In the wake of the NEET-UG paper leak controversy, the National Testing Agency (NTA) has floated a Rs 7.5-crore tender for round-the-clock security services at its headquarters and regional offices.According to the tender document, the testing agency aims to safeguard NTA personnel, visitors, assets, premises, records, confidential examination material, server rooms, strong rooms and other critical infrastructure.The contract will initially be valid for two years and may be extended for two additional one-year terms, subject to satisfactory performance, mutual consent and approval by the competent authority.The tender requires an earnest money deposit of Rs 15 lakh and will be evaluated under the Quality and Cost-Based Selection (QCBS) model, under which the technical score carries a weightage of 70 per cent and the financial score 30 per cent.Bidders must have at least five years’ experience in providing professional security services. They should have successfully executed security contracts for Central Government ministries, departments, autonomous bodies, public sector undertakings, constitutional bodies, universities, examination agencies, IT parks, airports, hospitals, metro rail systems or other establishments requiring round-the-clock security.The evaluation process will be conducted in two stages: technical and financial. Only bidders securing the minimum qualifying marks in the technical evaluation will be considered for the opening of their financial bids.The document states that “the selected agency shall deploy professionally trained, physically fit, police-verified and experienced security personnel”. The scope of work includes access control, premises protection, patrolling, security of confidential examination material, CCTV monitoring, visitor management, fire and emergency response, and incident reporting.The tender specifies that security personnel must ensure the protection of “confidential examination records”, “examination logistics”, “digital storage media” and strong rooms containing examination-related material and sensitive files entrusted to the NTA.The request for proposal (RFP) further states that security personnel must not “access, handle, copy, photograph or disclose” any confidential information encountered during the course of their duties. During examination-related activities, the agency will be required to provide additional personnel for crowd management, queue regulation, protection of confidential examination material and assistance in the movement of sensitive materials.The agency must also be capable of mobilising additional trained manpower at short notice in line with NTA’s operational requirements in the Delhi-NCR region. The tentative manpower requirement includes 40 unarmed male guards, 10 female guards and two security supervisors.