mdp session on eprocurement...online secure bid submission, e-payment of fees online bid opening/...

MDP session on eProcurement, NIC

MDP Session on eProcurement

* e-Procurement Concepts* e-Payments Integration* NIC’s Pilot Implementation of e-Procurement* Govt. e-Procurement solution (GeP) by NIC* eGP Mission Mode Project and NIC* Issues in e-Procurement

=====================Monday, the 8th September 2008

R K Singh ([email protected])Senior Technical Director, NIC


e-Procurement Concepts …….


e-Procurement Concepts

Procurement Process and it’s Constraints Introduction to e-Procurement Features & Benefits Approach to a solution/ Critical Determinants Implementation - Approach & Success Factors Reverse Auctions – What, How & When? e-Catalogue based Buying


Procurement Process – A Bird’s Eye View


Procurement cycle

Procurement cycle starts from Raising of therequirements for an item or a service and ends onlyafter settlement of supplier payments.

Request Source Order Receive Pay

Analytics


Constraints of Traditional Procurement

Large time and effort wasted in disseminating & seeking procurement informations

Physical Access barriers Slow and laborious manual processes, activity-flow Human interface at every stage - Low Value

Addition Several processes not transparent to suppliers Scope for compromises in bid-security &

confidentiality Cartel formation suppresses competition and

artificially hikes bids Possibility of data tampering and loss of records


e-Procurement means procurement of goods and servicesonline using the internet. Ideally, it covers the full ‘life cycleof procurement’.

The intention is to automate, possibly, the entireprocurement process, along with tender bid submission andpayments by suppliers, in an online web-based real-timeenvironment.

e-Procurement could resolve many of the constraints/delays of traditional procurement.

e-Procurement - The Solution


Modes of e-Procurement

Electronic procurement activities could be effected using oneof the several ways or modes given below, or a combinationof these could also be used as per need: -

e-Tendering

e-Auctioning – Reverse Auctions

e-Catalogue based buying/ e-Ordering

In common parlance however, a basic e-Procurementapplication essentially consists of an ‘e-Tendering system’and often also includes an ‘e-Auctioning system’. It couldalso encompass e-catalogue based buying as well.


Objectives of e-Procurement

Objectives of automating procurementprocesses are to:-

Reduce cycle times of procurement

Increase supplier access to ensure wider participation

Reduce costs of procurement through competitive biddingand Reverse Auctioning

Remove cartelisation by supplier groups (ReverseAuctioning)

Increase visibility of procurement spend, for effectivedecision making

Increase transparency in the procurement process

Almost complete elimination of paperwork, for speedy andefficient functioning


Electronic Tendering Solution

An e-Tendering solution primarily facilitates the‘Tendering Process’ and may cover from Indenting ofRequirements to the placing of contract/PO

TenderPreparation

TenderPublishing

BidderResponse

BidEvaluation

ContractAward

IndentTo TenderRequest

e-Tendering Solution


e-Tendering solution - Functionalities

Tender Creation/ configuration, with Response Forms

Pre-NIT Approvals and Floating/ Publishing of Tender

Tender Clarifications, Pre-Bid Conference

Online Secure Bid Submission, e-Payment of Fees

Online Bid Opening/ Decryption, Evaluation/ Negotiation

Award of Contract, Empanelment etc.


e-Tendering solution - Features

Different Types of Tenders – Open, Limited & Proprietary

Configurable Approval Work flow, Re-use of old tenders

Supplier Enablement – Online Registration, Custom dashboard, Repetitive document storage, Alerts, Search etc

Strong Audit-trail and Archival/ Retrieval

Security/ Authenticity/ Secrecy of Transactions

Online Payments – Tender Fee, EMD & Payment to Suppliers


Benefits of e-Procurement/ e-TenderingBenefits to Buyers Reduction in Procurement & Contracts cycle time

