Harsimran Julka, ET Bureau | Sep 28, 2011, 12.54PM IST
NEW DELHI: IT vendors are becoming jittery as the UIDAI has missed the 90-day deadline to select a vendor for the Rs 2,000-crore citizen database management contract amidst budget cuts from the finance ministry and a clash of a similar tender issued by the Department of IT for a National Population Register.
The delay is widening the gap between enrollments and issuance of Aadhaar numbers. The Unique Identification Authority of India has already enrolled about 40 million citizens but Aadhaar has been issued to only about 33 million people.
The selected vendor will manage IT and data of all Indian citizens, the largest citizen identity database in the world. US-VISIT program run by US department of Homeland Security is the only second such database in the world, which has about 10 million people enrolled in it. UIDAI will complete its anniversary of issuing its first number on Thursday.
At the current annual rate of enrollments, it will be able to issue only 160 million Aadhaar numbers by 2014, unless things are expedited. Accenture, TCS, HCL Infosystems , Wipro, Mahindra Satyam were selected to go in the final round, after IBM and HP opted out of bidding.
But the selected vendors are also getting jittery. "We've invested about $15 million in just preparing the bids. Uncertainty is causing a problem for us and the ecosystem. Ideally the government should sort out UID's clash with other departments," said an e-governance head of a large IT firm.
The bids for the most crucial and largest IT tender of about . 2,000 crore were put in May, this year by IT companies. So far, the authority had a record to select vendor in a timeframe of 45 days, from bids to selection.
But amidst budget cuts from the centre, the delay is being prolonged. The Ministry of Finance has rejected UIDAI's demand of allocation to be upped from Rs 3,000 crore to Rs 15,000 crore.
It has also rejected UIDAI's demand for allowing biometric enrollments over and above the 200 million mark. The NPR will now take the reins from UIDAI, for enrolling citizens after it achieves 200 million enrollments.
It has created a state of limbo for the UID ecosystem, which consists of over 200 empanelled agencies, who are already complaining of a delay in payment from states. An official of a US-based IT firm which pulled out from bids at the last moment said that though its good for their business that duplicate tenders of a similar size and quality are coming out, but it's not good for the taxpayer.
"Ideally the NPR and UID should work together to find a common ground," he added, on condition of anonymity. When ET spoke to UIDAI Director- General RS Sharma on a possible clash with the NPR tender, he said that UIDAI's job is to just implement the policy of the government. "Our job is to just execute. It's the government which decides on the policies."
Due to the government's delay in sanctioning of funds required for the project, the authority has been unable to select a vendor and is thus missing several deadlines in states such as Delhi, in issuing Aadhaar numbers.
The Delhi government has extended the deadline to January for covering the whole city.
The delay is widening the gap between enrollments and issuance of Aadhaar numbers. The Unique Identification Authority of India has already enrolled about 40 million citizens but Aadhaar has been issued to only about 33 million people.
The selected vendor will manage IT and data of all Indian citizens, the largest citizen identity database in the world. US-VISIT program run by US department of Homeland Security is the only second such database in the world, which has about 10 million people enrolled in it. UIDAI will complete its anniversary of issuing its first number on Thursday.
At the current annual rate of enrollments, it will be able to issue only 160 million Aadhaar numbers by 2014, unless things are expedited. Accenture, TCS, HCL Infosystems , Wipro, Mahindra Satyam were selected to go in the final round, after IBM and HP opted out of bidding.
But the selected vendors are also getting jittery. "We've invested about $15 million in just preparing the bids. Uncertainty is causing a problem for us and the ecosystem. Ideally the government should sort out UID's clash with other departments," said an e-governance head of a large IT firm.
The bids for the most crucial and largest IT tender of about . 2,000 crore were put in May, this year by IT companies. So far, the authority had a record to select vendor in a timeframe of 45 days, from bids to selection.
But amidst budget cuts from the centre, the delay is being prolonged. The Ministry of Finance has rejected UIDAI's demand of allocation to be upped from Rs 3,000 crore to Rs 15,000 crore.
It has also rejected UIDAI's demand for allowing biometric enrollments over and above the 200 million mark. The NPR will now take the reins from UIDAI, for enrolling citizens after it achieves 200 million enrollments.
It has created a state of limbo for the UID ecosystem, which consists of over 200 empanelled agencies, who are already complaining of a delay in payment from states. An official of a US-based IT firm which pulled out from bids at the last moment said that though its good for their business that duplicate tenders of a similar size and quality are coming out, but it's not good for the taxpayer.
"Ideally the NPR and UID should work together to find a common ground," he added, on condition of anonymity. When ET spoke to UIDAI Director- General RS Sharma on a possible clash with the NPR tender, he said that UIDAI's job is to just implement the policy of the government. "Our job is to just execute. It's the government which decides on the policies."
Due to the government's delay in sanctioning of funds required for the project, the authority has been unable to select a vendor and is thus missing several deadlines in states such as Delhi, in issuing Aadhaar numbers.
The Delhi government has extended the deadline to January for covering the whole city.
