gurgaon, haryana – 122015nhb.gov.in/tenders/rfp-tender for software.pdf · gurgaon, haryana –...

Tender for Software Services for NHB (AMC & Development)

National Horticulture Board 1 | P a g e o f 3 0

Gurgaon, Haryana – 122015

Request for Proposal (RFP)

FOR

Software Services for NHB

(AMC & Development)

For

1. AMC Support and Upgradation of NHB's website and its online software applications

&

2. Design, develop and implement a web based Financial Management System

Bid document available from : 30th August 2010

Last Date for submission of bid : 19th November 201

19thNovember 2010

November 2010

0 1400 hours

Technical bid opening : 1500 hours

Financial bid opening : 30 th 1500 hours



Table of Contents

1. Definitions 4 2. Invitations for Proposal 4 3. Disclaimer 5 4. Interpretation 5 5. Diligence 6 6. Cost of bidding 6 7. Clarification of Bidding Documents 6 8. Amendment of Bidding Documents 6 9. Language of Bid 6 10. Site Visit 6 11. General Instructions 7 12. Qualification criteria of the bidder 8 13. EMD Deposit 9 14. Overall Evaluation Methodology 9 15. Evaluations of Bids 9 16. Undertaking 10 17. Bid Prices 10 18. Period of validity of bids 11 19. Scope of work 11 20. Technical bid requirements 12 21. Commercial bid requirements 12 22. Deliverables 13 23. Training and Maintenance support 14 24. Hardware Requirement and Minimum configuration 14 25. Copyright and Trademarks 14 26. Milestones and payment terms 14 27. Other terms and conditions 15 28. Force Majeure 15 29. Resolution of disputes 16 30. Award of contract 16 31. Notification of Award 16 32. Signing of Agreement 17 33. Expenses for the contract 17 34. Failure to abide by the contract 17 35. Termination of contract 17 36. Governing Law 17 37. Submission of bids 17 38. Contents of Technical Envelope 17 39. Authentication of bids 18 40. Validation of Interlineations in bid 18 41. Sealing and marking of bids 18 42. Address for submission of bids 18 43. Responsibility of Bidder 19 44. Rejection of bid 19



45. Late bid 19 46. Opening of technical bid 19 47. Opening of commercial bid 19 48. Clarifications of bids 20 49. Completeness of bids 20 50. Rectification of errors 20 51. Annexure I 21 52. Annexure II 27 53. Annexure III 28



1. DEFINITIONS

“Applicable Law” means all relevant laws in force and effect as of the date hereof and which may be promulgated or brought into force and effect hereinafter in India, including judgment, decrees, injunctions, Writs or orders of court, as may be in force and effect during the subsistence of this Tender Document.

“Bid Document” shall mean the document submitted by the bidder, pursuant to understanding and agreeing with the terms and conditions set out in this Tender Document.

“Contract” shall mean the agreement to be entered into between NHB and the successful Bidder.

“Evaluation Committee” shall mean the committee constituted by NHB

“NHB” National Horticulture Board

2. INVITATION FOR PROPOSAL RFP Notice

2.1 This invitation to tender is for Software Services for AMC Support and Upgradation of NHB's website & its online software applications and Design, develop & implement a web based financial management system

2.2 The bidder is advised to study this document carefully before submitting their proposal. Submission of the proposal in response to this notice shall be deemed to have been done after careful study and examination of this document with full understanding of its terms, conditions and implications.

2.3 This RFP document is non transferable.

S.No. Information Details

1 Date of availability 30 th ANovember 2010 by 1400 hoursugust 2010

2 Last date and time of submission of proposals

19 th

November 2010 by 1500 hours19 th

November 2010 by 1500 hours26 th 4

3 Date & time for opening of technical proposals

Date & time for Technical Presentation

November 2010 by 1500 hours30 th 5 Date & time for opening of Financial Proposals

6 Contact person for queries C.P. Gandhi, Assistant Director (C), 8800103799, 0124 2343348

7 Address at which response to RFP is to be submitted

Managing Director, National Horticulture Board, 85, Institutional Area, Sector 18, Gurgaon 122015



3. DISCLAIMER

The information contained in this bid document or subsequently provided to Bidder(s), whether verbally or in documentary or any other form by or on behalf of NHB provided to Bidder(s) on the terms and conditions set out in this document and such other terms and conditions subject to which such information is provided.

By acceptance of this tender document, the recipient further agrees that this tender document may not be distributed, reproduced or used for any other purpose than the evaluation of Designing, Development and Maintenance of Website, its online applications and development of Financial Management System. The recipient agrees that it will cause its directors, Partners, officers, employees and representatives and any other parties who provide services to the recipient to use the tender document for the purposes in the manner stated above.

NHB may in their absolute discretion, but without being under any obligation to do so, update, amend or supplement the information, assessment or assumptions contained in this tender document. The issue of this tender document does not imply that NHB is bound to select a Bidder and NHB reserves the right to reject all or any of the Bidders or Bids without assigning any reason whatsoever.

4. INTERPRETATION:

In this Tender Document, unless the context otherwise requires,

(a) For the purpose of this Tender Document, where the context so admits, the singular shall be deemed to include the plural and viceversa and Masculine gender shall be deemed to include the feminine gender and viceversa.

(b) References to Clauses, Recitals or Schedules are references to clauses and recitals of and schedules to the Contract and the Tender Document. The Schedules, annexure and addendums shall form an integral part of this Contract.

