Abu Dhabi, Feb 16 (Khaleej Times): Passport and consular services for Indian expats will become more economical soon, according to a top official at the Indian Embassy in the city. Neeta Bhushan, the Deputy Chief of Mission and the Head of Chancery, told Khaleej Times on Monday that the embassy is focused on increasing its services and make them better and more economical for the applicants.

The cheaper services will be available through the next service provider to be chosen by the Indian mission in Abu Dhabi.

The embassy had called for 'Requests For Proposal' from eligible companies to offer the collection and dispatch services for Indian passport, visa and consular applications in the UAE as the contract with the current service provider BLS International has ended.

"We want to make the procedures (of bidding and selection of outsourced service provider) as transparent as possible," she added. The initial date for submission of the technical and financial bids was on January 31.With nearly 20 companies coming forward to offer services and many others demanding an extension of the bidding process, the diplomatic mission has extended the last date for submissions to February 29.

"It is an open tender and we feel the more the competition is, the better the deal can be," said Bhushan. The mission has organised a pre-bid conference for the interested companies at the Indian Consulate in Dubai at 2pm today, the Indian Embassy said in a press release issued on Monday.

"The details of the Request For Proposal may be seen on the website of the Embassy of India, Abu Dhabi. Those who are interested in participating in the tendering process are welcome to participate in this conference," it added.