Passage:
In an effort to curb administrative delays and minimize corruption in civic public works, a State Municipal Corporation introduced a mandatory e-procurement portal for all infrastructure contracts above ₹5 lakh. Under the new guidelines, bidders are required to procure expensive third-party digital security tokens and submit mandatory cybersecurity audit certifications for every individual tender application. Furthermore, the portal operates on a non-refundable application fee structure. While the policy successfully reduced human intervention and expedited approval timelines for major projects, recent administrative reviews indicate a 40% decline in bidding participation by local small-scale micro-enterprises, who cite prohibitive compliance costs as a key barrier.
Based on the passage, which of the following practical policy measures would most logically extend the municipal corporation's objectives while addressing the observed implementation challenge?
- Subsidizing digital certification fees or simplifying compliance requirements specifically for registered small-scale micro-enterprises.Cevap
- BReverting entirely to physical paper-based tender submissions for all municipal works to ensure equal participation.
- CImposing financial penalties on local small-scale micro-enterprises that fail to submit digital security tokens.
- DDoubling the non-refundable application fees to fund administrative reviews of public works projects.