pension fund regulatory and development authority rfp... · 5.2 training to key staff of nps trust,...

PENSION FUND REGULATORY AND DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL

FOR

SELECTION OF SECOND

CENTRAL RECORD-KEEPING AGENCY

UNDER

NATIONAL PENSION SYSTEM

2015

Functional, Technical, General & Commercial Specifications

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL FOR SECLECTION OF SECOND CRA

TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 National Pension System (NPS) ........................................................................... 8

1.1 NPS Architecture .................................................................................................. 8

1.2 NPS Intermediaries .............................................................................................. 9

1.3 Subscriber Base Classification ......................................................................... 15

1.4 NPS Lite ............................................................................................................. 16

2 Establishment and Operationalization of second CRA ....................................... 17

2.1 Building of Infrastructure ................................................................................... 17

2.1.1 Application Architecture .................................................................................... 18

a) Application sub Architecture ............................................................................. 19

b) Data Management sub Architecture ................................................................ 20

c) Data Management Framework Requirements (Data transfer pertaining to the

PRANs opting for second CRA) ....................................................................... 20

2.1.2 Expected Minimum Performance Requirements from Application and Platform

23

2.1.3 Infrastructure Architecture ................................................................................ 25

2.1.4 Expected Minimum Performance Requirements from Hardware ................... 31

2.1.5 Network Requirement ....................................................................................... 33

2.1.6 Expected Minimum Performance Requirements from Network ..................... 35

2.1.7 Call Center ......................................................................................................... 36

2.1.8 People Architecture ........................................................................................... 36

2.1.9 Expected Minimum Performance Requirements from People Architecture .. 39

2.2 Allocation of Business between CRAs ............................................................. 40

3. Scope of work of CRA ...................................................................................... 41

3.1 Functional Requirements .................................................................................. 42

3.2 Functional Description: ..................................................................................... 43

3.3 CRA services common to all subscribers across various sectors ....................... 46

3.4 Providing various services to all the stakeholders of NPS .................................. 50

4. Service Level Requirements ............................................................................. 56

4.1 Service Level Parameters for Building Infrastructure ..................................... 56

4.2 Expected /permitted maximum time limit for Service Level Parameters for

Operations and Maintenance ........................................................................... 57

5. Deliverables and Project Schedule .................................................................. 59

5.1 Deliverables ....................................................................................................... 59

5.2 Training to Key Staff of NPS Trust, Nodal offices & PFRDA .......................... 60

5.3 User Acceptance Test ...................................................................................... 60

5.4 Project Schedule ............................................................................................... 63

6. RFP Process ..................................................................................................... 64

6.1 Content of RFP Documents .............................................................................. 64

6.2 Key Activities and Dates ................................................................................... 64

6.3 Clarification of RFP Documents ....................................................................... 65

6.4 Pre-Bid Meeting ................................................................................................. 65


6.5 Proposal Preparation Cost ................................................................................ 65

6.6 PFRDA’s Right to Terminate ............................................................................ 66

6.7 Venue and Deadline for Submission of Proposal ............................................ 66

6.8 Application Fee and other information ............................................................. 66

6.9 Late Bids ............................................................................................................ 66

6.10 Qualification Criteria .......................................................................................... 67

6.11 Disqualification Criteria ..................................................................................... 67

6.12 Bid Opening ....................................................................................................... 68

7. Proposal Instructions and Conditions ............................................................ 68

7.1 Bid Submission Format ..................................................................................... 68

7.2 Documents Comprising the Proposal .............................................................. 69

7.3 Technical Proposal Format ............................................................................... 69

7.4 Commercial Proposal Format ........................................................................... 72

7.5 Amendment of Request for Proposal ............................................................... 72

7.6 Modification, Substitution and Withdrawal of Proposal ................................... 72

7.7 Language of Proposal ....................................................................................... 72

7.8 Currency of Proposal and Payment ................................................................. 73

7.9 Period of Validity of Proposals ......................................................................... 73

8. Proposal Evaluation ............................................................................................... 73

8.1 Proposal Opening ............................................................................................. 73

8.2 Clarification of Proposals .................................................................................. 73

8.3 Initial Determination of Compliance with RFP Requirements ......................... 73

8.4 Correction of Errors ........................................................................................... 74

8.5 Site Visit by PFRDA .......................................................................................... 74

8.6 Evaluation Procedure and Criteria ................................................................... 74

9. Appointment of CRA ........................................................................................ 76

9.1 Appointment Criteria ......................................................................................... 76

9.2 PFRDA’s Right to Accept or Reject any or all Proposals ............................... 77

9.3 Notification of Award ......................................................................................... 77

10. CRA Appointment ............................................................................................ 77

10.1 Conditions of Appointment ............................................................................... 77

10.2 Termination of CRA .......................................................................................... 78

10.3 Process of transfer of assets in case of termination or expiry of tenure of CRA

78

10.4 Governing Laws/ Jurisdiction Arbitration ......................................................... 78

10.5 Rights over the Work Products/Deliverables & Confidentiality ....................... 78

Annexure I: Technical Proposal .................................................................................. 81

Annexure II: Commercial Proposal ............................................................................. 84

Annexure III: Request for Clarifications (Pre bid meeting) ........................................ 86

Annexure IV: Format for Prequalification Criteria details .......................................... 87

Annexure V: Format for Commercial Quotation .......................................................... 90

Annexure VI: Format for Statement of Deviation(s) from Scheduled requirements ....... 91

Annexure VII: Format for Citations ................................................................................ 92

Annexure VIII: Format for Bill of Material ....................................................................... 93


Annexure IX: Format for Resume ................................................................................ 94

Annexure X: Format for proposed solution for meeting expected Service Delivery . 95

Annexure XI: Commercial Evaluation Parameters ....................................................... 96

Annexure XII: Technical Evaluation Parameters ........................................................... 97

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL FOR SELECTION OF SECOND CRA

GLOSSARY

COTS Component Off the Shelf

CRA Central Recordkeeping Agency

CHO Corporate Head Office

CBO Corporate Branch Office

DC Defined Contribution

DDO Drawing and Disbursing Office

DTA Directorate of Treasuries and Accounts

DTO District Treasury Office

DEA Department of Economic Affairs

GOI Government of India

ISDN Integrated Services Digital Network

ISMS Information Security Management System

ITSM IT Service Management

NLOO NPS Lite Oversight Office

NLAO NPS Lite Accounts Office

NO Nodal Officer

NPS National Pension System

OEM Original Equipment Manufacturer

OFC Optical Fiber Communication

PAO Pay & Accounts Office

PrAO Principal Accounts Office

PFRDA Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority

PFMs Pension Fund Managers

POP Points of Presence

POPSP Points of Presence Service Providers

PRA Permanent Retirement Account

PRAN Permanent Retirement Account Number

RF Radio Frequency

SRS System Requirements Specification


DISCLAIMER

1. This document is being published in order to enable the applicants to make an

offer for the appointment as a Second Central Recordkeeping Agency

(second CRA) by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority

(PFRDA) in addition to the existing CRA under National Pension System

(NPS). The role, functions, responsibility and all activities pertaining to CRA

shall be as per the PFRDA (Central recordkeeping agency) Regulations, 2015

and this RFP. If there is any ambiguity between the terms of this RFP and the

regulations mentioned above, the regulations shall prevail.

2. This document does not constitute nor should it be interpreted as an offer

or invitation for the appointment of the second CRA described herein. The

applicant is advised to go through the PFRDA (Central recordkeeping

agency) Regulations, 2015 (which are available at www.pfrda.org.in ) and the

terms of this RFP carefully for understanding the issues involved.

3. This document is meant to provide information only and upon the express

understanding that recipients will use it only for the purposes set out above.

It does not purport to be all inclusive or contain all the information about the

second CRA or be the basis of any contract. No representation or warranty,

expressed or implied, is or will be made as to the reliability, accuracy or the

completeness of any of the information contained herein. It shall not be

assumed that there shall be no deviation or change in any of the herein

mentioned information on the second CRA. While this document has been

prepared in good faith, neither PFRDA, nor any of their officers or

subscribers make any representation or warranty or shall have any

responsibility or liability whatsoever in respect of any statements or

omissions here from. Any liability is accordingly and expressly disclaimed

by PFRDA and any of their officers or subscribers even if any loss or

damage is caused by any act or omission on the part of PFRDA or any of

their officers or subscribers, whether negligent or otherwise.

4. By acceptance of this document, the recipient agrees that any information

herewith will be superseded by any subsequent written information on the

same subject made available to the recipient by or on behalf of PFRDA.

PFRDA and any of their respective officers or subscribers undertake no

obligation, among others, to provide the recipient with access to any

additional information or to update this document or to correct any

inaccuracies therein which may become apparent, and they reserve the right,

at any time and without advance notice, to change the procedure for the


selection of or any part of the interest or terminate negotiations or the due

diligence process prior to the signing of any binding agreement.

5. Accordingly, interested recipients should carry out an independent

assessment and analysis of the requirements and of the information, facts

and observations contained herein.

7. This document has not been filed, registered or approved in any jurisdiction.

Recipients of this document should inform themselves of and observe any

applicable legal requirements.

8. This document constitutes no form of commitment on the part of the

PFRDA. Furthermore, this document confers neither the right nor an

expectation on any party to participate in the proposed second CRA

appointment process.

9. When any proposal is submitted pursuant to this RFP, it shall be presumed

by PFRDA that the applicant has fully ascertained and ensured about its

eligibility to render service as a second CRA, in the event of the same being

selected ultimately to act as such, under the respective governing laws and

regulatory regimen and that there is no statutory or regulatory prohibition or

impediment to acting as such second CRA and it has the necessary

approvals and permissions and further suffers no disability in law or

otherwise to act as such.


1 National Pension System (NPS)

National Pension System (NPS) earlier New Pension Scheme (NPS) was

launched with effect from 1st January, 2004 and in the initial phase covered the

new entrants to the Central Government services (excluding Defence Forces)

as well as State Government and Central Autonomous bodies. NPS was

extended to all other citizens of India from 1st May, 2009.

1.1 NPS Architecture

Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) originally established by the Government of India through a resolution dated 10th October, 2003 & 14th November 2008. The Pension Fund Regulatory & Development Authority Act was passed on 19th September, 2013 and the same was notified on 1st February, 2014. In accordance with the provisions of the said Act PFRDA is mandated to promote old age income security by establishing, developing and regulating pension funds, to protect the interest of the subscribers to the schemes of pension funds and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

PFRDA has established the institutional framework and infrastructure required

for administering the ‘National Pension System’ (NPS) and other variants of

NPS catering to various segments of population.. Various institutional entities

such as Central Recordkeeping Agencies (CRAs), Point of Presence (POP),

Aggregators, Pension Fund Managers (PFMs), Trustee Bank (TB),

Custodians, Annuity Service Providers (ASPs) and National Pension System

Trust (NPST) have been appointed for operationalizing the schemes and are

functional.

The role, functions, duties and powers of PFRDA (Authority) are as per PFRDA

Act, 2013 and which is available on the website of the Authority at

www.pfrda.org.in .

The architecture of NPS is depicted in the following pictogram for the purpose of

understanding the information and fund flow in the architecture. However, the

same may undergo change if decided so by the Authority.


1.2 NPS Intermediaries

1.2.1 NPS Trust

National Pension System Trust (NPST) was established by PFRDA as per the

provisions of the Indian Trusts Act of 1882 for taking care of the assets and

funds under the NPS in the best interest of the subscribers. NPS Trust is the

registered owner of all assets under the NPS architecture. NPS Trust

oversees the operations of National Pension System.

1.2.2 Central Recordkeeping Agency (CRA)

a) The role, responsibility and accountability of the current and that of additional

CRA are as per PFRDA Act, 2013 and PFRDA (CRA) Regulations, 2015

including the directions/guidelines/notifications issued by the Authority for the

purpose: Currently, NSDL e-governance infrastructure Ltd is the CRA

registered with PFRDA and servicing the subscribers under NPS and other

schemes. Broadly the functions envisaged for CRA are;

1. Building, maintaining & operating the CRA infrastructure- Setting up and

operating the system including the separate Government Office interface

of NPS Central Accounting Network (NPSCAN). The recordkeeping,

administration and customer service functions for all subscribers of the

NPS (NPS Main & NPS Lite) need to be centralised and to be performed


by CRA.

2. CRAs would act as operational interface for all intermediaries under CRA

system. Role would include liasoning with all necessary external agencies

to accomplish the operations and commissioning as per contract terms

and conditions.

3. Issue & dispatch of unique Permanent Retirement Account Number

(PRAN) along with PRAN card/I-PIN/T-PIN to the subscribers, maintaining

database of PRANs and record the transactions related to subscribers’

PRAN. CRAs would permanently maintain the complete records of all

registered subscribers with respect to their demographic details,

contribution, scheme preference and units allocation. Further, CRAs would

maintain the scanned copies of subscriber registration forms and related

KYC documents etc.

4. Receive instructions from subscribers through CRA System / NPSCAN;

aggregating instructions received from subscribers (through nodal office*)

and transmitting such instructions to appointed Trustee Bank, Annuity

Service Providers and Pension Fund Managers.

i. NPSCAN shall be a web based ‘NPS Contribution Accounting Network’

to be developed by the CRA to maintain accounts of Government

subscribers. PAOs access NPSCAN for uploading subscriber

contribution file, updating various types of request of subscribers such

as change in subscriber details, change in scheme preference, switch,

withdrawal etc. From technical perspective, all Government

transactions are recorded/requested on NPSCAN and then replicated

(almost real time) on CRA system, for execution of those transactions.

ii. NPSCAN will be used by the CG and SG sectors to access reports

on compliance by nodal offices regarding mandatory contributions by

Government subscribers under their jurisdiction apart from

contribution upload, PRAN Generation etc.,.

(*The term Nodal Office, primarily refers to the offices which act as interface between the subscribers and CRA. It includes the Government offices like PrAO, DTA, PAO, DTO, DDOs as well as Point of Presence (service provider branches), Aggregators registered with PFRDA.

5. Monitor subscribers’ contributions and instructions and transmit the

information to the relevant Pension Fund Managers and schemes on a

daily basis.

6. CRAs would facilitate credit in subscribers’ accounts and would be

responsible for timely allocation of funds to PFMs, receiving data from the

Trustee Bank & PFMs, crediting and reporting allocation of units into each

subscriber’s account. CRA would also undertake daily time-critical

settlement process to consolidate all contributions & redemption requests


received for a day, accordingly instruct the Trustee Bank on the net

transfers to be made to each fund manager and post the units allotted to

the subscribers on the same day.

7. CRAs would periodically provide a consolidated Statement of Transaction

(SOT) to each subscriber and discharge such other duties and functions

as may be determined by the guidelines, directions and regulations issued

by the PFRDA from time to time. SOT would be customised to sector

specific requirement and details including making the same available in

regional languages.

8. Provide web based access to PFRDA and other service providers like

Trustee Bank, Government departments, Pension Fund Managers, Point of

Presence (POP), Aggregators and Annuity Service Providers.

9. Offer number of services directly to individual subscribers including

consolidated account statements.

