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REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP) FOR SELECTION OF

SYSTEM INTEGRATOR

To

Deploy, Configure, Integrate, Maintain and Enhance the UNIFIED DIGITAL PLATFORM (UDP) to Operate

Rythu Bharosa Kendralu (RBKs)

FOR Digital Transformation of Agriculture for Sustainable Rural Development

IN

ANDHRA PRADESH STATE

May 2020

Tendering Authority

The e-Pragati Authority 2nd Floor, Infosight Building, Survey No. 78/2,

Near Pathuru Road Junction, NH-16, Service Road, Tadepalli – 522501, Guntur District,

Andhra Pradesh

_____________________________________________________________________________________________ e-Pragati Authority – Digital Transformation of Agriculture for Sustainable Rural Development

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Table of Contents

PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL .......................................................................................................................... 4

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP) STRUCTURE ..................................................................................................... 4

RESPONSE PREPARATION ........................................................................................................................................... 4

NOTICE ..................................................................................................................................................................... 6

NOTICE INVITING PROPOSAL (NIP) ..................................................................................................................... 7

PROCEDURE TO SUBMIT PROPOSAL ON AP E-PROCUREMENT PLATFORM: ................................................. 8

1. PURPOSE OF THE RFP ....................................................................................................................................... 18

1.1 PROJECT AWARDING COMMITTEE .............................................................................................................. 18

1 INTRODUCTION TO E-PRAGATI AUTHORITY........................................................................................... 19

2 INTRODUCTION TO AGRICULTURE DEPARTMENT ................................................................................. 19 2.1 OBJECTIVES: ............................................................................................................................................................ 20 2.2 ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE .................................................................................................................................. 20

3 FUNCTIONAL SCOPE OF THE RFP .............................................................................................................. 23 3.1 SCOPE OVERVIEW .................................................................................................................................................... 23 3.2 PROPOSED INTERVENTION – UNIFIED DIGITAL AGRITECH PLATFORM FOR RBKS .................................................. 25 3.3 MOBILE/TABLET APP FOR VILLAGE AGRICULTURE ASSISTANT (VAA) ........................................................................... 29 3.4 FARMER MOBILE APP: .............................................................................................................................................. 30

4 BUSINESS REQUIREMENTS SPECIFICATIONS ........................................................................................... 31 4.1 FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS: .................................................................................................................................. 31 4.2 TARGETED USERS ..................................................................................................................................................... 42 4.3 NON-FUNCTIONAL (TECHNICAL) REQUIREMENTS: ...................................................................................................... 43

5 LEGACY BUSINESS PROCESS WORKFLOW ................................................................................................ 47 5.1 TESTING .................................................................................................................................................................. 47 5.2 GO-LIVE REQUIREMENTS .......................................................................................................................................... 48 5.3 OPERATIONAL AND MAINTENANCE REQUIREMENTS ................................................................................................... 49

6 PRE-QUALIFICATION CRITERIA .................................................................................................................. 49 6.1 SHORT LISTING CRITERIA .......................................................................................................................................... 51 6.2 EVALUATION PROCESS ............................................................................................................................................. 51 6.3 THE TECHNICAL PROPOSAL SHALL COVER THE FOLLOWING: ........................................................................................ 52

7 TECHNICAL EVALUATION CRITERIA.......................................................................................................... 52 7.1 COMMERCIAL EVALUATION ...................................................................................................................................... 54

8 PAYMENT TERMS ........................................................................................................................................ 55 8.1 METHOD OF PAYMENT ............................................................................................................................................. 55 8.2 INCOME TAX RULE COMPLIANCE .............................................................................................................................. 55 8.3 LIQUIDATED DAMAGES ............................................................................................................................................. 55 8.4 PAYMENT SCHEDULES & MILESTONES ...................................................................................................................... 55

9 MILESTONES AND DELIVERABLES ............................................................................................................. 55

10 ACCEPTANCE CRITERIA ............................................................................................................................... 56 10.1 ACCEPTANCE CRITERIA DEFINITION ...................................................................................................................... 56


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11 SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENT ...................................................................................................................... 56 11.1 SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENT FOR DEVELOPMENT & IMPLEMENTATION PHASES ........................................................ 56 11.2 SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENT FOR OPERATIONS & MAINTENANCE PHASE ................................................................ 56

12 TERMS & CONDITIONS ............................................................................................................................... 57 12.1 CONTRACT TERMS .............................................................................................................................................. 57

12.1.1 Availability of the RFP Documents: ..................................................................................................... 57 12.1.2 Mode of Submission .............................................................................................................................. 57 12.1.3 Payment of Transaction Fee: ................................................................................................................ 58 12.1.4 Corpus Fund: .......................................................................................................................................... 58 12.1.5 Letter of Award: ..................................................................................................................................... 58

12.2 PRE-BID CONFERENCE ........................................................................................................................................ 58 12.3 BIDDER INQUIRIES AND E-PRAGATI RESPONSES ..................................................................................................... 59 12.4 SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION / CORRIGENDUM / AMENDMENT TO THE RFP ...................................................... 60 12.5 PROPOSAL PREPARATION COSTS.......................................................................................................................... 60 12.6 RIGHT TO TERMINATE THE PROCESS OF RFP BY E-PRAGATI AUTHORITY .................................................................. 61 12.7 ACCEPTANCE OF PART / WHOLE BID / MODIFICATION – RIGHTS THEREOF ................................................................ 61 12.8 AUTHENTICATION OF BIDS ................................................................................................................................... 61 12.9 INTERLINEATIONS IN BIDS .................................................................................................................................... 61 12.10 VENUE & DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS ........................................................................................... 61 12.11 LATE BIDS ........................................................................................................................................................... 62 12.12 CONDITIONS AND RESERVATIONS UNDER WHICH THIS RFP IS ISSUED .................................................................... 62 12.13 RIGHTS TO THE CONTENT OF THE PROPOSAL ........................................................................................................ 63 12.14 MODIFICATION AND WITHDRAWAL OF PROPOSALS: ............................................................................................. 63 12.15 NON-CONFORMING PROPOSALS: ........................................................................................................................ 64 12.16 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF UNDERSTANDING OF TERMS: ......................................................................................... 64 12.17 OFFER VALIDITY PERIOD ...................................................................................................................................... 64 12.18 LANGUAGE OF PROPOSALS .................................................................................................................................. 64 12.19 NON-DISCLOSURE OF CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION ............................................................................................ 64 12.20 SECURITY PROCEDURES: ...................................................................................................................................... 65 12.21 NONDISCLOSURE AND CONFIDENTIALITY .............................................................................................................. 67 12.22 CENTRAL OR STATE REQUIREMENTS ..................................................................................................................... 67

13 PERFORMANCE BANK GUARANTEE: ................................................................................................................. 68

14 MASTER SERVICE AGREEMENT (MSA) .............................................................................................................. 68

15 COMMITMENT TO PROJECT SCHEDULE ............................................................................................................ 68 15.1.1 The timespan for competition of the task in this RFP ............................................................................. 68

16 RESOLUTION OF COMMERCIAL QUOTES .......................................................................................................... 68 16.1.1 Resolution of Equal Quotes ..................................................................................................................... 68

17 ANNEXURE ................................................................................................................................................... 69 17.1 RFP RESPONSE ..................................................................................................................................................... 69 17.2 RFP FORMS ......................................................................................................................................................... 69


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Proprietary & Confidential No part of this document can be reproduced in any form or by any means, disclosed or distributed to any person without the prior consent of the e-Pragati Authority except to the extent required for submitting a proposal and no more.

Request for Proposal (RFP) Structure This Request for Proposal (RFP) is meant to invite proposals from interested Software Vendors or System integrators (SI) capable of delivering the services described herein. The content of this RFP has been acknowledged in Single volume explained in following document:

Response Preparation e-Pragati recommends reading all materials prior to preparing a proposal Response. Bidders must follow proposal instructions and provide a complete response to the items indicated in the table below: RFP Structure and List of RFP Documentation Document Description Bidder Response Instructions Cover Page Provides RFP title and number,

important dates, and contact information of Solicitation manager

Informational

Proposal Instructions Provides RFP instructions to bidders

Informational

Project background and objectives

Project need specification, objectives and intended deliverables

To be completed by bidder

Project Scope Project Scope details and requirements


Business Requirement Specifications mapping

Mapping of the Functional and Non-functional business requirements


Project Implementation Methodology

Details of project implementation practices to be followed

To be completed by the bidder

Project Timelines, milestones and deliverables

Project Implementation timelines, milestones and deliverables details

To be completed by the bidder

Bidder Information Background and experience To be completed by bidder Resources’ Resumes Resumes of Key personnel To be completed by bidder


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Maintenance and Support This section provides maintenance and support terms for any contract awarded from this RFP

Bidders to submit their standard maintenance and support contract terms

Service Level Agreement This document provides the SLA terms and conditions

Bidders to submit their standard SLA contract terms.


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OFFICE OF CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, THE E-PRAGATI AUTHORITY

NOTICE

THE E-PRAGATI AUTHORITY

Request for Proposal - Call Notice for

“Deploy, Configure, Integrate, Maintain and Enhance Unified Digital Platform (UDP) to Operate Rythu Bharosa Kendralu (RBKs) for

Transformation of Agriculture and Sustainable Rural Development in Andhra Pradesh”

Time schedule of various Proposal related events:

Release of Request for Proposal (RFP) Wednesday, 27th May 2020

Last date for submission of online questions by bidders Monday, 31st May 2020, 1:00 PM

Pre- Bid Conference Tuesday, 2nd Jun 2020, 12:00 PM

Date of Issue of Clarifications Thursday, 4th Jun 2020, 5:00 PM

Last date for Submission of bids Wednesday, 10th Jun 2020, 5:00 PM Bid Opening Date Thursday, 11th Jun 2020, 1:00 PM

RFP Document Cost

Rs. 25,000/- (in words, Twenty Five Thousand only)

Contact point from e-Pragati authority SVJG Raghava Sai, Head of Procurement – +91-98495 77666, [email protected]

Chief Executive Officer, The e-Pragati Authority 2nd Floor, Infosight Building, Survey No. 78/2, Near Pathuru Road Junction, NH-16, Service Road, Tadepalli – 522501, Guntur District, Andhra Pradesh. Note: The bidders who want to participate in the bid need to submit the RFP Document Cost in the form Demand Draft/ Banker’s Cheque in favor of “CEO E-PRAGATI AUTHORITY AP, TADEPALLI” Payable at Tadepalli.

mailto:[email protected]


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Notice Inviting Proposal (NIP) Name of work – Selection of System Integrator/ Software Vendor to Deploy, Configure, Integrate, Maintain and Enhance Unified Digital AgriTech Platform to Operate Rythu Bharosa Kendralu (RBKs) for Andhra Pradesh State Agriculture Department as a part of Digital Transformation Drive of Government of Andhra Pradesh entrusted with Special Purpose Vehicle (SVP), e-Pragati Authority. On behalf of the Government of Andhra Pradesh, the Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”), The e-Pragati Authority, Government of Andhra Pradesh, invites eligible and competent Vendors to submit their qualification, technical and commercial proposals for the selection to Configure, deploy, maintain and enhance the Unified Digital AgriTech Platform to operate RBKs, in accordance with conditions and manner prescribed in this Request for Proposal (RFP) and other Proposal Documents issued by the e-Pragati Authority, which are available on its website ( http://www.e-pragati.in ). CEO, the e-Pragati Authority reserves the right to reject any or all proposals without assigning any reason.

Sd/- CEO, e-Pragati Authority

http://www.e-pragati.in/


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Procedure to Submit proposal on AP e-Procurement Platform: Procedure for Bid Submission The Bidder shall submit their response through document submission process on e-Procurement platform at www.apeprocurement.gov.in by following the procedure given below: The Proposer would be required to register on the e-procurement platform www.apeprocurement.gov.in or https://tender.apeprocurement.gov.in and submit their proposals online. In case any Proposer is not able to upload the entire set of documents on e-procurement platform either due to space/size constraint or any other technical hitches, only in such cases, the relevant hard copies of the left over documents which could not be uploaded on e-procurement platform may be submitted in sealed covers in e-Pragati Authority office located at 2nd Floor, Infosight Building, Survey No. 78/2, Near Pathuru Road Junction, NH-16, Service Road, Tadepalli – 522501, Guntur District, Andhra Pradesh, before the stipulated closure time of proposal submission. A self-certificate from the Proposer in this regard detailing the reasons for submitting the hard copies, if any, duly bringing out issues faced in uploading them on e-procurement platform, if any, shall also be submitted. The uploaded documents on the e-procurement platform and the hard copies submitted in sealed covers, if any, together will be treated as a single set of documents under a proposal and will be evaluated accordingly. Technical and Commercial parts of the bid shall be submitted in separate sealed envelopes, if they are submitted as hard copies. The Proposers shall submit their necessary documents online in e-Procurement web site. The Proposers shall upload the scanned copies of all the relevant certificates, documents etc., in support of their Pre-Qualification and other certificates/documents with clear readability, in the e-Procurement web site. The Proposer should sign on all the statements, documents, certificates uploaded in the e-Procurement website, owning responsibility for their correctness/authenticity. Registration with e-Procurement platform: For registration and online proposal submission Proposers may contact HELP DESK on www.apeprocurement.gov.in or https://tender.apeprocurement.gov.in Digital Certificate authentication: The Proposer shall authenticate the proposal with the agency’s Digital Certificate for submitting the proposal electronically on e-Procurement platform and the proposals not authenticated by digital certificate of the Proposer will not be accepted on the e-Procurement platform. For obtaining Digital Signature Certificate, you may please contact any Digital Certifying Authority, Ministry of Corporate Affairs.

http://www.apeprocurement.gov.in/


https://tender.apeprocurement.gov.in/



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Hard copies: All the Proposers shall submit the hardcopy of the DD towards the proposal processing fee in e-Pragati Authority office at Tadepalli before proposal due date. All the Proposers shall invariably upload the scanned copies of DD/BG in e-Procurement system and this will be the primary requirement to consider the proposal responsive.

1 e-Pragati Authority shall carry out the technical evaluation solely based on the uploaded certificates/documents, DD/BG towards EMD in the e-Procurement system and open the price proposals of the responsive and technically qualified Proposers only.