Cost Reduction

Efficient & streamlined Procurement Processes

New Supplier Discovery

Close Monitoring of Activities/ Vendor Performance

Rich MIS and Analytics

New Improved Image

Standardized formats and Uniform tendering practices

Benefits to Suppliers Increased visibility/ Less artificial barriers

Increased business opportunities,

Greater degree of transparency

Cycle time reduction in participation and award of Contract

Supplier Enablement and Ease of Participation


Approach To A SolutionBefore looking for an e-Procurement solution, a relook on existing procurement procedures/ practices is essential: -

‘As Is’ Analysis, Re-engineering for optimized processes

Optimization/ reduction in process-flow steps

Uniformity/ standardization in formats/ practices/ procedures

Organization wide use of ‘unified item-codification structure’

Automation of Processes


Critical Determinants - of a Good Solution

Good authentication – Role based access

Security, Secrecy (of bids) - Signing, Encryption

Ease of Use, Tender Templates, e-Payment integration etc.

Integrated Document Management features, Good Analytics

Good Audit trail/ traceability features – Access for Financial Audit, Legal and RTI needs

Good Archival & Retrieval features/ policy - Safe and secure


Implementation - Approach

Business Process Analysis for Improvement: Re-engineering, Codification, Back-end application linkages etc.

Defining scope of Implementation: functionalities covered

Sourcing e-Proc. Appln. S/w: Gap Analysis and Customization

Setting up a Fail-safe & Secure 24x7 Infrastructure

Integrating Payment Gateways, PKIs, Mail etc.

Change Management: Training, 24 Hr. Help-desk

Execution Framework – Management of Rollout & Risks


Implementation - Success Factors

Major factors which could be crucial to transformation from simple traditional procurement to e-Procurement are: -

Strong will and focused thrust from the top management

Building in-house champions/ enthusiasts for adoption of e-Procurement

Buyer’s dedicated project team to drive the Mission

Aiming for realistic implementable goals/ objectives and time lines

Well defined/ standardized procurement processes and forms

Extreme care to aspects like Tender-security, Supplier-enablement/ Training & Ease of use

Well integrated back end systems, standards, policies & practices to link and leverage upon It must be remembered that implementing e-Procurement is most often a continuous evolving process with shifting goals, spread over a longer period, targeting end to end procurement supply chain; rather than a one shot solution for all procurement problems.


Reverse Auction and e-Catalogue based Buying


What is A Reverse Auction?

• The traditional auction is a Forward AuctionIt normally involves a seller offering an item for sale, while potential buyers compete with each other for purchase. Thus price is driven up, until no buyer is willing to go up further.

• In a Reverse Auction, MULTIPLE SELLERS OF A

PRODUCT VIE FOR THE BUSINESS OF A SINGLE BUYER.Therefore the price is driven down.

• There are 3-4 flavours of reverse auction, called as: English Auction, Dutch Auction, Sealed Bid Auction etc.


How does a Reverse Auction work?

Pre-screening/ Pre-qualification of suppliers isessential to have technically competentvendors, ready to offer products of desiredspecs/ quality.

Complete requirement specifications are pre-known/ agreed and frozen for all before auction.

Usually services of an online Auction ServiceProvider is utilized to conducts the process onhis auctioning website.

Suppliers are required to be pre-registered withthe auction service provider and expected tohave received training on how to participate .



All bidding vendors must have agreed to abideby the terms & conditions of the auction/service.

The Reverse auction is configured and allparticipating vendors are pre-notified about thestart time & closing time of auction.

Bidders submit their price bids by remotelylogging-in from their offices.

Bidders identities are masked, but they can seethe competing prices and rankings in real timeand could revise their bids as desired.



There is no communication or negotiationwith the bidders during the auction.

Buyer also watches the progress of biddingfrom his office. Identities of bidders areavailable to him.

In reverse auction competition is high,bidders get tempted to bid lower and lower toclinch the deal, until they are unwilling to goany further.

At the conclusion the lowest bidder emergesas winner of the auction.