10. Facilitate in providing various subscriber maintenance services such as

change of scheme, change of demographic details, grievance handling

etc. Provision of SMS / email alerts to the subscribers for status updates

and transactions.

11. Facilitate withdrawal of funds by selecting ASP, annuity schemes and the

percentage allocation of funds in the annuity product by the subscriber.

12. Provide a centralised Grievance Management System which is a platform

where grievances are forwarded to the concerned entity and resolution

status is updated. The grievance management and resolution shall be as

per the PFRDA (Redressal of Subscriber Grievance) Regulations, 2015

and which are available on PFRDA website at www.pfrda.org.in.

13. Provide a periodic and ad-hoc MIS to PFRDA (on the CRA system as well

as through other communications), State Governments and Dept. of

Financial Services, Ministry of Finance. Also provide a Dashboard view to

the Oversight offices like PrAO, DTA, PoP and Aggregator etc, as per the

advises/directions of PFRDA from time to time and which would offer

material information to facilitate effective monitoring.

14. Conduct ‘Train the Trainers programme’ which will consist of providing

training to the representatives of various offices. Development of self-

running demos, operating procedures, FAQs etc to facilitate users.

15. Conduct periodic orientation and other training programmes across

locations including training programs for all stakeholders for understanding

the CRA system and its implementation on an ongoing basis for all nodal

offices.

16. Create and establish facilitation centers network across country (at least in

all major cities).

17. Assist in enforcement of operational guidelines of the PFRDA on service


providers and report on lapses and errors.

18. Adapting the recordkeeping and administrative facility for future changes

including changes on account of technology advancements, changes in

system specifications including number of subscribers, number of Pension

Fund Managers and schemes, services and functional obligations prescribed

by PFRDA.

19. Development of various new functionalities/utilities and establishing new

processes in order to improve the subscriber services. Provide multiple

models of interface for the uploading offices to provide maximum flexibility in

terms of operation.

20. Continuous enhancements and development of modules to address

changing requirements of various stakeholders.

21. Development of functionality for Swavalamban implementation and

monitoring.

22. Development and maintenance of functionalities to cater to all schemes of

NPS and schemes which are implemented or administered by the Authority.

23. Develop Error rectification module to rectify the erroneous transactions

carried out by the uploading offices.

24. Develop facility of online PRAN generation by the uploading offices.

25. Creation of a dedicated NPS withdrawal Claims Processing Cell for receiving,

processing and settlement of all withdrawal claims under Tier I and Tier II

accounts of NPS in accordance with the rules, regulations and guidelines of

PFRDA and related functionalities. The work entails both online as well as

manual processing of the withdrawal claims depending on the nature of the

withdrawal reported and in accordance with the instructions in this regard

from NPS Trust. This includes development of IT interface for processing the

claims online and offline and interface with Annuity Service Providers

systems for selection of Annuity service provider and purchase of annuities

by subscribers of all sectors. The NPS withdrawal claims process shall be in

accordance with PFRDA (Central Recordkeeping Agency) Regulations, 2015

and PFRDA (Exits and Withdrawals under NPS) Regulations, 2015. In case

of any ambiguity, the decision of PFRDA is final in this regard.

26. Maintain absolute confidentiality of all records, data and information.

Produce all this information as and when called for by PFRDA. Sector

specific checks and balances to avoid duplication.

27. CRAs shall interact and coordinate with other NPS stakeholders, as per the

requirement in order to ensure an efficient and functional operational system.

28. CRAs would be responsible for seamless and error-free system operations

involving the NPSCAN / CRA system, PFMs, enabling nation-wide, portable

outreach and access to the NPS, as well as for recording and maintaining

accurate and updated information on all transactions by its subscribers across


multiple decades.

29. The CRAs would be responsible to set up the required administrative

capacity to meet its functional obligations.

30. The CRAs would be responsible for subscriber services and

communication. Over the years, as a result of advances in technology as well

as growth in the number of subscriber accounts and number of service

providers, the NPS is likely to undergo several important and necessary

improvements and changes. It will be necessary for the CRA system and its

functional and service obligations to be flexible to absorb such future

changes and improvements.

31. The CRAs would be responsible for timely transfer of subscriber contributions

information, timely allocation of these funds by PFMs, and accurately

crediting and reporting allocation of units into PRANs. Also carry out revision

of PFM fund allocation ratio across all subscribers of Government sectors as

and when prescribed by PFRDA.

32. Design and development of the solution based on documents and artifacts

supplied, including addressing of all architectural aspects (in line with the

given framework/standards).

33. Procurement of all necessary hardware and software and system

integration.

34. Setting up the IT infrastructure in compliance with the proposed and

mutually agreed architecture including document management system.

35. Setting up delivery, operations and security infrastructure required for

providing various services as mentioned in the scope of work of CRA.

36. Migration of data from one CRA to another.

37. Digitisation of paper documents as required by the NPS system.

38. Ongoing maintenance support, upgrades and enhancements to system

including requirements related to technology.

39. Setting up call centre to provide support to subscribers of the NPS and

upgrading the facilities to meet customer expectations and for regulatory

support.

40. Liaison with all necessary external agencies to accomplish the operations

and commissioning as per contract terms and conditions.

41. Design and develop a secure network for smooth performance of business

functions.

42. Provide secure network and application access codes to the participating

entities.

43. To comply with the Service Level parameters (SLs) as provided in the

Service Level Agreement forming part of the agreement between the CRA

and NPS Trust.

44. Installing proven Enterprise Management System (EMS) tools for analyzing


and managing performance, network performance, call logs, etc. as well as

providing the means of monitoring Service level metrics.

45. Any other related function necessary for efficient functioning of CRA

system.

46. Providing an electronic/web based platform for online subscriber

registration and maintenance activity for the NPS and other accounts

either directly or through NPS Trust.

Please note above requirements are only indicative and there could be

number of other requirements for successful implementation, which may

involve system development or operational support.

1.2.3 NPS Trustee Bank

NPS Trustee Bank facilitates fund transfers across various entities viz. Nodal

Offices, PFMs and ASPs. Axis Bank Ltd has been appointed by PFRDA as the

new Trustee Bank, in place of Bank of India, for National Pension System (NPS)

on 25th April, 2013 and has been effective from 1st July, 2013.

1.2.4 Pension Fund Managers (PFMs)

PFMs are appointed to manage the retirement savings of subscribers under the

NPS. PFMs use their secure access codes to confirm receipt of netted assets and

instructions regarding fund allocation, confirm allocation of funds and communicate

the NAV of each scheme to CRA on regular basis.

1.2.5 Point of Presence (PoPs)

Points of Presence act as the customer interface for NPS subscribers / individual

citizens who wish to open Permanent Retirement Account (PRA) and other

services with CRA. They have authorized branches (POP-SPs) for accepting

applications and contributions. The POP-SPs are also responsible for providing a

wide range of services to NPS subscribers, as prescribed by PFRDA from time to

time.

1.2.6 Aggregators

Aggregators are a set of grass root intermediaries identified by PFRDA to function

as subscriber interface under NPS architecture. Aggregators perform the functions

relating to registration of subscribers, undertaking KYC verification, receiving

contributions and instructions from subscribers and transmission of the same to

designated NPS Lite intermediaries. Entities approved by PFRDA would be acting

as Aggregator in NPS Lite for their underlying subscribers.


1.2.7 Annuity Service Providers (ASPs)

ASPs Life Insurance companies that are registered and regulated by Insurance

Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) and are responsible for

delivering a regular monthly pension to the subscriber for the rest of his/her life

upon receipt of premium for the same. On receipt of specified sum along with

personal and banking information details of subscriber from CRAs, the ASP

through its access codes confirms receipt and issues the annuity contract. ASP

then initiates payment of annuities to the subscriber.

1.2.8 Custodian

The custodian provides custodial services to the Pension Fund Managers and

ensures that benefits due on the holdings are received, provides detailed

information and other reports as required by the NPS Trustee Bank, maintains

confidentiality of the transactions, and is responsible for any loss or damage to the

assets belonging to the Pension Funds due to negligence on its part or on the part

of its approved agents. The Custodian shall not assign, transfer, hypothecate,

pledge, lend, use or otherwise dispose off any assets or property of the Fund,

except pursuant to instruction from the Trustee.

1.3 Subscriber Base Classification

Subscribers have complete control on how their contributions and savings in

PRAN are managed. They are able to select a professional Pension Fund

Manager (PFM) from a pool of competing Pension Fund Managers. Each PFM in

this system offers a limited number of simple, standard pension schemes with

different risk and return profiles. Subscribers are free to allocate their savings

across multiple PFMs and schemes. They are also able to seamlessly switch

savings between Pension Fund Managers and products. However, the PFMs are

required to invest strictly in accordance with guidelines issued by the PFRDA. The

subscribers are classified in to the following sectors:

a) Central Government (CG), Central Autonomous Bodies (CABs)

b) State Governments (SGs), State Autonomous Bodies (SABs)

c) Corporate Bodies

d) Unorganised Sector (UoS)

e) NPS Lite including Swavalamban, Atal Pension Yojana and any other

scheme as advised by PFRDA.


1.4 NPS Lite

The NPS-Lite system is basically designed with the intention to secure the future of the people who are economically disadvantaged and who are not financially well to do. Towards this endeavor, NPS Lite system is developed on a low charge structure. The servicing model is of NPS Lite is based on group servicing. The people forming part of this low income groups will be represented through their organizations known as ‘Aggregators’ or through banks who would facilitate in subscriber registration, transfer of pension contributions and subscriber maintenance functions. NPS Lite model broadly has similar functionalities as the regular NPS model. However, some of the services would not be available at individual subscriber level instead these services would be provided at Aggregator/bank level and the individual can avail of those features through aggregators/banks. Under NPS Lite, Permanent Retirement Account would be available to subscribers. This will be non-withdrawable account, in which an NPS Lite subscriber shall contribute his/her savings for obtaining an annuity at the time of retirement. However, considering its low cost model certain facilities like online access to the account, SMS alerts, Tier II account etc are not available for the NPS Lite subscribers.


2 Establishment and Operationalization of second CRA

Overview of Requirements: The selected applicant is expected to build

necessary infrastructure for providing second CRA services to various

stakeholders. The services, applications and infrastructure required for this

purpose are depicted in the diagram given below.

It is proposed that the establishments and operationalisation would be undertaken

viz. building of infrastructure, operations and maintenance, and termination phase.

The broad scope of the activities is described below:

2.1 Building of Infrastructure

This involves building necessary IT infrastructure considering the requirements

and Service level (SL) parameters specified in this RFP. This broadly involves

a) Application development

o SRS preparation

o Application development and implementation


o User Acceptance Test

2.1.1 Application Architecture

The application architecture of the solution should be one which not only

fulfills the role of providing services to stake holders but also takes into account

scalability in terms of growth of users, increase of stakeholders and increase in

services offered by National Pension System (NPS). Pension data being

financial data of the public and their life’s savings, security and confidentiality

forms a crucial consideration. Also, the system is critical and needs accessibility

and flexibility in terms of inter-operations with other systems. Hence, it is

emphasized that the applicant should develop a technical solution considering

these requirements and challenges. The broad architecture in terms of technology

is illustrated in the diagram below. In nutshell the architecture should conform to

open standards.

Considering the diverse functional requirements, the sub architectures can be

categorized as under

• The application sub architecture


• The data management sub architecture

a) Application sub Architecture

Application sub architecture describes the technology and standards that

facilitate communication and functional interface between systems, both at

module-to-module level or intra-application level, and at the application-to-

application or inter-application level. The application sub architecture domain

therefore encompasses the aspects of communication (inter and intra-

application) and integration. The scope is to provide a framework under which the

CRA application system can be integrated to improve service delivery and

business value. These are indicative guidelines, however, the applicant is

expected to arrive at an appropriate solution.

The diagram below shows the application sub architecture. The suggested

components would be as follows:

• Application Server: This is the main application engine where the core

application will be hosted .This will provide the core functionalities and will

be connected to the database layer.

• Web Server: The solution is a web based application, therefore, a web

server component is necessary for hosting.

• Directory Server: The system is expected to have a single sign on .The

directory server is to facilitate this function and allow for Single sign on


services.

• Mail/Messaging Server: This component will take care of the mail and

messaging needs of the application. The major chunk of communications

will be through e-mails and messages.

b) Data Management sub Architecture

This architecture covers the business and technical aspects of managing data and the database environment. The structure of the data management system should reflect a lifecycle approach to data management such as collection from the end users, analysis and planning, acquisition, use, operation and maintenance, archiving and disposal. The data management framework encompasses business rules to ensure the security and consistency of data. The system should:

• Provide the NPS with a framework for best practices in data management

• Facilitate effective management of NPS data within legislative and regulatory

guidelines.

• Provide highly secure environment for storing the data

c) Data Management Framework Requirements (Data transfer pertaining to the

PRANs opting for second CRA)

o Preparation of Data Migration (Transfer) strategy

o Data Migration (Transfer) for interoperability

o System driven co-ordination of data.

As data is the most critical component of the entire solution, it is emphasized

that a data management framework should be in place for the proper use of data.

This should not only consist of the technical infrastructure, but also the proper

manpower and security infrastructure.

• Data management activities should be planned and governed, based upon

business needs with relevance to the highly critical and sensitive nature of the

NPS data

• Data should be acquired, updated and catalogued in a coordinated

manner and in accordance with agreed standards regarding acquisition,

access, storage and dissemination.

• There should be a policy framework, mechanisms, audit procedures and

training in the CRA for proper use of the data. At every step, representatives of

the PFRDA have the right to check these mechanisms and have their

comments incorporated

• The database should be established for ensuring data integrity, risk


management and availability.

• The data should be archived and disposed of in accordance with best practices

and security guidelines.

• The applicant should have an established data management framework that

ensures effective storage, retrieval, access, sharing, privacy and security are

maintained for operational processing and analysis.

• There should be accountability for data management.

• In this context, it should maintain regimes for data integrity ,data identification

and maintain an inventory of all data holdings.

• It should account for the value and expected lifespan of the data assets.

• It should have metadata repositories, which provide details of location, content and

business purpose.

• The CRA should have a coordinated and published plan and means for data

capture.

• It should be able to implement an integrated data coordination framework to

leverage existing systems in data acquisition and holding.

• It should provide clear communication and education regarding proper and

improper use of data.

The applicant should have clear formulated policies regarding the items mentioned

below which will form the basis of their data management solution:

• Use of data in transactional and analytical processing

• Brokerage, duplication and partitioning

• Use of data in management support systems and data warehouses

• Authoritative source and instances of data records

• Database management systems and open standards

• Backup and recovery

• Access management

• Data integration

� Replication and warehousing

� Data archival and disposal in accordance with relevant legislation,

standards and guidelines

• It should ensure that business data access and usage is audited.

• It should document and implement current architectures and procedures for data

operations and maintenance.


The database server proposed should be among the best of the breed and

comparable to all the other major database servers. The proposed product

should at least meet the below mentioned criteria:

• RDBMS product

• Provide extensive support for transaction processing (ACID properties)

• Direct Unicode support

• Conform to open standards

• In-built support for storage of binary objects and XML

• ODBC and JDBC Support

• Easy to use tools for designing and export / import The system shall have facility/capability of transmitting and receiving data to and from the existing CRA/CRA’s including interconnectivity for migration of data and or information. The interoperability function as provided above shall be built in co-ordination with the existing CRA and in case of any dispute on any related matter between the CRA’s, the decision of PFRDA shall be final and binding on all parties concerned.