2 e-Pragati Authority will notify the successful Proposer for submission of original hardcopies of all the uploaded documents and DD/BG towards EMD prior to entering into agreement.

3 The successful Proposer shall invariably furnish the original DD/BG towards EMD; Certificates/Documents of the uploaded scanned copies to the RFP Inviting Authority before entering into agreement, either personally or through courier or post and the receipt of the same within the stipulated date shall be the responsibility of the successful Proposer. e-Pragati Authority will not take any responsibility for any delay in receipt/non-receipt of original DD/BG towards EMD, Certificates/Documents from the successful Proposer before the stipulated time.

4 On receipt of documents, e-Pragati Authority shall ensure the genuinity of the DD/BG towards EMD and all other certificates/documents uploaded by the Proposer in e-Procurement system in support of the qualification criteria before concluding the agreement.

5 Earnest Money Deposit (EMD) (Refundable)

e-Pragati prefers to have EMD amount in the form of Online Payment or through BG only. The supporting documents are to be uploaded in the procurement website An amount of Rs. 25,00,000/- (Rupees Twenty Five Lakhs only), the vendor should submit EMD for the Schedules as given below and valid up to 180 days from the date of bid opening in the form of Bank Guarantee (BG) specific to this tender in favour of CEO, e-Pragati Authority. The scanned copy of BG should be uploaded on e-procurement website. The Original Copy of BG should be submitted to e-Pragati Authority before opening the Pre-Qualification Bid. Rotational BG is not acceptable. Bidder can also pay EMD through online payment method. Online payment can be made via NEFT/ Credit/ Debit Card at https://tender.apeprocurement.gov.in



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Deactivation of Bidders Vide Ref GO Ms. No.174 – I&CAD dated 1-9-2008, if any successful Proposer fails to submit the original hard copies of uploaded certificates/documents within stipulated time or if any variation is noticed between the uploaded documents and the hardcopies submitted by the Proposer, the successful Proposer will be suspended from participating in the RFPs on e-Procurement platform for a period of 3 years. The e-Procurement system would deactivate the user ID of such defaulting Proposer based on the trigger/recommendation by the RFP Inviting Authority in the system. Besides this, e-Pragati Authority shall invoke all processes of law including criminal prosecution of such defaulting Proposer as an act of extreme deterrence to avoid delays in the RFP process for execution of the development schemes taken up by the government. Other conditions as per RFP document are applicable. The Proposer is requested to get a confirmed acknowledgement from the RFP Inviting Authority a proof of Hardcopies submission to avoid any discrepancy.

1 Payment of Transaction Fee: It is mandatory for the entire participant Proposers from 1st January 2006 to electronically pay a prescribed non-refundable Transaction fee to M/s. APTS, the service provider through "Payment Gateway Service on E-Procurement platform". The Electronic Payment Gateway accepts all Master and Visa Credit Cards Andhra Pradesh Technology Services Limited, Vijayawada www.apts.gov.in/ (OR) issued by any bank and Direct Debit facility/Net Banking to facilitate the transaction. This is in compliance as per G.O.Ms. 13 dated 07.05.2006.

2 RFP Document: The Proposer is requested to download the RFP document and read all the terms and conditions mentioned in the RFP Document and seek clarification if any from the RFP Inviting Authority. Any offline proposal submission clause in the RFP document could be neglected. The Proposer has to keep track of any changes by viewing the Addendum/Corrigenda issued by the RFP Inviting Authority from time-to-time in the e-Procurement platform. The Department calling for RFPs shall not be responsible for any claims/issues arising out of this.

3 Bid Submission Acknowledgement: The Proposer shall complete all the processes and steps required for Bid submission. The system will generate an acknowledgement with a unique proposal submission number after completing all the prescribed steps and processes by the Proposer. Users may also note that the proposals for which an acknowledgement is not generated by the e-procurement system are treated as invalid or not saved in the system. Such invalid proposals are not made available to the RFP Inviting Authority for processing the proposals. The Government of AP is not responsible for incomplete proposal submission by users.

3.1 The Proposers may contact the Head of Procurement, e-Pragati Authority Tadepalli for any further information / clarifications on e-procurement.


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3.2 The Proposers need to register on the electronic procurement market place of Government of Andhra Pradesh i.e., www.apeprocurement.gov.in . On registration in the e-procurement market place they will be provided with a user ID and password by the system using which they can submit their proposals on line.

3.3 While registering on the e-procurement market place, the Proposers need to scan and upload the required documents as per the RFP requirements on to their profile. The e-procurement market place provides an online self-service registration facility to all such Contractors who are already registered with respective participating departments for supply of specified goods and services.

3.4 All the Proposers shall invariably upload the scanned copies of DD/BG in e-Procurement system and this will be the primary requirement to consider the proposal as responsive. The Department shall carry out the Technical proposal evaluation solely based on the uploaded certificates/documents, DD/BG towards EMD in the e-procurement system and open the price proposal of the eligible and responsive Proposers. The Department will notify the successful Proposer for submission of original hard copies of all uploaded documents and DD/BG towards EMD prior to entering into agreement.

3.5 The Proposers shall furnish a declaration in online stating that the soft copies uploaded

by them are genuine. Any incorrectness/deviation noticed will be viewed seriously and apart from cancelling the work duly forfeiting the EMD, criminal action will be initiated including suspension of business.



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Definitions

Acronym Expanded Name ADA Assistant Director of Agriculture AEO Agricultural Extension Officer AFCOF Andhra Pradesh State Fishermen Cooperative Societies

Federation Limited AI&ML Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning AMC Agriculture Market Committee APAGROS Andhra Pradesh State Agro Industries Development

Corporation Limited APCFSS Andhra Pradesh Centre for Financial Systems and Services APDMP Andhra Pradesh Drought Mitigation Project APLDA Andhra Pradesh Livestock Development Agency APMARKFED Andhra Pradesh State Co-operative Marketing Federation

Limited APOILFED Andhra Pradesh Co-operative Oilseeds Growers' Federation

Limited APSGDCF Andhra Pradesh Sheep and Goat Development cooperative

federation APSSDCL Andhra Pradesh State Seed Development Corporation Limited APTS Andhra Pradesh Technology Services B2G Business to Government BG Bank Guarantee BPR Business Process Re-engineering C2G Customer to Government CEO Chief Executive Officer CFMS Comprehensive Financial Management System CHC Custom Hiring Centers CHM Cluster Health Monitor CIG Common Interest Group CIO Chief Information Officer CMS Content Management System CoI Certificate of Insurance COTS Commercial off The Shelf products CRM Customer Relationship Management CRUD Create/Read/Update/Delete CSP Common Software Program CSP / DCO Cloud Service Provider / Data Centre Operator DBT Direct Benefit Transfer DC Data Centre DD Demand Draft


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DEE Deputy Executive Engineer Dept. Department DoA Department of Agriculture DPR Detailed Project Report DPW Disease Pest Weed DR Disaster Recovery DSS Decision Support Systems ECV Estimated Commercial Value EMD Earnest Money Deposit EPF Employee Provident Fund ePRS e-Pragati Requirements Specifications EQI Equated Quarterly Instalment ERP Enterprise Resource Planning ESI Employee State Insurance ETL Extract, Transform and Load FAQ Frequently Asked Questions FasS Function as a Service FCO Fertilised Control Order FIPS Federal Information Processing Standard Fis Functional Institutions FPO Former Producer Organization FR Functional Requirements G2B Government to Business G2C Government to Customer G2G Government to Government GIS Geographical Information System GO Government Order GoAP Government of Andhra Pradesh GoI Government to India Govt. Government GPS Global Positioning System GST Goods and Services Tax GVA Gross Value Added HLD High Level Design IaaC Infrastructure as a Code IM Information Management IOPS Input/output operations per second IoT Internet of Things ISMS Information Security Management System ITE&C Information Technology Electronics and Communications IVRS Interactive Voice Response System JDA Joint Director of Agriculture JLG Joint Liability Group


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KPI Key Performance Indicator LAO Letter of Agreement Line Department

Concerned Department for this RFP

LLD Low Level Design LOC Line of Credit MAO Mandal Agricultural Officer MARKFED AP State Marketing Federation Limited MDDS Metadata and Data Standards MFT Managed File Transfer MIDS Micro Irrigation Development System MIS Management Information Systems MIS Reports Management Information System Reports MPEDA The Marine Products Export Development Authority MPEO Multi-Purpose Extension Officer MSA Master Service Agreement MSP Managed Service Provider NABARD National Bank for Agriculture & Rural Development NAC Network Access Control NBFC Non-Banking Financial Companies NCDX National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange Limited NDDB National Dairy Development Board NIC National Informatics Centre NIP Notice Investigating Proposal NIPHM National Institute of Plant Health Management NOC No-Objection Certificate O&M Operations & Maintenance OEM Original Equipment Manufacturer ORM Object-Relational Mapping OTP One Time Password PaaS Platform as a Service PAO Pay and Accounts Office PIU Project Implementation Unit PMU Project Monitoring Unit PoC Proof of Concept PPP Public Private Partnership PQ Pre-Qualification PSR Project Status Report QA Quality Assurance QC Quality Control QGR Quarterly Guaranteed Revenue RBK Farmer One Stop Shop RBK Rythu Bharosa Kendhralu


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RFP Request for Proposal RIDS Revamped Input Delivery System ROC Registrar of Companies ROI Return on Investment RPO Recovery Point Objective RTGS Real Time Governance Society RTI Right to Information Act RTM Requirements Traceability Matrix RTO Recovery Time objective SaaS Software as a Service SCSI Small Computer System Interface SI Systems Integrator SIFT State Institute of Fisheries Technology SIT System Integration Test SLA Service Level Agreement SLR Service Level Requirement SME Subject Matter Expert SMS Short Message Service SOA Service Oriented Architecture SOAP Simple Object Access Protocol SOP Standard Operating Procedures SQC Software Quality Control SR Service Request SRS Software Requirement Specification SSO Single Sign-On SVP Special Purpose Vehicle TDS Tax deduction at Source TQ Technical Qualification TS Technical Sanction UAT User Acceptance Testing UDP Unified Digital Platform UI User Interface UIDAI Unique Identification Authority of India UML Unified Modelling Language VAA Village Agriculture Assistant VLAN Virtual Local Area Network VLB Virtual Load Balancer VM Virtual Machines VPC Virtual Private Cloud VPN Virtual Private Network w.r.t with respect to Xn Number of User stories proposed & mutually agreed between

e-Pragati & SI for specific Sprint


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Disclaimer The information contained in this Request for Proposal (the “RFP”) or subsequently provided to Proposers (as defined hereinafter), whether verbally or in documentary or any other form by or on behalf of the CEO, e-Pragati Authority (as defined hereinafter) or any of its employees or advisors, is provided to Proposers (as defined hereinafter) on the terms and conditions set out in this RFP and such other terms and conditions subject to which such information is provided. The nature of this RFP Tender is an Open tender with e-Pragati Authority. This RFP is not an agreement and is neither an offer nor invitation by the e-Pragati Authority to the prospective Proposers or any other person. The purpose of this RFP is to provide interested parties with information that may be useful to them in preparing and submitting their Proposals (as defined hereinafter). This RFP includes statements, which reflect various assumptions and assessments arrived at by the e-Pragati Authority in relation to the Project. Such assumptions, assessments and statements do not purport to contain all the information that each Proposer may require. This RFP may not be appropriate for all persons, and it is not possible for the e-Pragati Authority, their respective employees or advisors to consider the investment objectives, financial situation and needs of each person who reads or uses this RFP. The assumptions, assessments, statements and information provided in this RFP Document (as defined hereinafter) may not be complete, accurate, adequate or correct. Each Proposer should, therefore, conduct its own investigations and analysis and should check the accuracy, adequacy, correctness, reliability and completeness of the assumptions, assessments, statements and information contained in this RFP and obtain independent advice from appropriate sources. Information provided in and pursuant to this RFP to Proposer is on a wide range of matters, some of which may depend upon the interpretation of the law. The information given is not intended to be an exhaustive account of statutory requirements and should not be regarded as a complete or authoritative statement of law. The e-Pragati Authority and GoAP accepts no responsibility for the accuracy or otherwise of any interpretation or opinion of law expressed herein. The e-Pragati Authority and GoAP, their respective employees and advisors make no representation or warranty and shall have no liability to any person, including any Proposer under any law, statute, rules or regulations or tort, principles of restitution or unjust enrichment or otherwise for any loss, damages, cost or expense which may arise from or be incurred or suffered on account of anything contained in this RFP or otherwise, including the accuracy, adequacy, correctness, completeness or reliability of the RFP Documents and/or any assessment, assumption, statement or information contained in or deemed to form part of this RFP Documents or arising in any way in connection with participation in the Proposal Submission process in respect of the Project. The e-Pragati Authority and GoAP accepts no liability of any nature whether resulting from negligence or otherwise howsoever caused arising from the reliance of any Proposer upon the statements contained in this RFP Documents.


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The e-Pragati Authority may in its absolute discretion, but without being under any obligation to do so, update, amend or supplement the information, assessment or assumptions contained in this RFP Documents. The issue of this RFP Document does not imply that the e-Pragati Authority is bound to evaluate a Proposer or to appoint the Successful Proposer for the Project and e-Pragati Authority reserves the right to reject all or any of the Proposers or Proposals without assigning any reason whatsoever. The Proposer shall bear all costs associated with or relating to the preparation and submission of its Proposal including but not limited to preparation, copying, postage, delivery fees, expenses associated with any demonstrations or presentations which may be required by the e-Pragati Authority or any other costs incurred in connection with or relating to its Proposal. All such costs and expenses will be to the account of the Proposer, and the e-Pragati Authority shall not be liable in any manner whatsoever for the same or for any other costs or other expenses incurred by a Proposer in connection with preparation or submission of the Proposal, regardless of the conduct or outcome of the Proposal Submission process.


