CBSE OSM Row: A Parliamentary panel has questioned the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) whether it was aware that COEMPT EduTeck and its directors were previously associated with Globarena Technologies, whose evaluation software was faulted in the inquiry into the 2019 Telangana Intermediate results, according to a report by the Press Trust of India (PTI), quoting sources. The committee has also sought answers on how this was factored into the award decision, the sources claimed.
The Parliamentary Committee for Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports, headed by Rajya Sabha member Digvijaya Singh, is investigating the CBSE On-Screen Marking System (OSM) row.
As per the report, the committee has sought written answers from the Central Board of Secondary Education on the issues of the OSM system. The CBSE must answer the panel's questions by June 8, the sources stated.
The PTI report stated that the parliamentary panel also asked the CBSE about the reported "changes" between the various Requests for Proposals (RFPs) issued for the OSM system and whether any background checks on COEMPT were conducted before awarding it the contract.
Seeking detailed answers from the CBSE, the committee asked why the provision disqualifying bidders with a past record of poor performance was removed in the third RFP for the OSM contract, the sources claimed.
The panel also questioned the board why the minimum company turnover for the bidder was specifically set at Rs 50 crore. The committee sought to know why the RFP provisions "changed" from favouring contractors with their own data centres to those using Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY)-empanelled data centres, the sources added.
Why the stipulation for contractors to scan answer papers without cutting the spine of the paper was removed, the panel has asked. It also sought to know why the minimum scanning resolution desired by CBSE in its RFP was reduced from 300 DPI to 200 DPI, according to sources.
The panel also asked why the criteria requiring experience handling large projects (involving at least 5 lakh students per project) was "dropped" in favour of a criterion allowing cumulative answer-book volume across multiple projects, the sources said.
The sources claimed that the panel had earlier asked the CBSE to share documents about February 2025, May 2025 and August 2025 RFPs issued for the OSM system, which the CBSE has not complied with.
The panel also asked the CBSE to share the action taken on the report of the observers of the OSM dry run and whether the board shared or discussed the observers' report with the Ministry of Education.