2.1.2 Expected Minimum Performance Requirements from Application and Platform

Availability Scalability Security Interoperability Maintenance Performance Extendibility Reliability

The application

should be

available 99.5%

of the time

during 8 am to

8 pm and 97.5 % during the

remaining time of the day.

The system

should have

strong role

based access

control logic

built in it.

Access control

mechanism

should be at

multi levels

The application

should be

interoperable

between

platforms.

Follow

standard IT

management

Framework

such as

ITSM.

Response time

should be no

more than 7

seconds for any

query/posting.

Application

should take no

more than 90

man days for

extension /upgrade/ interfacing

for

interoperability

The Mean

Time Between

Failure should

be more than

24*30*3 hrs

All routine

maintenance

downtime

should be

announced and

intimated to the

PFRDA at least

120 hours in advance and

maintenance

The solution

should provide

Single-Sign-On

features with

password

encryption

protocol and

capability to enforce

changing the

The system

should use

open standards

for inter

operations and

for data

interchange

The provider

should update

patches and

upgrades to the

operating

system within a

month of

release

There should

be performance

tuning every 6

months

The system

should allow

for extendibility

to new

software/OS/

DB.

Mean time to

repair should

be less than 6

hours



job should be

done between

12 at night to 5

in the morning.

passwords at

system-defined

intervals.

The platform

features for

redundancy/

add -ons for

redundancy

provided by the

system should

be enabled.

The system

should have

strong role

based access

control logic

built in it

The application

must allow

interoperability

with Third

party software,

COTS,

Bespoke

Software etc.

All

performance

related calls

from users will

be rectified

and closed

within 3

months

The platform

should be

scalable to

serve the

increasing

number of

subscribers.

Compliance to

ISO 27001

Standards


b) Setting up of Infrastructure

o Developing or scaling up the infrastructure such as Data Centre, Disaster

Recovery Facility, Network and connectivity, Call Center, Centralized

Back Office and any other related infrastructure. The selected applicant

should take a sign off on completion of each of the activities from an

external professional agency (including the agency utilised for

certification of User Acceptance Test (UAT) in terms of this document)

having experience in dealing with similar matters. After certification from

such an agency that the activity has been completed, the certification

along with a declaration from the Chief Executive officer of the applicant

on the completion/readiness of the activity needs to be submitted to the

Authority.

o Data Migration (Transfer) Strategy and data transfer ensuring System

driven coordination of Data.

2.1.3 Infrastructure Architecture

a) Overview of Infrastructure requirements

The hardware and infrastructure requirements for the solution of CRA with its diverse

nature of connectivity and high availability, application should be based on principles

of robustness, scalability and availability. Since connectivity would be present with

various government agencies, the system needs to be flexible enough to

accommodate a diverse nature of network connectivity. The solution proposed needs

to be not just failsafe but also scalable and adaptable to the growth in volumes. The

successful applicant would be required to provide:

• Data Center

• Disaster Recovery Center

• Network and connectivity

• Call Center

PFRDA provides the liberty to applicants to propose totally new infrastructure or use

existing infrastructure with required scaling for the operations relating to CRA. In case

the applicant proposes to use an existing infrastructure then segregation, security and

integrity of the data must be ensured. In this context the applicant is expected to come

up with a detailed strategy highlighting the mechanism to ensure segregation, security

and integrity of data.

b) Server Storage Requirements

The infrastructure requirement of CRA system is expected to scale up in the coming

years. Inadequate planning and design would result in performance degradation


detrimental to the interest of the stakeholders of the CRA system.

To avoid the potential bottleneck the applicant should plan for server storage

management in terms of the components required to meet the scalability without

compromising on the other parameters. In this regard the applicant is expected to

elicit their plan with the server storage architecture to manage server storage without

compromising on the performance and other required parameters of the application

as specified in the expected performance level table discussed below.

c) Data Center and Disaster Recovery Center Requirements

The infrastructure should consist of amongst other things a Data center and a Disaster

Recovery Center, the description of which is given below. This Data Center will form the

core of the technical infrastructure. It should incorporate the application components that

have been described in the data and application architectures and must be scalable to

the needs of growth in terms of user access/transaction volumes/data storage/addition of

stakeholders. The functional aspects of the technical infrastructure architecture are given

below but the applicant is expected to give the detailed solution. Response expected from

applicants with regard to Data Center must include the following:-


• Architecture overview

• Block diagram showing major components of the solution

• Major hardware component features

• Break up of each of the major aspects given as guidelines in this document from

implementation perspective

It must be noted that while the application and infrastructure design, development,

implementation and operations period are the responsibilities of the CRA. PFRDA has

exclusive rights to the entire repository of data.

It is however emphasized that the software and applications must be compatible with

the hardware and infrastructure and any issues arising due to incompatibility of the

same will have to be resolved by the applicant.

d) Data Center

The Data Center is the central engine on which depends the quality of services to the

stakeholders. Its design, implementation and management should be well conceived by

the applicant. The data center should provide the following:

• Secure hosting

• Standard technologies

• Guaranteed service levels

• High quality support, operation and monitoring of the application

• Data and Application availability seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day

• Centralized network management and operations capability

• Facility for centralized management of enterprise client/server systems

• Custom Security options, Multiple security levels

• Backup and Archival Services

e) Data Center guidelines and Data Center Plan

The applicant should ensure that the CRA Data Center facility is secure and

exclusively earmarked. In such a case, physical and logical separation (of space

and networks) is to be provided to protect CRA data, applications and servers.

The applicants have to give a detailed plan as to how they envisage CRA

separation requirements providing it with both physical and network exclusivity.

A technical audit from the security and controls perspective maybe conducted

by PFRDA or through its appointed agency.

f) Other Requirements

Provision of Infrastructure, including:


• Raised Floor

• Electrical Power, UPS and DG backup

• Fire Detection and Suppression

• Humidity, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC)

• Natural Environment Handling

• Physical Security

• Data/Telecom Cabling

Installation and Integration of the IT Infrastructure, including:

• Servers

• Network active components - switches, routers, passive components -

backbone Racks

• Telecom equipment and bandwidth pipes etc

• Enterprise management systems

• Storage primary and secondary

• Security - Firewalls, IDS, IPS, VPNs, Antivirus, Gateway etc

g) Space/Rack Requirement

The requirement of rack space should be assessed and proposed by the applicant

with a plan to store and maintain master and transaction data.

h) Bandwidth Requirement

The requirement of bandwidth should be assessed and proposed by the

applicant in tune with the requirements taking into consideration the various

redundancy mechanisms required to maintain service level compliance and

uptime needs as discussed in this RFP document.

i) Data Center related scope of services

The services required amongst other would fall under the following category:

• Server & application Hosting

• Performance optimization

j) Disaster Recovery Center

The Business Continuity Solution for CRA system should ensure delivery of

services to the stakeholders in the event of complete failure of the CRA Data

Centre. The DR site must be invoked automatically when the production site

fails to provide its services. The applicant is required to submit a detailed

architecture and components of the DR solution. DR site shall be setup and


maintained by the successful applicant.

The following are the requirements of the DR site

• The DR site should be designed as the backup (mirror) site to the production

site.

• The applicant has to offer an optimized, connectivity solution from the CRA

application site to the DR Site.

• The DR Site needs to deploy the entire CRA application solution.

• The applicant needs to ensure that the DR Site is kept current with the latest

version of the application builds, and all solution components.

• The applicant shall simulate routine tests to ensure that the fail-over to the DR

Site happens, without any service downtime. The applicant may consider

running all services and transactions off the DR Site, at least once in three

months, on a non-peak day.

• The applicant will have to perform DR drills every quarter of the year.

k) Backup and recovery

Considering the magnitude of operations and the criticality of the data handled

by CRA, it is recommended that a well thought out business continuity plan be

put into place. For continuity of operations the applicant needs to propose a

solution for a replication site and regular risk assessment strategies. The

applicant is required to suggest a solution for the business continuity and

disaster recovery aspects of the proposed solution. Some important points

amongst other in terms of PFRDA’s requirement are as below and are intended

as a broad guideline for the solution.

• The applicant should have a documented back up strategy and recovery

wherein back up schedules and responsibilities are clearly laid out at an

organization level.

• The back-up media should be stored in a secured place and any incidence

occurring due to misplacement of media should be immediately reported to

PFRDA.

• There should be a regular and updated anti-virus strategy

• All archival media should be stored in suitable facilities and one copy each of

media should be stored in fire proof facilities in the premises.

• There should be a copy of media stored outside the premises.

• There should be regularly scheduled restore facilities to test the health of the

archive backups and the media.


• Back up log should be maintained for a period of two year.

• PFRDA reserves the right to audit the backup media through an external

agency.

• All systems – applications, data tuned parameters and critical hard copy

documents would be regularly backed up.

l) Disaster Recovery Plan

• There should be a documented disaster recovery and business recovery plan

with regards to its operations.

• The selected applicant must have a replication site at a location not in the

physical proximity of the premises.

• The applicant must ensure near real time replication of the transaction data of

the live server.

• The replication site should be hosted with the same physical and technical

security requirements as the primary sites.

• There should be a documented escalation process and designated personnel

who shall be responsible for contact and action in case of disaster.

• There should be routine disaster response drills, the reports of which

should be communicated to PFRDA every 3 months.

• All systems should be adequately covered by insurance.

• PFRDA reserves the right to audit the DR site through any external agency.


2.1.4 Expected Minimum Performance Requirements from Hardware


Should be

available for

99.5 % during

8 a.m. to 8

pm and

97.5% from

during the

remaining time.

The system

and the DR

site should

be hosted

in a strongly

secure

physical

environment.

The servers

should support

the proposed

application

server / database

server

environment

The applicant

should have a

qualified

maintenance

team in place

comprising of a

network, hardware

and

platform (OS)

expert.

The system

response time

should be no

more than 7

seconds for any

query / posting

The system

should be

extendable to

allow addition

of storage

hardware and

external storage

devices with

least disruption

of

operations.

The Mean

time

between

failure

should be

more than

24*30*3 hrs

In case the

primary server

is down, the

secondary server

should be

able to handle

transactions

within the next 2-

5 minutes. It

should support

the application till

it gets connected

to the DR.

It should

allow

addition of

processing

units and

allow for

Clustering of

systems.

Compliance

with ISO

27001

standards

must be

ensured

All hardware,

platform or

networks should

be covered under

warranty or

Service

agreements with

OEM or their

service providers.

The initial service

agreements

should be valid for

at least one year

from the date of

implementation.

There should be

performance

tuning of the

hardware,

software and

database every 6

months

The system

should be

extendable to

add new service

delivery

channel eg.,

mobile phones,

PDA etc.

Mean time

to repair

should be

less than 6

hours


The

hardware

architecture

should not

have single

point of

failure

It should

allow for

storage of

hardware

and external

storage

devices with

least

disruption of

services

All performance

related calls

from users will

be rectified and

closed within 3

months

There shall be at

at least

concurrent

1500 to 2000

Users logged to

the application.

Performance

must be ensured

for such number

of users.

The system

should be

extendable to

add new

stakeholders.

All routine

maintenance

downtime should

be announced

and intimated to

the PFRDA at

least 120 hours in

advance and the

maintenance job

should be done

between 12 at

night to 5 in the

morning.

Maintenance

method should

follow some

Standard IT

management

framework like

ITSM.


2.1.5 Network Requirement

All the components of the CRA network solution and the application should be

designed with resilience to maintain the 24x7 services to all the stakeholders. A

checklist of resilient equipment and component should be mentioned by the

applicant. It is the responsibility of the applicant to design and deploy a network

to ensure 24x7 services of the CRA application. The functional aspects of the

technical infrastructure architecture are given below, but the applicant is expected

to give the detailed solution. Response expected from applicants with regard to

network solution should include the following:-

• Technical overview

• Detailed Network diagram showing major components of the solution

• LAN and WAN components

• Connectivity and technical specifications with regard to connectivity

The network solution may be designed on the scope and guidelines given below

a) Design, installation & commissioning of the LAN and WAN,

b) The scope of work will also include IP addressing, Planning for Redundancy &

Security, etc. for various locations of user access as specified by PFRDA.

c) Maintenance of network links between the stakeholders and the CRA’s data

centre shall be the responsibility of the applicant.

• The bandwidth requirements for meeting the Expected Performance

Requirement should be carefully assessed by the applicants.

• The special requirements of the bandwidth at peak-times on peak-dates

have to be assessed for performance complying with the Expected

Performance Requirements.

• Redundancy in the form of alternative lines of connectivity like leased

lines, ISDN, OFC, RF Links etc will have to be provided for.

• An efficient system of monitoring the network performance and availability

should be instituted for 24x7 functioning.

• Internet bandwidth requirements at the Data Center will also have to be

assessed by the applicants so as to ensure compliance with the

expected performance level.

d) All the Networking Elements (Routers, Switches and Firewall) should be from

the same or compatible OEM.

e) Local Area Network Connectivity

• The Applicant shall design the complete LAN architecture for the


application.

• The Applicant has to plan and design the structured cabling and power

cabling and all related works for the successful installation and

commissioning of the LAN

f) IP addressing

• The applicant has to design the IP-addressing schemes for the LAN and

the WAN

• The applicant needs to design IP addressing keeping in mind the

implementation of a Disaster Recovery location also.

g) Network Redundancy and Security

• The applicant must consider in the design that redundancy should be

available at all critical points of the network

• The applicant must make sure that all primary links shall be properly

backed up as required in the document.

• The successful Applicant shall ensure by proper and careful design of

necessary configuration & security policies for the LAN and WAN

networks.

h) The successful applicant has to be responsible for provisioning of the

required connectivity services for successful and timely implementation

between the PFRDA location/s and his premises. He will be responsible for

all service related issues which may arise with the bandwidth provider.

• The successful applicant has to submit all relevant documents pertaining

to the entire network, for Remote Management of the Network. This should

minimally cover the User Manuals, Operation Manuals, Manufacturer

Supplied Technical Documentation, Configuration of all the Network

Devices, all relevant diagrams/documentation required in hard copy as

well as soft-copy.

• The successful applicant should provide free-of-cost orientation training

for two man weeks to concerned PFRDA officers or its identified

personnel in operation, testing, maintenance of hardware and software of

the network equipment, interconnection details of attached hardware,

general network capabilities and technologies involved and configuration

and troubleshooting of the equipment.


2.1.6 Expected Minimum Performance Requirements from Network

Availability Scalability Security Maintenance Performance Extendibility Reliability

There should be

failsafe

mechanisms

in place for the

network and

connectivity to the

service provider.

Compliance

to ISO

27001

standards

must be

ensured.

The network should

be covered under

warranty or service

agreements with

OEM or their service

providers. The initial

service agreements

should be valid for at

least one year from

the date of

implementation.

The network

should perform

at promised

performance

levels at any

given node of

the network.