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1. Purpose of the RFP The purpose of this RFP is to enable e-Pragati to select a Software Vendor or a System Integrator having a fully developed Unified Digital Platform for Agriculture to Deploy, Configure, Integrate, Maintain and Enhance Application & Services to Operate Rythu Bharosa Kendralu (RBKs) for Andhra Pradesh Agriculture Department, based on requirement document and inputs provided by Agriculture Department of Andhra Pradesh. The requirements mentioned in these documents may change during the execution period, based on the interaction among e-Pragati Authority, GoAP Departments and System Integrator, and all these changes have to be recorded for Requirements, and submitted as Project Change Requests if they are material. The RFP is not an offer by e-Pragati but an invitation to receive proposals from eligible and interested vendors for the above-mentioned project. The RFP does not commit e-Pragati to enter into a binding agreement in respect of the project with potential bidders.

1.1 Project Awarding Committee For the Project to be initiated, vendor has to be selected by e-Pragati Project Awarding Committee. The Project Awarding Committee is also empowered to make key decisions related to project during the execution phase, if any conflicts arise. Members of the Project Awarding Committee:

a) CEO, e-Pragati Authority - Chief Technology Owner/Chairman b) CIO, e-Pragati Authority - Member/Convener c) Head of the concerned (Project Owner) - Chief Business Owner/Member

Department, d) Special Secretary, ITE&C - Digital Transformation Strategist/Member e) Additional Director (Agri Communications) - Digital Transformation Strategist/Member f) Representative of Finance Department - Member g) IT Advisor (Technical Projects) - Member


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1 Introduction to e-Pragati Authority The e-Pragati: An initiative of GoAP, aiming to deliver all its citizen-centric services through a single portal. Government envisioned to implement an integrated application, data and services architecture to bring around 72 IT projects on the same platform, including implementation and rollout of 24 unique IT projects and 500 citizen services along with below objectives:

o Business Process Reengineering to shift process from Government-centric to Citizen-centric o Digitize, implement workflow, automate and integrate re-engineered business process

There have been numerous e-governance initiatives undertaken in various states one of them is also single window implementation for G2C, G2B, G2G etc. services, however, these initiatives faced major challenges during implementation. The major setback was due to the absence of government departments on boarding on the portal; all the services offered by the department were not added to the portal. The other was the time-consuming development of service delivery channel/ platform/ application, causing an overall delay in the project development. There were other crucial challenges that led to the failure of the state data portals. The main challenges faced by citizens and government departments are identified as below along with the probable outcomes which can be achieved after implementing the Application for Agriculture Department.

2 Introduction to Agriculture Department The main mandate of the Department of Agriculture is to provide Agricultural Extension services to farmers and to transfer the latest technical knowledge to the farming community, introduction of high yielding varieties, laying demonstrations, imparting training to farmers in order to improve skills & knowledge to boost up the agricultural Production and productivity. The Department also plans requirements of agriculture inputs well in advance and regulate their production and monitor timely supply. The statutory functions of the Department cover various acts and regulations (i.e., quality control) to ensure supply of quality inputs. In addition, the Department also carries out certain facilitating functions such as soil testing, soil and water conservation, credit assessment and arrangement, farmer trainings, disaster management, crop insurance, agricultural mechanization, monitoring and evaluation of various government schemes and programs. The Department has a strong chain of human resources consisting of more than 4000 extension staff of field and supervisory cadre. The staff is periodically oriented with the advance technology emerging from time to time by re-engineering through trainings, workshops, interactions etc., in addition to the above-mentioned activities, the department supports a number of Farmers Training Centers, Laboratories, Farmer Field Schools etc., to equip the farmer with necessary deal and knowledge for successful agriculture farming. In order to deliver its mandate to the farming community of the state, the Department coordinates with various other departments also. The research support to the Department is endowed by the State Agriculture University and the National and International Institutes. Input support is solicited through


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various autonomous bodies like APSSDCL, APGROS, APMARKFED, APOILFED, etc. Other coordinating Departments include Horticulture, Sericulture, Fisheries, Animal Husbandry, Irrigation, Forests, etc. Financial support is rendered by NABARD and other Banks, not only to land owning farmers but also to tenant farmers. 2.1 Objectives:

1. To enhance food safety levels in order to improve the overall nutrition and health of the consumers both local and global.

2. To increase crop production and productivity by leveraging modern technologies in agriculture and to decrease cost of cultivation for farmers.

3. To streamline services and operations across the agriculture value chain, on to one single online platform to support Rythu Bharosa Kendralu (RBKs)

4. To create a seamless platform for efficient delivery of services by involving all stakeholders – Farmers, Businesses, State Agriculture Department, Government etc., and to manage, monitor, control and optimize all stakeholder actions.

5. To create an efficient structure of dissemination of right and timely information to farmers on available crop cultivation technologies, schemes and other needs to improve the farmers’ overall development and welfare.

6. To bring-in efficiencies by transforming the services by leveraging digital technologies, integration of best practices and systematic management of interdependencies.

7. To create a data-driven approach in conceptualization, implementation, monitoring and measurement of services delivery.

8. To provide direct market access to farmers to reduce the middlemen intervention and to increase the farmers’ share of agriculture revenue.

2.2 Organizational Structure

The following are the different levels of the organizations structure of the Core Agriculture department of the state of Andhra Pradesh. Secretariat: Core Agriculture Department is headed by Hon’ble Minister for Agriculture, assisted by an officer of the cadre of Principal Secretary/ Secretary. The Special Chief Secretary Agriculture and Co-operation is the administrative head in the Secretariat on behalf of the State Government assisted by Commissioners, Joint Secretaries, Deputy Secretaries, Asst. Secretaries, Section Officers and Sub staff. Commissionerate of Agriculture: The Head of the Department is Commissioner of Agriculture, who is a senior IAS Officer. He virtually handles the post of Director of Agriculture (DA) also. He is assisted by Five Additional Directors of Agriculture, out of them one Additional DA is the principal, SAMETI and other four are stationed at Commissionerate of Agriculture.


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District level: At the District level the Department is headed by Joint Directors of Agriculture (JDAs) and assisted by DDAs ADAs and AOs at District, Division and Mandal levels. Agriculture Division level: The Divisional ADA is the head of the Agriculture division and assisted by the Agricultural Officers at the Mandal level. There are 154 Agriculture divisions in the state. Mandal Level: In all the 670 Rural and Urban Mandal’s of the state, at least one Agriculture Officer is working in each Mandal. These AOs are assisted by few Agricultural Extension Officers in the field work. Laboratories: The Department has setup five pesticide testing laboratories, five FCO Laboratories, two seed Testing Laboratories around 60 Soil Testing Laboratories (including AMC level) and 11 Biological Control Laboratories in the State. Department of Agriculture Organizational structure – State level


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Department of Agriculture Organizational structure – District level


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3 Functional Scope of the RFP 3.1 Scope Overview Envisioned to create a single integrated platform for all Government services with digital transformation as the driving force, e-Pragati, the Andhra Pradesh State Enterprise Architecture, marks a paradigm shift in e-Governance. The Farmer and citizen-centric approach to seamless integration of services will bring in efficiencies across the Agriculture ecosystem and to further extend the platform to encompass all allied sectors such as Animal Husbandry, Dairy, Aquaculture, etc., in due course of time. Primary Sector services which include services related to Agriculture and allied sectors is one of the key focus areas of the project. These efforts should result in improvisation of key metrics of the department like, production, productivity, GVA contribution etc. As part of the initiative, all the service offerings and operations of the Department of Agriculture of the state of AP would be accessible from Single Portal of the proposed Unified Digital platform, by establishing Single Source of Truth thereby eliminating multiple touchpoints for the users in order to facilitate seamless collaboration within and among the departments. The scope of this RFP covers services and operations related to Core Agriculture only. The scope of this RFP covers all the services spanning the agriculture value chain – Pre-crop season, Crop season, and some aspects of Post-crop season. Each of these services are analyzed and described from the perspective of three important stakeholders, viz. Farmers, Businesses and the Department of Agriculture of GoAP. A farmer centric approach will be taken for implementation of services as per the vision of the GoAP. Though Farmer One Stop Shop (RBK) is a concept promoted as part of APDMP (Andhra Pradesh Drought Mitigation Project) to provide all the farmer services under one roof by bringing together all supply-chain stakeholders – farmers, local NGOs, Agriculture input companies, Government agencies, and Private businesses, the same spirit will be followed in the implementation of all agriculture services outlined in this RFP. The following diagram outlines different activities relevant to the agriculture value chain segments and describes the roles of different users across the value chain. RBK modules and their relevance in the agriculture value chain is also depicted in the diagram. Efforts have been made to cover RBK requirements relevant to Core Agriculture as part of the Core Agriculture services. However, the SI will be responsible to Configure and demonstrate their UDP, for further analyzing the relevance of RBK while detailing the requirements and implementing the Core Agriculture services.


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In this document, services which are currently not supported by the existing applications and executed manually are categorized as ‘Greenfield’, and the SI will be responsible for configuring and extending their UDP for RBKs to meet the Agri Dept specific requirements. Services which are supported by the existing applications are categorized as ‘Brownfield’, and the SI will be responsible to coordinate with the existing SIs of the applications to perform Gap analysis, ensure modifications are done to make them integration ready for the proposed UDP for RBKs. As part of describing the identified Brownfield services, information on relevant existing applications is provided. This RFP refers to the existing processes and high-level expectations for the implementation of the services, however the SI will be responsible for detailing the functional requirements as per the scope outlined in the RFP. The SI is expected to work with the department to implement Business Process Reengineering (BPR) requirements during the implementation of the services.


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3.2 Proposed Intervention – Unified Digital AgriTech Platform for RBKs Andhra Pradesh being an Agrarian State, the Government primarily focuses on agriculture, allied sectors and farmers welfare. Availability of quality farm inputs and right advisories are very critical in improving the crop productivity and in reducing the cost of cultivation. In the era of technological advancement, the quality of services, speed in deliverables and precision in actions are possible by creating proper interface between farmers, Agriculture department, concerned Govt. Authorities, scientists, extension officers, service providers etc., in order to bring innovation/ sustainable interventions in agriculture and allied sectors. A common platform to integrate different line functions is highly necessitated to excel and accelerate Government services qualitatively and quantitatively and to create fiscal discipline. With this context, the Government of AP has taken a right initiative by forming Rythu Bharosa Kendralu (RBKs) as a most novel, effective and efficient platform for knowledge dissemination and assimilation and to provide farmers with quality inputs and allied services. The Government is in the process of establishing 10,641 RBKs in all Gram Panchayats having sizable agriculture & allied activity as a novel, effective, efficient and unified platform for knowledge dissemination and assimilation to provide farmers with quality inputs and allied services. RBKs will bridge the information and service delivery gaps in the State’s Agriculture Sector by bringing all the Stakeholders of Agriculture & Allied Sectors into one single platform offering all the services to farmers by ensuring year around productivity, profitability and sustainability. In order to efficiently manage, monitor, control and optimize the operations of the RBKs, Agri Department staff and all other operational processes, services and development programs of the department, a Unified Digital Platform (UDP) is highly essential. Proposed Unified Digital Platform (UDP) for Agriculture and allied sectors should:

• Have built-in Knowledge management framework, • Have uniform and context specific information dissemination mechanism built on the

principles of Systems of Engagement and Innovation to facilitate seamless integration with all touch points of the agriculture ecosystem and all stakeholders with full line-of-sight from soil preparation to produce marketing.

• Facilitate seamless collaboration and communication through Text messages, Voice and Video messaging.

• Have the potential to scale up to all other allied sectors such as animal husbandry, dairy, sericulture, Apiculture, Aquaculture, etc. to encompass the entire rural ecosystem.

• Have been built-on latest Open Source Technologies complying to the principles of Systems of Engagement and Innovation.

• Also have built in SLA matrix, Real-time Governance (RTG) Framework and Task management engine to automate the entire gamut of services and events; including assigning and monitoring the tasks for effective completion thus helping the authorities to manage by exception.

• Be easily configurable, extensible, flexible, robust and scalable to cater to all 72,00,000 farmers and Agriculture and allied departments staff.

• Be a Cloud based, dynamic digital collaborative platform integrating the entire spectrum of agricultural operations and stakeholders’ actions with real-time organized data analytics.


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• Facilitate mapping all agricultural field operations from soil preparation to post harvest and Marketing.

• Should facilitate complete end-to-end forward and backward linkages. • All stakeholders (Government, Extension staff, Agri research bodies, Banks, Insurance, Input

suppliers, output buyers, Agribusinesses, Marketing agencies, Farmer Communities, Farmers, other related agencies/ departments) connected in real-time.

• Able to maintain and analyze geo-tagged land records, cropping area, crop coverage, agrochemical inputs, production estimates, schemes, farmer benefits, post-harvest operations, weather forecast and market information in real-time.

• Should have geo-fencing functionality for territory and access management. • Scientifically guide & handhold the farmer from crop selection to post harvest and with

advanced technology driven best farming practices • Should have framework to implement Global Good Agriculture Practices (Global GAP) • Facilitate seamless, process dependent data capture and data aggregation with minimal

data entry effort, so that valuable time of the resources on ground is effectively directed to the more productive areas for greater impact.

• Serve as a single source of truth for all agriculture data across the state for various input suppliers, output buyers, Government and Departmental staff and all other stakeholders so that a unified, accurate and up-to-date source of information is effortlessly made available for the respective decision makers in real-time.

• Should facilitate bi-directional flow of information as a true interaction and communication platform for uniform dissemination of information providing right information to the right people at the right time.

• Integrate all 10,641 RBKs and be the system of extension and operations for the VAAs, with a facility to track and record all their operations on a day to day basis so that the MIS is effortlessly delivered with real-time analytics.

• Serve as a knowledge repository and system of reference and support system for all VAAs, Field staff and all other stakeholders in order facilitate express service and support delivery to the end farmers.

• Provide a framework for capacity building of farmers, VAAs and other extension staff through classroom and field trainings and demonstrations on best practices and new technologies for adoption

• Provide farmers interface with Agri Experts, Scientists and Extension Staff of Agriculture& Allied Departments

• Act as single point of contact for information about latest technologies, Government Schemes, policies, subsidies etc.,

• Should facilitate end-to-end subsidy management starting from beneficiary selection and complete benefits program management.