(c) Any reference herein to a statutory provision shall include such provision, as is in force for the time being and as from time to time, amended or reenacted in so far as such amendment or reenactment is capable of applying to any transactions covered by this Contract. Any references to an enactment include references to any subordinate legislation made under that enactment and any amendment to, or replacement of, that enactment or subordinate legislation. Any references to a rule or procedure include references to any amendment or replacement of that rule or procedure.

(d) The headings and subheadings are inserted for convenience only and shall not affect the construction and interpretation of this Tender Document. References to the word “include” and “including” shall be construed without limitation. Any reference to day shall mean a reference to a calendar day including Saturday and Sunday.



5. DUE DILIGENCE

The Bidder is expected to and shall be deemed to have examined all instructions, forms, terms and specifications in this Tender Document. The Bid should be precise, complete and in the prescribed format as per the requirement of the Tender Document. Failure to furnish all information required by the Tender Document or submission of a bid not responsive to the Tender Document in every respect will be at the Bidder’s risk and may result in rejection of the bid. NHB shall at its sole discretion be entitled to determine the adequacy / sufficiency of the information provided by the Bidder.

6. COST OF BIDDING

The Bidder shall bear all costs associated with the preparation and submission of its bid and NHB shall in no event or circumstance be held responsible or liable for these costs, regardless of the conduct or outcome of the bidding process.

7. CLARIFICATION OF BIDDING DOCUMENTS

NHB shall make best efforts to respond to any request for clarification of the Tender Document, such request to be made in writing. Such response / clarification shall to the extent possible be made in writing. NHB shall not be responsible for any delay including but not limited to any postal delays.

8. AMENDMENT OF TENDER DOCUMENT

At any time before the deadline for submission of bids, NHB may, for any reason, whether at its own initiative or in response to a clarification requested by a prospective Bidder, modify the Tender Document by amending, modifying and / or supplementing the same.

All changes shall be posted on website www.nhb.gov.in and prospective Bidders are required to go through the same before submission of bid. All such amendments shall be binding on them without any further act or deed on NHB’s part. In the event of any amendment, NHB reserves the right to extend the deadline for the submission of the bids, in order to allow prospective Bidders reasonable time in which to take the amendment into account while preparing their bids.

9. LANGUAGE OF BID

The Bid prepared by the Bidder, as well as all correspondence and documents relating to the Tender Document and / or the bidding process exchanged by the Bidder and NHB shall be written in English or Hindi language only.

10. SITE VISIT

The bidder may visit NHB head office to obtain more information and collect the required details. Bidders are requested to communicate in 3 days advance about their visit. A maximum of 2 representatives from the bidder’s organization will be permitted.



11. GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS

11.1 The Bidders are requested to read the tender document carefully.

11.2 Bidder is one who has responded to the “Software Services for NHB (AMC & Development)”. The Bidder shall duly fill in all the information specified in the pre qualification criteria specified. In the event of any additional information required by the NHB other than that specified in the prequalification criteria, the Bidder to the NHB shall duly submit such information in the prescribed time. The Bidder shall submit the Tender Document duly signed on each page as a part of the bid. It shall be expressly agreed herein by the bidder that he has read and understood the complete Tender Document and other documents / requirements and shall comply with the same except what is stated in specified Deviation / NonCompliance statement format.

11.3 NHB shall reserve the right to verify the operation and performance of Project by the Bidder and the Bidder shall permit NHB to do so. The NHB will evaluate the information submitted by the Bidder with regard to Bidder’s capacity. The Bidder cannot subcontract the work at any stage without prior written approval from the NHB.

11.4 Bids received with incomplete information / documents shall be rejected. Bids not adhering to Terms, Conditions, Specifications and other details as given in this document may be summarily rejected.

11.5 All deviations from the Terms, Conditions and other details of Tender Document should be separately and clearly submitted.

11.6 This tender document is not transferable.

11.7 Modification or Withdrawal of Offers is not permissible after its submission. If the offer is withdrawn before the validity period, the EMD will stand forfeited. To assist in the scrutiny, evaluation and comparison of offers, NHB may, at its discretion, ask some or all Bidders for clarification of their offer.

11.8 The request for such clarifications and the response will necessarily be in writing.

11.9 Award Criteria: Technical Offers in Envelope 1 will be evaluated first to check whether all required information and documents as specified in the Tender Document are submitted and to ascertain whether the Bidder meets all Qualifying Criteria. The Bidders whose Technical Offers are found to be in accordance with the specifications mentioned in the tender document would be shortlisted and will be called for technical presentation. The bidders who score more than 75% in technical evaluation, only their Commercial Bids in Envelope 2 would be opened.

11.10 The Bidder should abide by the terms and conditions specified in the tender document. If Bidders submit conditional offers, they shall be liable for outright rejection.

11.11 The NHB reserves the right to make any changes in the terms and conditions of the tender.



11.12 The offers containing erasures or alterations will not be considered. Technical details must be completely filled in. Correct technical information of the service being offered must be filled in.

11.13 Filling up of the information using terms such as “OK”, “accepted”, “noted”, “as given in brochure / manual” is not acceptable.

11.14 NHB may treat offers not adhering to these guidelines as unacceptable.

11.15 Bidders are not allowed to subcontract in any manner without written approval from NHB and Consortium Bids are not acceptable.

11.16 The contract period for the AMC support shall be initially for one year, extendable for three more years on annual basis on satisfactory performance. The FMS development and implementation shall be completed in seven months from the date of awarding the contract with a warranty support of five months.

12. QUALIFICATION CRITERIA OF THE BIDDER

12.1 Bidder can be a proprietary or Partnership Firm or Pvt. Ltd. Or limited company (Deed of constitution/ registration certificate to be enclosed in technical bid) and should have a software development center in the National Capital Region of Delhi (NCR of Delhi) for extending support to NHB head quarters.

