TCS bags e-governance project in Odisha after HP exit

It will design software for state service delivery gateway and e-forms

The IT bellwether Tata Consultancy Service (TCS) has been chosen for a major e-governance project of the Odisha government, which includes creation of a service delivery gateway and maintenance of state website to offer public services. This, after Hewlett Packard (HP) exited from the project.

“The government have been pleased to approve proposal for selection of M/s Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. for implementation of SSDG, State Portal and e-Forms project in Odisha,” wrote Satyabrata Ray, deputy secretary with IT department of Odisha government to Odisha Computer Application Centre (OCAC), the nodal agency for IT projects in the state.

The project, costing Rs 13 crore, will be implemented over three years. The project was earlier awarded to HP, which emerged as the preferred bidder. But since it refused to agree with the terms and conditions of the project and showed unsatisfactory progress, the government decided to scrap the contract with HP and handed it over to second top bidder TCS.

The aim of the project is to provide various types of public services such as education certificate and trade license through a single web portal, Odisha.gov.in. TCS will develop a state service delivery gateway (SSDG) to perform the application of services, maintain the state portal and will rollout e-forms for various services, OCAC officials said. The company will use the data and information stored at the state data center for the project.  

The works contract to TCS will be awarded soon, they said.

Odisha has a plan to spend Rs 500 crore on e-governance projects since 2010 availing Centre and own fund. Its major project involves e-district, which is currently being implemented in all districts for delivery of six services such as issue of death and birth certificate, caste certificate, residence certificate and income certificate.

Apart from district portals, the government has plans to open as many as 8,558 Common Service Centres (CSCs) across the state for providing services at panchayat level. Available data shows, a total no of 5427 CSCs have been set up till Aug 2013. These centres are currently offering services such as payment of electricity bills, booking of railway tickets and online application for college admission.