• Maintain database of farmers in a village with details of land extent, crops grown, livestock details etc.,

• Facilitate optimum utilization of farm input through soil test based nutrient management • Facilitate adaption of latest technology in farming through access to right information to

farmers helping them to take more informed decisions, optimize cost and increase farm productivity and income

• Facilitate Uniform dissemination of information and real-time collaboration among all stakeholders including farmers, Govt authorities including extension staff, Input suppliers,


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Agri R&D bodies, Universities, Financial institutions, Insurance and other service providers, output buyers, etc.

• Provide Context specific Crop advisory to each and every individual farmer; delivering best practices advisory (Good Agriculture Practices) specific to their context and the crop they are growing. The advisory should be a continuous process based on the age and stage of the crop. This will ensure that the rural farmers are not overloaded with a deluge of information, rather they should receive right information at the right time ensuring appropriate action response and feedback loop.

• Should have built-in Crop Advisory Management Framework in order for the designated experts to effortless manage and maintain the Crop Advisory data and advancements.

• Provide context specific Crop Health Management at the field level guiding the VAAs and Agriculture staff to appropriate disease diagnosis for immediate and express service delivery to minimize the crop losses, cost of cultivation and reduce environmental pollution through judicious use of agro-chemicals.

• Have a Crop Health Management Framework and Disease Knowledge Repository. • Facilitate Prescription in the Field functionality to advise Authentic and Judicious use of

approved Agro-chemicals with a QR code validation mechanism • Have a Content Management Framework for Maintaining:

o Crop Advisory, o Good Agricultural Practices, o Context specific-climate Advisory for proactive control measures o Crop Health Management Database (Pest, Disease and Deficiencies) o Prescription Management Framework

• Custom Hiring Centers module: System should also have the facility to maintain agriculture machinery owned by various entities, with the location details of all the implements available to the farmers. It should also have the facility to publish context specific Farm implements and Tools based on the crop of the farmers thus creating an awareness and demand for farm mechanization. Farmers should also have a booking facility for such machinery, Tools and Implements. Skilled personnel should also have a facility to register their services.

• Professional Weather Station network: System should have the capabilities to read, integrate, analyze the meteorological data from the Weather Station Network and should have built-in advisory framework and dissemination platform for context specific weather advisory. The meteorological data will include Temperature, humidity, wind direction, wind speed, atmospheric pressure, rainfall, Solar radiation, Illuminance, Soil Temperature, Soil moisture and Carbon Dioxide. It is intended to continuously record the data for context specific advisory and to improve the crop yield by effectively guiding the farmers based on their crop and agro-climatic conditions.

• Soil Testing: Should have the facility to record periodical soil testing data specific to each and every farm. Should have the provision to integrate with all soil testing facilities to upload the Soil Test data. Should also have the provision to recommend Macro and Micro nutrient requirements based on the soil test and Crop planning.

• Remote Sensing (Satellite): Should have the facility to integrate Remote Sensing data and should have Artificial Intelligence Engine and ML capabilities for Image Analytics. This approach is most cost effective and wide range of area can be covered. As the technology


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develops further Remote Sensing offers far greater potential for large scale impact studies and context specific advisory.

• Integrated harvest and post-harvest management to leverage economies of scale and size to get the best RoI. UDP should also have the capability to maintain all the storage facilities along with their capacity, type and location, space availability, price and reservation function to book the storage facility.

• Should have provision for block-chain based Warehouse Receipts Management module which facilitates insurance, finance and sale of stored farm produce with complete transparency.

• Integrated Market Place: UDP should provide an integrated market place to facilitate direct marketing where the State Marketing board can act as a moderator and encourage online procurement directly from the farmers. This eliminates middlemen intervention and ensures the farmers to receive the best price for their produce.

• Demand Management: Proposed UDP should have an integrated Demand Management platform to capture requirements of various Agribusiness, Domestic Consumption and other export demands in order to facilitate Crop colony planning based on agro-climatic and geographical suitability.

• Contract Farming Module: Should have provision for Contract Farming Management module to enable the Agribusinesses to enter into contract with the Farmers directly facilitated by the RBKs and Agri Department Staff.

• Should facilitate adaption of new high-value and high-demand crops while handholding the farmers for easy and guided transition

• Should have built-in features to promote innovative agricultural practices including Organic farming, Natural Farming, etc.

• Should have a built-in Bidding management platform for Agribusinesses or any other procurement agencies to bid for farm produce directly.

• Should have a built-in Financial Assistance module integrated to Banks and NBFCs. • Should have provision for Crop insurance management module encompassing all activities

from premium payment to claims processing. • Built-in analytical engine: The UDP should provide real-time predictive, prescriptive and

descriptive analytics to support the decision makers. Should have the facility to maintain role-specific dashboards and MIS reports.

• Real-time monitoring and Task Automation: UDP should offer an Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning based Automated Task generation and management engine. Field staff are assigned respective tasks that are monitored against SLA matrix; facilitating the administrators to manage by exception, which leads to Continuous monitoring, management and optimization of the entire Agriculture ecosystem in the state.

• Real-time Analytics: Should have built-in Analytical Engine for real-time predictive, descriptive and prescriptive analytics organized for various roles across Govt. Authorities, Agri Dept and other stakeholders as per their role and responsibility.

• Proposed UDP should be a complete Cloud based, digital, end to end farm management and online collaboration platform between all stakeholders, R&D bodies, Policy makers and farmers, facilitating demand driven Agriculture, research and innovation.

• Provide Organized and definitive outreach to farmers across the state about various schemes/subsidies/Mechanization/Govt. sponsored programs in real-time


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• Maintain authenticity of stocks supplied to farmers with proper alignment of demand & supply

• Customizable dynamic platform to integrate upcoming scientific advances in agriculture – soil, weather, hybrids, biotic and abiotic crop stress etc.,

• Should have the facility for an integrated call center and Command Control Centers. • Should have a facility to integrate all Apps being used by the Agriculture Department. • Should have a facility to integrate with e-Pragati Dashboards. • Should facilitate end-to-end traceability of the farm produce there by enhancing the

produce value

3.3 Mobile/Tablet App for Village Agriculture Assistant (VAA)

Knowledge base of Agriculture is huge and keeps changing at high velocity making it impossible for the extension staff to stay up to date. Further ever-increasing crops and hybrids and latest agronomy practices makes it even difficult for proper dissemination and retention of information. Proposed UDP offers a knowledge management framework for the Agriculture department, Universities and other research bodies in the state to keep the Knowledge base up-to-date and offers an instantaneous knowledge dissemination mechanism so that all Village VAAs and Agriculture extension staff across the state are equipped with the right knowledge and up-to-date information. The mobile App of the VAAs/Extension Staff provides context specific information based on the farmer, crop being grown, weather, soil condition and their geo-location. VAAs App should work in off-line mode also in order for the Extension Staff to be able to support the farmers during the field visits even if there is no internet connectivity and automatically synchronizes the data as soon as the network connectivity is available. The VAA App becomes the key conduit to facilitate instantaneous bi-directional flow of information thus facilitating effortless knowledge transfer and to provide context specific, accurate, consistent advisory, service and support to the farmers. Village Agriculture Assistant (VAA) App should have the following features: Farmers Registration

Farm land Geo-mapping

Soil Testing Information

Crop data recording from Sowing to harvesting

Best Practices Crop advisory database

Crop Health Advisory, disease detection and prescription at the field.

Task management engine to drive the days’ work of the extension staff effectively based on

geo-location and severity of the service request.

Facility to record all Village level stake holder information

Facility to access and attend all framers service requests in their area.


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Facility to record and manage their day to day operations related to RBK and other department

initiatives

Facility for context specific communication with different sections of farmers based on crop,

location, beneficiaries, etc.

3.4 Farmer Mobile App: Farmers can avail the services via Farmers’ Mobile Application to be available both in Android and iOS platforms. Farmers having 3G/4G mobiles can download the app and register themselves for availing the services directly and to be connected with the state-wide agriculture ecosystem. Farmers having 2G mobiles can keep in touch with System either through messaging or through the VAAs and other local Agriculture extension staff. Farmers’ mobile app gives access to all services offered by Government, R&D bodies, expert advice, package of practices, Customer hiring centers, Marketing agencies, Agricultural Universities, Agribusinesses, Famers communities, Cooperatives and any other associated stakeholders. Government can also publish the market prices information, storage facilities, Nearest Custom hiring centers and the implements available, Crop health and Incident Management. Package of practices to be followed for better yield are also made available to the farmers. Farmer Mobile App should have the following features: Farmer app facilitates real-time farmer and farm specific information at farmer’s fingertips

Crop calendar and farm practices help farmer to achieve best crop management

Expert advice enables them to report pest problems and get solutions in real time

Farmer can maintain the range of products applied on to the farm on day to day basis

Better insight into the farm inputs, crop health status, crop performance and expected yield

Easy access to updated information on NEAR BY market place with current farm produce price, Post-harvest storage facilities and Custom hiring centers

Information on diverse events happening on various aspects of agriculture for the development of farmer and farming situations

Notification system that provides up-to-date news reachability to farmers in detail and in real-time

Farmers can get the detailed calendar of package of practices to be followed from date of sowing till harvesting based the crop registered. This is intended to make the dissemination of information effortlessly and with specific details of the crop the farmer is growing. This ensures providing right information to the right people at the right time which is personalized and specific to the context of the farmer.

Farmers can use their mobile phones to register any incident or any crop health issue as soon as it is noticed directly from the field itself. They can also take photos and videos of the Incident/ Disease/Pest/ any crop health issue. These incidents are monitored with built in SLA


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compliance and escalation matrix ensuring timely response and closing of the incidents leading to timely help and enhanced satisfaction.

Farmers App also provides a list of all the interventions applied so far on a particular crop. This will help in enhancing exportability as well as to help farmers to have a single account of all inputs applied such as Agri inputs, Pest control products, any other organic and inorganic fertilizers, Agrochemicals used and their quantity and date of application.

Farmers through their mobile app can search for storage facilities like cold storages, Central and State Warehouses, etc., and their availability for storing their produce. If required this functionality can further be extended to link it with the state and central marketing agencies. This can also be used to generate financial assistance by building suitable extensions to cater to the functionality of Warehouse Receipts management system and can become the trust center for the financial institutions.

Similarly, insurance of the produce also can be easily arranged and economically managed through economies of scale and size.

Farmers can access the markets near them and the ongoing prices for their produce in the respective markets. This will help the farmers to plan their produce sale better and to get best price for their produce.

State Government can promote the farm mechanization through Custom Hiring Centers (CHC). Farmers will be able to identify the CHCs near them along with the various types of implements available and will also have a facility to book that implement for their farms.

4 Business Requirements Specifications From the preliminary understanding by above mentioned scope, Following are the proposed list of Business Requirements that are segregated into Functional and Non-functional requirements. Bidders’ UDP should meet all the following requirements and the bidders should duly fill all the requirements mapping whether it is an out-of-box feature or a configuration or a customization with suitable details filled in the “Remarks Column”: 4.1 Functional Requirements: Proposed Unified Digital Platform (UDP) of the bidder should meet all the following Functional Requirements in order for the Dept of Agriculture (DoAg) to effectively and ably support the Agriculture ecosystem. Business Requirements are assigned due priority as per the following legend: Legend: Description M Mandatory/Must Have GH Good to Have NH Nice to Have


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FR ID Requirement Priority

Method of Compliance

Remarks Out of

Box

Config uraion

Customi zation

FR1.00 Farmer Registration module M

1.01

Should have provision to maintain all farmer data as per National Farmer Registry data requirements and any other data as required by the Dept. of Agriculture (DoAg)

M

1.02

Should have the facility to record all welfare schemes, subsidies, benefits and any other support the respective farmers are receiving

M

FR2.00 Farm Tenancy management M

2.01

On-line Tenancy Approval Process with facility to issue Crop Tenancy Certificate and to record video of land owner if needed.

M

FR3.00 Farm Land Registration M 3.01 Geo-mapping of Farm Lands M 3.02 Farm land ownership data M

3.03 Irrigation Sources and other relevant data as required by DoAg M

3.04 Should be able to record crop details season after season and maintain the complete history of Crop details including soil testing data and other agro-climatic conditions

M

3.05 Should be integrated to all current systems of DoAg such as OLMS, e-Crop, e-Karshak, Rythu Bazaar, etc. as required by DoAg

M

FR4.00 Registration of Input Suppliers

4.01 Register and Maintain all input suppliers, their products, recommendations, indications, and stock levels.

M

4.02 Integration with Agri Labs to register only certified Agro-chemical products M

4.03 Framework to maintain Agro-chemical dosages and recommendations against various diseases and crops

M

FR5.00 Registration of Farmers Organizations

5.01

Should have provision to Register and Maintain FPOs, Joint Liability Groups (JLG), Common Interest Groups (CIG), Communities etc. with a provision for

M


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intragroup communication and collaboration.

FR6.00 Stakeholder registration

6.01 UDP should have provision to register all Stakeholders M

6.02 UDP should have provision to map operational processes of all stakeholder M

6.03

UDP should have provision to record all stakeholder interactions and actions to bring in accountability and responsibility across the spectrum. Should have a provision for DoAg to analyze the performance of various stakeholders.

M

FR7.00 Demand Management M

7.01

Should facilitate Demand Sourcing, Planning, acquisition, regulation, organization and agreement process on-line.

M

7.02 VAAs and DoAg Staff should have the facility to manage and support the Agreement Process

M

FR8.00 Farm Data Management M

8.01 Integration with Land Records and ownership data from DoAg Specified sources

M

8.02

Maintain Land owners and Crop cultivators distinctly along with soil preparation data, Crop data and Soil testing data.