12.2 The bidder should have a minimum yearly turnover of Rupees Fifty Lakh during the last Three Financial years and should have executed at least three projects of individual value worth Rs.20 Lakhs and above each for design, development and maintenance during last three financial years. A certificate from the customer in this regard would be required.

12.3 Bidder should have the experience of minimum five years in the line of Designing, Development and maintenance of website. (CA Certificate in support to be enclosed in technical bid indicating experience more than three years in similar line)

12.4 The bidder should have at least developed 810 websites of reputed organizations and maintained at least 5 websites during last three years (A list of websites developed and maintained to be submitted in technical bid along with details of client and URLs).

12.5 Out of these, the bidder must have carried out a minimum of one projects in agriculture domain; the bidder also should have carried out one software project on government financial / subsidy schemes management.

12.6 The Bidder should not be Blacklisted or involved in any Corrupt & Fraudulent Practices by any Central/State government ministry/affiliate or Public sector undertaking.

12.7 Supporting documents for fulfilling the qualification criteria will have to be submitted in technical envelope No.1.



13. EARNEST MONEY DEPOSIT (EMD)

13.1 Bidders are required to submit Rs. 50,000/ (Rs. Fifty thousand) as EMD for the bids in form of Demand Draft of Nationalized or Scheduled Bank / Pay Order drawn in favour of ‘National Horticulture Board payable at Gurgaon.

13.2 EMD Demand Drafts / Pay Orders should be part of Envelope 1.

13.3 The EMD is noninterest bearing and is refundable to unsuccessful bidders after one month of finalization of Tender.

13.4 The successful Bidders EMD will be discharged upon expiry of "Offer Validity Period" mentioned in Instruction to Bidder.

13.5 The EMD will be forfeited;

• If a bidder withdraws his bid during the period of validity. OR

• In case of a successful bidder, if the bidder fails to sign the contract in accordance with terms and conditions.

14. OVERALL EVALUATION METHODOLOGY

14.1 NHB shall evaluate and compare the bids determined to be substantially responsive. Any effort made by the Bidder to influence the NHB in the evaluation / contract award decision, may result in the rejection of the Bidder’s bid. It is NHB’s intent to select the Bid that is most advantageous to NHB and each Bid will be evaluated using the criteria and process outlined below.

14.2 The Technical and Commercial evaluation of Bids shall be carried out by the NHB. Only those Commercial Bids who qualify in the technical evaluation shall be considered.

15. EVALUATION OF BIDS

15.1 The Bidding process shall be a twostage process. Prior to the detailed evaluation of the Technical Bids, NHB shall determine whether each bid is

a. Complete Is accompanied by the required information and documents and Is substantially responsive to the requirements set forth in the tender document.

15.2 The core technical evaluation criteria are broadly defined as under:

i. Relevant past experience (35 Marks), which includes, 1. Software development projects handled for authorities operating in the field of Agriculture (10) 2. Maximum Number of successful websites developed & Maintained (10) 3. Number of successful implementation of a Financial Management or Subsidy Management Scheme for a Government Organization (15)



ii. Solution proposed (45 Marks), which includes, 1. Extent of Understanding of NHB’s requirements (30) 2. Solution proposed, its robustness, scalability, expandability & execution strategy (15)

iii. Presentation of Technical Proposal, understanding of requirements and ability to respond to Tender Evaluation Committee (TEC) queries and manpower proposed ability to (20 Marks)

15.3 Technical proposals scoring not less than 75 % of the total marks will be considered for financial evaluation. If deemed necessary, NHB in its sole discretion to make required variations in the cut off points for technical evaluation including criteria for technical evaluation.

15.4 Based on the results of the Technical evaluation, NHB shall then proceed to open and evaluate the Financial Bid of those Bidders who qualify in the Technical evaluation. The financial evaluation will take into account the information supplied by the Bidders in the Commercial Bid, and the same shall be evaluated in accordance with the evaluation criteria specified in the tender document.

15.5 Tender Evaluation Committee: The Managing Director, NHB will constitute the Tender Evaluation Committee. This committee will evaluate the Bid Documents submitted by the Bidders.

15.6 The Tender Evaluation Committee may choose to conduct technical negotiation or discussion with any or all the Bidders. The decision of the Evaluation Committee in the evaluation of the Technical and Commercial bids shall be final and binding on all the parties.

15.7 Any effort by a Bidder to influence the Tender Evaluation Committee’s processing of Bids or award decisions may result in the rejection of the Bid.

16. UNDERTAKING

An undertaking from the Bidder stating the compliance with all the conditions of the Contract and Technical Specifications of the Bidding Document will be required since no deviation will be acceptable to NHB.

17. BID PRICES

a) The price i.e. offer must be made by the intending bidder covering all important points mentioned in the bid format enclosed in this bid document. The financial offer may be submitted keeping in view the terms and conditions of this bid document and site conditions.

b) All liabilities, whatsoever, on account of copy rights or any other reason, if any, shall be borne by the bidder.



c) Any royalties or patents or the charges for the use of content, images, software’s etc. thereof that might involve in the contract shall not be paid by NHB. The bidder only shall pay for such claims without putting any financial burden on NHB.

18. PERIOD OF VALIDITY OF BIDS

18.1 Validity Period

Bids shall remain valid for 180 (One hundred eighty) days after the date of bid opening prescribed by NHB, NHB holds the right to reject a bid valid for a period shorter than 180 days as nonresponsive, without any correspondence.