The network

capacity should be

extended in not

more than 90 man

days.

Mean Time

Between Failure

(MTBF) should be

more than

24*30*3

Service availability

is the proportion of

time the service is

fully available to the

user. This should

not be less than

99.5% during 8 am

to 8 pm and 97.5%

during the

remaining time.

There

should be

Network

security

audit at least

once in a

year

Standard IT

management

framework like ITSM

should be followed.

Meant Time To

Repair (MTTR) is

the time taken to

repair should not

be more than 2

hrs from logging of

call.


2.1.7 Call Center

The subscribers of NPS are spread across the length and breadth of the country.

In order to provide better service to them PFRDA requires that the CRA should

establish an Inbound Call Center with the following service features.

• Separate Toll free numbers for institutions and subscribers.

• Interactive voice response or IVR.

• Hindi / English speaking customer service executives to begin with.

• Scaling up on pro-rata basis to meet the subscriber needs.

• The average wait time for a caller should never exceed 3 minutes.

However, PFRDA may direct CRA on extending further services or scaling up.

The Call Center strategy, delineated below, attempts to provide the right kind of

services to the subscribers spread across the nation. It should be possible to

scale up each component as and when growth in demand occurs. Key

requirements from call centre are provided below:

• There should be a response and identification system wherein the caller

will be guided through the call login process and send his identification for

verification using a unique T Pin.

• It should use the same database and complaint registering software which

is used for call logging on the internet.

• There should be provision for operator assistance and call escalation.

• There should be strict adherence to declared service levels and it should

be monitored by designated personnel.

• PFRDA reserves the right to appoint an external agency to audit the

security and compliance to agreed service levels.

2.1.8 People Architecture

PFRDA expects the applicant to create a separate unit/entity within existing

management structure exclusively for the operations of CRA. The unit would be

headed by CRA Head and System Head.

i. CRA Head - The person heading the CRA business should be professionally qualified. The individual should have a proven track record with a demonstrated ability of handling large projects of similar nature. The person concerned will be responsible for the Operations, Systems, Financial, Administration and HR activities of CRA. He / She will directly


report to the MD & the Board of Directors of the organisation and will have no responsibilities other than that of CRA.

ii. System Head - The IT Head of the project should be professionally

qualified. The individual should have a proven track record with a

demonstrated ability of handling large projects of similar nature. The

person concerned will be responsible for the IT & Systems development.

He/she will report to the person heading the CRA activities and will have

no responsibilities other than that of CRA.

The overall roles and responsibilities of such a unit would amongst other include:

a) Management of CRA

• To set up the required administrative capacity to meet functional and

service obligations of CRA

• Management capacities in execution and overseeing of functions of CRA

while meeting expected performance requirements as given in this RFP.

• To enforce service and functional guidelines formulated by PFRDA on

other stakeholders and report on lapses and errors.

• Formulation of suitable management structure for conduct of business of

CRA, with focus on

o Process improvements and innovation.

o Solution delivery

o Service provisioning

o Strategic planning

o Enterprise leverage

o Financial Management

o Standards and Policies

• Separate structure with specific verticals to focus on service delivery, IT

infrastructure and services management, monitoring of service level

adherence. This would involve development of separate management unit

with clearly defined functions for various verticals, roles and responsibilities

for vertical specific staff. The applicant is expected to provide a detailed

description of his approach in creating such unit along with detailed

organizational structure. The applicant should also provide details on

number of employees to be deployed for various activities and at various

levels on both offsite and on site.

• Initiation of service delivery after formulation of detailed business process


and workflows as well as quality monitoring systems for measurement of

processes and other quality parameters. Applicant should submit

complete documentation on workflows to PFRDA before start of

implementation. This would require applicant to implement quality

improvement/monitoring systems.

• Design of administrative systems based on documents and artifacts

supplied, including addressing of all architectural aspects as per the

requirements of PFRDA

b) IT management

• Planning for efficient administration of IT, deployment of necessary

infrastructure coupled with suitable skilled personnel for undertaking

various aspects relating to operations & maintenance and service

delivery.

• System for maintaining information security and confidentiality of all

records, data and information.

• Formulation of supporting policy/process framework for management of

IT. Development of IT governance structure including IT policies and

procedures and other polices required for successful conduct of business

of CRA. These includes amongst other

1. IT policy for creation and maintenance of infrastructure

2. International best practices in IT services management

3. Information security framework and policy

4. Quality assurance framework for improvement of overall operations

of CRA

5. Outsourcing policy with respect to processes, people and all

related activities of the CRA and which needs to be submitted to

PFRDA.

6. HR policy with HR deployment planning for critical IT operations

including backup of suitable man power.

7. Other policies and procedures for documentation of support

function such as accounting and finance etc.


2.1.9 Expected Minimum Performance Requirements from People Architecture

Availability Scalability Security Manageability Performance Reliability

CRA

Management

Provide

single point

of contact on

a 24X7 basis

Manpower

Planning for

meeting the

growth

Development &

Implement-

ation of ISMS

Framework for

development and

management of

IT infrastructure

Plan and deploy

Human

Resource with

their backup

plans

Must ensure

data privacy

and security

Formulation of

business

process for

service

delivery

Adherence to

international

standards for

quality

monitoring of

service

delivery

Ensure trained

professionals

in place for

management

of security and

privacy of data

Adherence to

International

best practices

in IT services

management

Support Staff

Appropriate-

ly qualified,

trained and

experienced

people for

different

verticals

Number of

people

should be

scaled up in

accordance

with growth

Must sign a

contract with

CRA in

binding to

security policy

Plan and deploy

Human

Resource with

their backup

plans

IT staff

Appropriately

qualified,

trained and

experienced

people for

different

verticals.

Number of

people

should be

scaled up in

accordance

with growth.

Must sign a

contract in

CRA for

binding to

security policy.

Plan and deploy

Human

Resource with

their backup

plans.


NOTE: The selected applicant may develop new infrastructure or use/scale-up existing

infrastructure ensuring the flexibility of the system to incorporate changes in future in

order to meet the changing needs of NPS. In either case, the selected applicant must

ensure segregation, security and integrity of pension data. Selected applicant

should necessarily meet the Service level parameters as mentioned in the RFP.

a) Operation & Maintenance

Subsequent to building infrastructure, selected applicant should operate and

maintain the CRA system and provide the services to stakeholders as mentioned in

this RFP. The applicant should take care of the requirements as given below:

i. Providing services to various stakeholders as per services provided below, while

meeting the Expected Performance Requirements or service level parameters (SLs)

provided in this RFP and in the agreement with NPS Trust which needs to be

entered post selection of the applicant.

ii. Upgrading the applications and infrastructure based on the requirements from

PFRDA.

iii. Expanding the operations based on the needs communicated by PFRDA.

2.2 Allocation of Business between CRAs

2.2.1 The choice of CRA can be made by the employer (existing or prospective) between

the existing CRA and the second CRA that would be selected through this RFP

process depending on the policy of the employer in case where there is employer-

employee relationship. In case of voluntary subscribers (without existence of any

employee-employer relationship) the option to choose a CRA rests with the

subscriber in general. In case of Government sector subscribers and subscribers

registered under Atal Pension Yojana, the respective government will chose the CRA

for rendering the services. In case of NPS-Lite subscribers the aggregator will have

the option to choose the CRA.

2.2.2 In case if the Authority opines at any point of time that any specific allocation of the subscribers between the existing CRA and the second CRA is required in addition to what has been specified in 2.2.1 in order to protect the interests of subscribers, the Authority reserves the right to do so. In such an event the allocation of the subscribers between the existing CRA and the second CRA shall be based on a transparent criteria and process that may be notified by PFRDA from time to time. The CRA shall at all times comply with the provisions of the PFRDA Act, 2013 and or the rules or the regulations made or directions, circulars or guidelines issued by the Authority there under. The central recordkeeping agency shall also ensure compliance of the quality of subscriber service or services to other intermediaries and


ensure that intermediation and other operational costs under the National Pension System or any other pension scheme regulated by the Authority are economical and reasonable. The second CRA will create necessary infrastructure to provide all the services rendered by existing CRA with the same or better quality.

3. Scope of work of CRA

The primary responsibility of designing appropriate solution architecture of the CRA

application and providing the services in compliance with the Service Level (SL)

parameters rests with the selected applicant. In keeping with this requirement, only the

functional and technical requirements are specified in this RFP.


3.1 Functional Requirements

Indicative functional requirements of the CRA system are accordingly specified in this

section.

• CRA interfacing requirements: These requirements primarily arise due to the

interfacing requirements associated with the service delivery needs to various

stakeholders. The functional architecture should permit transactions of all types to be

undertaken by customers and entities such as PRAN account opening, pension fund transfer

information, switching investment preference, registering grievances, etc. Stakeholders

participating in CRA System should be free from having to design and use disparate

systems for their accounting, reporting and MIS requirements. The system should be

vastly scalable, secure and reliable and should have the necessary structure for

incorporating future requirements associated with service delivery. The CRA system shall

be compatible for data sharing or migration or interoperability between the existing CRA

system and itself.

• CRA Activities: CRA, in order to deliver the services, should take up necessary activities

for processing the information obtained from stakeholders. These activities include, but not

limited to, consolidated contribution & switching, instruction, PRAN account generation,

compile retirement information, trustee account reconciliation, post fund returns. The

functional architecture should have the provision for adding any additional

stakeholder/instruction into the overall structure as per the requirements of PFRDA.

• CRA data: CRA should maintain a repository of data to support interfacing

requirements and activities. This includes maintaining amongst other, Subscribers,

Accounting, Investment, Pension Contribution, PFMs scheme performance, Trustee Bank

communication, Participating States / Organizations / PFMs / Annuity Providers Data.


3.2 Functional Description:

The functional description table provided below lists the indicative key activities associated with each function under CRA Interfacing requirements, CRA activities and CRA data.

S.No Function Activity Stakeholder(s)

1 PRAN Accounts

Management

� New subscriber registration

� Request for issuance of PRAN to CRA

� Confirmation Report by CRA

� Post PRA Number to Organizations by CRA

Nodal Officers and

Subscribers

2 Investment Scheme

and Switching

� Investment Scheme Selection

� Switching over schemes


Nodal Officers and

Subscribers

3

Pension

Contributions

Information

� Compile Pension Contribution Information

� Matching Contribution Information

� Transfer of Contribution Information to CRA


Nodal Officer

4 Trustee Bank

� Report of Fund Transferred by Nodal Officer to CRA


� Discrepancy Report by CRA

� Instruction to Trustee Bank about consolidated investment

instruction to PFMs

� Instruction by CRA for net fund transfer to PFMs account

� Instruction by CRA for fund transfer to Annuity Service Provider.

� Instruction to Trustee Bank to transfer fund to Annuity Service

Provider

� Confirmation Report to CRA

Trustee Bank


S.No. Function Activity Stakeholder(s)

5 PF Communication

� Compiled and consolidated investment instruction by CRA

� Confirmation Report by PFMs to CRA

� Daily investment report by PFMs

� Report of scheme wise payout position of PFMs to CRA

� Report by PFMs on NAVs of Schemes

� Net fund receipt from Trustee Account report by PFMs on

different investment schemes

PFMs

6 Annuity Services

� List of Annuity Service Providers and Pension Schemes

� Selection of Annuity Service Provider

� Scheme and investment amount. Detail Pension Scheme Sales

Report to CRA

Annuity Service

Providers

7 Retirement

Information

� List of subscribers due to retire within a specified period

� Terminal Wealth accumulated in their PRAN

� Amount to be withdrawn by subscriber above the mandated limit

� Amount to be invested in Annuity

Subscribers

8 View PRAN Account � Personal PRAN Account transaction details Subscriber

9 Grievance Cell

� Registration of Grievance

� View Grievance Redressal

� Status Report on the grievance

� Report on Grievance redressal to PFRDA / Other authority.

Subscriber /

PFRDA / Other

Authority


10 NPS Data

Verification

� Verify and Filter NPSCAN data submitted by Government

Organizations

� Generate Report on data discrepancy

� Transfer of Data to CRA System.

� Send Report to Organizations, PFRDA.

S.No. Function Activity Stakeholder(s)

CRA Activities

1 PRA Number

Generation

� List of applicants of PRAN Accounts

� Validate Investor / Subscriber Information and generate report

� Generate PRA Numbers for new subscribers

� Transfer PRA Number to Organizations/Departments

Subscriber / Nodal

Office

2

Trustee Bank

Account

Reconciliation

� Reconcile organization wise bank account statement with

contribution information sent by Nodal officers

� Discrepancy Report Generation

Trustee Bank

3

Consolidation of

Contributions and

switching

instructions

� Compile and consolidate investment switching preferences and

group by scheme and PFMs.

� Calculate Amount to be invested in each scheme group by PFMs.

PFM

4 Post Fund Returns � Calculate and post PRAN account wise information. Post periodic

statement in PRAN Accounts.

Subscriber

5 Compile Retirement � Generate list of subscriber to retire within a specified period. Nodal Office

6

Add/Delete

State/Organizations

/PFMs /ASPs or any

other stakeholder

� Receive request for enrollment in the NPS System

� Validate the credential of the entity

� Send report to PFRDA/Other authority

� Update and enroll the entity in the NPS System.

Nodal Office


The applicant should assess the requirements of CRA incorporating in it the functional

requirements of NPSCAN also. The design and development of the CRA application

should be modular in nature so that NPSCAN can be detached from it in a future

date. Post detachment both the applications should be able to function as independent

applications and also be able to communicate amongst them.

3.3 CRA services common to all subscribers across various sectors

Please note that the requirements are only indicative and there could be number of

other requirements for successful implementation, which may involve system

development or operational support.

