Did CBSE check COEMPT's Globarena ties? Parliamentary panel seeks answers

A parliamentary panel examining the CBSE OSM controversy has questioned the Board over its award of the OSM contract to COEMPT EduTeck, including its links to Globarena Technologies. The panel also sought explanations for changes in tender conditions, missing documents, and action taken on OSM dry-run observations.

In Short

• Parliamentary panel questions CBSE on ties with COEMPT EduTeck and Globarena Technologies
• Panel demands explanation for reduced scanning resolution and dropped robotic scanner requirement
• Committee probes changes in OSM tender conditions and removal of strict bidder criteria

A Parliamentary panel has asked the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) whether it was aware that COEMPT EduTeck and its directors had previously been associated with Globarena Technologies, whose evaluation software came under scrutiny during the inquiry into the 2019 Telangana Intermediate results.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports, headed by Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, is currently examining the CBSE's on-screen marking system (OSM) controversy and the NEET paper leak issue. As part of its inquiry, the panel has summoned senior government officials, including representatives from the National Testing Agency (NTA) and CBSE.

The committee has directed CBSE to respond to its queries by June 8. Among the issues raised are reported changes made in various Requests for Proposals (RFPs) issued for the OSM system and whether any due diligence or background checks were conducted on COEMPT EduTeck before the contract was awarded.

The panel has also sought to know whether CBSE was aware of COEMPT EduTeck's and/or its directors' previous association with Globarena Technologies, whose software was criticised during the inquiry into the 2019 Telangana Intermediate examination results. The committee has asked how, if at all, this association was factored into the decision to award the contract, as reported by PTI.

PANEL QUESTIONS CHANGES IN OSM TENDER CONDITIONS

Seeking detailed answers from CBSE, the parliamentary committee questioned why the provision disqualifying bidders with a history of poor performance was removed in the third Request for Proposal (RFP) issued for the On-Screen Marking (OSM) contract.

The panel also sought an explanation for why the clause barring previously blacklisted bidders was allegedly weakened in the third RFP to exclude only those who were blacklisted at the time of bidding. It further asked why the minimum turnover requirement for participating companies was fixed at Rs. 50 crore, as reported by PTI.

The committee also questioned why the RFP criteria shifted from favouring contractors with their own data centres to permitting the use of Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY)-empanelled data centres.

In addition, the panel has sought clarification on why the requirement for a robotic scanner was dropped and replaced with a more generic condition requiring "sufficient scanners". It has also asked why the provision mandating the scanning of answer sheets without cutting the spine of the booklet was removed from the final RFP.

The committee also sought an explanation for why the minimum scanning resolution specified by CBSE in its RFP was reduced from 300 DPI to 200 DPI.

Further, the panel questioned why the eligibility criterion requiring experience in handling large-scale projects involving at least five lakh students per project was dropped and replaced with a provision allowing bidders to demonstrate cumulative answer-book volume across multiple projects.

PANEL SEEKS DOCUMENTS, OBSERVER REPORTS

The committee had earlier asked CBSE to furnish documents related to the February 2025, May 2025, and August 2025 RFPs issued for the On-Screen Marking (OSM) system. However, the Board has allegedly not complied with the request.

The panel has also sought details of the action taken on the report submitted by observers during the OSM dry run. Additionally, it has asked whether the Board shared or discussed the observers' findings with the Ministry of Education and, if so, what steps were taken thereafter.

(With inputs from PTI)

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