18.2 Extension of Period of Validity

In exceptional circumstances, NHB may solicit the Bidder’s consent to an extension of the period of validity. The request and the response thereto shall be made in writing. Extension of validity period by the Bidder shall be unconditional. The EMD provided shall also be suitably extended. A Bidder may refuse the request without forfeiting the EMD.

A Bidder granting extension of validity will not be permitted to modify his technical or commercial bid.

19. Scope of Work

Invitation of Proposals for AMC Support and further upgradation of NHB's website and its online software applications and to develop and implement a webbased Financial Management System

National Horticulture Board (NHB) invites proposals from Software Consultants/firms with requisite experience and expertise for short listing and selection for Annual Maintenance Support and further upgradation of its website and online software applications hosted as a part of the website, used by public stake holders and NHB officials. In addition, NHB also intends to design, develop and implement a webbased financial management software system to manage, allocate and monitor fund receipt and reconcile and release/utilization of funds under various schemes and heads.

In brief, the requirements of the present tender would have following components/parts:

1. AMC of existing website and online software applications 2. Enhancements and upgradation of online applications and NHB website 3. Design, development, implementation and support of Financial

Management System

The detailed terms of reference for the above said activities are given in the Annexure 1, 2 & 3 respectively.

A dedicated team comprising software developers with 23 years of experience in .NET platform shall be required to execute the tasks at 1 & 2 above. These resources need to be deployed onsite at NHB Gurgaon office. Further technical



and domain support may be provided remotely by senior representatives from the bidder's premises whenever required to assist the onsite team to deliver the required support.

For development of financial management system as at serial 3 above, bidder may estimate the timeline, resource requirements and financials separately.

20. Technical Bid Requirements

The Technical Bid should cover:

a. Brief profile of the firm/company applying, giving proof of expertise in the field of Website development and the competence for developing and managing online applications.

b. List of clients for whom similar services are being provided during the last 3 years and the nature of work carried out

i) Reference of at least 10 customers, project details, contact details and URL references required. ii) Out of these, it is required to have minimum 2 projects in

agriculture domain and at least one project on government financial / subsidy schemes management.

c. A concept note on the understanding of present status of NHB website, its online applications and the proposed financial management system.

d. Proposed methodology for AMC support to NHB, financial management system including work plan detailing the tasks involved milestones etc.

e. Suggestions on additional features that may be added to NHB's website and a technical proposal for implementing the same.

f. Profiles of Senior Management and onsite software developers proposed to be deployed

g. The bidder is required to disclose / specify in the proposal, any plan of outsourcing or subcontracting of the proposed activities to a third party. NHB does not entertain any kind of consortium to participate in this bidding process.

h. All supporting documents/information sought under Section 12, “QUALIFICATION CRITERIA OF THE BIDDER”, but not covered above.

21. Commercial Bid Requirements

Financial bid should cover two separately sealed Financial Bids, one super scribed as Commercial Bid – Tender for Software Consultancy Services for NHB (AMC) and another super scribed as Commercial Bid – Tender for Software Consultancy Services for NHB (FMS):



a. Commercial Bid – Tender for Software Consultancy Services for NHB (AMC): For activities mentioned in Annexure1 & 2 as mentioned above in 19, Lump sum charges for AMC contract of NHB's website & its online applications, having a dedicated team onsite at NHB Gurgaon office and further technical and domain support from the bidder's premises. The format shall be as below:

S.No Activity Lump sum AMC charges per year (excluding all kinds of taxes)

1. 1. AMC of existing website and online software applications (as per requirements in AnnexureI of Tender Document)

2. Enhancements and upgradation of online applications and NHB website (as per requirements in AnnexureII of Tender Document)

Lump sum AMC charges per year

b. Commercial Bid – Tender for Software Consultancy Services for NHB (Development): Separate financial bid should be submitted for activity 3 as mentioned above in 19. The format shall be as below:

S.No Activity Lump sum charges (excluding all kinds of taxes)

1. Design, development, implementation and support of Financial Management System (as per requirements in AnnexureIII of Tender Document)

All charges should be exclusive of VAT, service taxes, etc. if any. Taxes should be quoted separately applicable as on date.

22. DELIVERABLES

Bidder has to handover the Source Code , Patches & Releases (If any ) , Application Software, All content used in the Designing of the Website, along with Technical Documents, user Manual, functional Manual, installation guide and any other if required for creation of development environment and hosting, launching of the FMS application for NHB for the purpose of copyright and intellectual properties.

The FMS application developed as well as any upgradation carried out in the existing website or online applications, shall comply with the necessary Internet Security guidelines. The charges for making any corrections towards the feedback received from NIC/NICempanelled Internet Security Auditors for this upgradation or FMS shall be borne by the successful bidder.



23. Training and Maintenance Support:

Bidder will provide training at NHB premises to 5 staff members without any extra cost.

24. Hardware Requirement and Minimum configuration:

The present website and the online applications are currently hosted in NIC servers and the proposed FMS application shall also be hosted at NIC server or at NHB premises.

Bidder should provide the Requirement of Minimum Hardware Configuration, third party software, tools, required for the successful deployment of the FMS application.

25. Copyright and Trademarks:

Successful bidder shall handover all the software and graphics to NHB for the purpose of copyright and intellectual ownership. On the bottom of every page a link navigating to information page regarding copyright shall be given.

26. Milestones and Payment Terms

For Activity 1&2 of section (19) of the tender: AMC and enhancements of the existing software applications and website maintenance

a. The total support cost for these components shall for a period of one year.

b. The payment release against these activities shall be on a quarterly basis, on rendering satisfactory services on completion of each quarter.