M

8.03 Provision to integrate and maintain Historical Market data against each crop GH

FR9.00 Govt schemes and benefits M

9.01 Facility to publish and maintain various schemes, subsidies, benefits, etc. of the GoAP

M

FR10.00 Certified Inputs module M

10.01 Should support prescribing only certified inputs integrating with the Agri Input Certification systems of DoAg.

M

10.02 Stock Identification and verification through QR Code M

10.03 Facilitate Display of Certified Inputs and their availability based on the interfaced data from RBK Kiosks system.

M

FR11.00 Crop Husbandry Module

11.01 Should have best Agricultural practices framework and knowledge base for all crops

M


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11.02

Should generate Crop Activity Calendar automatically so that the farmers are hand holded throughout from sowing to marketing

M

11.03

Should have the facility to analyze the impact of all forces of nature and advise the farmer with context specific recommendations without having to trouble the customer with micro-level technical details

M

11.04

Should have a framework for recording all advisory points against each and every crop with recommendation-action-response feedback loop

M

11.05

Should facilitate introduction of new methodologies and farming techniques through digital facilities rather than having to conduct expensive physical training of farmers and DoAg staff

M

FR12.00 Financial Assistance/Loans

12.01 Register and maintain Banks and other Financial Institutions (FIs) M

12.02 VAAs and DoAg staff should have the facility to manage and support the Loan application and approval Process

M

12.03 Farmer/Customer on-line verification process M

FR13.00 Crop Insurance

13.01

Should facilitate on-line Crop insurance application process and Crop data verification process including claim verification.

M

13.02 Should have the provision to Integrate with insurance claims process with approval notifications

M

13.03 VAAs and DoAg Staff should have the facility to manage, facilitate and support the Crop Insurance Process

M

FR14.00 Disaster Management

14.01

Should have the framework to disseminate disaster forecast, context specific damage mitigation advisory to respective farmers based on the age and stage of their crop

M

14.02

Facility to record the disaster and crop damage against each crop along with damage estimation data, evidences and damage audits.

M


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FR15.00 Agro agencies, Dealers and Distributors management

15.01 Register and Maintain respective firms along with their products and service offerings

M

15.02 Should offer a mobile app or web access for QR code-based inputs supply M

15.03 Should have provision to sell only prescribed authentic inputs through QR Code validation

M

FR16.00 Crop Advisory Framework

16.01

Crop Advisory Framework to manage and maintain Package of Practices for respective crops with respect to different agro-climatic conditions

M

16.02 Facility to manage and disseminate different farming practices such as Natural Farming, Organic Farming etc.,

M

16.03 Provision for designated Govt. entities to own, manage and approve the content of Package of Practices

M

16.04 Provision to maintain Global Good Agricultural Practices framework and compliance certification process

M

16.05 Framework to disseminate context specific crop advisory to farmers M

FR17.00 Crop Health Management (CHM)

17.01 UDP should have a built-in Crop heath Management Framework and Knowledge Repository

M

17.02

Should have a provision to manage and maintain crop specific Weed, Pest, Disease and Deficiency repository along with images

M

17.03

Should have provision for the farmer to record the voice, and video of the diseased crop, and should generate an incident automatically and have the facility to route the incident to designated panelists for resolution.

M

17.04

VAAs or DoAg Staff should have the facility to register and resolve the incidents if the CHM Knowledge repository have matching recommendations

M

17.05

Should have provision to record mixed infections/diseases, Minimum Threshold Levels, Severity of the infection and spreading pattern

M


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17.06 Expert Panelists should have the facility to collaborate for arriving at appropriate resolution for the incident

M

17.07

CHM Knowledge repository should have the provision to record all resolutions to further strengthen the Knowledge base and to expedite resolution process for similar incidents

M

17.08 UDP should generate a periodical field inspection schedule for the VAAs M

17.09

UDP should have the facility to display Context specific probable disease incidences for easy identification and resolution during the field inspection

M

17.10

VAA/DoAg app should facilitate Prescription-in the field functionality with a matching QR Code for the prescribed certified inputs

M

17.11

UDP should generate follow-up feedback loop to assess the effectiveness of prescribed intervention and to record impact on expected yield

M

17.12

UDP should offer instantaneous communication mechanism to alert DoAg staff and Farmers about any endemics and epidemics

M

FR18.00 Agriculture Extension and Knowledge Management Module

18.01 UDP should have built-in Knowledge repositories to support the field-level extension staff

M

18.02 UDP should facilitate context specific Crop Advisory dissemination directly to the farmers mobiles

M

18.03

Should have content management framework for DoAg and associated Academic bodies to upload and maintain the content

M

18.04

Should facilitate DoAg staff extension efforts through context specific content dissemination to targeted audience by crop or region

M

18.05

Should have facility for DoAg to publish all schemes/ subsidies/ latest farming techniques/ Crop management practices/ Notifications/ context specific advisory, etc. to all farmers or specific target groups

M


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18.06 UDP should be capable of extending to allied sectors such as Animal Husbandry, Dairy, Aquaculture, etc.

GH

FR19.00 Service Request Module

19.01 UDP should have a Service Request module with built-in SLA tracking and escalation matrix

M

19.02 SR and Incident Management Dashboard M FR20.00 Weather Data Integration

20.01

UDP Should have the provision to integrate weather data from on-line sources and Weather Stations to disseminate context specific Crop Advisory

M

FR21.00 Satellite (Remote Sensing) data integration

21.01

UDP should have the ability to integrate and analyze Remote Sensing data with AI/ML based image analytics to facilitate context specific forecast and advisory.

M

FR22.00 Water Resources Management Module

22.01 Should have the facility for Geo-mapping water resources M

FR23.00 Agriculture Mechanization

23.01

Should have integrated Agri Mechanization module to record Custom Hiring Centers, Assets available, Individual assets, their applications, usage guidelines, etc.

M

23.02

Should have a provision for propagating awareness and training about new Farm Machinery through Usage and Training Videos

M

23.03 Should have a searchable database of all farm machinery for booking M

23.04 VAAs and DoAg staff should have the access to facilitate, organize, catalyze and support Agriculture Mechanization

M

FR24.00 Harvest Management

24.01 Should have the facility to record and maintain yield forecasts across all crops throughout the state

M

24.02

Should have 360-degree harvest planning capabilities and communication capabilities with a provision to integrate with Farm gate procurement

M

24.03 VAAs and DoAg staff should have the access to facilitate, organize, catalyze and support Harvest planning and logistics

M


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FR25.00 Post-harvest storage

25.01

Storage facility registration as per the data specified by the DoAg such as Category, Type of storage, Availability, Storage cost. It should also facilitate on-line booking of the storage space.

M

25.02 Facility for the storage providers to market their services to target farmers M

25.03

Should have advisory and recommendations on post-harvest storage treatments specific to each produce

M

FR26.00 Marketing Department 26.01 Facility to analyze market forecast M

26.02 Should facilitate accurate market Cess collection M

26.03 Should provide for planning and souring the market demand as per yield forecast. M

26.04 Should have integrated e-commerce module to facilitate direct marketing to individual and institutional consumers

M

26.05 VAAs and DoAg staff should have access to facilitate and support direct produce marketing

M

26.06 Should have facility to record historical market prices data for farm produce M

26.07

VAA APP should have a provision to access all crop-wise production data in their village and to enter the price details against respective produce

M

26.08

Head of the Departments should have the facility to decide on the procurement plan for respective commodities and should be able to communicate the plan to respective staff and to VAAs to plan and organize the procurements

M

26.09

Marketing Department should have the facility to setup Procurement centers as per need and to seamlessly coordinate with buyers, logistics service providers, storage facility operators, department staff, VAAs and Farmers to effectively coordinate all procurement activities.

M

FR27.00 Source Trace module

27.01 UDP should offer Seed-to-fork traceability of farm produce M

FR28.00 Real-time market place information


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28.01 UDP should have the facility to display context specific market prices for farmers' crops with in their vicinity.

M

28.02 Should have interface to the e-NAM to maintain up-to-date market prices M

28.03 Providing Purchasing Centers information to farmers M

28.04

Facility to directly communication to the farmers and with near accurate yield forecasts to ensure MSP purchases are planned and controlled effectively limiting the exposure to the Govt only to the produce purchase of the farmers with in the state

M

FR29.00 Real-time Analytics

29.01

System should have built-in real-time analytical engine generating real-time analytics as the data being entered in the system

M

29.02 Should offer interactive dash-boards specific to respective roles and responsibilities

M

29.03 Should have interactive maps to locate the farmers and to query the data of a particular Village, Mandal, District, etc.,

M

FR30.00 Farmer Mobile App

30.01 Should have facility to display all farm lands owned by the farmer M

30.02 UDP should display the farm-wise crops under cultivation M

30.03 UDP should have a facility to uniquely identify each crop M

30.04 Should have the facility to report the incident through Images, Voice and Video Messages

M

30.05 Should maintain the list of Applied interventions against each crop M

30.06 Should have facility to display all farm lands owned by the farmer and the crops he is cultivating in those farm lands

M

30.07 Should have a facility to receive various notifications broadcast from the DoAg. M

30.08 Show market prices of farm produce across Mandis with in their vicinity M

30.09

System should have the provision to display the context specific prices of the Crops the farmer is growing with in the vicinity threshold set by the farmer

M


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30.10

Should facilitate Searching of Custom Hiring Centers and booking of Farm Machinery along with storage and direct market linkages.

M

30.11

Should have the provision to build farm economics module for the farmer to have record of all expenses and expected income from the farm

M

30.12 UDP should have the provision to add new functions to the Farmers mobile app as and when requested by the DoAg

M

FR31.00 VAA Mobile App/Tablet App

31.01

Should have the functionality to register Farmers, Farm Land identification, Banker Registration, Custom Hiring Center Registration, Dealer, Distributor and other stakeholders that operate at the village level

M

31.02 Crop registration feature to register the crops and capture farm visuals. M

31.03 Should have the facility to view and act on the assigned incidents or Service requests

M

31.04 Should display Farmer and Farm details for respective Incidents/SRs M

31.05 Should have the facility to update the expected yield during field inspections M

31.07

Should display the prescribed Crop Husbandry practices, diseases, Insect, Deficiencies, Package of Practices and Weed management specific to the Crop in question so that the VAA can have ready access to all farm data and history

M

31.08 Should have the provision to maintain and record daily RBK activities M

31.09 Should facilitate data capture to maintain VAA Dairy of daily activities accomplished M

FR32.00 RBK Administration

32.01

Should have the provision to develop all RBK service processes to measure, manage, control and optimize the RBK operations.

M

32.02 Should facilitate automation of planning, execution and administration of Polambadi program of DoAg.

M

FR33.00 Reports & Dashboards Agriculture Dept M

33.01 Cropping details report - at all levels such as Village, Mandal, District, State M


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33.02 Cropping Details report -Crop-wise across different levels M

33.03 Disease incidence report M 33.04 Pest, Weed, Insect Incidence Report M

33.05 Yield Forecast Report - Crop-wise & Region-wise M

33.06 Should facilitate integration with e-Pragati Dashboards M

33.07 Other Reports and Dashboards specified by Agriculture Department on need base M

FR34.00 Horticulture Department services integration M

34.01 Master Card Mechanism for eNam should be integrated M

34.02 Safal, Kalgudi, NCDX etc. application integration M

34.03 Micro Irrigation Development (MIDS-aponline) application integration M

34.04 Hortnet-NIC application integration M

34.05

Disease predictions and Pest Control mechanism implementation (Predictive Analysis/Forecasts etc.) to be implemented

M

34.06 Market Intelligence /Buyer and seller platform implementation M

34.07 Other Reports and Dashboards specified by Horticulture Department on need base M

FR35.00 Fisheries Department services integration M

35.01 HSD Oil subsidy application integration M 35.02 FishBan relief scheme application M 35.03 Fisherman exgratia M

35.04 RealCraft, AFCOF, SIFT, MPEDA etc. applications integrations M

35.05 Other Fisherman/Aqua former beneficiary scheme application integrations M

35.06 Other Reports and Dashboards specified by Fisheries Department on need base M

FR36.00 Animal Husbandry Department services integration M

36.01 RIDS application integration M

36.02 Livestock Loss Compensation application integration M

36.03 Market Intelligence /Buyer and seller platform implementation M

36.04 Disease predictions / Control mechanism implementation (Predictive M


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Analysis/Forecasts etc.) to be implemented

36.05 Other Animal Husbandry former beneficiary scheme application integrations

M

36.06 APSGDF, APLDA etc. applications implementation or integration if exist M

36.07 Other Reports and Dashboards specified by Animal Husbandry Department on need base

M

FR37.00 Dairy Development Board services integration

37.01 NDDB applications integration M

37.02 Other Dairy Development Board beneficiary scheme or any other required application integrations

M

37.03 Other Reports and Dashboards specified by Dairy Development Board on need base

M

4.2 Targeted Users Agriculture and Allied Departmental Staff Farmers Manufacturers/Dealers, Distributors, Traders (seed, fertiliser, equipment etc.) and all other

input suppliers Various Agribusiness entities and Traders Agri Universities, Horticulture Universities, Research Institutions and Academic institutions Marketing staff Bankers and Insurance agencies (Loans and insurances)


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4.3 Non-functional (Technical) Requirements: The proposed UDP should also meet the following Non-Functional (Technical) Requirements:

ID Sub ID Requirement Business

Priority

Method of Compliance Remarks Out of

Box Configu- ration

Customi- zation

1.00 General

1.01

The supplier should provide a UDP that offers Web application accessible using common web browsers on both desktop and mobile devices

a. MS Internet Explorer/Edge M b. Google Chrome M c. Mozilla Firefox M d. Apple Safari M

1.02

The UDP should offer Mobile/Tablet Apps both on iOS and Android for Farmers, Field Staff and other stakeholders

M

1.03

The application shall be accessible to all users 24 hours per day, 7 days a week.

M

1.04

The application shall contain a secure login feature with a distinct login for each user using industry best practices for password security.

M

1.05

The application shall allow the assignment of user roles which limit a user’s access within the application.

M

1.06

The UDP should offer Geo-fencing-based Territory and access management

M

1.07

The application shall allow the administrator role to limit which users can delete records

M

1.08 All the user data captured in the UDP is the property of the GoAP M

1.09

The website contains a privacy policy regarding collected information.

M


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1.10

The website contains a landing page for a public user to enter search criteria as well as provide login links for relevant registered stakeholders

M

1.11

The UDP has a provision to upload and maintain historical data related to Agriculture and DoAg.

M

2.00 User Accounts

2.01

The UDP shall have a secure login feature with a distinct login for each user.