The applicant shall be responsible for delivering services relating to

i. Creation and updation of subscriber Database: Requests from subscriber

regarding updation of personal information such as change of address etc. have

to be addressed by the CRA system. A confirmation of carrying out the change

request would be sent to nodal office and Subscriber simultaneously.

ii. Generation of Unique Permanent Retirement Account Number (PRAN). This

service involves:

a. Application for account opening: The application for opening a PRAN would

be filled at the nodal office level by the subscriber and the same duly certified

by the department will be sent to CRA. The application would contain the

photograph of the subscriber, signature, address and other details.

b. Application processing: The CRA would digitize applications of the

subscriber and store it in data base. For this purpose, it is necessary for

CRA to setup its own back office with required infrastructure. Generation of

PRAN involves creation of Subscriber Information File (SIF). After examining

details for minimum information requirements, CRA would store subscriber

information record. After creation of the subscriber’s information record in

database, a unique PRA number will be generated automatically. The PRA

Number, as per the requirements of PFRDA, should be printed on a plastic

card along with photograph and signature of the subscriber.

c. Issuance: The PRAN card along with other information through an

NPS kit (information on PFMs, Schemes, Grievance escalation procedure,

contact information, frequency of switching etc.) should be sent to

departments. Subsequently, the cards will be handed over by departments


to the respective subscribers. I-PIN and T-PIN should be provided to all the

subscribers within ten days of opening of PRAN account.

iii. Consolidation of Pension Contributions Information

iv. Consolidation and grouping of investment preference on the basis of schemes

and PFMs

v. Sending Annual Account statements: Periodic PRAN account statements

should be sent to subscribers/investors detailing the total contribution, time-

wise credits into the account and other relevant information. The statements

shall be made available in regional languages also and as per the directions of

the Authority.

vi. Grievance redressal report: Subscriber should be able to register grievances

through the web interface. Alternatively, subscriber should be able to send

grievances through other channels also. However, CRA should register all

complaints in electronic form. The status of grievance / redressal should be sent

to subscriber.

vii. Web enabled services: CRA should provide subscribers with a web based

interface to view detailed history of transactions of PRA lodge and check

Withdrawal Claim and select the ASP and the Annuity Scheme.

viii. In due course subscriber should be able to give switching instructions through

this interface. The scaling up (in view of increase in transactions or subscribers)

and up-gradation of system (in view of new technologies) would be the

responsibility of the applicant.

ix. Generate reports on errors and discrepancies on NPSCAN data: Any errors

in the NPSCAN data would be immediately intimated to Government

Department/NPSCAN. Departments would access this information for

making necessary corrections. CRA application should be designed to trace

such mistakes.

x. Creation of a dedicated NPS withdrawal Claims Processing Cell for receiving,

processing and settlement of all withdrawal claims under Tier I and Tier II

accounts of NPS in accordance with the rules, regulations and guidelines of

PFRDA and related functionalities. The work entails both online as well as

manual processing of the withdrawal claims depending on the nature of the

withdrawal reported and in accordance with the instructions in this regard from


NPS Trust. This includes development of IT interface for processing the

claims online and offline and interface with Annuity Service Providers systems

for selection of Annuity service provider and purchase of annuities by

subscribers of all sectors. The NPS withdrawal claims process shall be in

accordance with PFRDA (Central Recordkeeping Agency) Regulations, 2015

and PFRDA (Exits and Withdrawals under NPS) Regulations, 2015. In case

of any ambiguity, the decision of PFRDA is final in this regard.

xi. a) Grievance by subscribers: Consolidate grievance and complaints of

subscribers and corresponding service providers: Subscriber would be

provided with facility to express grievance through IT platform/non-IT platform

whereby subscribers/nodal offices would access the web site of CRA to

register their grievances. In case of unavailability of access to internet, the

subscriber would manually submit his/her grievance to Nodal office or directly

to CRA. Upon receiving the grievance, respective Nodal office, would record this

grievance into the web based interface provided to him. Alternatively, if the

grievance is sent to the CRA manually, then the “Centralized Back Office”

shall immediately make the entry in the CRA application. The web based

interface should support in registering several types of grievances. Depending

on the type of grievance, further escalation should take place automatically.

Hence, CRA application should support the grievance redressal process by

providing necessary web interface to support grievance recording operations

of nodal office. However, a report on the status of grievance registration

including number of complaints received category wise etc. should be

generated by CRA for the purpose of monitoring by PFRDA. Registration and

resolution of grievances shall be in accordance with PFRDA (Redressal of

Subscriber Grievance) Regulations, 2015.

b) Grievance by Nodal offices: The web based interface should have the

required facility to capture grievances of Nodal offices and the departments

concerned. The facility should include registration of grievances against other

entities such as PFMs and CRA. A grievance and redressal status of the

complaint needs to be updated and an MIS report should be generated as per

the requirements of PFRDA. This report should be sent to the concerned

parties. An escalation mechanism would have to be built into this to ensure fast

grievance redressal.

c) An indicative grievance and complaint workflow is provided below

1) Complaints can be registered by subscribers in either of the mechanisms

viz., manual i.e., by post or courier, through service center (Telephone) or

through CRA web interface. In case of complaint received through letter, the


CRA back office should enter the details in the application and intimation

should be sent to the aggrieved subscriber.

2) In case of manual complaint there will be a standard form for registration

of complaints which should be available in all the government offices. The

form shall be provided by CRA to the government departments. Subscriber

will fill the application, and send it by post/courier to the CRA along with the

supporting documents.

3) Similarly, complaints registered through the service center would be

entered in the application and intimation given to the subscriber on a real time

basis. Complaints can be registered through the web interface. In all the

cases, a unique grievance number should be generated for tracking the

status of complaint resolution. In a similar fashion, other entities can register

their complaints. Data from these sources are to be processed and sent to

the concerned entity through the web interface.

xii. Prepare Action Taken Report on the grievance and complaints of the

subscriber/ investor: An action taken report will have to be submitted to the

concerned department on the status of redressal and the number of complaints

pending and other relevant information as required by PFRDA.


3.4 Providing various services to all the stakeholders of NPS

This section indicates the services currently identified for the second CRA. CRA is

expected to incorporate changes as may be indicated from time to time by PFRDA.

3.4.1 Services from CRA to Trustee Accounts

i. Receive reports on investments made by each PFM in different schemes and

send instruction to Trustee Bank to remit amount for clearing

ii. Reconcile pension fund reports received from Trustee Account with pension

fund contribution information report

iii. Generate error/discrepancy report on fund reconciliation: CRA would generate

a funds reconciliation report, after obtaining funds transferred report from

Trustee Bank. An arrangement should be made to receive information from

Trustee Bank in an electronic format. Reconciliation would involve reconciliation

of information on funds credited to each subscriber’s PRAN account vis-à-vis

amount credited to Trustee Bank. The information on instructions and funds will

be initially stored in NPSCAN. Upon successful reconciliation, filtered data from

NPSCAN will be transferred to CRA data base. However, the

error/exception/discrepancy reports on reconciliation will be generated

instantaneously and will be sent to respective departments. Methodology for

corrections to be performed on NPSCAN will have to follow standard accounting

principles such as reverse entry etc.

iv. Sending instruction to Trustee Bank to remit withdrawal fund to

subscribers’ account and remit remaining amount to Annuity Service

Providers’ account against the annuity scheme

v. Pension fund contribution/collection report: CRA has to provide a facility to

receive aggregate and detailed report of funds credited to Trustee Bank on

behalf of various sources.

vi. Generate error/discrepancy report on fund reconciliation: Error/discrepancy

report will be generated based on reconciliation of funds and a report will be

sent to Trustee Bank on a daily basis.

vii. Funds transfer report: CRA will create a facility where Trustee Bank should be

able to send a report on daily basis about funds transferred to Pension Fund

Schemes Account for settlement of pension fund investments.

viii. Retirement funds transfer report: CRA will create a facility for Trustee Bank to


send report on amounts transferred to ASPs and superannuated subscribers.

A reconciliation process should be executed subsequently.

3.4.2 Services from CRA to Pension Fund Managers (PFMs)

i. Preparation and sending of consolidated Investment Preference Scheme

information: CRA would consolidate (on the basis of scheme and preferred

PFMs) investment preferences of subscribers and send this information to

PFMs as specified in the Service Level Parameters.

ii. Provision for sending net payout report: The CRA would create a facility to

receive net payout report of daily market sell/buyout send by PFMs to CRA.

iii. Discrepancy/confirmation report on net payout: The CRA would create a

facility to receive discrepancy report on PFMs net payout status. Any

discrepancy/errors/mismatch would be reported to PFRDA immediately.

iv. Funds transfer Report: The CRA should send net fund transfer report to PFMs,

on the basis of confirmation of fund transfer report received from Trustee bank.

v. Scheme performance reports: The CRA would create a facility for receiving the

daily performance reports of the schemes measured using NAVs send by

PFMs to CRA. The interface provided to PFMs should be able to capture this

information in the required format.

3.4.3 Services from CRA to Nodal offices / PFRDA / NPS TRUST

Various types of MIS reports should be generated by CRA, these include:

i. Number of PRAN issued on a daily basis and PRAN request pending

ii. Funds deposited with Trustee bank

iii. Error/discrepancy/exception reports on NPSCAN/PFMs/Trustee bank

iv. Scheme preferences report

v. Monthly/quarterly/ periodic reports

vi. Service Level parameter(SL) compliance reports (service levels and IT

infrastructure performance SL’s)

vii. Status of Complaints(Nodal offices/PoPs/Aggregators)

viii. Complaints resolution status reports

ix. Performance report of PFMs, Nodal offices, PoPs, Aggregators.

x. Compliance Reports on PFMs and Annuity Service Providers and other

stakeholders


xi. Report on errors, lapses and discrepancies of PFMs, Nodal offices, PoPs,

Aggregators.

xii. Any other reports as required by PFRDA.

Generation of these reports should be automatic & system driven with least manual

intervention. The application so designed should provide a view for

Departments/PFRDA to access the reports automatically. In addition, application should

also provide the necessary functionality for generation of queries on variety information

contained in CRA database. The query results should be exportable to desired formats as

per the requirements of PFRDA. PFRDA should be able to demand any other

information/clarification required thereof through the interface. The clarifications sought

should be stored for record purposes.

3.4.4 Services from CRA to Annuity Service Provider

i. Collection of physical application forms from the subscribers and forwarding them to ASP.

ii. Funds transfer details for the subscriber’s annuity to ASPs.

iii. Electronic data transfer to ASPs with respect to subscriber details.

iv. Sending instruction on Annuity scheme: Annuity Service Provider would be provided with a web based interface detailing the annuity scheme and subscriber details for prospective sale.

v. Confirmation on sale of annuity scheme: Annuity Service Provider should be able to send confirmation report of sale of annuity scheme to superannuated subscribers.

vi. Grievance and redressal: The web based interface should have the facility to capture grievances of Annuity provider. A grievance and redressal status of the complaint needs to be updated in the system and MIS reports should be generated as agreed and sent to the concerned parties.

vii. Confirmation of fund transfer from Trustee Bank: Web based interface should have the facility to update information relating to receipt of funds transferred by the Trustee Bank.


3.4.5 EXPECTED MINIMUM LIMIT FOR PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS IN DELIVERING SERVICES

Services from CRA Availability Scalability Manageability Performance Extendibility Reliability

NPSCAN

Generation of PRA Number and Issuance

99.5% between 8:00 AM - 8:00 PM 97.5% for the remaining time

Manage the system with providing for appropriate support taking into consideration the expected scalability

Till date of dispatch of PRAN Card within 15 days of successful submission of application. 99.9%

Error/discrepancy reports on CRA website

99.5% between 8:00 AM - 8:00 PM 97.5% for the remaining time End of the day 99.9 %

Grievance and complaint registration


Instant in case of electronic and IVR complaints. Within 3 days in case of manual complaint 99.8%

Update Subscriber information

99.5% between 8:00 AM - 8:00 PM 97.5% for the remaining time Within 2 days 99.8%

Generate error/discrepancy report on fund reconciliation


Minimum 5 lakhs record from the beginning 99.9%

PFM

Scheme performance

99.5% between

Should comply with the increase End of Day

Should comply 99.9%



reports 8:00 AM - 8:00 PM 97.5% for the remaining time

in number of schemes

with increase in number of schemes

Provision for sending net payout report


Should comply with the increase in number of schemes End of Day 99.9%

Discrepancy/confirmation report on net payout

99.5% between 8:00 AM - 8:00 PM, after 8:00 PM 97.5%

Should comply with the increase in number of schemes End of Day 99.9%

Funds transfer Report

99.5% between 8:00 AM - 8:00 PM, after 8:00 PM 97.5% End of Day 99.8%

Trustee Bank

Pension Fund contribution/ collection report

99.5% between 8:00 AM - 8:00 PM, after 8:00 PM 97.5% 99.8%

Retirement Funds Transfer Report

99.5% between 8:00 AM - 8:00 PM, after 8:00 PM 97.5% End of Day

Services from CRA to

99.5% between 99.8%



PFRDA/GoI/DEA 8:00 AM - 8:00 PM, after 8:00 PM 97.5%

Annuity Service Provider

Sending instruction on Annuity scheme


Confirmation on sale of annuity scheme


Grievance and redressal


Within 5 days of registration of complain 99.8%

Subscriber

Sending Periodic Account statements 6 months 30% 99.8%

Grievance redressal report


Within 5 days of registration of the complaint 99.8%

Web enabled services



4. Service Level Requirements

The following table provides the details of the expected minimum service levels

from CRA in course of developing application and infrastructure. The applicant

should adhere to the timelines strictly and this section provides service level

agreements during building infrastructure and operations for service delivery.

4.1 Service Level Parameters for Building Infrastructure

Applicant is expected to adhere to the timelines in building infrastructure as

provided in project schedule in the subsequent section of this RFP.

Non-adherence to the time lines in regard to the deliverables as provided in

section 5 of this RFP would result in payment of compensation and as notified by

the Authority. However, the compensation for delays during the building of CRA

infrastructure will be decided by PFRDA in discussion with the successful

applicant.


4.2 Expected /permitted maximum time limit for Service Level Parameters for Operations and Maintenance

S.No.

Service Matrix Parameters

Base line Breach Basis of Measurement

Metric Metric

1. Services and Operations Related

1 Error/discrepancy reports End of the day After 1 day NA

2 Registration of Grievance and

Complaint of subscribers 1-2 days > 2 days

Measured from the time complaint /

grievance received.

3 Action Taken Report on grievance

and complaint by subscriber. Up to 5 days > 5 days

Measured from the day of registration

4 Action Taken on Grievance by

Nodal offices Up to 5 days > 5 days

Measured from the day of registration

5

Generate PRA Number and send

to concerned nodal office

(including generation of plastic

PRAN card with photograph and

signature)

Up to 10 days > 10 days

Measured from the day of receiving of

application to the day

6 Update subscriber's personal

information Up to 2 days > 2 Days NA


S.No. Service Matrix Parameters Base line Breach Basis of Measurement

Metric Metric

To PFM

7

Preparation and sending of

consolidated Investment Preference

Scheme information

End of the

day After 1 day

Measured from the time of receipt of

report from Trustee Bank

8 Discrepancy/confirmation report on

Net Payout Up to 2 hrs > 2 hrs

Measured from the time of receipt of Net

Payout Report from PF

9 Funds Transfer Report Up to 2 hrs > 2 Hrs. Measured from the time of confirmation of

Net Payout report

10 NAV Report of scheme End of the

day

Not uploaded by

EOD NA

To Trustee Bank

11 Generate error/discrepancy report on

fund reconciliation 2-3 hours > 3 Hours

Measured from time of receipt of Trustee

Bank report To Subscriber/Voluntary Investor

12 Send Periodic Account

statements.(UPC) 2 months >2 months

Measured from the end of the period for

which account statement is required to be

sent

13 Grievance redressal report(UPC)(Non

-IT based)

Up to 7

days > 7 days

Measured from the time complaint /

grievance received.

14

Processing of Exit and Withdrawal

request of the subscribers and

issuance of withdrawal and

redemption instruction by the CRA

(subject to claim being in order)

Up to 7

days > 7 days

Measured from the time Exit / Withdrawal

claim is received by CRA.

Note: PFRDA reserves the right to revise the above timelines based on emerging experience in consultation with

stakeholders and introduce any other new parameters for improving/protecting the subscribers’ interest.


4.2.1 Compensation in case of breach of Service Level Parameters:

Applicant is expected to strictly adhere to Service Level parameters and expected

performance requirements provided above, failing which, would result in

imposition of compensation/damages. The set of compensation/damages that the

CRA shall be liable for such breaches shall be notified by the Authority from time

to time by way of circulars.