For Activity 3 section (19) of the tender: Financial Management System

a. The efforts and timeline should be separately mentioned against milestones like functional understanding, design, development, testing, implementation and training.

b. The total financial management system should be implemented within 7 months from the date of award of contract, and warranty Support required to be extended for another period of 5 months.

c. The expected project schedule to have the following deliverable components against each milestone:



S.NO. Activities to be

performed under Calendar

Months Release

of Payment on %age of total cost

1 Submission of functional requirements document to NHB for Approval

One month 10%

2

Delivery of technical design document, prototype of the complete software applications along with sample data and report formats

One month 10%

3 Delivery of developed and tested functional software applications

Three months 35%

4 Trial and security audit of functional applications – to be done along with NHB and get approval from NHB

One Month 20%

5 Implementation, migration of existing data and making the system live, training to user groups at NHB/HQ, user & technical manual, source code

One months 15%

6 Warranty Support Five months 10%

27) OTHER TERMS AND CONDITIONS:

a. Guarantee/ Warranty

All programming as delivered carries a one year warranty.

b. Contract time period:

The contract period for Activity 1 & 2 shall be 1 year from the date of awarding of the contract, extendable upto a total of Four years and for Activity 3 it shall be 7 months and 5 months of warranty support.

The bidder is not authorised to terminate the agreement before its maturity.

28) FORCE MAJEURE

Notwithstanding the conditions of the Bid, the Bidder shall not be liable for forfeiture of its performance guarantee, liquidated damages or termination for default, if and to the extent that, it’s delay in performance or other failure to perform its obligations under the contract is the result of an event of Force Majeure.

For purposes of this Clause, "Force Majeure" means an event beyond the control of the Bidder and not involving the Bidder's fault or negligence and



not foreseeable. Such events may include, but are not restricted to, acts of NHB either in its sovereign or contractual capacity, wars or revolutions, fires, floods, earthquakes, epidemics, quarantine restrictions and freight embargoes.

If a Force Majeure situation arises, the qualified Bidder shall promptly notify the NHB in writing of such conditions and the cause thereof. Unless otherwise directed by NHB in writing, the Bidder shall continue to perform its obligations under the contract as far as reasonably practical and shall seek all reasonable alternative means for performance not prevented by the Force Majeure event. NHB may terminate this contract, by giving a written notice of minimum 30 days to the Bidder, if as a result of Force Majeure the Bidder being unable to perform a material portion of the services for a period of more than 60 days.

29) RESOLUTION OF DISPUTES

The dispute resolution mechanism shall be as follows: a) In case of dispute between NHB and the successful bidder, if not resolved amicably, same shall be referred to adjudication / arbitration in accordance with Indian Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996.

b) If such dispute arises then either party may forthwith give to the notice in writing of such dispute to other party and shall be referred to the adjudication of an arbitrator in accordance with Indian Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996.

c) The Managing Director of NHB will appoint the designated officer mutually agreed between the parties will work as an arbitrator.

d) The decision of the arbitrator shall be final and binding upon both the parties, i.e. NHB and the successful bidder.

e) All unresolved disputed matters will have the jurisdiction of Gurgaon, so far as legal and court matters are concerned.

30) AWARD OF CONTRACT

NHB’s right to accept any Bid and to reject any Bid or all Bids Notwithstanding anything stated herein, NHB reserves the right to accept full or part of the Bid or reject any Bid, and to cancel/annul the bidding process and reject all Bids at any time before the award of the Contract.

31) NOTIFICATION OF AWARD

Notification to Bidder

The Bidder whose Bid has been accepted shall be notified of the award by the NHB prior to the expiration of the period of validity of the proposal, by registered letter or by fax. The Bidder shall acknowledge in writing, the receipt of the Letter of Acceptance and shall send his acceptance to enter into the Contract within 15 (fifteen) days from the receipt of the Letter of Acceptance.



32) SIGNING OF AGREEMENT

Pursuant to the Bidder acknowledging the Letter of Acceptance, the Bidder and NHB shall promptly and in no event later than 15 days from the date of acknowledgement of the Letter of Acceptance, sign the Contract. NHB shall have the right and authority to negotiate certain terms with the successful Bidder before signing of the Contract.

The signing of the Contract shall amount to award of the Contract and the Bidder shall initiate the execution of the work as specified in the Contract.

33) EXPENSES FOR THE CONTRACT

All incidental expenses of the execution of the Contract/ agreement shall be borne solely by the successful Bidder and such amount shall not be refunded to the successful Bidder by the NHB.

34) FAILURE TO ABIDE BY THE CONTRACT

The conditions stipulated in the Contract shall be strictly adhered to and violation of any of these conditions shall entail immediate termination of the Contract without prejudice to the rights of NHB with such penalties as specified in the Bid Document and the Contract.

35) TERMINATION OF CONTRACT

Termination for Default NHB may, without prejudice, to any other remedy for breach of Contract, by prior written notice of default sent to the Bidder, terminate the Contract in whole without assigning any reason if

a. The qualified Bidder fails to perform any other obligation(s) under the Contract.

b. If the Bidder is in material breach of the representations and warranties contained in this Contract.

36) GOVERNING LAW

The laws of Republic of India shall govern the Tender Document and the Contract.

37) SUBMISSION OF BIDS

Bid should be submitted in two envelopes envelop 1 (Technical envelope) and envelope 2 (Commercial envelope). The envelopes 1 and 2 should be inserted in third envelope.

