SC seeks response on Rs 375 crore NICSI tender dispute over OneXtel empanelment

The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought response from the National Informatics Centre Services Inc (NICSI) and others on an appeal by Enterprise communications firm Karix Mobile challenging a letter of empanelment given to its rival OneXtel on Rs 330-375 crore tender for the implementation of the government’s message gateway services.

At the heart of the dispute is the mandatory Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) Level 3 certification or above, a globally recognised benchmark for process maturity, quality control and service delivery standards in software and IT services.

Seeking cancellation of the tender process, Karix argued that the contract was awarded to OneXtel, which was an ineligible entity as it had secured qualification by submitting a false and invalid CMMI certification, a mandatory pre-condition under the request for empanelment. The requirement of this certification was an essential and non-curable eligibility condition, particularly in view of the sensitive nature of message gateway services involving governmental communications and citizen data, it added.


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Karix alleged that OneXtel, which emerged as the lowest bidder (L1), had “fraudulently” acquired a “false and fabricated” CMMI Level 5 certificate from UK Certification and Inspection Limited, which it claims was not an authorised entity to issue such certification.

Despite bringing the fraudulent nature of the certification to the notice of NICSI through multiple representations, no corrective action has been taken, and on the contrary, the latter proceeded to award and continue the empanelment in favour of OneXtel, thus, demonstrating complete non-application of mind and arbitrariness, Karix contended.

However, NICSI, the IT services arm of the National Informatics Centre, said that the bid submitted by OneXtel was duly examined by an expert committee and there was no conclusive material to establish that Information Systems Audit and Control Associations or the capability maturity model integration institute was the sole body authorised to issue these certifications, and that similar certifications were issued by multiple organisations, it said.

Upholding the letter of empanelment in favour of OneXtel, the Delhi High Court observed that the service to be availed by NICSI was of public interest and no disruption of services can be allowed. It noted the NICSI’s stand that by accepting OneXtel's bid has saved approximately Rs 70 crore of public money over the three-year period of the contract