GOVT TO MAKE BIDDING MORE TRANSPARENT WITH E-AUCTIONS
New Delhi, November 23, 2009
The Times of India
The Delhi government is all set to shift to the e-auction mode. A brand new e-platform set-up by the information technology department of Delhi government will allow aspirants to bid electronically bringing in more transparency and take away the possibilities of corruption and manipulation. The shift to the new system starting sometime next week will now make global auctions possible.
GUJARAT IT BEHEMOTH IN TENDER ROW
Amit Arora, Gandhinagar, November 23, 2009
DNA
The country's largest software export firm bidding in the Rs 7.5 cr project by IndextB to build and manage a new portal for the Gujarat government's ambitious e-single window clearance, is facing allegation of material breach in the tender that opened on Friday.
According to sources in the know, the company officials, present at the bid had allegedly made changes in the tender document after the bids were opened. The matter relates to a tender floated by the Gujarat government for setting up and maintaining for five years a portal touted as e-single window for investors in the run up to Vibrant Gujarat 2011. The estimated cost of the whole project was close to Rs7.5 crore. According to sources, the companies that qualified to submit financial bids included Infinide in consortium with Silver Touch, HCL Technologies, and state-owned PSU,
Gujarat Narmada Fertiliser Corporation (GNFC). The IT international major failed to submit the online bid because of 'technical reasons'. So, the company submitted an offline bid, to which other bidders consented.
The process of Friday started at 1pm with technical presentation held by all the competitors. The presentation concluded around 3.30pm and was followed by opening of financial bids, which were in two parts. In part one, amount for setting up the portal was to be quoted and in second the cost of maintaining the same for five years were to be presented. For the latter part, cost per quarter was to be given and total amount would have been 20 times of the same.
However, officials from the competing companies alleged that the officials of the major IT concern in question, striking out the term 'per quarter' and made entry for lump sum amount for part two as well after the opening of the bids. HCL Technologies did not qualify as the technical marks were low and therefore its bid was not included.
NOW, USING OFFICIAL EMAIL IS A MUST FOR BABUS
Manthan K Mehta, Mumbai, November 23, 2009
The Times of India
A decade after the IT policy was unveiled, the state government has now made it mandatory for babus to make use of their official e-mail address to intimate others about inter-departmental meetings.
A GR informing all state government employees about this directive was issued on November 9. At present, only the chief minister's office makes use of email to tell others about meetings and agenda. Henceforth, this system will have to be implemented by all the state government officials. The order also states that the email will be deemed official and no further paper work would be required for the same.
The state government has been lax in extending the scope of IT in Maharashtra. According to the IT Policy issued by the government in 1998, one of the goals was to make obligatory the use of e-mail between state headquarters and district-level offices by January 1, 1999 and up to taluka headquarters by January 1, 2000.
ENABLING EFFICIENCY IN PUBLIC SERVICE DELIVERY SYSTEMS
Osama Manzar, November 23, 2009
Mint
Nothing can exemplify the magnitude of public service delivery and its required effectiveness better than the countrywide public distribution system (PDS) in India. Considered to be the world's largest public service delivery system, PDS is abound with stories of large-scale malfunctioning and opacity in the supply chain of food items sold at subsidized prices.
Millions of poor consumers who rely on PDS seek a streamlined supply chain for their daily rations. They also want to be saved from the whimsical and arbitrary manner in which PDS officials and owners of fair price shops often behave. In a country with close to 35% of its population living below the poverty line, it is all the more essential to achieve a certain level of socio-economic democracy.
The Unified Ration Card Project of Chhattisgarh could be an ideal model. The state department of food, civil supplies and consumer affairs undertook in 2007 the massive exercise of computerizing data--from paddy procurement to storage, milling and distribution of rice and other commodities to close to four million ration-card holders through 10,416 fair price shops. With this, 1,532 paddy procurement centres, 50 storage centres, all concerned district offices, 99 Civil Supplies Corporation distribution centres and 35 Food Corporation of India rice receiving centres have been computerized, covering six organizations. The Chhattisgarh Unified Ration card project received the Manthan Award in 2008 in the e-governance category.
Other efforts at public service delivery are worth mentioning. ePDS is an automated PDS management application system run in Chandigarh, which comprises various modules for better and effective management of the PDS system as well as a linked comprehensive website for information dissemination. ePDS was a nominee for the Manthan Award 2008.
Gujarat's step towards eProcurement (a fully web-enabled application that covers the procurement process from notice inviting tender to issuance of a letter of intent) for all the purchases and procurements in all government departments and societies under the administrative control of the state highlights technological capacity to ensure a greater level of public trust in government functioning towards service delivery.
