Integrated Agriculture Call Centre Bid Document Final

Selection of Agency for Integrated Agriculture Call Centre(IACC)
Department of Agriculture
Government of Karnataka
Tender Document for

Selection of Agency to develop and operate
Integrated Agriculture Call Centre (IACC)
Through e-Tender
No.1, Sheshadri Road, K.R Circle, Bengaluru - 560001
Phone No.: 080-22074138/163 E-Mail:- agri.kar2015@gmail.com
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Contents
Section Description Page Number
1 Notice Inviting Tender 1
2 Information to Bidders (ITC) 2
Data Sheet - Information to Contractor 13
3 Technical and Financial Proposals - 22
Standard Forms
4 Terms of Reference 34
5 Service Contract 37
I Form of Service Contract 40
II General Conditions of Contract 42
III Special Conditions of Contract 53
IV Appendices 57
Schedule – 1 : Scope of Services 60
6 Service Level Agreement 98
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SECTION 1-NOTICE INVITING TENDER (NIT)
No. 1, Sheshadri Road, K.R Circle, Bengaluru - 560001
No.: DOA/FICC/2017/ Date :27.11.2017
E-Tender for Selection of Agency to develop and operate Integrated Agriculture

Call Centre (IACC)
Department of Agriculture proposes to create an Online Integrated Agriculture Call

Centre (IACC) in Bengaluru for providing required information and assistance to
farmer’s community in Karnataka.
The Department of Agriculture invites Proposals for selection of a reputed Agency to

