“How many times are they going to call us to check the same material?” one head of department grumbled. I could understand his frustration. It was the fourth time. The civic body purchases consumables like drugs and suture materials by a complex process. Tenders are floated, then offers of eligible tenders are opened and their samples are checked by experts. Of those which are OK, the lowest tender is accepted. This one under consideration was for suture materials. After careful scrutiny, the various heads of surgical departments had recommended some and rejected some. But they kept calling us again and again to see if those rejected could be accepted.
“Why are they doing this?” another head of department asked. “Will they call us until we approve those sutures which we rejected before?”
“If we rejected something, it was because it was not meeting the requirements. If we approve that stuff now, people will say there was corruption, and the administration will say we do not have integrity.”
“Not only that, the people who lose the tenders may go to court against us, and the administration will throw us to the wolves. After all, it will be our signatures on the approval.”
“The administration feels rejections should not be without sound reason” explained the person in charge. That was new to me. Most of the items rejected once were not reassessed.
“Let us look at the materials and get it over with” said a third head of a department. So we all sat down and re-looked at the sutures we had rejected earlier.
“This one was 2 cm less than the minimum length required last three times” I said. “It is still 2 cm short.”
“How could it increase?” someone asked.
“If it could not increase, why are we looking at it again?”
There was no answer to that question. I wrote my report on the papers provided. It was the same as that written the previous three times.
“Here, take it” I gave it to the person in charge of the process. “Feel free to call me again whenever you like. I am here for seven more years.”
“Not when I like, when the Boss wants me to do so” he explained lamely.
“OK, whenever the Boss likes” I said. “I get salary to work. If I don’t mind performing the same operations day in and day out, why should I mind looking at the same suture samples again and again?”
“Why are they doing this?” another head of department asked. “Will they call us until we approve those sutures which we rejected before?”
“If we rejected something, it was because it was not meeting the requirements. If we approve that stuff now, people will say there was corruption, and the administration will say we do not have integrity.”
“Not only that, the people who lose the tenders may go to court against us, and the administration will throw us to the wolves. After all, it will be our signatures on the approval.”
“The administration feels rejections should not be without sound reason” explained the person in charge. That was new to me. Most of the items rejected once were not reassessed.
“Let us look at the materials and get it over with” said a third head of a department. So we all sat down and re-looked at the sutures we had rejected earlier.
“This one was 2 cm less than the minimum length required last three times” I said. “It is still 2 cm short.”
“How could it increase?” someone asked.
“If it could not increase, why are we looking at it again?”
There was no answer to that question. I wrote my report on the papers provided. It was the same as that written the previous three times.
“Here, take it” I gave it to the person in charge of the process. “Feel free to call me again whenever you like. I am here for seven more years.”
“Not when I like, when the Boss wants me to do so” he explained lamely.
“OK, whenever the Boss likes” I said. “I get salary to work. If I don’t mind performing the same operations day in and day out, why should I mind looking at the same suture samples again and again?”