Potential Benefits from Reverse Auction To Buyers: Significant reduction in cost due to Dynamic

Bidding process. Inefficiencies in the supply chain reduce.

With real time competition, suppliers are on their toes

A tool for efficient price discovery, complementing direct negotiation process. Often used along with Tendering.

To Vendors: Ensures Savings in marketing cost / distributor

margins Facilitates flexibility in pricing decision. Transparency increases Allows vendors to assess their pricing power from

close quarters of competition.


Tender Cycle with Reverse Auction (Dynamic Pricing)

OnlineRegistration

Create andPublish

Tender/ NIT

Purchase/ Download

Tender

Preparation/ Encryption

of Bids

PQ/ Tech. Opening,

Evaluation & Short listing

Bid-Opening and

Verification

OnlineSubmission of Bid/ Hashes

Creating Bid Seals (Hashes & Super Hash)

Commercial Opening

and Short listing

Generation of

Comparative Statement

Award of Contract

(lowest of the two rounds)

Competitive Bidding using

Dynamic Pricing Engine


Applicability of Online Reverse Auctions

Reverse auction works best when: Items have well defined specifications and

universally accepted standards. Established qualified base of vendors (at least

three)

Suitable for High value, large volume goods, Capital goods, Direct Materials / MRO items.

Periodic rate contracts for above item types. Often used along with Tendering for efficient

price discovery Applicable for Technically Pre-qualified/ short

listed vendors only


e-Catalogue based Buying

e-Catalogue based Buying or e-Ordering is theobvious prevalent mode for small procurements byindividuals. But for corporate or governmentagencies, this is yet not a real option.

But this mode of procurement has many obviousadvantages, particularly if such an ‘OnlineProcurement Hub’ (Portal) is created for use ofgovernment agencies.

Such a Hub would hold (and manage) electronicsupplier-catalogues (with specs/ quality details) ofgoods & services, with minimum possible pricesaffordable by them, for buying agencies to accessand use for off-the-shelf buying.


e-Catalogue based Buying (…Contd)

Secure transactions (such as: Purchase orders, Invoices, e-Payments etc.) would be enabled by the Hub and exchanged electronically between buying agencies and suppliers.

Though success of such a venture mainly depends upon a large enough size of participants, but the approach has many advantages, like: - It is superior to buyer & suppliers establishing direct link Suppliers need to maintain/ update only one catalogue on

the Hub and establish only one interface to sell to many(govt.) buyers

It could be highly useful for all the routine small itempurchase of government agencies and even be used forbigger items/ volume purchases, where item/ servicespecs are quite standard.


End of session on

e-Procurement Concepts


e-Payment and it’s Integration



Commonly available modes for effecting EMD/ Fee/ otherpayments electronically, from within a software Application,are: - Online payment through Credit cards/ Debit cards or Direct Account Debit (using Gateway for Internet

Banking) Depending on the actual need and usage constraints, the

appropriate mode could be chosen and integrated into thes/w application.

Credit cards could conveniently be integrated for use if thepayment amounts involved are not substantial.

For all other cases where payment amounts could be heavy,payments through Direct Debits from concerned accounts,using Internet Banking is the only alternative.


e-Payment and it’s Integration (…contd.)

For integrating e-Payment features into theApplication, one needs to talk to concernedbanks, who manage their own Payment GatewayInterfaces for this purpose.

If credit card based payments are to beintegrated, then integrating the ‘Credit CardPayment Gateway’ of any one of the providingbanks is sufficient.

But for integrating e-Payments through directdebit from concerned accounts, it is essential thatthe exercise for integrating such PaymentGateways is undertaken with every bankconcerned.


e-Payment and it’s Integration (…contd.)

