The East Central Railway had announced the invitation for bids to empanel agencies for implementing 1.1 MW rooftop solar projects for the Samastipur division. It was stated that the last date for submitting bids was June 10, 2024, and the bids would be opened on the same day. It was specified that the selected solar power developer would be responsible for overseeing all aspects of the project, including engineering, design, procurement, installation (including civil and structural components), testing, and commissioning of the solar systems. It was also mentioned that the developer must operate and maintain the systems for 25 years after the project is commissioned. Potential bidders were informed that they were required to pay a non-refundable fee of Rs 34,810 for the bid document and Rs 1.76 million as a performance bank guarantee. Additionally, they were obligated to pay Rs 1.07 million/MW as an earnest money deposit. Regarding the eligibility criteria, it was stated that bidders should have installed either a minimum aggregate of 200 kW capacity of grid-connected solar rooftop systems in developer or engineering, procurement, and construction mode, or a minimum aggregate of 1 MW capacity of any grid-connected systems across various sectors such as residential, social, industrial, commercial, and government. Furthermore, bidders were required to have maintained an average turnover of Rs 15 million per year over the last three financial years and a positive net worth. It was noted that if the bidder?s parent company held a minimum of 26% share in the bidding company, the eligibility criteria of the parent company would also be considered. In a similar vein, the Sonpur Division of the East Central Railway had recently invited bids to empanel vendors to install 1.1 MW of grid-connected rooftop solar power projects through a public-private partnership on a design, build, finance, operate, and transfer basis. Prior to this, the South Eastern Railway had invited bids to empanel agencies to set up 8.383 MW of rooftop solar power projects in Odisha, Jharkhand, and West Bengal.