Chennai: The Greater Chennai Corporation has canceled a 2.5crore Rs assessment tender for social media management awarded in February this year.
K S Smart Solutions who won the tender was signing an agreement in February.
However, because of the election of assembly, delayed.
The source told TOI that the corporate commissioner Gagandeep Singh Bedi reviewed this tender along with many others and canceled it because the contract had not been signed.
The Civic’s body changed its social media pages and websites in March 2020.
Orbit ZTH that has managed social media pages for Air Metro Chennai many times in a pandemic.
The company has signed a three-month contract while not extended after February.
The company is paid around Rs 10 lakh per month for its services.
In September, a resolution passed and the tender details were wide as many posts, jingle audio, animated videos and various other aspects called.
The provisions of the tender are such that the existing companies that handle social media from the Civic body cannot even participate because they do not meet the requirements.
However, even after winning offers, new companies – whose directors are Keshav a S, Rohan and Sushmith Kumar – do not take over social media pages.
Keshav told Ti that officials told them that they wanted to maintain the status quo until the election and the Zth Orbit was asked to continue until May.
Thirunakarasu from ZTH orbit tells the Toi that even now, they handle social media pages but they have not been paid for seven months.
A senior corporate official told Tii that they reviewed the tender and found that there were deviations in the way given.
Also, this company is doing a decent job and they want to find different models.
“Senior officials feel RS 20 lakh per month on social media management is very expensive and so they are now working on different models that will ensure they do not spend more than Rs 30,000-40,000 per month,” the official said.