With a view to streamline and standardize Government procurement processes and address the challenges faced by the IT industry, Manufacturers' Association for Information Technology (MAIT) in partnership with Department of Electronics and Information Technology and Accenture as knowledge partner, organised 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 shared its experience in e-Governance and raised challenges being faced by industry in executing such projects. IT Secretaries from northern states in India highlighted their experience on e-Governance projects.
Shankar Aggarwal, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Defense, said, "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."
"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" Said, Dr. Rajendra Kumar, Joint Secretary, Department of Electronics and Information Technology. He also appealed to various State IT decision makers for using the Model RFP Toolkit to streamline the IT procurement in their individual states"
The gathering was the first of its kind wherein the Government IT Heads formally partnered with an industry association to understand and strengthen procurement mechanisms and also create larger awareness on Model RFPs. It created an enabling platform for key stakeholders from the Government and industry captains from the top IT companies of India to interact on ways of strengthening IT procurement processes.
Speaking on the occasion, Anwar Shirpurwala, Executive Director, MAIT, said "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."