Ctrl+Alt+Del earns state a windfall

The state’s information technology department is suddenly reaping a windfall, collecting a massive Rs 4 lakh every day for its e-tender services. And this in a so-called “lean season” for tenders.

In contrast, the department was till recently being paid Rs 30,000 by a private operator, C1 India, who was handling the process since it was conceived in 2002. In the e-tender process, government departments host their tenders online by paying a marginal fee to the IT wing. Bidders pay the department to bid for the tender.

Between 50 and 100 tenders are put up every week, The tendering departments and the bidders each pay 0.03 per cent as transaction fee. For all high value tenders of above Rs 50 crore there was a ceiling of transaction fee with upper limit of Rs 25,000 per bidder.

Ms Ratnaprabha, head of the IT department, shifted the e-tendering services platform from the private operator to the government-owned AP Technology Services soon after taking charge. Since then the money has been flowing in.

“The government is now getting more than Rs 4 lakh a day as transaction fees for providing e-tender services,” Ms Ratnaprabha said.

The IT department is checking the number of tenders that was hosted on the e-procurement platform and the revenue received over the last seven years.

The department is also trying to find out the cause of the sudden surge in income and why the revenue was so less when the private operator handled the payment gateway. Officials said the company might have deflated the figures.

“This is lean season as far as tenders are concerned. If the revenues are so high now, what could it be in peak season,” wondered an official. The department is now preparing to issue a notice to the company to furnish detailed year-wise accounts since 2002.