5. Deliverables and Project Schedule

PFRDA will register the successful applicant as a CRA for setting up of CRA

infrastructure. The successful applicant would initiate the necessary studies

required for developing infrastructure, application and for conducting data

migration and other required studies.

5.1 Deliverables

The deliverables of the project would be as follows:

• Detailed Project Plan and Schedule.

• System Requirement Specification Report.

• System Analysis Design Report including ER diagram and User Interfaces.

• Solution Architectures viz., Logical and Functional Architecture including

module description.

• Data Center and Disaster Recovery Center Design Network Design

• Setting up of Data Center, Disaster Recovery Center.

• Setting up of Network and Connectivity.

• Application with source codes in two sets, along with source code of

third party API/COTS/Bespoke software or any other software used.

• Interoperability – Data Migration Strategy Report

• Interoperability - Data Migration

• Orientation training to all Stakeholders under NPS

Documents to be provided

• User Manual of the application

• Technical Manual of the Application, Data Center, Data Recovery Center and

Network

• Training Manual of CRA Application

Project Status Reports - weekly progress reports summarizing

• Results accomplished during each week

• Cumulative deviations to date from schedule of progress on activities


• Corrective actions to be taken to return to planned schedule of progress

• Proposed revisions to planned schedule

• Other issues and outstanding problems and actions proposed to be taken

5.2 Training to Key Staff of NPS Trust, Nodal offices & PFRDA

Applicant in consultation with PFRDA shall develop a detailed orientation training

plan for training all stakeholders under NPS including the Government

departments. This training would be an executive training, focusing on details

of training of officials of stakeholders and Government departments in using

CRA/NPSCAN application for generating various reports for monitoring and

regulatory purposes. Applicant is also required to submit User Manuals as per

the requirements of PFRDA. This shall include training to all the intermediaries

registered with PFRDA as is advised by the Authority.

5.3 User Acceptance Test

The selected applicant shall get the User Acceptance Test (UAT) of the CRA

system done by an independent specialist firm which has experience in dealing

with conducting and reporting on such user acceptance tests as soon as the

applicant declares the system to be ready for the exercise. Such a firm proposed

for conducting the user acceptance test shall be finalized in consultation with the

Authority. However, the Authority reserves the right to engage the services of

an external agency to test the CRA system. Any bugs identified during the UAT

should be fixed by the implementation applicant before acceptance of the

software by PFRDA.

The primary goal of Testing & Acceptance would be to ensure infrastructure

developed by applicant meets requirements, standards, specifications and

performance prescribed by the RFP by ensuring that the following are

associated with clear, quantifiable metrics for accountability:

a. Functional Requirements

b. Availability

c. Performance

d. Security

e. Manageability

The project is to be designed to meet all functional, non-functional and

management requirements as mentioned in the RFP.

Functional Requirements

Indicative functional requirement of CRA system is provided in this RFP,

together with respective deliverables and a set of standards, wherever

applicable. The applicant shall conduct a detailed SRS and submit to PFRDA


before implementation for their comments, and based on it, shall develop the

CRA system.

Performance

1. Performance is that aspect of service, which is measured in terms of

throughput and latency. Higher throughput and lower latency values

represent good performance of a service. Throughput represents the number

of service requests served. Latency is the round-trip time between sending a

request and receiving the response.

2. This test process will include the following activities:

a. Determination of performance metrics

b. Designing performance tests

c. Development of workload

d. Performance testing

e. Identification of bottlenecks and providing solutions

f. Determining final performance figures.

g. Communication of final results to all stakeholders

3. Final output of this process would be a sizing guide for the solution tested.

The sizing guide will document the details of the performance tests, test data,

bottlenecks identified, and the final performance data.

Availability

1. High availability is a key requirement. The project must provide subscribers

with timely, continuous access to information. The project must also be able

to rebound or recover from any planned or unplanned system downtime,

ensuring a minimal impact on the operations.

2. Availability is the quality aspect of whether the service is present or ready for

immediate use. Availability represents the probability that a service is available.

Larger values represent that the service is always ready to use while smaller

values indicate unpredictability of whether the service will be available at a

particular time.

3. Also associated with availability is time-to-repair (TTR). TTR represents the

time it takes to repair a service that has failed. Ideally smaller values of TTR

are desirable.

4. The availability test would include the following activities

a. Designing test for high availability testing

b. Execution of high-availability tests

c. Assessment of transaction/data losses in relation to Disaster


Recovery system

d. Communication of final results to all stakeholders

Security

1. Security is the aspect of the service of providing confidentiality and non-

repudiation by authenticating the parties involved, encrypting messages, and

providing access control. The applications can have different approaches and

levels of providing security, depending on the service requester.

2. Security process will include:

a. Audit of Network, Server and Application security mechanisms

b. Assessment of authentication mechanism provided in the application /

components / modules

c. Assessment of data encryption mechanism

d. Assessment of data access privileges, retention periods and archival

mechanisms Final outcome of this process would be a

comprehensive audit report including all the Network, Server and

application security features incorporated in the CRA system.

Manageability

Manageability needs to be a crucial aspect of an Enterprise Solution. Applicant

has to ensure that the solution deployed has adequate monitoring and tracking

features for measuring the utilization and availability of resources. This includes:

1. Remote monitoring of Status and Statistics of all high-level components

2. Management capability to start/stop/restart services and systems

3. Auto discovery of all components manageable

4. Auto discovery of all other system components

5. Ability to track changes in configuration of the system components to help track service

6. System disruptions


5.4 Project Schedule

S.No Activities Time for Completion*

1) Acceptance of application of the successful

applicant Date of Start (T)

2) System Requirements Specification Report,

including:

� ER Diagram

� System Analysis and Design

T + 6 Weeks

3) Solution Architecture and Design, including:

� Logical & Functional Architecture

including the

application modules

T + 8 weeks

4) � Network Design

� Data Center and Disaster Recovery

Center Design (DC/DRF)

� Server Storage Management

Architecture

T + 12 Weeks

5) Development of CRA Application T + 24 Weeks

6) Infrastructure set-up completion, including

� DC/DRF

� Network and Connectivity

� Call Center

T + 28 Weeks

7) Development of Data Migration Strategy and

migration of validated data T + 30 Weeks

8) Training to key staff T + 32 Weeks

9) User Acceptance Testing T + 34 Weeks

10) System ready for “Go-Live” T + 38 Weeks

*Inter – se changes amongst activities can be discussed with the successful

applicant within the project completion period. These timelines are indicative.


6. RFP Process

6.1 Content of RFP Documents

The applicant has to submit an application in the prescribed format along with a non-refundable application fee, of rupees ten lakh shall be paid by an applicant along with its application to the Authority payable at New Delhi. The RFP documents are those stated below, and should be read in conjunction with PFRDA (Central Recordkeeping Agency) Regulations, 2015 and any addenda issued in accordance with section 7.5 (Amendment of RFP Documents) of this RFP and proceedings of pre-bid meeting issued in accordance with section 6.4 (Pre-Bid Meeting): The applicant is expected to examine all instructions, requirements, forms, terms,

PFRDA (Central Recordkeeping Agency) Regulations, 2015, and other

information in the RFP documents. Failure to furnish all information required

by the RFP documents or submission of a proposal not substantially responsive

to the RFP documents in every aspect would be at the applicant’s risk and may

result in rejection of its proposal.

6.2 Key Activities and Dates

The schedule of key activities for the purpose of this RFP is outlined below:

S.No. Key Activities Date*

1. Issuance of Request For Proposal (RFP) 21/12/2015

2. Last date of receiving queries from applicants

31/12/2015, 14:00 Hrs

3. Pre-bid Meeting 06/01/2016, 11.00 Hrs

4. Last date and time for submission of proposals

20/01/2016, 14:00 Hrs

5. Pre-Qualification Evaluation 28/01/2016, 14:00 Hrs

6. Technical Proposal opening 04/02/2016, 16:00 Hrs

7. Commercial Proposal opening 29/02/2016, 16:00 Hrs

8. Issuance of Letter of appointment / Registration certificate

After approval of the competent authority

* PFRDA reserves the right to change any date/time mentioned in the schedule

above under intimation to all concerned.


6.3 Clarification of RFP Documents

A prospective applicant requiring any clarification on the RFP documents may

notify PFRDA in writing at the PFRDA’s address indicated in section 6.7 of this

RFP. All queries and clarifications should reach PFRDA as per schedule in

section 6.2.

PFRDA would give clarifications to the applicants in the pre – bid meeting only.

PFRDA would not prepare and send responses to the queries and clarifications by

the applicants in a consolidated manner and has the right not to respond to some

or any of the queries at its sole discretion. PFRDA will not normally entertain or

respond to applicants’ queries and clarifications after pre–bid meeting as per

schedule in section 6.2.

6.4 Pre-Bid Meeting

a) The applicant’s authorised representatives are invited to attend the pre-bid

meeting at their own cost, which would take place at the venue mentioned

below and time as stipulated in the Section 6.2 of this RFP.

Venue: Conference Room Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA),

1st Floor, Chhatrapati Shivaji Bhawan,

B-14/A, Qutab Institutional Area,

New Delhi - 110016

The purpose of the meeting would be to clarify queries on any matter related to

the RFP and the project.

b) The applicants are requested to submit their queries in writing to PFRDA on

or before the date indicated in section 6.2 of this RFP. Any queries received

after the indicated date and time will not be entertained.

6.5 Proposal Preparation Cost

The applicant is responsible for all costs incurred in connection with

participation in this process, including but not limited to, costs incurred in

conduct of informative and other diligence activities, participation in meetings,

presentation, preparation of proposal and in providing additional information

required by PFRDA. This RFP does not commit the PFRDA to issue a letter of

appointment or to engage in negotiations.


6.6 PFRDA’s Right to Terminate

a) PFRDA may terminate the RFP process at any time and without assigning

any reason. The PFRDA makes no commitment, express or implied, that this

process will result in a business transaction with anyone.

b) This RFP does not constitute an offer by the PFRDA. The applicant's

participation in this process may result in PFRDA selecting the applicant to

engage in further discussions and negotiations. The commencement of such

negotiations does not, however, signify a commitment by PFRDA in issuance

of letter of appointment or to continue negotiations. The PFRDA may terminate

negotiations at any time without assigning any reason.

6.7 Venue and Deadline for Submission of Proposal

Proposals should reach PFRDA at the following address. General Manager Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA), 3rd Floor, Chhatrapati Shivaji Bhawan, B-14/A, Qutab Institutional Area, New Delhi - 110016 In case the proposal is submitted by hand, applicant’s representative(s) shall sign

a register evidencing their attendance.

Last date & time of submission of proposal is as mentioned in section 6.2 of this RFP.

6.8 Application Fee and other information

a) The bid must be accompanied with non – refundable application fee of

Rs.10,00,000.00 (Rupees Ten Lakhs only) by the way of a Demand Draft

drawn in favor of Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority

payable at New Delhi and

b) PFRDA has the right to instruct to furnish any further information that it

deems fit and may require the applicant to appear in person for

representation in the process of evaluation of the RFPs.

6.9 Late Bids

Any proposal received by the PFRDA after the deadline for submission of

proposal prescribed in Section 6.2 of this RFP shall be summarily rejected and

returned unopened to the applicant.


6.10 Qualification Criteria

The supporting documents to be submitted in favour of the pre-qualification

criteria should be submitted as per the format prescribed in Annexure IV.

S.No Criteria

1. The applicant shall be a company formed and registered under the

Companies Act, 1956 (1 of 1956) or under any other central enactment,

and registered with the service tax authority and operating for the last five

years in the country;

2. The applicant should have made net profit in any three out of the last five

financial years and should not have incurred cash loss during the

preceding two years;

3. The applicant should have minimum Tangible net worth of Rs.100 crores

as on the last day of the preceding financial year, and the applicant should

have demonstrated experience in developing and managing technology

based central administration and recordkeeping system;

4. Shall possess Information technology capabilities and sufficiently qualified

and experienced manpower of at least 100 professional staff with at least

50 staff in the area of Operation & Technology Management;

5. The applicant should have experience with developing and managing

technology based central administration & recordkeeping system

6. The applicant should have experience of at least 5 years with central

recordkeeping and administration functions,

7. The applicant should have experience in managing over five lakh individual

accounts per year over the last three years,

8. the applicant, its director, principal officer should not have been black listed

by any regulatory Authority or Governments (Central and States) or should

not have been convicted of any offence involving moral turpitude or of any

economic offence;

9. The applicant should have minimum CMMI level 3 certification for the

services or should acquire the same within 12 months of commencement

of commercial operations.

10. A direct or indirect cross holding by any intermediary or its sponsor under

the central recordkeeping agency should be less than forty percent of the

paid up capital.

6.11 Disqualification Criteria

PFRDA may at its sole discretion, disqualify any applicant, if the applicant has

(a) if the application is not complete in all respects and does not conform to the requirements specified in these regulations or any selection criteria


determined by the Authority on the date of inviting applications for registration;

(b) if the application is not accompanied with fee or relevant documents in support or the applicant fails to furnish such additional information as required by the Authority;

(c) if the application contains incorrect, false or misleading information. (d) any other ground specified in PFRDA (Central Recordkeeping Agency)

Regulations, 2015 for rejection of an application.

6.12 Bid Opening

Total transparency will be observed while opening of proposals. Sealed

envelopes of the bids of all qualified applicants will be opened as per the time

and date mentioned in section 6.2 of this RFP in the presence of authorized

representatives of the applicants who wish to attend the event. PFRDA

reserves the right at all times to postpone or cancel a scheduled RFP opening.

The venue for the opening of proposals is as mentioned in the section 6.7 of this

RFP.

7. Proposal Instructions and Conditions 7.1 Bid Submission Format

a) The applicant shall submit a sealed cover consisting of two (2) copies of all

the bid documents and 1 soft copy on CD ROM/any other portable medium.

The name of the project, the applicant’s name and address, and the name of

the primary and secondary contact person should be provided on the right

hand side of main sealed proposal and must be received at the address

mentioned in section 6.7 by 14:00 Hrs on the date mentioned in section 6.2 of

this RFP.

b) Copies of the bids (both in original and duplicate) must consist of the following:

i. Envelope 1: Prequalification criteria - Application Fee and

supporting documents as mentioned in annexure IV in sealed cover

super scribing on the right hand side top of the cover as “Envelope

1: Prequalification criteria”

ii. Envelope 2: Technical Proposal including all the technical

information asked for in section 7.3 this RFP document, dully filled

in along with all attachments/schedules duly completed and signed

by the applicant in a sealed cover super scribing on the right hand

side top of the cover as mentioned in section 7.3 “Envelope 2:

Technical Proposal”


iii. Envelope 3: The applicant’s Commercial Proposal as per the details

provided in section 7.4 of this RFP in a sealed cover super scribing

on the right hand side top of the cover as mentioned in section 7.4

“Envelope 3: Commercial Proposal”

iv. All the above three envelopes must be enclosed in one main

envelope and the details should mentioned on it as written in section

7.1 (a).

c) The pages of the proposal should be properly numbered and an index of the

same should be provided at the beginning. The bid/proposal should be

submitted duly spiral bound. For ease of reference each section/ annexure of

the bid/ proposal should be separated by separators.

d) PFRDA will not accept delivery of proposal by fax or e-mail. Proposals

received in such manner shall be treated as defective, invalid and rejected.

