CBSE chairman, secretary transferred; Centre orders probe into OSM procurement

The Centre has taken major action amid the controversy surrounding CBSE’s digital evaluation system, transferring the Board’s Chairman and Secretary while ordering an inquiry into the procurement of On-Screen Marking (OSM) services used for board examinations.

The decision follows growing criticism of CBSE’s evaluation and post-result processes, with students, parents, and educators raising concerns over the functioning of the technology-driven assessment system.

CBSE under scrutiny

The issue gained attention after the declaration of CBSE Class 10 and Class 12 results, when several students reported problems accessing their scanned answer sheets. Candidates alleged that some answer books contained blurred images, missing pages, and incomplete sections, while others complained about difficulties navigating the Board’s online verification and re-evaluation platforms.

The controversy

What initially appeared to be isolated complaints soon evolved into a wider debate about the reliability of CBSE’s digital evaluation infrastructure. Questions were raised not only about the functioning of the OSM platform but also about the procurement process through which the contract for the service was awarded. Concerns over vendor selection, system performance, cybersecurity safeguards, and delays in post-result services further intensified public scrutiny.

In response to the growing criticism, CBSE extended deadlines for students, issued multiple clarifications, and maintained that all genuine grievances would be addressed through the prescribed review and verification mechanisms. However, the concerns continued to attract attention from students, parents, educators, and lawmakers.

The issue has now taken a significant turn, with the Centre constituting an inquiry committee to examine the procurement of OSM services by CBSE. The probe is expected to review the tendering process, assess whether all prescribed procedures were followed, and evaluate the circumstances under which the contract was awarded.

Coempt Edu Teck

At the centre of the controversy is Hyderabad-based Coempt Edu Teck, which secured the OSM contract after narrowly outperforming Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) in the technical evaluation and submitting a substantially lower financial bid. Coempt scored 91 out of 100 in the technical assessment, compared to 89 points for TCS, in a selection process where technical evaluation carried a 70% weightage and financial bids accounted for the remaining 30%.

Tender documents reviewed by Hindustan Times indicate that Coempt gained a key advantage in the experience category, scoring 32 out of 35 marks, compared to 25 for TCS. The company received full marks for its experience in scanning and distributing subjective answer scripts for digital evaluation and for handling large-scale assessment operations across multiple centres.

The financial gap between the two bidders was even more significant. Coempt quoted rates of ₹24.75-₹25.74 per answer booklet, while TCS quoted ₹53-₹65 per booklet. Based on the evaluation formula, Coempt’s bid was valued at approximately ₹384.6 crore, nearly ₹566 crore lower than TCS’s estimated bid value of around ₹951.3 crore.

While CBSE officials have defended the procurement process, stating that Coempt met all eligibility requirements and was not blacklisted by any examination authority or state government, questions over the platform’s performance and its impact on students have continued to fuel the controversy, prompting one of the most significant administrative interventions in recent years.