Soon, a model tender to bid for Digital India projects

NEW DELHI: The government will soon standardise procurement process for projects related to its marquee Digital India initiative by creating Model RFP (request for proposal) documents, or tender notices to elicit bids for a project or a solution.

The move meets a key demand from industry players that have been reeling under pending payments and delay in projects. "It has been observed that there are challenges associated with the procurement processes specifically linked to the request for proposal (RFP) / tender documents relating to terms of payments, acceptance criteria, service level agreements, change management, etc.," the ministry of electronics and IT (MeitY) said in a statement.

The Model RFP will be published on the website of ministry and various government departments will be free to download and emulate the documents for procurement of IT goods and services.

The model RFP documents are a result of extensive consultations with industry bodies and top companies, including National Association of Software and Services Companies ( Nasscom), MAIT, American Chamber Of Commerce in India (AmCham), Wipro, TCS, IBM and Infosys, along with various government bodies and NGOs.

Nasscom expects Model RFP, when adopted, to help speed up implementation of large projects by reducing the time taken for procurement of technology goods and services and addressing industry concerns around payment terms, SLAs, etc.

Prasanto Roy, head of Nasscom's Internet Council, said the Model RFP is a good base for government departments to kick start the procurement process, without extensive and expensive consultations for creating the RPF itself.