Chennai, Tamil Nadu government on Saturday issued a global tender to source 3.5 crore units of Covid-19 vaccine.

As per the tender issued by the state government undertaking Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation, the winning bidder has to supply the vaccine within 180 days progressively from the date of the purchase order.

The shelf life of the vaccines supplied should be not less than six months on the date of receipt at the purchaser's site.

The dosage form could be oral or injectable; liquid or freeze dried with sterile diluent packed separately.

The vaccine storage temperature specification should be "2–8-degree Celsius. Do not freeze", the tender stated.

In the case of the bidder being a vaccine manufacturer, the tender stated that it should have either directly or through any other authorised dealer delivered at least 200 million doses, in any one of the last two years to any country in the world, of which at least 50 million doses should have been supplied in the last one year.

In case the bidder is not a manufacturer, then the bidder as authorised by the manufacturer must have supplied goods similar to the extent of at least 50 million doses in any one of the last two years to any country in the world, of which at least 25 million doses should have been supplied in the last one year.

The technical bids will be opened on June 5, 2021.

As per the tender, the purchaser – Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation - reserves the rights to split the order quantity to more than one responsive bidder at the L1 matched rates at its full discretion, depending on the delivery schedule as time is the essence of the contract and the goods are under life saving category.

The quantity indicated is tentative and will vary as per the actual requirement. The supplier should have no claim against the purchase on the actual quantity of the orders placed.

The purchaser reserves the rights to purchase one or more vaccines at differential prices based on cost, vaccine efficacy and availability during the period of vaccination programme by the government of Tamil Nadu.

On May 13, the Tamil Nadu government had announced its decision to go in for global tender to source Covid-19 vaccines as the allotment by the Central government was insufficient.

A decision to this effect was taken at the meeting chaired by Chief Minister M.K. Stalin in which several ministers and officials participated.

According to the state government, the allotment of 13 lakh vaccine doses is insufficient to vaccinate the population in the age group of 18-44 years.

The state government also pointed out that the Union government had asked the states to source the vaccines on its own while supplying the same for those in the 45-plus category.

An official told IANS: "The 18-44 age group population of Tamil Nadu is 3.65 crore. The aim is to cover 70 per cent of this, which is 2.5 crore, which in turn would require 5 crore doses. A total of 1.5 crores doses are being procured by Tamil Nadu through the Union government's allotment from the two Indian manufacturers."

"The rest 3.5 crore doses are being tried through the global tender," the official added.