38) CONTENTS OF TECHNICAL ENVELOPE 1 (TECHNICAL BID)

a. Bid Application on the letter head b. Checklist of Submissions



c. Letter of Undertaking regarding acceptance of terms and conditions. d. Document of Constitution of the firm/company. e. Copy of the experience statement supported by documents establishing

clearly three years experience in designing and development and maintenance of website

f. Clearly mentioning list of websites developed in last three years with their URL and client details.

g. List of Customers and their contact details for which Software Applications have been developed related to Financial Management.

h. DD of EMD of Rs. 50, 000/ (Rs. fifty thousand) drawn in the name of “National Horticulture Board” payable at Gurgaon.

i. Details of minimum hardware configuration, third party software, operating system environment etc. of proposed technical platform for FMS.

j. All supporting documents/information sought under Section 12, “QUALIFICATION CRITERIA OF THE BIDDER”, but not covered above.

39) AUTHENTICATION OF BID

The original and all copies of the Bid Document shall be signed by a person or persons duly authorized to bind the Bidder to the Contract. A duly stamped Power ofA ttorney accompanying the Bid Document shall support the letter of authorization. The person or persons signing the Bid Document shall sign all pages of the Bid Document, including pages where entries or amendments have been made.

40) VALIDATION OF INTERLINEATIONS IN BID

Any interlineations, erasures, alterations, additions or overwriting shall be valid only if the person or persons signing the bid have authenticated the same with signature.

41) SEALING AND MARKING OF BIDS

The copies of the Technical Bid shall be placed in sealed envelope 1 clearly marking "Technical Bid”. The Commercial Bid shall be placed in separate sealed envelope 2 clearly marking it as "Commercial Bid Do not open with Technical Bid". The two envelopes shall then be placed in third envelope, which shall also be appropriately sealed and marked as ‘Bid for Software Consultancy Services for NHB (AMC & Development)’.

42) ADDRESS FOR SUBMISSION OF BIDS

Last date of submission of bid Nov. 19, 2010 upto 2.00 p.m. Bids complete in all respect shall be delivered to –

National Horticulture Board Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India 85, Institutional Area, Sector 18 Gurgaon 122015 (Haryana)

In addition to the above, the inner envelopes shall indicate the name and address of the Bidder to enable the bid to be returned unopened in case it is



declared "late".

43) RESPONSIBILITY OF BIDDER

If the outer envelope is not sealed and marked as required, NHB will assume no responsibility for the Bid’s misplacement or premature opening.

44) REJECTION OF BID

The Bid Document shall be submitted in the form of printed document. Bids submitted by Telex, fax or email would not be entertained. Any condition put forth by the bidder not conforming to the bid requirements shall not be entertained at all and such bid shall be rejected.

45) LATE BIDS

Any bid received by NHB after the deadline for submission of bids prescribed by NHB, will be summarily rejected and returned unopened to the Bidder. NHB shall not be responsible for any postal delay or nonr eceipt / nonde livery of the documents. No further correspondence on this subject will be entertained.

46) OPENING OF TECHNICAL BIDS

46.1 Opening of Bids

NHB will open all Technical Bids on 19.11.2010 at 1500 hours. The Bidder’s representatives who are present shall sign a register evidencing their attendance. In the event of the specified date of Bid opening being declared a holiday for NHB the Bids shall be opened at the appointed time and location on the next working day.

46.2 ANNOUNCEMENT OF BIDS

The Bidder’s names, Bid modifications or withdrawals and the presence or absence of requisite bid security and such other details will be announced at the opening. No bid shall be rejected at bid opening, except for late bids.

46.3 BIDS NOT CONSIDERED FOR EVALUATION

Bids those are rejected during the bid evaluation process shall not be considered for further evaluation, irrespective of the circumstances.

47) OPENING OF COMMERCIAL BIDS

47.1 Opening of Bids

Commercial Bids will be opened and compared after the technical evaluation. The commercial bids will be opened only of those bidders, who will score above 75% in technical evaluation. The name of Bidder, bid prices, total amount of each Bid,



etc. shall be announced by the NHB at the Commercial Bid opening. The NHB will prepare minutes of the Commercial Bid Opening.

Commercial bid shall be opened on 30-11-2010 at 1500 hours.

48) CLARIFICATION OF BIDS

To assist in the evaluation, comparison and an examination of bids, NHB may, at its sole discretion, ask the Bidder for a clarification of its bid including breakup of rates. The request for clarification and the response shall be in writing. If the response to the clarification is not received before the expiration of deadline prescribed in the request, NHB reserves the right to make its own reasonable assumptions at the total risk and cost of the Bidder.

49) COMPLETENESS OF BIDS

NHB will examine the bids to determine whether they are complete, whether they meet all the conditions of the Tender Document and Technical Specifications, whether any computational errors have been made, whether required sureties have been furnished, whether the documents have been properly signed and whether the Bid Documents are substantially responsive to the requirements of the Tender Document.

50) RECTIFICATION OF ERRORS

Arithmetical errors will be rectified on the following basis:

If there is a discrepancy between the rates in words and figures, the rate in words will govern. If the bidder does not accept the correction of errors, his bid will be rejected and his EMD may be forfeited.



Annexure I: AMC of existing website and online software applications

A. Website/Online Software Applications

National Horticulture Board has its website at www.nhb.gov.in, hosted at NIC, New Delhi. The static contents of the website needs periodical updation and regular redesign and technological improvement. In addition, NHB has planned that the contents of the website be published in all Official Languages of India, automatically translated using free translation tools available in public domain, either online or offline. The successful bidder has to identify these tools and incorporate them as a part of NHB’s website. Wherever and whenever the automatic translation is not upto the expectations of NHB, charges for manual Translation for any of the official Indian Languages shall be paid extra (Refer AnnexureII).