M

2.02 The UDP should support two factor

Authentication M

3.00 UDP Build

3.01 UDP should be built-on open source

technologies NH

3.02

UDP should be based on Micro-services architecture to offer unlimited scalability

M

3.03

UDP should support enhancements/ upgrades/modifications without any downtime

M

3.04

Should have Knowledge Management Framework to maintain knowledge base for various subjects

M

3.05

Should have framework for context specific dissemination of extension information based on any relevant parameters

M

3.06 Should have built in Digital collaboration framework supporting Text, Voice and Video messages

M

3.07

Should have the facility to automate Task Generation, management, monitoring, controlling and optimization

M

3.08 Should have built-in SLA framework M

3.09

Should have Location intelligence framework to facilitate Man, Machinery and Material tracking

M

3.10

UDP should be capable of extending to all other allied sectors such as Animal Husbandry, Dairy, Aquaculture, etc.

M


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3.11

Should have a framework for implementing Global Good Agricultural Practices.

NH

4.00 Workflow Management

4.01

All Agri Department services should be supported by Dynamic Workflow Engine

M

4.02

Workflow process and role changes should automatically reflect across all processes

M

5.00 Remote Sensing Data Interface M 6.00 Weather Data Interface M

7.00

UDP should have the provision for integrating IoT Data from Weather Stations and other field sensors

M

8.00 Should have AI/ML based predictive

analytics engine M

9.00 Should have GIS Maps interface M 10.00 UDP Database

10.01

Should deliver double-digit millisecond performance at any scale.

M

10.02

It should be fully managed, multi-region, multi-master, durable database with built-in security, backup and restore, and in-memory caching for internet-scale applications.

M

10.03 Should support Auto-sharding M 11.00 UDP Architecture

11.01 Should be microservice oriented design M

11.02

Should support multi-cloud and hybrid environment conforming underlying securities and code once and deploy anywhere paradigm

M

11.03

Should support Disaster Recovery Plan for business continuity with Industry Standard RTO and RPO

M

11.04

UDP should be manageable, secure, scalable, high performance, efficient, elastic, highly available, fault tolerant and recoverable architecture

NH

11.05 Should support the ability for Service Providers to send notifications to consumers

M


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11.06

Should support the ability to run analytics on top of collected data, with analytics able to visualize & understand app data usage

M

11.07

Should support effective distribution of traffic via load balancing M

12.00

Should manage user identities & sync user specific data across multiple devices

M

13.00

UDP should be capable to secure data at rest and in transit M

14.00 Portability: Dynamic data structure

and making use of existing data M

15.00

Compatibility: Compatible to existing systems that support open standards

M

16.00 Should support local languages M

17.00 Security: ISO/IEC 27001:2013

complaint architecture M

Note: The above list of services with respect to modules is an indicative list, however there will be inclusion or exclusion takes place over detailed Requirement Gathering sessions with Core Agriculture and allied departments.


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5 Legacy Business Process Workflow The following is the comprehensive As-Is flow of Core Agriculture services:

5.1 Testing o Design of test cases and test plan strategy should be completed in parallel to requirements

finalization. o SI team to ensure that the SIT/UAT test cases and test strategy documents to be reviewed

and approved by e-Pragati Authority. o Testing will be performed for the sprint backlog and the bugs identified during testing

iterations of the sprint are to be fixed within the sprint cycle only. o Following Standard testing best practices to be ensured across all phases of testing. o Unit test cases executed against Test Plan/Scripts o Profile to identify performance problems o Verify that Logs have no errors or alerts


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Scope of application testing shall include (but not limited to) :

o System Integration Testing (SIT) – After the entire development cycle is over, all the components shall be tested end to end. Here SI has to demonstrate the system in a controlled production environment. The SI will carry out the Integration testing to ensure the integration of all the modules of e-Pragati for Andhra Pradesh State Agriculture Department

o Performance and Load Testing – The application software along with the associated infrastructure should successfully meet the criteria for response time for a given user load defined as a minimum concurrency of 20% of the total users of e-Pragati for Andhra Pradesh Agriculture Department. Number of Users may vary case to case scenario and SI has to adhere to these numbers.

o User Acceptance testing (UAT) – 100% of all Critical defects identified as part of the UAT shall be fixed and retested before go-live. For high-priority defects, at least 90% of the defects shall be fixed before go-live. Remaining 10% will need to be fixed within 1 month of the go-live. For medium-priority defects, 80% of these should be fixed before go-live and for low-priority defects, 60% shall be fixed before go-live. All pending medium and low priority defects shall be fixed within 2 months of go-live.

Critical Priority: A defect that completely hampers or blocks testing of the product/ feature is a Critical Priority defect. An example but not limited to this, would be in the case of UI testing where after going through a wizard, the UI just hangs at one pane or doesn’t go further to trigger the function. Or in some other cases, when the feature developed itself is missing from the build.

High Priority: A High Priority occurs when the functionality is functioning grossly away from the expectations or not doing what it should be doing. An example but not limited to this could be: the feature is expected to display a particular error to the user with respect to its return code. In this case, functionally the code will throw an error, but the message will need to be more relevant to the return code generated.

Medium Priority: A Medium Priority defect occurs when the product or application doesn't meet certain criteria or still exhibits some unnatural behavior, however, the functionality as a whole is not impacted. For example, but not limited to this example, a particular functionality can be used only on a later version of the platform, so in order to verify this – the tester actually downgrades his system and performs the test and observes a serious functionality issue which is valid, as normally end users will be expected to have support for a higher version of platform.

Low Priority: A minor bug occurs when there is almost no impact to the functionality, but it is still a valid defect that should be corrected. Examples of this could include spelling mistakes in error messages printed to user or defects to enhance the look and feel of a feature.

5.2 Go-Live Requirements

For completion of Go-Live formalities, System Integrator (SI) must submit:

o Final UAT and Compliance Certificates from e-Pragati Authority and Agriculture Department.


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o Letter for completion of Appropriate Training to Agriculture Department Officials on delivered product.

o All the necessary software documentation for delivered Product. o User Manual for Agriculture Department o Catalogue for Help Desk Team to resolve Agriculture Department issues or raise Flags/

Tickets.

5.3 Operational and Maintenance Requirements

The vendor shall be required to provide operational and maintenance services for applications delivered for Andhra Pradesh State Agriculture Department including, all the connected software and integrated components. This section discusses the Operations & Maintenance services to be provided by vendor with respect to Application Software.

Operations & Maintenance (O&M) phase of the project is by default scheduled for a period of 7 years ( Plus an additional 3 Years, if extended) from the date of “Go–Live” of the application. During these 10 years, the SI is required to undertake the following key activities:

Maintain the implemented UDP as per prescribed service levels agreement terms laid down in this RFP.

Integrate the UDP with software applications developed and deployed with e-Pragati Core Platform as per requirement.

Implement changes to UDP as per terms and conditions of the RFP Maintain systems required for automated generation of compliance of service level

requirements laid down in this RFP.

6 Pre-qualification Criteria e-Pragati invites the interested & eligible entrepreneurs desirous of bidding for the project and who meet the following Pre- qualification criteria (PQ):

# Pre-Qualification Criteria Description Supporting Documents to be

submitted by the bidders

Nature of bidding Single bid

1

Legal Entity

Bidder may be an Indian company or a foreign entity with a local base in India, must have registered under Companies Act, 1956 or under LLP Act, 2008 and also Registered with the Service Tax Authorities. If in case the bidder does not have a registered office in AP, they should have registered

Bidder should submit:

i. RoC ii. Copy of Service Tax Registration

Certificate


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office and service tax registration in the state of AP within 15 days of awarding the project

2 Sales Turnover

The bidder company and its group in case of the foreign entity shall be in operations for a minimum period of 5 years in the business and their average annual turnover for the last 3 years as of March 2020 or a date near to should not be less than INR 200 Crore

Bidder should submit the following:

i. Audited balance sheet ii. Profit & Loss statement or iii. Certificate from the statutory

auditor

3 The Bidder should be a profitable organization in the last 3 years of operations and should have a minimum net worth of INR 100 Crores

For each of the financial years, A Certificate of Net worth duly certified by a Chartered Accountant to be submitted.

4 Manpower Deployment

The bidders should have, a permanent workforce of not less than 1000 personnel in their company/group as on bid calling date.

Prime Bidder (lead Member) / Bidder should submit Self-Certification by the authorized signatory.

• List only key management and specialist positions in the Organization.

• Details of the personnel in the Project Management Team.

5 The Bidder must have valid registrations / licenses for ESI, EPF, GST and Shops & Establishment certificate.

Valid Certificates to be submitted within 30 days of awarding the project in case the bidder is a Global firm and does not have a registered office in AP.

6 Local Presence: Bidder should have a registered office in the state of AP. In case the bidder does not have a registered office in AP, they should provide an undertaking that they will establish a registered office in AP within 15 days of awarding the project.

Upon contracting, the bidder shall have GST number allotted in AP and billing shall be from AP office only.

Bidder should submit Self certified office address and GST Registration Certificate copy

Undertaking to be submitted if in case the bidder does not have a registered office in AP.


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7 Past Experience: The bidder should have at least one Digital platform development experience and should have their platform/s deployed on enterprise scale.

Should have at least 2 Government projects experience either in India or globally.

Certificates from the client for at least one enterprise Digital Platform deployment.

Project completion Certificates from at least 2 Government Entities with mobile number, email ID of the client point of contact.

8 Blacklist

Bidder shall not have been black listed by any State / Central Government Department, Ministry or Agency for breach of Contractual Conditions as on bid calling date. The bidder should also not be entangled in any legal disputes with any Govt./PSU body.

Self-Declaration Certificate that the Bidder is not black listed as on bid calling date to be enclosed in the bid.

6.1 Short listing Criteria a. e-Pragati will shortlist bidders who meet the Pre-Qualification criteria mentioned in this

Invitation to RFP.

b. Any attempt by a Bidder to influence the bid evaluation Process may result in the rejection of its RFP Proposal.

c. e-Pragati will constitute a Proposal Evaluation Committee to short-list the bidders according the Pre-Qualification criteria given in this document.

6.2 Evaluation Process a. The evaluation will be 3 stages i.e., PQ, TQ & Commercial of the proposal submitted by

the bidders.

b. The bidders will be shortlisted based on the Pre-Qualification criteria as given in section 6 of this RFP document.

c. The bidders who qualify in PQ evaluation will be eligible for opening of Technical Evaluation & also bidder should arrange for Technical demonstration on the features of the proposed software.

d. Technical demonstration Date, Time & Venue will be informed as per schedule fixed by the evaluation Committee.

e. The bidders have to score a minimum of 40 marks in Technical evaluation for treating as technically qualified. Financial bids of technically qualified bids will only be considered for further evaluation.

f. The overall evaluation shall be 70:30 i.e. Technical evaluation scores will be evaluated to a


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maximum of 70 Marks as per criteria mentioned in Technical Evaluation section. Financial bids will be evaluated to a maximum score of 30 Marks. Lowest quoted bidder will get maximum 30 marks. Remaining bidders marks will be calculated based on the formula {(L1 quote/Bidder quote)*30}

g. Technical and Financial Marks added together, the proposals will be ranked in terms of the Overall Scores obtained from Highest to Lowest. The bidder with the highest overall score will be considered for award of contract & will be issue Notification of Award.

6.3 The Technical Proposal shall cover the following: a. Core business areas of operation, number of years in the business, ownership and

organizational structure of Firm.

b. Client and Project brief details

c. Bidder’s UDP demonstration and technical capabilities

d. Business Requirements specifications mapping score of Bidder’s UDP

e. What is the Firms vision for Agriculture ecosystem and Integrated Rural Development?

f. Project Plan anticipated time schedule with milestones.

g. Any other relevant information.

7 Technical Evaluation Criteria Project Evaluation Committee (PEC) will evaluate the Technical Proposals of the Pre-Qualified bidders as per the following Stage I & Stage II criteria:

Stage –I – TQ Evaluation

Sl .No

Technical Evaluation Parameter

Description Maximum Marks

1.

Proposed Digital Platform Solution

(Functional)

Proposed Technical solution (UDP) should have been built on Open Source technologies. Proposed Unified Digital platform should meet all the Functional requirements as specified under section 4. Business Requirements Specification

30


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2.

Proposed Digital Platform Solution (Technical)

Proposed Technical solution (UDP) should have been built on Open Source technologies. Proposed Unified Digital platform should meet all the Technical requirements as specified under section 4. Business Requirements Specification

10

Stage –II – Technical Presentation cum Live Demo

4. Technical

Presentation and Live Demo

a. Live Demonstration of all functional and Technical features specified under section 4.

20

b. Proposed Implementation methodology, Timelines and Resource deployment plan.

5

c. Innovative services and new business models potential.

5

70


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7.1 Commercial Evaluation

S. No Mode INR. Cr.

1 Since we are going with SaaS model, annual cost for the complete project effort on a subscription basis. Cost breakup: license cost, manpower resources, etc.

2 Identify and realize benefits (cost reduction), propose profit sharing between Govt. and Vendor.

a) Reduce cost/realize savings from Govt spending b) Quantify savings based on hard data and metrics c) Propose a % of Savings as Vendor payment

3 Identify and realize benefits (revenue generation), propose profit sharing between Govt. and Vendor.

d) Generate new revenue to Govt e) Quantify based on hard data and metrics f) Propose a % of Revenue as Vendor payment

4 Net annual cost to Govt [ 1 – (2+3)]

Net Cost to Government per annum (or, specify if net earnings to the GoAP) = INR _________ Cr.


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8 Payment Terms

8.1 Method of Payment Comprehensive Financial Management System (CFMS) is an enterprise level application, designed, developed and implemented by Andhra Pradesh Centre for Financial Systems and Services (APCFSS) on behalf of the Finance Department. All the payments for vendor’s/service providers working for the Government of Andhra Pradesh, must be registered on this portal, as payment will be processed on CFMS portal.