The exercise of a Payment Gateway integration involves: - Deciding on details like: Parameters to be exchanged between the Application

and the Bank Gateway Handshaking between the two Modes of Access (Transaction/ Verify)

Periodic Reconciliation of payments etc. Modifying the Application to actually integrate above. Functional testing rounds with each integrated gateway. Signing a Document of Understanding between parties. Opening Merchant Account(s) in the integrated bank for

the purpose of collecting payments and giving any standing fund transfer instructions, if so.


e-Payment Integration Parameters

Sample set of Parameters passed (Application to Payment Gateway) Mode (payment/verification) Merchant ID Transaction Reference No. Amount Currency Time Stamp Return URL etc

Sample set of Parameters passed (Payment Gateway to Application) Bank Reference No. Transaction Reference No. Amount Status (Paid) Time Stamp


e-Payment Process - Steps1. The User initiates payment through interface in Application system for a

particular transaction

2. The User selects the mode of payment (i.e. direct debit) and the bank.

3. The Application System generates a unique reference number (PRN) for this transaction.

4. The Application System invokes the appropriate payment gateway based on the selection of the User and passes a set of identified parameters to the payment gateway.

5. The payment gateway receives the parameters and the payment screen is displayed to the User.

6. The User logs in to his bank account and authenticates the payment.

7. The payment gateway processes the transaction and returns a set of parameters (including a unique bank reference number/BID) to the Application System.

8. The Application System captures and records these details against the transaction and displays the status to the User.


e-Payment Process (Direct Debit)


End of session on



Pilot Implementation of e-Procurement solution at NIC Hqr.

https://eprocure.gov.in


e-Procurement Pilot at NIC Hqr

NIC implemented a project for e-Procurement on pilot basis,with an e-tendering solution provided by an outside vendor atzero cost.

The solution essentially involved creating all the requirementdetails/ specs, of a tender to be floated electronically, inparameterized form; so that subsequent evaluation &comparative chart preparation exercises could be automatedto a large extent.

It was implemented with good security features, after havingthree rounds of security audit and addressing it’sobservations.

A total of four NIC tenders were processes electronicallythrough the solution from May ’06 till Feb. ’07.


Pilot Implementation at NIC Hqr

• Online creation of Indent and Tender documents/ specs with General/ Specific Terms & Conditions, Vendor Eligibility, Configuration of Tender/ NIT details & events

• Electronic publishing of NIT & Tender document

• Bidder Registration, Login, Bid preparation, document upload, Bid encryption/ enveloping & secure submission

• Online payment of Tender Fee/ EMD• Bid Opening and Decryption, visible to all bidders• Simultaneous Bid Evaluation of an open tender -

Technical/Financial.• Matching & Negotiation facilities

Functionalities/ Features


Pilot Implementation at NIC Hqr

• Rate Contract / Empanelment, Generation of Purchase Orders

• Integration of three payment gateways (Bank of India, PNB & ICICI Bank)

• Integration of DSCs of three CAs (NIC, TCS and nCode Solutions)

• Enabling exchange of electronic payment (EMD/ T. Fee) info. with PAO’s software, to enable later refunds

• Server side validation• Automatic mail alerts to vendors/approvers/bid openers• Provision for asking Revised Financial Bid, as per need• Provision for tender copy facility - view & use old tender

documents/corrigendum

Functionalities/ Features (…contd)


Implementation Platform - H/W and S/W

Servers H/w: Rack Mount Dual CPU Servers

(Intel Xeon MP 2.8Ghz Processors, with 512 KB L2 cache, 2 MB L3 cache per processor)

Others : SAN Back Agent S/W For Linux(Net vault),

Online Line back up Agent for DB2 under Linux (Net vault)

Application Server : - IBM Web Sphere Application Server 6.0 ND,

- IBM Web Sphere Application Server 6.0 with

- Red Hat Advanced Server3.0 (update 5)

Database : IBM DB2 UDB V8.2 (Enterprise Server Edition)

Others : Server Protect Trend micro for Application Servers.

Front End : IE 5.0 and above browser.

Development Environment : J2EE Development Environment.