develop and operate the proposed IACC. Tender document containing details of eligibility
criteria, scope of work and other terms and conditions may be obtained from the website
of e-procurement Department, Government of Karnataka. The last date for submission of
Tenders at http://www.eproc.karnataka.gov.in is 01.01.2018, at 5.30p.m. Department of
Agriculture reserves the right to reject any or all Proposals without assigning any reason,
whatsoever.
Sd/-
Commissioner of Agriculture
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SECTION 2- Information To Bidders
1. Introduction
1.1 The DoA named in the “Data Sheet” will select a firm in accordance with the method
of selection indicated in the Data Sheet.
1.2 The Agencies are invited to submit a Technical Proposal and a Financial Proposal, as
specified in the Data Sheet (the Proposal) for services required for the Assignment
named in the Data Sheet. The Proposal will be the basis for contract negotiations and
ultimately for a signed contract with the selected Agency.
1.3 The Assignment shall be implemented in accordance with the phasing indicated in
the Data Sheet. When the Assignment includes several phases, the performance of the
Agency under each phase must be to the DoA’s satisfaction before work begins on the
next phase.
1.4 The Agencies must familiarize themselves with local conditions and take them into
account in preparing their Proposals. To obtain first-hand information on the
Assignment and on the local conditions, Agencies are encouraged to pay a visit to
the DoA before submitting a Proposal, and to attend a pre-proposal conference if one
is specified in the Data Sheet. Attending the pre-proposal conference is optional. The
Bidder’s representative should contact the officials named in the Data Sheet to
arrange for their visit or to obtain additional information on the pre-proposal
conference. Agencies should ensure that these officials are advised of the visit in
adequate time to allow them to make appropriate arrangements.
1.5 The DoA will provide the inputs specified in the Data Sheet, assist the firm in
obtaining licenses and permits needed to carry out the services, and make available
relevant project data and reports.
1.6 Please note that (i) the costs of preparing the proposal and of negotiating the contract,
including a visit to the DoA, are not reimbursable as a direct cost of the Assignment;
and (ii) the DoA is not bound to accept any of the Proposals submitted.
1.7 Government of Karnataka (GOK) expects Agencies to provide professional, objective,
and impartial advice and at all times hold the DoA’s interests paramount, without
any consideration for future work, and strictly avoid conflicts with other assignments
or their own corporate interests. Agencies shall not be hired for any assignment that
would be in conflict with their prior or current obligations to other DoAs, or that
may place them in a position of not being able to carry out the assignment in the best
interest of the DoA.
1.7.1 Without limitation on the generality of this rule, Agencies shall not be hired
under the circumstances set forth below:
(a) A firm which has been engaged by the DoA to provide goods or works for a
project and any of their affiliates shall be disqualified from providing consulting
services for the same project. Conversely, firms hired to provide consulting
services for the preparation or implementation of a project, and any of their
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affiliates, shall be disqualified from subsequently providing goods or works or
services related to the initial assignment (other than a continuation of the firm’s
earlier consulting services) for the same project.
(b) Agencies or any of their affiliates shall not be hired for any assignment which,
by its nature, may be in conflict with another assignment of the Contractor.
1.7.2 As pointed out in para. 1.7.1 (a) above, Agencies may be hired for downstream
work, when continuity is essential, in which case this possibility shall be indicated in
the Data Sheet and the factors used for the selection of the Agency should take the
likelihood of continuation into account. It will be the exclusive decision of the
DoA whether or not to have the downstream assignment carried out, and if it is
carried out, which Agency will be hired for the purpose.
1.8 It is GOK’s policy to require that Agencies observe the highest standard of ethics
during the execution of such contracts. In pursuance of this policy, the GOK:
(a) defines, for the purposes of this provision, the terms set forth below as
follows:
(i) “corrupt practice” means the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of
anything of value to influence the action of a public official in the
selection process or in contract execution; and
(ii) “fraudulent practice” means a misrepresentation of facts in order to
influence a selection process or the execution of a contract to the detriment
of GOK, and includes collusive practices among Agencies (prior to or
after submission of proposals) designed to establish prices at artificial,
non-competitive levels and to deprive GOK of the benefits of free and open
competition.
(b) will reject a proposal for award if it determines that the firm recommended
for award has engaged in corrupt or fraudulent activities in competing for
the contract in question;
(d) will declare a firm ineligible, either indefinitely or for a stated period of
time, to be awarded GOK-financed contract if it at any time determines that
the firm has engaged in corrupt or fraudulent practices in competing for, or
in executing, a GOK-financed contract; and
(e) will have the right to require that, GOK to inspect bidder’s accounts and
records relating to the performance of the contract and to have them
audited by auditors appointed by GOK.
1.9 Agencies shall not be under a declaration of ineligibility for corrupt and fraudulent
practices issued by GOK in accordance with the above sub para 1.8 (d).
1.10 Agencies shall be aware of the provisions on fraud and corruption stated in the
standard contract under the clauses indicated in the Data Sheet.
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2. CLARIFICATION AND AMENDMENT OF TENDER DOCUMENT
2.1 Agencies may request a clarification of any item of the Tender Document (TD) up
to the number of days indicated in the Data Sheet before the Proposal submission
date. Any request for clarification must be sent in writing by paper mail or electronic
mail to the DoA’s address indicated in the Data Sheet. The DoA will upload the
clarifications without identifying the source of inquiry in e-portal for information of all
intended Contractor.
2.2 At any time before the submission of Proposals, the DoA may, for any reason,
whether at its own initiative or in response to a clarification requested by an