7.2 Documents Comprising the Proposal

The proposal submitted by the applicant shall comprise the following documents: a) The Application Fee and the other supporting documents to be submitted in

favour of the pre-qualification criteria should be submitted as per the format

prescribed in Annexure IV.

b) Technical Proposal including all the technical information asked for in section

7.3 this RFP document, dully filled in along with all attachments/schedules

duly completed and signed by the applicant.

c) The applicant’s Commercial Proposal as per the details provided in section

7.4 of this RFP.

d) Any other information that is to be submitted during the course of the

proposal process.

7.3 Technical Proposal Format

The Technical proposal should address the following strictly in the order given below: 1. Understanding of the CRA and National Pension System objectives

2. Approach for setting up the CRA

a. Overview of the proposed solution that meets the requirements specified

in the RFP

b. Strategy for setting up of CRA

3. Implementation methodology, project plan and implementation schedule

covering all activities, milestones and timelines.

3. Operational methodology


4. Interoperability features (with existing CRA)

5. Proposed architectures

a. Overall Architecture

b. Technical Architecture

c. Security Architecture

d. Network Architecture

e. Data Center and Disaster Recovery Center architecture

The applicant shall provide details of its plan to address the technology

requirements, such as scalability, availability, performance requirements of

the system mentioned in this RFP.

6. Business plan including

a. Operations and Maintenance Plan

b. Human Resource Plan including outsourcing policy related to all the

activities of the CRA

c. Financial Plan

d. Plan for other support activities

7. Manpower deployment plan

a. Project team structure, size and capabilities

b. A specific description of prior experience and expertise of the resources to

be dedicated for the project.

c. Resumes of CRA Head, System Head and key manager(s) are responsible

for the management of the project and team, highlighting relevant

experiences.

d. Resumes of the personnel who would be directly assigned/responsible to

provide the major services/functions as pertains to the operation of CRA

and the specific function each individual would perform.

All the resumes of the proposed team should be given only in the format

provided in Annexure IX of this RFP.

8. Innovative suggestions that the applicant may want to render w.r.t. the approach

adopted for the assignment in the light of their expertise or experience from

similar assignments specifically

a. For service delivery improvement and

b. Data synchronization between two CRA systems

.

9. Bill of Material of all components proposed for solution (e.g. software, hardware


etc.) as per annexure VIII of this RFP.

10. Track Record & Experience with similar activities.

a. Experience in creating, maintaining technology based Centralized

Recordkeeping and Management System

b. Experience in building and maintaining Data Centre & Disaster Recovery

Facility

c. Experience and ability to electronically link with a secure, widespread

network of locations with adequate redundancies to ensure uptime in

excess of 99%

d. IT standards and policies followed by the organization

e. Experience and ability to manage an IT based accounting system that

centralizes the settlement of various security transactions

(Brief write-up (Not more than 3 Pages) on relevant experience along with client

details for whom mentioned activities have been carried out. Also provide Citation

as per Annexure VII)

11. Years of experience in creating, maintaining technology based Centralized

Recordkeeping and Management System

(Provide relevant Citation as per Annexure VII (clearly indicating Years of

Experience)

12. Number of accounts/subscribers handled each year in the last three years

(Provide Year wise Number of Accounts handled in last three years (Details to be

signed by Authorized Signatory)

13. Experience and ability of the entity to manage and run IT based applications

in financial domain. (Provide relevant Citation as per Annexure VII (clearly

indicating Client details and its areas of operation)

14. Quality assurance/process

15. Key Deliverables (along with example deliverables, where possible)

16. Deviations and Exclusions: The applicant shall provide the deviations and

exclusions, if any, from the defined scope of work in the format provided in

Annexure VI of this RFP.


17. Applicant Undertakings: Applicant’s guarantee for accomplishing the

implementation schedules for completion of key deliverables.

18. Total Responsibility: Applicant should issue a statement undertaking total

responsibility for the defect free operation of the CRA solution.

19. Any other information that applicant thinks would be worth mentioning in

the proposal.

7.4 Commercial Proposal Format

The commercial proposal shall include:-

The pre-committed annual and transactions-based charges that the entity proposes

to levy on the subscribers for NPS Regular, and NPS Lite including APY:

i. PRAN opening charges

ii. Annual PRAN Maintenance Charges

iii. Transaction Charges for NPS

iv. Transaction Charges for NPS Lite including APY shall be nil.

The commercial proposal shall be submitted in the format given in the Annexure

V of this RFP.

The applicant shall provide detailed break-up as mentioned above, failing which

the proposal may be considered incomplete.

7.5 Amendment of Request for Proposal

At any time prior to the deadline for submission of proposals, PFRDA may

modify, for any reason deemed necessary, the RFP by amendment notified in

writing or by fax or email to all the applicants who have received this RFP and

such amendment shall be binding on them. Such amendment shall also be

uploaded on the website of PFRDA.

7.6 Modification, Substitution and Withdrawal of Proposal

No proposal can be withdrawn in the interval between the deadline for

submission of proposals and the expiration of the validity period as specified in

section 7.9 of this RFP. However, applicant is allowed to withdraw his bid

documents till deadline for submission of proposals, as per the schedule in the

section 6.2 of this RFP. Once the bid documents are submitted, modifications

and substitutions in the bid documents shall not be allowed.

7.7 Language of Proposal

The proposal and all correspondence and documents shall be written in English.


All proposals and accompanying documents received within the stipulated time

will become the property of the PFRDA and will not be returned. The hardcopy

version will be considered as the official proposal.

7.8 Currency of Proposal and Payment

The currency of the proposal offer shall be in Indian Rupees only.

7.9 Period of Validity of Proposals

a) The proposals shall be valid for a period of Four (4) months from the date of

opening of the proposals. A proposal valid for a shorter period may be

rejected as non-responsive.

b) In exceptional circumstances, at its discretion, PFRDA may solicit the

applicant’s consent for an extension of the validity period. The request and

responses shall be made in writing.

8. Proposal Evaluation Proposals will be reviewed by a Committee constituted by the PFRDA or its

designated representative(s). The PFRDA, or such other authority designated by

the PFRDA, as the case may be, is also referred to herein as the Evaluation

Committee (or “Committee”). The Committee may be comprised of, or receive

assistance from, several teams conducting parallel evaluation.

8.1 Proposal Opening

PFRDA would open the proposal, in the presence of authorized representative(s)

of the applicant who choose to attend, at the time, date and location stipulated in

the RFP. The maximum number of authorized representatives allowed to each

applicant will not be more than two. The applicant’s representative(s) shall sign a

register evidencing their attendance.

8.2 Clarification of Proposals

In the process of examination, evaluation of proposal, the PFRDA may, at its

discretion, ask applicant(s) for clarification of its proposal which the applicant will

be obliged to furnish.

8.3 Initial Determination of Compliance with RFP Requirements

The Committee will perform an initial review of all proposals that are submitted on

time. After initial review, the Committee may recommend discontinuing the

evaluation of any proposal, which it considers unacceptable prima facie for any

reason such as:

a) The proposal is not a reasonable effort to respond to the requirements of

the RFP.

or


b) The proposal contains technical deficiencies, such as not all the requirements

of the solution are addressed and proposed solution is not in accordance with

the requirements of the PFRDA.

8.4 Correction of Errors

a) Applicants are advised to exercise adequate care in quoting the prices. No

modification/ correction in quotations will be entertained once the

commercial bids are submitted. Even before submission of the proposal,

care should be taken to ensure that any corrections/overwriting in the

proposal are initialed by the person signing the proposal form.

b) Arithmetic errors in proposals will be corrected as follows:

In case of discrepancy between the amounts mentioned in figures and in

words, the amount in words shall govern.

8.5 Site Visit by PFRDA

As part of the evaluation process, PFRDA and / or any agency selected by

PFRDA shall be allowed to visit and examine/verify the applicant’s system

capabilities as defined in the Technical Proposal. The applicant, if asked by

PFRDA, shall arrange and facilitate such visit. The cost of such visits to the sites

shall be at PFRDA’s expense.

8.6 Evaluation Procedure and Criteria

Evaluation of the bids will be done in three stages. The following is the

procedure for evaluation.

8.6.1 Evaluation of Prequalification Criteria

The evaluation of the Prequalification criteria will be carried out for those applicants only who submit the bid document in time as mentioned in section 6.2 of this RFP.

8.6.2 Evaluation of Technical Bids

The evaluation of the Technical bids will be carried out for those applicants only

who meet the prequalification criteria in the following manner:

a) The applicant’s technical solutions proposed in the bid document will be

evaluated as per the requirements specified in the RFP and applicant is

required to provide details on the proposed solution for meeting expected

service delivery given in Annexure XII, of this RFP

b) Proposal Presentations: The Committee may invite each applicant to make a

presentation to the PFRDA at a date, time and locations determined by the


PFRDA. The purpose of such presentations would be to allow the applicants

to present their proposal solutions to the committee and the key points in their

proposals. The qualified interested applicants would be required to make a

presentation of their credentials/ parameters of the RFP before the evaluation

committee at PFRDA office, New Delhi. The schedule and time of presentation

will be posted on website of PFRDA. The team for presentation should not

exceed 4 persons. However, only the team leader of the core team shall make

the detailed presentation.

c) The Evaluation Committee may undertake oral clarifications from the

applicants. The primary function of clarification in the evaluation process is

to clarify ambiguities and uncertainties, if any, arising out of the evaluation of

the bid documents.

d) Depending on the evaluation methodology mentioned in point a, b and c,

above each Technical bid will be assigned a technical score out of a

maximum of 100 points.

e) The applicants who score a Technical score of 60% or more will qualify for the

evaluation of the commercial bid. The details of technical evaluation

parameters are at Annexure XII.

8.6.3 Evaluation of Commercial Bid

1. Evaluation Criteria: The Commercial bids of the technically qualified

applicants will be evaluated as per the evaluation criteria mentioned

below:

Parameter Weightage

NPS Regular

Amount in figures

Amount in Words

(a) PRAN Account Opening Charges

10% INR. (Amount in

Words)

(b) Annual PRAN account Maintenance Charges

80% INR. (Amount in

Words)

(c) Charges per Transaction (+) 10% INR. (Amount in

Words)

Note: The PRAN Account opening charges (a) in the above table shall not

exceed Rs. 45, Annual PRAN account maintenance charges(b) shall not exceed

Rs. 170 and Charges per transaction(c) shall not exceed Rs.3.50ps.

+ “Transaction” shall mean receipt of contribution information, carrying out instructions received from the subscriber regarding allocation of funds between various schemes across fund managers. The following activities are classified as


transactions: i) Contribution Credits, ii) Rebalancing of Assets, iii) Change in scheme preference, iv) Switch – in / Switch – out of Units, v) Withdrawals – partial/ full, vi) Freeze, vii) Un – freeze and viii) Inter-sector Shifting of subscribers. The commercial bid of the technically qualified applicants will be evaluated as per the example below based on the Charges provided by the Applicant for NPS regular:

Note: The PRAN Account opening charges(a) in the above table shall not



Total Bid Value = (10% * x + 80% * y + 10% * z) = L

8.6.4 Best Value Determination and Final Evaluation

The lowest commercial bid (L1) will be offered appointment as CRA under NPS.

8.6.5 Negotiations, Contract Finalization and Award

The committee shall reserve the right to negotiate with the applicant whose

proposal has been ranked L1 by the committee on the basis of lowest commercial

quote. The PFRDA reserves the right to issue a letter of appointment to the

applicant selected for negotiations. A letter of appointment will be awarded to the

responsible, responsive applicant whose proposal conforms to the RFP and is, in

the opinion of PFRDA, the most advantageous and represents the best value to

the project, price and other factors considered. Evaluations will be based on the

proposals and any additional information requested by the PFRDA.

9. Appointment of CRA 9.1 Appointment Criteria

The PFRDA will issue the letter of appointment to the successful applicant whose

proposal has been determined to be substantially responsive and has been

determined as the best value proposal, provided further that the applicant has

demonstrated that it is qualified to perform services required for the project

Parameter Weightage

NPS Regular

Amount in figures

Amount in Words

(a) PRAN Account Opening Charges 10% Rs.x


80% Rs.y

(c) Charges per Transaction 10% Rs.z


satisfactorily.

9.2 PFRDA’s Right to Accept or Reject any or all Proposals

The PFRDA reserves the right to accept or reject any proposal, and to annul the

RFP process and reject all proposals at any time prior to award of contract,

without incurring any liability to the affected applicant or applicants or any

obligation to inform the affected applicant or applicants of the grounds for

PFRDA’s action.

9.3 Notification of Award

Prior to expiry of the validity period, PFRDA will notify the successful applicant

in writing that its proposal has been accepted by issuance of a Letter of

appointment.

a) In the event of the selected applicant being unable to deliver the services as

provided under this RFP and PFRDA (Central Recordkeeping Agency)

Regulations, 2015 for whatever reason, PFRDA shall have right to cancel

the registration granted without any financial compensation for the systems

and process that have already been built by the applicant and take all penal

actions in terms of PFRDA Act, 2013 and PFRDA (Central Recordkeeping

Agency), Regulations, 2015.

10. CRA Appointment

Upon issuance of letter of appointment and registration as CRA with PFRDA,

the successful applicant would be allowed to operate as CRA under the

following terms and conditions:

10.1 Conditions of Appointment

a. Subject to compliance with the provisions of the Act, the rules and the PFRDA (Central Recordkeeping Agency) regulations, 2015 the certificate granted to a central recordkeeping agency shall remain valid for a period of ten years from the date of grant of registration, or such other term, as specified, unless suspended or cancelled by the Authority, against payment of a non-refundable registration fee of rupees twenty five lakh by the applicant to the Authority. The authority has power to extend the tenure of the registration, if it so decides in line with the PFRDA (Central Recordkeeping Agency) Regulations, 2015.

b. The central recordkeeping agency shall pay an annual fee at the rate as specified in regulation 22 of PFRDA (Central Recordkeeping agency) Regulations, 2015 before the due date as may be specified by the Authority.

c. The tenure of appointment of the CRA will end if :-


i. CRA contravenes the conditions/clauses as specified in PFRDA

(Central Recordkeeping Agency) Regulations, 2015; or

ii. Upon expiry/termination of the registration certificate, as the case

may be.

d. The grounds for termination of CRA, as well as the treatment of the transfer of regulated assets and system management under the above two conditions would be as per PFRDA (Central Recordkeeping Agency) Regulations, 2015

e. The CRA in the interest of the subscriber may exercise its discretion to effect reduction in the CRA service charges from time to time.

10.2 Termination of CRA

a) The grounds for suspension / termination of the registration certificate of a

CRA shall be as per PFRDA (Central Recordkeeping Agency) Regulations,

2015.