Client users needed only to have a browser


Implementation Platform-Deployment Architecture


Implementation Platform - Application Architecture

Iden

tity

Bas

ed A

uthe

ntic

atio

n

Web

Ser

ver

Rol

e B

ased

Use

r Acc

ess

ApplicationServer

DATABASEServer Firewall

Suppliers / External

Presentation Layer Business Logic Layer

Document Versioning

Reports Engine

Internal

PKI (

Dig

Sig

n)

e-payment Server


Pilot at NIC Hqr - Experiences Attempts at BPR/Automation of Processes:

Attempts at Organization wide Unified Item-codification structure Collaborative way of evaluation to minimize evaluation cycle time Parameterization of tender specifications to enable automated evaluation

User Authentication: PKI enablement - The application supported two factor authentication - one

based on credentials maintained by the application and the other based on the credentials provided through use of PKI digital certificates Issues

Bid security & secrecy - Signing, Encryption: The application supported the industry standard for bid security through

PKI based signing & encryption of bid forms/ documents, as well, as the time stamping of bids at the time of submission by vendors Issues

Submission of Bids and payment of Bid fees: Last minute submission of bids by Vendors Unsuccessful e-Payments - Issues, Option for conventional payment e-Payment Reconciliation


Unified Item-codification Structure

Example :101 Servers 101005 Rackmount

Servers101005001 Rackmount Server RS-1U 101005001001 Intel-One Processor Server 1U

Category Code

Category Sub Category Code

Sub Category

Type Code

Type Description

Item Code

Item Description (Tender)

100 COMPUTING DEVICES

200 Communication & Network Equipments

300 Softwares(300-399)

400 Infra-strcuture Equipments(400-499)

600 Office Items, Office Equipment & Equipment

800 Services(800-899)

900 Books Publications & Library Related

316 Image editing Softwares

316004 Remote Sensing Satallite Data Processing softwares

316004001 Image Processing Software

316004001001 Image Processing Software For Remote Sensing Satellite Data Processing For Ms Windows


Log-in Process- Home Pagehttps://eprocure.gov.in


End of session on

Pilot Implementation of e-Procurement solution

at NIC Hqr


Government e-Procurement (GeP)Solution by NIC


GeP Solution - Outline

Background & Evolution of GeP Envisaged Scope of GeP

Functionality/Features Security/ Authentication

NIC GeP System Development & Status Different Modules Security & Authentication


Background of GeP – Why & How? As expected from an organization like NIC, an important

purpose of the pilot e-Procurement project at NIC Hqr wasalso - to evolve/ crystallize a workable approach for wideadoption and Rollout of e-Procurement/ e-Tendering solutionin government – at Central/ State levels – to meet theirimpending requirements in this regard.

But after pursuing with the pilot implementation for asignificant period, the following became obvious: - Procurement procedures/ norms as well as formats and

activity-flows differ widely across govt. offices and theyalso significantly vary depending on nature ofprocurement – viz: Bulk goods, Std. items, Specificationbased items, Works or Services etc.

As such, there could not be a single Application whichcould fit all kinds of procurement requirements and berolled out.


Background of GeP – Why & How?(Contd.)

It is much more difficult to attempt rollout of an e-tendering solution with ‘strict parametric pre-defined form based’ approach in creating online tender specifications and also in evaluation of bids. The problem is more because of lack of standard practices and formats/ documents in organizing backend procurement activities.

It is difficult to evolve a reasonable & acceptable rollout model for government departments, if the solution’s ownership belongs to a third party.

As such, NIC decided to attempt evolving/ developing an e-procurement solution where the ownership would be of NIC itself and the solution could be of a more general nature, rather than specific for wider implementation.


Evolution of GeP System

Basic framework of Gep was decided to be a genericsolution, usable for all kind of Tenders by all users.

It was to be largely non-parametric, based mainly onthe upload/ download and submission of Tender (RFP/RFQ document) & Bids as text based documents, with afew tables, which is normally used in most cases.