8.2 Income Tax Rule Compliance Payments shall be subject to deductions of any amount for which the Bidder is liable under the empanelment or RFP conditions. Further, all payments shall be made subject to deduction of TDS (Tax deduction at Source) as per the Income-Tax Act Section 194C and / or any other statutory provisions. 8.3 Liquidated Damages In the event of the Bidder's failure to submit the Guarantees and Documents and provision of the necessary deliverables as per schedule specified in this RFP, e-Pragati may at its discretion withhold any payment until the completion of the contract. e-Pragati may also deduct from the payment due to the Bidder as agreed, liquidated damages to the sum of agreed terms as specified in the SLA, subject to the maximum value of the Liquidated Damages being not more than 10% of the value of corresponding milestone payment of the delayed/undelivered services/monthly installment. This right to claim any liquidated damages shall be without prejudice to other rights and remedies available to e-Pragati under the contract and law. Liquidated damages shall not be imposed for the period of delay solely attributable to e-Pragati or Line Department of Andhra Pradesh. 8.4 Payment Schedules & Milestones

All the payments will be done to the selected Bidder by the e-Pragati after the delivery of services or after achieving the milestones.

9 Milestones and Deliverables The following deliverables are expected from this project at high level. The detailed plan during execution can refine the following further during execution:

• Fully working Modules and Functionality. • Updated input documents with changes during the project. • Any relevant document deemed necessary, including user guides and training manuals • Training to be completed the Identified Department Users


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10 Acceptance Criteria 10.1 Acceptance Criteria Definition Acceptance Criteria defines how a particular feature could be used from an end user’s perspective. It focuses on business value, establishes the boundary of the feature’s scope and guides development. These are unique to a feature/functionality and form the basis of acceptance testing which establishes the conditions for the success of the feature.

When the product owner verifies particular module acceptance criteria and the developed feature passes it, the development of the module is considered a success.

1. The SI shall study and understand the requirements of the project and shall design, develop,

test, and provide maintenance support in accordance with the requirements.

2. Final acceptance of Deliverables comprising functionalities and specifications identified in the RFP and successful completion of all deliverables set forth in one or more Statements of Work, i.e. outcomes of the project methodology is expressly conditioned upon completion of all applicable inspection and testing procedures to satisfy the mutual definition of “done”.

3. The SI shall diligently engage with e-Pragati & customer in review of all Deliverables presented and all the outcomes. In the event Customer’s review of the final Deliverables, outcomes or other work contracted identifies errors, defects, faults, noncompliance with the required Deliverables and specifications of the RFP as set forth , the SI shall provide Customer with a revised Deliverable and/or a mutually agreed upon detailed schedule, e.g. corrective action plan, for completion of a revised Deliverable, for any objections that SI and Customer mutually determine fall within the intended scope of the Deliverable. If the customer objections are not within the scope of the Agreement, the SI may initiate a Change Order and payment for the specific deliverable shall be due, excepting the objections.

11 Service Level Agreement

11.1 Service Level Agreement for Development & Implementation Phases

System Integrators are requested to submit the standard SLA’s for development & Implementation Phases of the project.

11.2 Service Level Agreement for Operations & Maintenance Phase System Integrators are requested to submit the standard SLA’s for O&M phase of the project. However, O&M SLA requirements shall be finalized during Go-Live phase with mutual discussions.


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12 Terms & Conditions 12.1 Contract Terms

12.1.1 Availability of the RFP Documents:

The RFP can be downloaded from the procurement website. The bidders are expected to examine all instructions, forms, terms, project requirements and other information in the RFP documents. Failure to furnish all information required as mentioned in the RFP documents or submission of a proposal not substantially responsive to the RFP documents in every respect will be at the bidder's risk and may result in rejection of the proposal and forfeiture of the bid security. 12.1.2 Mode of Submission

Procedure for Bid Submission The Bidder shall submit their response through document submission process on e-Procurement platform at www.apeprocurement.gov.in by following the procedure given below: The Proposer would be required to register on the e-procurement platform www.apeprocurement.gov.in or https://tender.apeprocurement.gov.in and submit their proposals online.

In case any Proposer is not able to upload the entire set of documents on e-procurement platform either due to space/size constraint or any other technical hitches, only in such cases, the relevant hard copies of the left over documents which could not be uploaded on e-procurement platform may be submitted in sealed covers in the name of CEO, e-Pragati Authority office located at The e-Pragati Authority 2nd Floor, Infosight Building, Survey No. 78/2, Near Pathuru Road Junction, NH-16, Service Road, Tadepalli – 522501, Guntur District, Andhra Pradesh before the stipulated closure time of proposal submission. A self-certificate from the Proposer in this regard detailing the reasons for submitting the hard copies, if any, duly bringing out issues faced in uploading them on e-procurement platform, if any, shall also be submitted. The uploaded documents on the e-procurement platform and the hard copies submitted in sealed covers, if any, together will be treated as a single set of documents under a proposal and will be evaluated accordingly.

The Proposers shall submit their necessary documents for empanelment proposal online in e-Procurement web site. The Proposers shall upload the scanned copies of all the relevant certificates, documents etc., in support of their Pre-Qualification and other certificates/documents with clear readability, in the e-Procurement web site. The Proposer




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should sign on all the statements, documents, certificates uploaded in the e-Procurement website, owning responsibility for their correctness/authenticity. 12.1.3 Payment of Transaction Fee:

It is mandatory for all the participant Proposers from 1st January 2006 to electronically pay a prescribed non-refundable Transaction fee to M/s. APTS, the service provider through "Payment Gateway Service on E-Procurement platform". The Electronic Payment Gateway accepts all Master and Visa Credit Cards Andhra Pradesh Technology Services Limited, Vijayawada www.apts.gov.in/ (OR) You may please contact any Registration Authorities of Certifying Authorities in India. The list of CAs is available in the link provided below. https://tender.apeprocurement.gov.in/DigitalCertificate/signature.html issued by any bank and Direct Debit facility/Net Banking to facilitate the transaction. This is in compliance as per G.O.Ms. 13 dated 07.05.2006. 12.1.4 Corpus Fund:

As per GO MS No.4, user departments shall collect 0.04% of ECV (estimated project cost) with a cap of Rs. 10,000/- (Rupees ten thousand only) for all works with ECV up to Rs.50 Crores, and Rs. 25,000/- (Rupees twenty-five thousand only) for works with ECV above Rs.50 Crores, from successful Proposers on e-Procurement platform before entering into agreement / issue of purchase orders, towards e-procurement fund in favor of Managing Director, APTS. There shall not be any charge towards e-Procurement fund in case of works, goods and services with ECV less than and up to Rs. 10 lakhs

12.1.5 Letter of Award:

Post commercial bid opening and identifying the Lowest bidder, the e-Pragati Authority will issue a Letter of Award to the successful bidder. 12.2 Pre-Bid Conference

The e-Pragati will host a Pre-Bid Conference, tentatively scheduled as per the schedule given in Page 6. The representatives of the interested organizations may attend the pre-bid conference at their own cost. The purpose of the pre-bid conference is to provide bidders with information regarding the RFP and the proposed requirements in reference to the particular RFP. It will also provide each bidder with an opportunity to seek clarifications regarding any aspect of the RFP and the project. 1. Clarify and discuss issues with respect to the Project and the RFP, the e-Pragati Authority

may hold Pre-Proposal meeting(s). The e-Pragati Authority will endeavor to hold the Pre-Proposal meeting as per bidding schedule specified in Page 6.

https://tender.apeprocurement.gov.in/DigitalCertificate/signature.html


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2. Prior to the Pre-Proposal meeting(s), the Bidders may submit a list of queries and propose deviations, if any, to the Project requirements and/or the Services Agreement. Bidders must formulate their queries and forward the same to the e-Pragati Authority as per the schedule. The e-Pragati Authority may, in its sole discretion or based on inputs provided by Bidders that it considers acceptable, amend the RFP.

3. Bidders may note that the e-Pragati Authority will not entertain any deviations to the RFP at the time of submission of the Proposal or thereafter. The Proposal to be submitted by the Bidders would have to be unconditional and unqualified and the Bidders would be deemed to have accepted the terms and conditions of the Bidding Documents with all its contents including the draft Services Agreement. Any conditional Proposal shall be regarded as nonresponsive and would be liable for rejection.

4. Attendance of the Bidders at the Pre-Proposal meeting is not mandatory. 5. All correspondence / enquiries shall be submitted to the officer mentioned below, in writing

by facsimile/registered post/courier or by email: Kind Attention : CEO, the e-Pragati Authority

Address : 2nd Floor, Infosight Building, Survey No. 78/2, Near Pathuru Road Junction, NH-16, Service Road, Tadepalli – 522501, Guntur District, Andhra Pradesh.

Email : [email protected] 6. The e-Pragati Authority shall make available its responses, including a description of the

enquiry, but without identifying its source, on the e-procurement website and/or its website. In addition, the e-Pragati Authority may choose to send to all Bidders, written copies of such responses to all the Bidders. No interpretation, revision, or other communication from the e-Pragati Authority regarding this solicitation is valid unless it is in writing and is signed by a person not less than the rank of the CEO, e-Pragati Authority.

7. The period of contract is 7 years from the date of signing of agreement with the successful bidder, with an option to extend the term for a further 3 years.

12.3 Bidder Inquiries and e-Pragati responses

1. All enquiries from the prospective bidders relating to this RFP must be submitted in writing

exclusively to the contact person notified by e-Pragati as above request for Clarification Format. A copy of the bidder enquiries should also be emailed to the bid issuer’s email address as indicated in Page 6. The mode of delivering written questions would be through post or email. It can also be presented in writing by the authorized representative of the prospective bidders during pre-bid conference. In no event will e-Pragati be responsible for ensuring that bidders’ inquiries have been received by them. Telephone calls or any other mode of communication other than prescribed herein will not be accepted for the queries.

2. After the RFP is issued to the bidder, e-Pragati shall accept written questions/inquiries from the bidders. e-Pragati will endeavor to provide a complete, accurate, and timely response to all questions to all the bidders. However, e-Pragati makes no representation or warranty as to the completeness or accuracy of any response, nor does e-Pragati undertake to answer all the queries that have been posed by the bidders. All responses given by e-Pragati will be published on the website given. All responses given by e-Pragati will be available to all the bidders. Any

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email communications sent by bidders to e-Pragati must be sent to the email address provided in Page 6.

3. The e-Pragati will not be bound to clarify any query after the pre-bid meeting. 4. The queries should be submitted in following format:

Sr. No.

Bidder Name

Section Name

Clause No

Page No.

Clause/Statement Query e-Pragati Response

12.4 Supplementary Information / Corrigendum / Amendment to the RFP

1. If e-Pragati deems it appropriate to revise any part of this RFP or to issue additional data to

clarify an interpretation of the provisions of this RFP, it may issue supplements to this RFP. Such supplemental information, including but not limited to, any additional conditions, clarifications, minutes of meeting, and official communication over email/post will be communicated to all the bidders by publishing in the Procurement Website. Any such supplement shall be deemed to be incorporated by this reference into this RFP.

2. The letters seeking clarifications sent either to all the bidders or to specific bidder as the case may be pertaining to pre-bid conference shall also be deemed to be incorporated by this reference in this RFP, as the case may be.

3. At any time prior to the deadline (or as extended by e-Pragati) for submission of bids, e-Pragati, for any reason, whether at its own initiative or in response to clarifications requested by prospective bidder, may modify the RFP document by issuing amendment(s). All such amendments will be published in e-procurement website given under Section 4. All such amendment(s) will be binding on all the bidders.

4. In order to allow bidders a reasonable time to take the amendment(s) into account in preparing their bids, e-Pragati, at its discretion, may extend the deadline for the submission of bids.

12.5 Proposal Preparation Costs The bidder 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/discussions/presentations, preparation of proposal in providing any additional information required by e-Pragati to facilitate the evaluation process, and in negotiating a definitive Service Agreement and all such activities related to the bid process. This RFP does not commit e-Pragati to award a contract or to engage in negotiations. Further, no reimbursable cost may be incurred in anticipation of award of the contract for implementation of the project.


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12.6 Right to terminate the Process of RFP by e-Pragati Authority

1. e-Pragati may terminate the RFP process at any time without assigning any reason. e-Pragati

makes no commitments, explicit or implicit, that this process will result in a business transaction with anyone.

2. This RFP does not constitute an offer by e-Pragati. The bidder’s participation in this process may result in e-Pragati selecting the bidder to engage in further discussions and negotiations towards execution of a contract. The commencement of such negotiations does not, however, signify a commitment by e-Pragati to execute a contract or to continue negotiations.

3. e-Pragati has the right to terminate this discussions and negotiations process without assigning any reason and no costs will be reimbursed to the participating bidders.

12.7 Acceptance of part / whole bid / modification – Rights thereof e-Pragati reserves the right to modify the specifications / quantities / requirements / tenure mentioned in this RFP including addition / deletion of any of the item or part thereof after pre-bid and the right to accept or reject wholly or partly bid offer, or, without assigning any reason whatsoever. No correspondence in this regard shall be entertained. e-Pragati also reserves the unconditional right to place order on wholly or partly bid quantity to successful bidder.

12.8 Authentication of Bids The original and all copies of the bid shall be typed or written in indelible ink and signed by the Bidder or a person duly authorized to bind the Bidder to the Contract. A certified true copy of the corporate sanctions/approvals/board resolution authorizing its authorized representative to sign/act/execute documents forming part of this proposal including various RFP documents and binding contract shall accompany the bid. All pages of the bid, except for un-amended printed literature, shall be initialed and stamped by the person or persons signing the bid.

12.9 Interlineations in Bids The bid shall contain no interlineations, erasures or overwriting except as necessary to correct errors made by the Bidder, in which case such corrections shall be initialed by the person or persons signing the bid.

12.10 Venue & Deadline for submission of proposals 1. Proposals, in its complete form in all respects as specified in the RFP 2. Last Date & Time of submission: Before the date and time stipulated in schedule given in

RFP in Page 6. 3. e-Pragati may, in exceptional circumstances and at its discretion, extend the deadline for

submission of proposals by issuing an addendum. All such addendums will be published in e-procurement website. In such a case of extension, all rights and obligations of e-Pragati


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and the bidders previously subject to the original deadline will thereafter be subject to the deadline as extended.

12.11 Late Bids

Bids received after the due date and the specified time (including the extended period if any) for any reason whatsoever, shall not be entertained and shall be returned unopened.