10.3 Process of transfer of assets in case of termination or expiry of tenure

of CRA

Process of transfer of assets (regulated assets) and system management shall be as per PFRDA (Central Recordkeeping Agency) Regulations, 2015

10.4 Governing Laws/ Jurisdiction Arbitration

Any matter relating to the appointing of CRA or the procedure for the appointment

of the CRA shall be governed by the Laws of Union of India. Only Courts at New

Delhi (with exclusion of all other Courts) shall have the jurisdiction to decide or

adjudicate on any matter or dispute which may arise.

10.5 Rights over the Work Products/Deliverables & Confidentiality

The ownership including intellectual property rights over all work

products/deliverables/data and other intermediate documents generated by CRA

under and in relation to the work undertaken by it under the contract shall vest

with PFRDA. Further all the documents submitted by the applicant along with the

bid or during the course of the presentation shall be exclusive property of

PFRDA and shall not be returned back to the applicant.

CRA shall not disclose any part of the information acquired during the course of

its working to third parties and shall maintain strict confidentiality, except to other

intermediaries, under the NPS Architecture, as is necessary for the discharge of


its functions under the contract, failing which it shall be held liable.


ANNEXURES


Annexure I: Technical Proposal

[Date]

To,

The General Manager (CRA & TB)

Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority,

New Delhi,

Dear Sir/Madam,

Ref: Request For Proposal (RFP): Selection of Second Central

Recordkeeping Agency (CRA) under the National Pension System (NPS) as

per PFRDA (Central Recordkeeping Agency) Regulations, 2015

Having examined the RFP documents and PFRDA (Central Recordkeeping

Agency) Regulations, 2015, the receipt of which is hereby duly acknowledged, we,

the undersigned, offer to provide the services as required and outlined in the

RFP for CRA. To meet such requirements and provide such services as set out

in the RFP documents.

We attach hereto our response to the RFP document, which constitutes our

proposal for being considered for appointment as the CRA.

We undertake, if our proposal is accepted, to adhere to the Project Schedule put

forward in the RFP or such adjusted plan as may subsequently be mutually

agreed between us and PFRDA or its appointed representatives.

If our proposal is accepted, we undertake to comply with the performance

declarations provides by us as part of the RFP and other stipulations as

mentioned in the RFP.

If our proposal is accepted, we will comply with the following conditions:

i. To comply with the PFRDA Act, 2013 and regulations made thereunder

including PFRDA (Central Recordkeeping Agency ) Regulations, 2015,

notifications, guidelines, directions etc., that may be issued by PFRDA

from time to time and pertaining to operations of Central Recordkeeping

Agency.

ii. To develop the systems and architectures as per the time and


specifications decided by PFRDA

iii. To enter into Service Agreements with other service providers under the

NPS specifying the functional and service obligations of CRA and the

service providers

iv. In case of an existing firm involved in any other business activity, the CRA

will be required to segregate the accounts of CRA operations from its

other business segments as per the PFRDA (Central Recordkeeping

Agency) Regulations, 2015. The form and manner in which the books of

the accounts are proposed to be maintained including statement of

accounts by the CRA have to be submitted to PFRDA before

commencement of commercial operations.

We agree to unconditional acceptance of all the terms and conditions set out in

the RFP documents.

We confirm that the information contained in this proposal or any part thereof,

including its exhibits, schedules, and other documents and instruments delivered

or to be delivered to the PFRDA is true, accurate, and complete. This proposal

includes all information necessary to ensure that the statements therein do not

in whole or in part mislead PFRDA as to any material fact.”

It is hereby confirmed that I/We are entitled to act on behalf of our

corporation/company/organization and empowered to sign this document as

well as such other documents, which may be required in this connection.

Dated this Day of 2015

(Signature) (In the capacity of)

Duly authorized to sign the RFP Response for and behalf of:

(Name and Address of Company)(Seal/Stamp of applicant)

Witness Signature:

Witness Name:


Witness Address:

CERTIFICATE AS TO AUTHORIZED SIGNATORIES

I, certify that I am Secretary of the ................................... , and

that ................ who signed the above bid is authorized to bind the corporation

by authorization of its governing body.

(Secretary) Date

(Seal here)


Annexure II: Commercial Proposal

[Date ]

To,

The General Manager (CRA & TB),

Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority,

New Delhi,

Dear Sir/Madam,

Ref: Request for Proposal (RFP) - Appointment of Second Central

Recordkeeping Agency (CRA) under the National Pension System (NPS) as

per PFRDA (Central Recordkeeping Agency) Regulations, 2015.

Having examined the RFP documents and PFRDA (Central Recordkeeping

Agency) Regulations, 2015, the receipt of which is hereby duly acknowledged, we,

the undersigned, offer to provide the services as required and outlined in the

RFP for appointment of second CRA under the NPS. To meet such

requirements and to provide services as set out in the RFP documents

We attach hereto our response as required by the RFP documents, which

constitutes our proposal.

We undertake, if our proposal is accepted, to adhere to the Project Schedule put

forward in the RFP or such adjusted plan as may subsequently be mutually

agreed between us and PFRDA or its appointed representatives.

We agree for unconditional acceptance of all the terms and conditions set out

in the tender document.

We confirm that the information contained in this proposal or any part thereof,

including its exhibits, schedules, and other documents and instruments delivered

or to be delivered to the PFRDA is true, accurate, and complete. This proposal

includes all information necessary to ensure that the statements therein do not

in whole or in part mislead PFRDA as to any material fact.”

It is hereby confirmed that I/We are entitled to act on behalf of our

corporation/company/organization and empowered to sign this document as

well as such other documents, which may be required in this connection.


Dated this Day of 2015

(Signature) (In the capacity of)

Duly authorized to sign the RFP response for and behalf of:

(Name and Address of Company)(Seal/Stamp of applicant)

Witness Signature:

Witness Name:

Witness Address:

CERTIFICATE AS TO AUTHORIZED SIGNATORIES

I, certify that I am ………………………Secretary of the …………………, and

that who signed the above bid is authorized to bind the corporation by

authorisation of its governing body.

(Secretary) Date

(Seal here)


Annexure III: Request for Clarifications (Pre bid meeting)

Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority

Applicant’s Request For Clarification

Name of Organization

submitting request

Name &

Designation of

person

Address of

organization

including phone, fax, Tel:

Fax: E-mail:

S.No.

Bidding Document

Reference

Content of RFP

requiring

Points of

Clarification

1

2

3


Annexure IV: Format for Prequalification Criteria details

S.No Criteria Supporting document

to be submitted

Whether Documents submitted (Yes/No)

Remarks (if any)

1 The applicant shall be a

company formed and

registered under the

Companies Act, 1956 (1

of 1956) or under any

other central enactment,

and registered with the

service tax authority and

operating for the last five

years in the country;

1. Copy of

Certificate of

incorporation

duly attested by

the authorised

signatory.

2. Service Tax

Registration

Certificate duly

attested by the

authorised

signatory

2 The applicant should

have made net profit in

any three out of the last

five financial years and

should not have incurred

cash loss during the

preceding two years;

• Audited financial statements & Chartered Accountant Certificate for last 5 financial years completed.

• Separate statement from Chartered Account on the cash losses during the preceding two financial years.


have minimum tangible

net worth of Rs.100

crores as on the last day

of the preceding financial

year, and the applicant

should have

demonstrated experience

in developing and

managing technology

Duly certified Net worth

Certificate issued by a

Chartered Accountant

and self certification

from CEO of the

applicant.



to be submitted


Remarks (if any)

based central

administration and

recordkeeping system;

4 Shall possess Information

technology capabilities

and sufficiently qualified

and experienced

manpower of at least 100

professional staff with at

least 50 staff in the area

of Operation &

Technology Management;

Appropriate supporting

undertakings/ Certificate

from Head (HR) or

Company Secretary


have experience with

developing and managing

technology based central

administration &

recordkeeping system

Engagement(s) brief

(not more than 2 pages)

along with LOI/Work

orders/Contract issued

by client (clearly

indicating scope)


have experience of at

least 5 years with central

recordkeeping and

administration functions,

Engagement(s) brief

(not more than 2 pages)

along with LOI/Work

orders/Contract issued

by client (clearly

indicating Scope &

Engagement duration)


have experience in

managing over five lakh

individual accounts per

year over the last three

years,

Undertaking by authorized signatory indicating number of accounts managed and the broad area of service provided per year over the last 3 completed financial years.

8 the applicant, its director,

principal officer should not

A certificate to that

effect to be enclosed



to be submitted


Remarks (if any)

have been black listed by

any regulatory Authority

or Governments (Central

and States) or should not

have been convicted of

any offence involving

moral turpitude or of any

economic offence;

under the sign and seal

of the authorized

signatory of the

applicant.


have minimum CMMI

level 3 certification for the

services or should acquire

the same within 12

months of

commencement of

commercial operations.




of the authorized

signatory of the

applicant along with

supporting

documentation.

10 A direct or indirect cross

holding by any

intermediary or its

sponsor under the central

recordkeeping agency

should be less than forty

percent of the paid up

capital.




of the authorized

signatory of the

applicant


Annexure V: Format for Commercial Quotation

Commercial Form: Charges

Parameter

NPS Regular

Amount in figures

Amount in Words


INR. (Amount in

Words)


INR. (Amount in

Words)

(c) Charges per Transaction INR. (Amount in

Words)

Note: The PRAN Account opening charges (a) in the above table shall not exceed

Rs. 45, Annual PRAN account maintenance charges (b) shall not exceed Rs. 170

and Charges per transaction(c) shall not exceed Rs.3.50ps.

Parameter

NPS Lite including APY

Amount in figures

Amount in Words


INR. (Amount in

Words)


INR. (Amount in

Words)

The charges for NPS Lite will be as under:(a) PRAN account opening charges – shall not exceed 50 % of PRAN account opening charges of NPS Regular subject to maximum Rs.15/- b) Annual PRAN account maintenance charges – shall not exceed 25 % of Annual PRAN account maintenance charges of NPS Regular subject to maximum Rs.40/- c) Transaction Charges – There will be no transaction charges under NPS lite/Swavlamban/ APY.


Annexure VI: Format for Statement of Deviation(s) from Scheduled

requirements

S.No Reference

(Section No. & Page No.)

Deviation in proposal

Brief Reason


Annexure VII: Format for Citations

S.No Item Guidelines Attachment

Ref. No. for details

1 Name of the project

2 Client Details

Contact Person’s name and no.

3

Relevant Work Area/domain

Please specify the area of work/domain relevant to the requirement of this RFP.

4

No. of locations Pleases specify no. of locations for implementation

5

Scope of Work

Provide Scope of Work; highlight Key Result Areas expected and achieved

6 Scope of the Project

Provide details of the project scope

7

Contract Value

Provide particulars on contract value assigned to each major phase and milestone.


Annexure VIII: Format for Bill of Material

S.No. Item Quantity Specifications

Specific to CRA

system (Y/N and

clarifications)

Hardware components

1.

2.

3.

Software (including COTS, Bespoke, Third party software etc.)

1.

2.

3.

Network components

1.

2.

3.

Note:

1. Applicant needs to mention all the components that it proposes to be used

for this assignment. However, the successful applicant should provide the finalized

BOM (Bill of Materials) to PFRDA after UAT(User Acceptance Test)

2. Applicant needs to specifically mention all components proposed to be

used/procured specific to the CRA system and also clarify the extent of the

component’s use for the CRA system.


Annexure IX: Format for Resume

Proposed Position

Name

Age

Qualification

Tasks proposed to be assigned

Relevant Areas of expertise

Experience

Key Experiences related to area of work assigned


Annexure X: Format for proposed solution for meeting expected

Service Delivery

The applicant is expected to explain the methodology through which he will

address the technical requirements to meet the expected performance

requirements as specified in the tables of RFP. The applicant shall list down the

sub requirement within each parameter depicted in the left vertical pane of the

following table (Technical Evaluation Framework) against each technology

component. In the Reference column the applicant shall give a reference (page

no.) to the place in the proposal where he has dealt with that issue.

The applicant may use one architecture diagram to address more than one

evaluation parameters Technical Evaluation Framework

Parameter/

Technology

Hardware Application

and

Platform

Network Reference

Hardware

Reference

Application

and

Platform

Reference

Network

Availability

Scalability

Security

Interoperability

Manageability

Performance

Low Cost of

Ownership

Extendibility

Reliability


Annexure XI: Commercial Evaluation Parameters

Evaluation Criteria: The Commercial bids of the technically qualified

applicants will be evaluated as per the evaluation criteria mentioned below:

Parameter Weightage

NPS Regular

Amount in figures

Amount in Words


10% INR. (Amount in

Words)


80% INR. (Amount in

Words)

(c) Charges per Transaction (+) 10% INR. (Amount in

Words)

Note: The PRAN Account opening charges (a) in the above table shall not



+ “Transaction” shall mean receipt of contribution information, carrying out instructions received from the subscriber regarding allocation of funds between various schemes across fund managers. The following activities are classified as transactions: i) Contribution Credits, ii) Rebalancing of Assets, iii) Change in scheme preference, iv) Switch – in / Switch – out of Units, v) Withdrawals – partial/ full, vi) Freeze, vii) Un – freeze and viii) Inter-sector Shifting of subscribers.


Annexure XII: Technical Evaluation Parameters

Following outlines the broad parameters based on which evaluation of technical proposals of the applicants shall be carried out by PFRDA:

Technical Evaluation Parameters

A: Track Record & Experience 40% Weightage

1. Proven track record of building and maintaining Data Centre & Disaster

Recovery Facility

2. Years of experience in creating, maintaining technology based Centralized

Recordkeeping and Management System 3. Number of accounts/subscribers handled each year in the last five years.

4. Experience and ability to electronically link with a secure, widespread network of

locations with adequate redundancies to ensure uptime in excess of 99%.

5. The experience and ability of the entity to manage and run IT based applications in financial domain

a) Commission billing system and accounting

b) Experience with managing records and data that necessitate privacy,

confidentially and security

c) Experience and ability to manage automated switching instruction

processing services and procedures

6. Experience and ability to manage an IT based accounting system that centralizes the settlement of various security transactions

7. IT standards and policies followed by the organisation

B: Business Processes and Planning 15% Weightage

The business plan of the entity outlining its understanding of the

a) Administration and recordkeeping functions,

b) Approach and strategy for managing this facility in terms of Operations

and Maintenance,

c) Human Resources

d) Finance and support activities


C: Solution Proposed for CRA system by the applicant25% Weightage

The applicant’s solution will be evaluated based on the following parameters:

1. Understanding of the project, its purpose and scope, and applicant’s plan for

delivering the required services

2. Proposed platform and technologies for the project

3. Design of proposed solution, in terms of, Hardware, network and application

4. Service delivery methodology including approach to Grievance Redressal

5. Innovative and practical suggestions provided by the applicant Security components

Technical Evaluation Parameters

1. Service delivery methodology, including, approach to grievance redressal

2. Solution’s ability to meet the requirements mentioned in the RFP

3. Innovative and practical suggestions provided by the applicant in his proposal

D: Experience in enforcing compliance 10% Weightage

Experience and ability to enforce compliance on service providers and delivery channels

E. Proposed Human Resource 10% Weightage

Human Resource deployment plan

Level of skills and experience

Relevance of experience of the personnel dedicated for the project