IT personnel, Government officials meet, address IT procurement issues

New Delhi: Bracing an outlook intended to make more efficient and regulate government procurement processes and address the challenges confronted by the IT industry, Manufacturers’ Association for Information Technology (MAIT) in corporation with Department of Electronics and Information Technology with Accenture as the knowledge partner, organized a Sensitization Workshop on Model RFPs (Request for Proposal), which had been prepared by DeitY for selection of consultants, system integrators and PPP operators for e-Governance projects.

At the workshop, the industry body pooled its know-how in regard to e-Governance and raised dares being faced by the industry in accomplishing such projects. IT Secretaries from the northern states in India underlined their familiarity on e-Governance projects.

On Discourse en route to the discussion, Shankar Aggarwal, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Defense, reportedly said, that, “This forum gives us an opportunity to look seriously into all the procurement issues and find out ways and means on how they can be effectively addressed. Decision making is the major challenge that the government is facing today and the need of the hour is to attain efficiency and transparency in our processes.”

This gathering was the paramount of its kind wherein the Government IT Heads ceremoniously affiliated with an industry association to comprehend and reinforce procurement mechanisms and also create more cognizance on Model RFPs.  It fashioned an empowering platform for vital stakeholders from the government and industry skippers ranging from the uppermost IT companies of India to interact on ways of strengthening IT procurement processes.

“The creation of Model RFPs was  a very innovative initiative undertaken by DeitY to bring uniformity based on standardization and serve as a guideline for the Department to facilitate procurement of IT based services” reportedly quipped, Dr. Rajendra Kumar, Joint Secretary, Department of Electronics and Information Technology. He furthermore appealed to various State IT decision makers for using the Model RFP Toolkit to restructure the IT procurement in their individual states.

The industry outstretched its disquiet about operational and contractual issues such as Exit Management, followed by Bid Participation Terms, Payment Terms, Variation in Taxes and exchange rates, Limitation of Liability, ERV Clause amongst others and recommended that the Model RFP should also address these issues. A suggestion was also made to have an e-procurement board conjoining both industry representatives as well as government officials.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Anwar Shirpurwala, Executive Director, MAIT, reportedly stated, “We are honoured to offer a platform wherein industry and government can share their views on Model RFPs. Both the sides, namely, industry and government greatly value the merits and significance of the tool. However a lot more can be achieved and MAIT is committed to work towards ensuring that RFPs focus on – Standardization in procurement, better transparency and participation by all stakeholders in the entire process.”

Such Sensitisation Workshops shall be carried out across India in the future. This would in turn expedite inputs from several state governments as well as the larger industry on how Model RFPs itself can be further strengthened.

Mr. Anwar advanced further that “Through these workshops, we would like to reach out to all states in the form of their IT secretaries, State e-governance Mission Teams and other government procuring organisations. “ 

This was a significant occasion for State IT decision makers as it served as a platform to share and highlight the issues being faced by them in employing e-Governance projects over the last few years. Jiwesh Nandan, Principal Secretary – IT Electronics, Govt. of UP, Vivek Attray, Additional Secretary to Govt. of Haryana, Rajneesh Malhotra, Head – State e-Governance Mission Team, Punjab and others graced the affair and addressed the issues and challenges on behalf of the e-Governance projects.