12.12 Conditions and Reservations under which this RFP is issued

1. This RFP is not an offer and is issued with no commitment. e-Pragati reserves the right to withdraw the RFP and change or vary any part thereof at any stage. e-Pragati also reserves the right to disqualify any bidder, should it be so necessary at any stage for any reason whatsoever.

2. Timing and sequence of events resulting from this RFP shall ultimately be determined by e-Pragati.

3. No oral conversations or agreements with any official, agent, or employee of e-Pragati shall affect or modify any terms of this RFP and any alleged oral agreement or arrangement made by a bidder with any department, agency, official or employee of e-Pragati shall be superseded by the definitive agreement that results from this RFP process. Oral communications by e-Pragati to bidders shall not be considered binding on e-Pragati, nor shall any written materials have provided by any person other than e-Pragati.

4. Neither the bidder nor any of the bidder’s representatives shall have any claims whatsoever against e-Pragati or any of their respective officials, agents, or employees arising out of, or relating to this RFP or these procedures (other than those arising under a definitive service agreement with the bidder in accordance with the terms thereof).

5. The information contained in this document is only disclosed for the purposes of enabling bidders to submit a proposal to e-Pragati. No part of this document including the Annexures can be reproduced in any form or by any means, disclosed or distributed to any party not involved in the bid process without the prior consent of e-Pragati except to the extent required for submitting bid. This document should not therefore be used for any other purpose.

6. e-Pragati reserves the right to: a. Disqualify a Bidder for failure to follow RFP instructions. b. Discontinue the RFP process at any time for any or no reason. c. The issuance of an RFP, your preparation and submission of a proposal, and e-

Pragati’s subsequent receipt and evaluation of your proposal does not commit the e-Pragati to award a contract to you or anyone, even if all the requirements in the RFP are met.

d. Consider late proposals if: (i) no other proposals are received; (ii) no complete proposals are received; (iii) received complete proposals, but the proposals did not meet mandatory minimum requirements or technical criteria; or (iv) the award process fails to result in an award.

e. Consider an otherwise disqualified proposal, if no other proposals are received.


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f. Disqualify a proposal based on: (1) information provided by the Bidder in response to this RFP; (2) if it is determined that a Bidder purposely or willfully submitted false or misleading information in response to the RFP.

g. Consider prior performance with the State in making its award decision. h. Consider overall economic impact to the State when evaluating proposal pricing

and in the final award recommendation. This includes but is not limited to: considering principal place of performance, number of citizens employed or potentially employed, socio-economic impact on the GSDP, job creation, tax revenue implications, potential sustainable development models and innovations, short and long term direct and indirect benefits to the state and welfare of its citizens

i. Consider total-cost-of-ownership factors (e.g., transition and training costs) when evaluating proposal pricing and in the final award recommendation.

j. Refuse to award a contract to any Bidder that has failed to pay State taxes or has outstanding debt with the State.

k. Enter into negotiations with one or more Bidders on price, terms, technical requirements, or other deliverables.

l. Award multiple, optional-use contracts, or award by Contract Activity. m. Evaluate the proposal outside the scope identified in the Evaluation Process Section,

if the state receives only one proposal n. Consider economically viable, sustainable development-oriented proposals with

innovative business models and that can offer extended benefits to the state and its citizens, even if the proposal exceeds the given scope of this RFP.

12.13 Rights to the Content of the Proposal All the bids and accompanying documentation submitted as bids against this RFP will become the property of e-Pragati and will not be returned after opening of the proposals. e-Pragati is not restricted in its rights to use or disclose any or all of the information contained in the proposal and can do so without compensation to the bidders. e-Pragati shall not be bound by any language in the proposal indicating the confidentiality of the proposal or any other restriction on its use or disclosure. e-Pragati has the right to use the services of external experts to evaluate the proposal by the bidders and share the content of the proposal either partially or completely with the experts for evaluation with adequate protection of the confidentiality information of the bidder.

12.14 Modification and Withdrawal of Proposals:

1. No Bid shall be modified, substituted or withdrawn by the Bidder on or after the Bid Due Date. Entire bid security shall be forfeited if any of the bidders modify or withdraw their bid during the bid validity period.

2. Any alteration/ modification in the Bid or additional information supplied subsequent to the Bid Due Date, unless the same has been expressly sought for by the e-Pragati, shall be disregarded.

3. The RFP/ bid submission process is according to the e-Procurement process. The procedure for modification, substitution and withdrawal of bids shall be as specified in the e-


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Procurement website. Hence, bidders are advised to go through such procedures stated in the online procurement portal of e-Pragati.

4. The Bidder may modify, substitute or withdraw its Bid after submission, provided the same is done before the last date of bid submission or that written notice of the modification, substitution or withdrawal is received by the e-Pragati prior to the last date and time for submission of Bid. However, after the last date of bid submission modification, substitution or withdrawal of bid will not be permitted and such modified/ substituted bid will not be considered for evaluation.

12.15 Non-Conforming Proposals: A proposal may be construed as a non-conforming proposal and ineligible for consideration:

1. If it does not comply with the requirements of this RFP. 2. If a proposal appears to be “canned” presentations of promotional materials that do not

follow the format requested in this RFP or do not appear to address the particular requirements of the proposed solution, and any such bidders may also be disqualified.

12.16 Acknowledgement of Understanding of Terms: By submitting a proposal, each bidder shall be deemed to acknowledge that it has carefully read all sections of this RFP, including all forms, schedules and annexure hereto, and has fully informed itself as to all existing conditions and limitations.

12.17 Offer Validity period The offer should remain valid for a period of 180 days from the date of the submission of offer. A proposal valid for a shorter period may be rejected as nonresponsive. On completion of the validity period, unless the bidder withdraws his proposal in writing, it will be deemed to be valid until such time that the bidder formally (in writing) withdraws his proposal. In exceptional circumstances, at its discretion, e-Pragati Authority may solicit the bidder's consent for an extension of the validity period. The request and the responses thereto shall be made in writing or by fax or email. 12.18 Language of Proposals The proposal and all correspondence and documents shall be written in English.

12.19 Non-Disclosure of Confidential Information

The Bidder shall maintain the security, nondisclosure and confidentiality of all information in accordance with the following clauses in performance of its activities under the Contract. Bidder shall ensure that its personnel, agents, officers and other resources, if any, are fully aware of the obligations arising under this Exhibit and shall take all commercially reasonable steps to ensure compliance. The Contract may be terminated by the e-Pragati Authority for cause for a material breach of this Exhibit.


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12.20 Security Procedures:

Bidder warrants, covenants and represents that it shall comply fully with all security procedures and policies of the e-Pragati Authority, which procedures and policies are communicated to the Bidder by the e-Pragati Authority during the performance of the Contract. Bidder shall hold the e-Pragati Authority harmless from any loss or damage to the e-Pragati Authority resulting from the violation of such security procedures or policies by the Bidder, its officers, agents, employees, and other resources.

The Bidder shall comply with the following specific security procedures:

o Data Access – The Bidder must ensure that all data related to this project is stored in a

controlled access environment to ensure data security and integrity. All facilities proposed for use must have adequate security systems in place to protect against the unauthorized access to the facilities and data stored therein. Adequate security systems must be in place to control access into the facilities. Access into and within the facilities must be restricted through an access control system that requires positive identification of authorized individuals as well as maintains a log of all accesses (e.g., date, time, who). The Bidder shall have a formal procedure in place for granting computer system access to the data and to track access by its own employees. Access for projects outside of those approved by the e-Pragati Authority is strictly prohibited.

o Location of Data – Unless otherwise noted in the contract, all the e-Pragati Authority data exchanged with the Bidder must be stored, housed, processed, backed-up, archived and otherwise retained on systems physically located in India or designated online systems provided by the e-Pragati Authority. This requirement extends to any human resources deployed by the Bidder to handle data storage service.

o Data Exchange – Except as otherwise stipulated in the contract, Bidder shall make arrangements to receive or exchange all the e-Pragati Authority supplied or designated electronic information via the e-Pragati Authority's systems of record. The e-Pragati Authority information in other formats must be exchanged via an official contact identified in the contract.

o Physical Transport of Data – The Bidder shall use reputable means to transport data. Deliveries must be made either via hand delivery by an employee of the Bidder or by restricted delivery via courier (e.g., FedEx, India Post, DHL, Blue dart) with shipment tracking and receipt confirmation. This applies to transport between the Bidder’s offices, to and from other government departments of AP and to the e-Pragati Authority.

o Electronic Transport of Data – The Bidder shall use reliable means of electronically transferring data between the e-Pragati Authority and Bidder’s devices, offices and facilities. Such means must assure the confidentiality and integrity of the data while in transit.

o Data Protection – The Bidder shall use appropriate means to preserve and protect the e-Pragati Authority data. This includes, but is not limited to, use of stable storage media, regular data backups and archiving, password protection of volumes, and data encryption. The Bidder shall encrypt data identified by the e-Pragati Authority, as requiring encryption and it shall use encryption methods that have Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140 validation.


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o Data Destruction – At the end of this contract, the Bidder shall employ the technical measures necessary to assure the secure, irreversible erasure or destruction of all data storage formats to eliminate any and all data collected or generated by the Bidder and/or provided by the e-Pragati Authority unless explicit provisions for the retention of some data sets have been stipulated in the contract. The destruction process must receive written approval by the e-Pragati Authority.

o Return of Data – Upon written request of the e-Pragati Authority, at any time during the term and upon expiration or termination of the contract, the Bidder shall promptly return to the e-Pragati Authority, in the format and on the media requested by the e-Pragati Authority, all or any part of the e-Pragati Authority data collected during the term of the contract.

o Data Breach Notification –below, Bidder agrees that it shall immediately report to the e-Pragati Authority the discovery of any unauthorized use or unauthorized disclosure of such Confidential Information directly to the e-Pragati Authority.

Upon request by the e-Pragati Authority, Bidder may be asked to provide a recent independent audit report on security controls. The e-Pragati Authority shall have the right to send its officers and employees into the offices of the Bidder for inspection of the facilities and operations used in the performance of any work under the Contract. On the basis of such inspection, specific measures may be required in cases where the Bidder is found to be non-compliant with Contract safeguards.


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12.21 Nondisclosure and Confidentiality

Except as may be required by applicable law or a court of competent jurisdiction, the Bidder, its officers, agents, employees, and other human resources, if any, shall maintain strict confidence with respect to any Confidential Information to which the Bidder, its officers, agents, employees, and other human resources, if any, have access. This representation shall survive termination of the Contract. For purposes of the Contract, all the e-Pragati Authority information of which Bidder, its officers, agents, employees, and other human resources, if any, becomes aware during the course of performing Services for the e-Pragati Authority shall be deemed to be Confidential Information (oral, visual or written, in paper, electronic or any other format). Notwithstanding the foregoing, information that falls into any of the following categories shall not be considered Confidential Information:

o Information that is previously rightfully known to the receiving party without restriction on

disclosure; o Information that becomes, from no act or failure to act on the part of the receiving party,

generally known in the relevant industry or is in the public domain; and o Information that is independently developed by Bidder without use of Confidential Information

of the e-Pragati Authority.

Bidder shall hold the e-Pragati Authority harmless, without limitation, from any loss or damage to the e-Pragati Authority resulting from the disclosure by the Bidder, its officers, agents, employees, and resources of such Confidential Information.

12.22 Central or State Requirements

In the event that it becomes necessary for Bidder to receive Confidential Information, which Central or State statute or regulation prohibits from disclosure, Bidder hereby agrees to return or destroy all such Confidential Information that has been received from the e-Pragati Authority when the purpose that necessitated its receipt by Bidder has been completed. In addition, Bidder agrees not to retain any Confidential Information which Central or State statute or regulation prohibits from disclosure after termination of the Contract.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, if the return or destruction of the Confidential Information is not feasible, Bidder agrees to extend the protections of the Contract for as long as necessary to protect the Confidential Information and to limit any further use of disclosure of that Confidential Information. If Bidder elects to destroy Confidential Information, it shall use reasonable efforts to achieve the same and notify the e-Pragati Authority accordingly. Bidder agrees that it will use all appropriate safeguards to prevent any unauthorized use or unauthorized disclosure of Confidential Information, which Central or State statute or regulation prohibits from disclosure.

Bidder agrees that it shall immediately report to the e-Pragati Authority the discovery of any unauthorized use or unauthorized disclosure of such Confidential Information directly to the


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e-Pragati Authority. The terms of this section shall apply equally to Bidder, its agents and resources, if any. Bidder agrees that all resources, if any, and agents shall be made aware of and shall be bound contractually to the terms of this section.

13 Performance Bank Guarantee: The winning SI must submit the PBG of 10% of proposed quote as a security at the time of signing a contract with the e-Pragati Authority within 10 days from the date of Letter of Notification. Minimum PBG is INR 1 Cr. It is mandatory to submit the PBG before proceeding to complete the process of signing MSA, and failure to submit the PBG will result in forfeiting of the Letter of Award and Proposal of the Bidder stands cancelled.

14 Master Service Agreement (MSA) MSA template will be provided to the successful bidder who has been selected for execution of the project.

15 Commitment to Project Schedule 15.1.1 The timespan for competition of the task in this RFP

The SI has to complete the commencement of the project as per the project plan from date of Project awarding. Project Plan and timelines will need to be acceptable to GoAP.

16 Resolution of Commercial Quotes

16.1.1 Resolution of Equal Quotes o In case of a situation where two or more bidders have submitted the same quotes, then the

bidder selection will be purely based on the Functional and Technical features of their respective UDPs.

o In case of situation where, two or more bidders have submitted the same quotes, the bidder with minimum proposed timelines for completion will be awarded the project.

o In case of situation where, two or more bidders have submitted the same quotes and timelines, the “Lottery System” will be used for resolution of tie in presence of representatives of concerned Sis based on approval from Project Awarding Committee and the selected bidder will be awarded the project.


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17 Annexure

17.1 RFP Response

• System Integrators are expected to submit their RFP Response as per the format mentioned in Page 4.

• System Integrators are expected to provide detailed explanation, how functional &

non-functional requirements are going to be achieved as per the section 4.1 & 4.3.

17.2 RFP Forms

• Please refer to UDP – RBKs for Agriculture Department – RFP Forms.doc