CBSE OSM Row: The company at the centre of the Central Board of Secondary Education's (CBSE) On-Screen Marking (OSM) controversy secured the board's digital evaluation contract just 66 days before the system was rolled out nationwide, officials have confirmed to NDTV.
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) awarded the OSM contract to Hyderabad-based Coempt Edu Teck on December 5, 2025, and on February 9 the board announced full-fledged rollout of OSM.
Coempt Edu Teck was selected on the basis of quoting the lowest price among technically qualified bidders and was given the contract after two earlier bidding attempts failed to produce a successful vendor, the officials said to NDTV.
The timeline, amid scrutiny over answer-sheet mismatches and scanning errors, has raised fresh questions about the pace at which one of the CBSE's biggest examination reforms was implemented.
Two Tender Rounds Failed Before Contract Was Awarded
According to CBSE officials, the board was unable to finalise a vendor in the first two rounds of bidding before modifications were made to technical requirements in a Request for Proposal (RFP) issued in August 2025.
Explaining the process, an official said the first tender assigned 70 per cent weightage to technical expertise and 30 per cent to financial capability. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) was reportedly the only company that qualified in that round.
"Since a single bid alone cannot be accepted as per rules, it had to be cancelled," the official said.
The second round of bidding also failed to produce a successful bidder, officials stated.
Why COEMPT Was Chosen
Officials said Coempt and TCS both qualified in the final round and held Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) Level 5 certification, which is the highest level of process maturity certification, at the time of the contract award.
"In the third round during the financial bid, COEMPT had quoted Rs 24.75 including taxes for an answer sheet while TCS had quoted around Rs 65 including taxes. The difference was huge. We need to award it to the lowest bidder only and hence COEMPT was selected," the official said.
The board maintained that procurement rules required the contract to be awarded to the lowest qualifying bidder.
CBSE Acknowledges Answer-Sheet Mix-Ups
Amid concerns raised by the students and parents, officials acknowledged that around 20 cases of answer-sheet mismatches had been identified during the evaluation process.
"For a child whose answer sheet was mixed up, no explanation is enough. But if speed alone determined mistakes, more of such issues could have happened," an official said.
The board said it was examining how the mismatches occurred and was working to make the system "absolutely glitch-free".
Officials pointed out that nearly 9.8 million answer books were processed under the evaluation exercise and argued that errors can occur in both manual and digital systems.
Penalties For Scanning Errors Under Contract
Officials said that the penalties against the vendor would be determined after completion of the verification process.
According to the contractual provisions, a wrongly scanned or mismatched answer book attracts a penalty of Rs 4,000 per copy. Partially scanned answer books carry a penalty of Rs 8,000, while completely unscanned copies attract a penalty of Rs 15,000.
Board Defends Vendor Amid Political Criticism
CBSE officials also defended the selection of Coempt amid allegations raised by opposition leaders, including Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, over the company's previous work in Telangana.
An official said litigation related to the firm's post-examination management work in the state had been examined by courts and that "nothing unusual" had been found.
Referring to the controversy surrounding the company's work in Telangana in 2019, the official said the High Court had found no wrongdoing by the firm and that a Special Leave Petition subsequently filed in the Supreme Court was dismissed.
Officials further said Coempt was already handling digital evaluation and post-examination management work in several states, including Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat.
Answer Scripts To Be Shared Through DigiLocker From Next Year
Officials said the CBSE plans to make scanned copies of students' answer scripts available through DigiLocker from next year, a move aimed at increasing transparency in the post-result process.