The tabular Response Form(s) were to be dynamicallydefinable (like EXCEL) for vendor responses in onecolumn.

It was targeted to be fully configurable for differenttendering practices – 1/2/3 packet bid-systems, EOIetc.

Full range of Access control & Security related featureswere to be built around the main basic functionality.


Envisaged Scope

Procurement of Goods, Works and Services – all kinds

Types of Tenders - Open, Limited, Expression of Interest

Hybrid Mode of Operation

Electronic and Paper Based Bid Submission (Initial

Stages of Implementation)

Mode of Payments (Tender Fee, EMD)

e-Payment, as well as

Conventional Payment Modes (DD etc.)


Envisaged scope - Functionalities

User Registration and Database of Registered Contractors

Creation/ Publishing of NIT, Tender docs., Addendum/

Corrigendum

Bidding: Search, download, Prepare bid, Pay, Prepare Bid-

envelopes, Sign/Encrypt, Submit securely

Secure Bid Opening and Decryption

SOR based Financial Bid Evaluation for Works Tender

Publishing of Contract Details (Rate Contract/ Work Order/ PO)

Communication of Tender Award to respective Tenderers

Interface with User’s existing Tender Portal/ website


Envisaged Scope - Solution Features

Capturing of important transaction data/meta data at Various

Stages of Procurement Cycle

Auto Notification/ Mail Alerts, Validation of Data (Client/ Server

end)

Time Stamping and confidentiality of Bid Documents

MIS on e-Payment/ Reconciliation, Tendering, Bidding, Evaluation,

Award of Contract, Tender Summary, User Activity, Audit Trail etc.

Online User Help/ Manuals/ Documents, Help Desk

Reliability – Failsafe Deployment, Archival of Electronic Records

System Administration (by NIC) and Appl./ DB Admn (by User

Dept)


Envisaged Scope - Security/ PKI

Secured Login and Authentication

Role Based Access Control

Audit Logging, History Tables, Firewalls

Digital Signing/ Verification of Data & Documents Structured data as well as documents to be uploaded in the

system would be signed using DSC (Class II and above) issued by any valid Certifying Authority in India

While accepting digitally signed content, server side verification required, so as to ensure that the document is not tampered

Encryption (/Decryption) of Sensitive Data & Documents

Secured Communication between Client & Server (128 bit

SSL)

Security Audit of GeP software


NIC GeP System – Development & Status

After our Requirement Specifications, actual development was at Tamilnadu State Unit of NIC.

The initial software version came out in Jan. 2008 Platform used: Open Source/ open standard s/w

tools, i.e. - Linux, Apache Tomcat, PostgreSQLs Database, JEE and Jasper Reports.

First pilot implemented in Tamilnadu Government Pilot implementations also going on in select

departments of Orissa, UP, Haryana Govt. Online payment gateways of SBI, ICICI & AXIS

banks also implemented (optional).


NIC GeP system - Modules

Registration – Dept. Users and Suppliers

Tender Management – Create, Publish, Corrigendum/ Addendum

Bid Management – Download, Clarify, Prepare & Submit bids

Bid Opening – Part-I (Technical/ Pre-Qual.) and Part-II (Financial)

Bid evaluation – Technical & Financial Award of contract


NIC GeP system - User Registration

Departmental user Created by Administrator Roles like Tender Creator,Publisher, Bid Opener & Evaluator are

defined as needed Password sent by mail, Later User registers his DSC

Contractors/bidders Registers online by filling up a form DSC is attached if available else later Password sent by mail. Logs-in and Registers his DSC (eToken of Sify/nCode/ TCS)

Digital Signature Certificates Class II or Class III –Required for log-in and enables signing &

encryption Valid for one or two years Currently integrated - DSC’s from NIC-CA and e-Tokens from SIFY,

nCode & TCS Registered DSC’s can be cancelled/ blacklisted


NIC GeP system - Tender Management

Tender Creation/ Preparation of documents: Description/ Tech. specs, Drawing (in Design Web Format) ITB, Contract Terms & Conditions (Genl/ Spcl/ Adnl) Qualification Criteria, Forms, Various Proforma/ Declaratn. Financial Bid, BOQ Form (Item-rate or % Rate based)

