₹76 crore turnover, a proven national-scale track record, and a network in six regions. For most healthcare businesses the practical opportunity is different: to be the accredited lab, hospital, doctor pool or technology partner that a qualified bidder needs to make its bid possible, and to build the registrations and references that let you bid on smaller health-screening tenders yourself.
If you are lining up registrations for that, browse the licenses directory to find the right filing and agent, and keep every renewal date in one place so an expired licence never costs you a bid.