In addition, National Horticulture Board has initiated, design, developed and implemented the following online web applications:

1. Project Management Module for Commercial Horticulture Scheme 2. Project Management Module for Cold Storage Scheme 3. Project Management Module for Technology Development & Transfer

Scheme 4. Market Information Service Scheme Module 5. National Cold Storage Database Software Module 6. Area and Production Statistics for Horticulture Crops (under construction)

The details of each of these online applications are given below:

1. Project Management Module for commercial Horticulture Scheme

Scope Design, development and implementation and easy to use online application with the focus of assisting farmers and entrepreneurs to apply online for LOI & Subsidy, and also track their application status – under the Commercial Horticulture Scheme. Key features: a. Through this, any beneficiary across India can apply for the LOI & Subsidy

for any of the commercial horticulture projects. b. The application processing fee for this submission is received through offline

as well as online payment modes. c. The applied application is received by NHB nodal offices across 35 locations,

along with the required processing fee. d. The nodal officers also have an Intranet application through which update

beneficiary details, project clearance status, subsidy release details. Through this the nodal officers can generate the relevant MIS reports

e. There are key MIS reports relating to all such commercial horticulture project applications and their pendency is available on NHB Website for public viewing and reference.

Technical modules are as under: a. Online – available for Public Access



i. LOI Application ii. LOI Status Tracking iii. Acknowledgement Letter to applicant

b. NHB Intranet – available only for NHB’s Officers i. Updating of Applications details ii. Updating of Application Status iii. Generation of Letter reports & MIS reports iv. Master data management v. Access Control & User management

Software Modules Summary

No. of Entry modules

No. of MIS reports

No. Master Pages

22 48 4

2. Project Management Module for Cold Storage Scheme

Scope Design, development and implementation of Cold Storage Subsidy Scheme for with the focus of providing daily arrival and pricing trends of major horticulture products received in Major Markets across India.

Key features a. Through this, any beneficiary across India can apply for the LOI & Subsidy

for setting up a Cold Storage projects. b. The application processing fee for this submission is received through offline



beneficiary details, project clearance status, subsidy release details. Through this the nodal officers can generate the relevant MIS reports

e. There are key MIS reports relating to all such cold storage project applications and their pendency is available on NHB Website for public viewing and reference.

Technical modules are as under: a. Online – available for public access:

i. LOI Application ii. LOI Status Tracking iii. Acknowledgement Letter to applicant

b. NHB Intranet – available only for NHB’s Officers: vi. Updating of Applications details vii. Updating of Application Status viii. Generation of Letter reports & MIS reports



No. of MIS reports

No. Master Pages

4 27 2



3. Project Management Module for Technology Development & Transfer Scheme

Scope Design, development and implementation of Technology Development & Transfer Scheme through which financial assistance is extended by NHB for various components covered under this scheme to potential farmers and small and medium agricultural entrepreneurs.

Key features a. Through this, any beneficiary across India can apply for the LOI & Subsidy

for setting up a Technology Development & Transfer related projects. b. The application processing fee for this submission is received through offline



beneficiary details, project clearance status, assistance fund release details. Through this the nodal officers can generate the relevant MIS reports

e. There are key MIS reports relating to all such cold storage project applications and their pendency is available on NHB Website for public viewing and reference.

Technical modules are as under:

a. Online – available for Public Access i. LOI Application ii. LOI Status Tracking iii. Acknowledgement Letter to applicant

b. NHB Intranet – available only for NHB’s Officers: i. Updating of Applications details ii. Updating of Application Status iii. Generation of Letter reports & Generation of MIS reports



No. of MIS reports

No. Master Pages

4 8 2

4. Market Information Service Scheme Module

Scope Design, development and implementation of online capturing and reporting system for collecting and collating daily market price and arrival of selected horticulture products from selected Agricultural Market Centers across the country.



Key features a. The data collected from across various Market Centers are being forwarded to

NHB Nodal Officers on a daily/weekly basis in electronic format. b. The received data at Nodal Offices and Head Quarters are captured using a

data capturing system, through which the officers can capture data against a Horticulture Produce, against a Center and against a date.

c. The captured data related comprehensive MIS reports are available within NHB’s intranet for internal consumption.

d. The upto data captured through this intranet system is made available to the public through the website market arrival and pricing reports

Technical modules are as under: a. Online:

i. Display of MIS data through website b. NHB Intranet:

i. Add & update of data market arrival data by NHB Nodal Officers ii. Generation of MIS reports



No. of MIS Reports

No. Master Pages

1 16 2

5. National Cold Storage Database Software Module

Scope This module was conceived to consolidate all the Cold Storages across India under a single validated database. The main objectives were i) To enable cold storage units to easily integrate into the future supply chain logistics networks, ii) To take care of Human Resource training needed for cold storage operators and managers through government interventions and iii) To provide technical guidance for enhancement of energy efficiency and overall performance of cold stores.

Key Features a. The cold storage database was created based on a Performa created b. The data collected through printed Performa were then captured through an

intranet module by the Computer Division of NHB Head quarters. c. The online search facility of cold storages have been provided in the NHB

Website


i. Search facility for Public to view information on cold storages ii. Register online for new cold storages

b. NHB Intranet: i. Add & update of cold storage related information by NHB against

the physical Performa received ii. Generation of MIS reports





No. of MIS Reports

No. Master Pages

4 3 2

6. Area and Production Statistics for Horticulture Crops (under construction)

Scope It was aimed to develop an online data capturing as well as online data / MIS report generation module to take care of the production statistics data of selected horticulture products that is being collected by NHB and its nodal offices across the country.