Tender Configuration: Open/limited/EOI, Class of Tender/ Contractor, Validity etc No. of Packets, Tender fees/EMD - online/ offline/ exempt Dates of Events, Formation of committees

Tender Publishing Pre-bid Clarifications/ meetings – Queries/ replies uploaded

Creation/ Publishing of Tender Corrigendum


NIC GeP system - Bid Management

Tender document download Bid preparation Payment of Fees – Electronically or Traditional Modes

Bid submission Bidder must be prior registered with the site along with his DSC He Logs-in securely and Searches/ Selects the desired tender Selected Tender gets moved to ‘My Tender’ section, He downloads Gets clarifications, Prepares Bid documents/ Forms (in PDF) Starts Bid-submission by Accepting T&Cs, then Paying fees Online/

Offline (fills details/ uploads scans and sends physically) Fills BOQ form/ rates, Signs/ encrypts & uploads bid documents Submits securely, Gets a time-stamped Bid-summary/ Receipt. Bidder can withdraw an online bid and re-submit Bidder can also submit manual bids


NIC GeP system - Bid Receipt & Opening

Receipt of bids:Remain encrypted till the opening of bids.

Opening of 1st Part/ Tech. Bid: Opened by designated officials, using their DSCs Bidders need not be physically present Each activity is time stamped (presently server time)

Bidders selected (as per criteria) for Tech. Evaluation Summary of proceedings updated. Metadata on offline/manual bids can also be

updated if received.


NIC GeP system - Evaluation & Award

• Technical Bid Evaluation: • Bid documents are printed & evaluated manually• Tech. Evaluation Recommendations are updated • Selected bidders are informed of Financial bid

opening dates• Opening of 2nd Part/ Finl. Bid: Similar to Tech.• Financial Bid Evaluation:

• Fin. Bids are printed & evaluated manually• Fin. Evaluation Recommendations are updated • Bidders are informed of the results

• Award of Contract: Final award published on the web-site


GeP system - Security & Authentication

• Secured Hosting facility• Web security – 128 bits SSL encryption • Two factor Authentication with DSCs• Confidentiality – Encryption of all Bids documents

using a mix of Sym./ Asymmetric (opener ’s Public Key) Approach, Sensitive fields also at DB level.

• Audit trail of each activity• Time stamping of all events.• Good backup policy• Security Audited by independent third party


A live GeP e-Tendering website

of Tamilnadu Government

www.tntenders.gov.in

[also www.tenders.tn.gov.in&

demoetenders.tn.nic.in]

http://www.tntenders.gov.in/�

http://www.tenders.tn.gov.in/�

http://demoetenders.tn.nic.in/�


End of session on

Govt. e-Procurement solution (GeP) by NIC


Issues in e-Procurement

e-Payment Issues: Gateway Integration – Diverse Gateway Interfacing

Requirements, often dictated by the Banking s/w in use.

Adoption in Government – Issues in Wide scale and uniform adoption of e-Receipts/ e-Payments in government

Digital Certificates (DSCs) Issues: Relating to Integration

Change of CPS/ DSC fields Need for standard interface/ API from CAs for

integration into any Application

Usage - Handling Encryption Keys


Issues in e-Procurement (..Contd)

(DSC Issues …Contd)

Adoption in Government - Repeated Fee, Transfers

Interoperability – Inter-usability of DSCs of CAs mandated by CCA of India and those of other countries, in case of global tender invitations/ participation.

Bid Secrecy/Time-stamping – Need of a common trusted ‘Third Party Repository’ till bid opening

Electronic Archival/ Retrieval – Need of a Secure Archiving Repository for Govt. organizations