The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is under scrutiny over the processes it followed while awarding the tender for Class 12 answer sheet scanning and e-evaluation through its on-screen marking (OSM) platform. The selection process for finalising the service provider and the security of the platform are being questioned by students, activists and also Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

According to documents viewed by The News Minute, there were four bidders for the May 2025 tender, including Coempt Edu Teck, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Xlict Software, but none of the four was found to comply with technical specifications. Another tender was called in August, and both Coempt Edu Teck and TCS were found to satisfy the technical criteria, while Rankguru Technology Solutions’ bid was rejected, with the status updated on November 19, 2025. This left just about three months before the CBSE 12 exams began.

While the commercial bid opening date is also mentioned as November 19, 2025, sources told TNM that the rules for this stage of the bidding process were not followed. “As per process, both parties that qualify are supposed to be called the day the bids are opened and informed that this was your commercial bid and that X or Y had won and the qualifying amount. This did not happen,” said a source, who requested not to be named. 

However, a top official in CBSE refuted this and said that since the bid process takes place online, parties don't need to be physically present and that the qualifying bidders are able to view the results online once the winner is decided. “When the bid is opened, the mail goes from the system, and the result can be viewed online.”

Since CBSE is a government body, it has to make public the results of the tender, but in the case of the OSM bid, the CBSE has yet to announce these details, including the qualifying amount, the source quoted first said. “It’s mandatory for a government body to make these details public because it is the taxpayers’ money.”

The CBSE official, however, said that the winner and details of the winning bid would not be announced publicly, such as on the CBSE website, over concerns about competition but........

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