Key features a. Within the intranet, there is a module that is being developed for capturing of

Production Statistics. b. The statistics include various details like crop category, crop, year of

production, state, variety, total area of production (in Acres) and total production (in Metric Tonnes).

c. Since the statelevel data is being collected by the State NHB Nodal Offices, it is designed in a way for State Offices to login and add/update the production data into the common database through the web based data capturing modules.

d. The captured data is envisaged to be used for internal yearly Horticulture Handbook prepared by NHB as well as to publish on NHB’s website through MIS query based reports.


i. Search facility for Public to view information on production statistics

b. NHB Intranet: iii. Add & update of production statistics by NHB, its nodal offices iv. Generation of MIS reports



No. of MIS Reports

No. Master Pages

5 5 1

The technical details are as below:

1. The application framework a. Microsoft ASP.Net 2.0 framework b. Applications developed using 3tier architecture c. Web Services d. MS Charting components



e. SMS Gateway Integration with automatic SMS Alerts to stake holders f. Payment Gateway Integration for online users

2. Hosting and infrastructure a. The complete application has been hosted in NIC’s data center at New

Delhi b. The application support & maintenance is required to be done from

NHB’s Head Quarters, and this is connected to the NIC through VPN connectivity.

3. Database Storage a. Data maintained in SQL Server 2005 with a mirror backup maintained

within Server located within NHB HQ premises. b. The present database size is approximately 5 GB of all the applications

developed.



Annexure II: Enhancements and upgradation of online applications and NHB website

The existing applications that have been developed and running at this moment, needs to have the following enhancements and upgradation to meet with the growing needs of NHB for incorporating new features.

1. Database storage, optimization and improvement 2. Application tuning and performance improvement 3. Submission and fixing up reported issues of periodical security audit as

per NIC norms 4. Creation of Mirror Backup for Live Application and database between

NHB Website and the staging server (of NHB) and responsibility of keeping them updated from time to time.

5. Enhancement of existing data presentation through visually enriching charts, graphs and pictorial representations and maps on all running management / analytical reports of all the modules, wherever applicable.

6. Translation of existing website by incorporating all scheduled Indian Languages using automatic or manual method, and ensure that the translated website pages does not misrepresent the existing content provided in the English version. Charges for Translation and creation of One A4 Size HTML/PDF/MSWord document with average 300 words per page into any of the official Indian Languages for translation in any Indian Language may be quoted separately.

7. Implementation of SSL Certificate on NHB Website and doing required amendments on all online applications to enable SSL based access.



Annexure III: Design, development, implementation and support of Financial Management System

A. Present System

National Horticulture Board receives the sanctions and budget from the Ministry of Agriculture for release of subsidy and also for offering financial assistance under selected schemes. This receipt and utilization of funds happens at different intervals in a financial year.

Along with the budget allocation from Ministry, NHB also receives grants from NHM, TMNE, NBM, etc. and other sources

The budget amounts received from these sources (NHB) are utilized for offering subsidy and financial assistance under following schemes:

• Commercial Horticulture Scheme • Cold Storage Scheme • Technology Development and Transfer • Horticulture Promotion Service • Market Information Scheme

The same fund is also utilized for the purpose of Strengthening Capabilities of NHB, which includes the operation expenses like Pay & Allowances, other administrative expenses such as Travel, Medical expense reimbursements, of the officers and staff located in the Head Quarters and all other state nodal centers.

The utilization of these funds is used for the following major areas: Subsidy & Grants to Projects Pay, expenses, and other administrative expenses of Head Quarters gets

disbursed through Strengthening Capabilities of NHB Pay, expenses, and other administrative expenses of NHB State Centers

meet out from the MIS Scheme All other sundry expense heads go from Major Head Strengthening

Capabilities of NHB

The yearly statutory reports for financial and auditory requirements are prepared annually. At present, this financial management is being done manually.

B. Functional Requirements

a. It is proposed to design, develop and implement a webbased financial management system to:

i. Manage, allocate and monitor fund receipt from ministry/other sources like application fee, interest earned, etc.

ii. monitor and reconcile the release/utilization of funds under various schemes and expense heads



b. The proposed financial management system should become part of the existing NHB Intranet available.

c. This solution should be having independent set of access control & role management features through which the access can be restricted to few set of users within NHB as well as extend facility for officers from Ministry to login into the same system for monitoring the fund utilization and also do required approval online, if required.

d. This system should allow Financial Division at Head Quarters, to allocate funds to each Nodal Center against each of the expense heads.

e. On disbursement of expenses, the nodal centers should be able to update the same through an online utilization section.

f. This system should be able to allow booking the expenses by the HQ and nodal centers through standard book keeping practices.

g. The system should cater to the needs of preparing annual balance sheet and books of accounts for the purpose of statutory and audit purposes.

h. The nodal centers should be able to seek change or request for additional fund or reallocation of fund between multiple schemes or expense heads to head quarters

i. The financial division at head quarters should be able to receive such requests, review them, update relevant approval notes, and release additional fund to nodal centers, against the request they have made.

j. The developed software should be having capability of tracking financial years

k. System should have facility to switch to previous financial years, purely for MIS and reporting purpose.

l. The receipt and utilization should be strictly against the current financial year.

m. The system should also have provisions to perform the following tasks: i. Pay & allowances module ii. TDS calculation and document preparation module iii. Advances Central Register – interest and noninterest bearing iv. Printing of all cheques v. Preparation of statutory / other documents as per government

prescribed formats: • Balance sheets • Income / Expenditure Accounts • Receipts & Payments Accounts • Complete Schedules