invited firm, modify the Tender documents by amendment. Any amendment shall
be issued in writing through addenda. Addenda shall be uploaded in e-portal and will
be binding on them. The DoA may at its discretion extend the deadline for the
submission of Proposals.
3. PREPARATION OF PROPOSAL
3.1 Agencies are requested to submit a Proposal (para 1.2) written in the language(s)
specified in the Data Sheet.
Technical Proposal
3.2 In preparing the Technical Proposal, Agencies are expected to examine the
documents comprising this TD in detail. Material deficiencies in providing the
information requested may result in rejection of a Proposal.
3.3 While preparing the Technical Proposal, Agencies must give particular attention to
the following:
(i) If an Agency considers that it does not have all the expertise for the
Assignment, it may submit bid as a consortium with maximum two members.
(ii) For assignments on a staff-time basis, the estimated number of key
professional staff-months is given in the Data Sheet. The proposal shall,
however, be based on the number of key professional staff-months estimated
by the firm.
(iii) It is desirable that the team leader proposed should be the permanent
employee of the Bidder. In case of other key professional, they may be the
permanent employees or should have an extended and stable working relation
with the firm.
(iv) Proposed key professional staff must at a minimum have the experience
indicated in the Data Sheet.
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(v) Alternative key professional staff shall not be proposed, and only one
curriculum vitae (CV) maybe submitted for each position.
(vi) Reports to be issued by the Agencies as part of this assignment must be in the
language(s) specified in the Data Sheet. It is desirable that the firm’s
personnel have a working knowledge of the DoA’s official language.
3.4 The Technical Proposal should provide the following information using the
attached Standard Forms(Section 3):
(i) A brief description of the bidder’s organization and an outline of recent
experience on assignments (Section 3B) of a similar nature. For each
assignment, the outline should indicate, inter alia, the profiles and names
of the staff provided, duration of the assignment, contract amount, and
firm’s involvement.
(ii) Any comments or suggestions on the Terms of Reference and on the data,
a list of services, and facilities to be provided by the DoA (Section 3C).
(iii) Description of the methodology and work plan for performing the
assignment (Section 3D).
(iv) The list of the proposed staff team by specialty, the tasks that would be
assigned to each staff team member, and their timing (Section 3E).
(v) CVs recently signed by the proposed key professional staff and the
authorized representative submitting the proposal (Section 3F). Key
information should include number of years working for the firm/entity,
and degree of responsibility held in various assignments during the last
ten (10) years.
(vi) Estimates of the total staff effort (professional and support staff; staff time)
to be provided to carry out the Assignment, supported by bar chart
diagrams showing the time proposed for each key professional staff team
member. (Sections 3E and 3G).
(vii) A detailed description of the proposed training, if the Data Sheet specifies
training as a major component of the assignment.
(viii) Any additional information requested in the Data Sheet.
3.5 The Technical Proposal shall not include any financial information.
3.6 Financial Proposal
Department of Agriculture (DoA) requires the Bidder to operate and manage the
Call Centre. The Bidder may incur several costs – cost of agents and other
employees, cost of transportation for employees, operational expenses (which may
include telephone (inbound, outbound)/ mobile, internet charges) and overheads
(stationery, utility items etc.), maintenance cost, cost of technology & other
software / applications / tools etc. It will not be operationally viable to pay all
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these expenses individually.
Therefore, it has been decided that DoA will fix a single consideration for all
services, i.e., cost per FTE (Full Time Equivalent) per shift per month. Full time
Equivalent would mean that the bidder would estimate all costs and provide it
equivalent to the cost of one employee who would work full time in the call centre.
Department will not pay any additional costs apart from FTE.
However, the above pricing method (Cost per FTE) may be reviewed after one
year and DoA may consider an output based pricing for Call Centre.
Therefore, Bidders will quote “cost per FTE per shift per month’ in the Financial
Proposal, which is further clarified as under:
FTE indicates an agent occupying a work station, deployed at any point in time
when the Call Centre is up. FTE does not include other staff members (team
leaders, quality teams, managers, support staff members, IT experts, HR team etc).
DoA shall only count the number of FTEs as defined above and shall not count
other staff members put on deployment for operations and management of Call
Centre.
The Bidder will quote the “Cost per FTE per shift per month”. It means the cost
shall be for one FTE (that is, an agent directly interacting with the farmer/ caller on
phone/email/web chat/ browsing/social media etc.) for one shift of 8 hours logged
in (day or night) (breaks are not included) for 26 days in a month. The Bidder
might deploy any number of shifts of any duration of hours. However, DoA shall
consider the total number of logged in duration of Agents in a month and split the
same into a shifts of 8 hours duration, excluding breaks.
The following table gives an illustrative example.

The total logged in duration in a month for all Agents is at 27000 hours
Number of FTEs per month per shift shall be 9500 hours / 8 hours / 30 days
Amount payable to Bidder If the “cost per FTE per shift per month” is Rs.25000,
then, the amount payable shall be 27000 / 8 /26 = 27.94 FTEs
27.94 x Rs.25000 = Rs.6,98,530/-
 Total logged-in hours will be ascertained

 Cost of other staff members, operational costs and all other cost will have to be
loaded on the “Cost per FTE per shift per month” and no other cost will be paid by
the DoA. Agents mean one who handles the calls/contacts directly. Bidder has to
allocate to department team lead for the call centre, supervisory staff, subject
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matter expert to resolve calls and educate the call centre executives. Bidder shall
also update KMS and related software accordingly but no cost of any other
supervisory or support staff members will be paid separately.
 The time duration spent by agent on induction training/ or any other training
like refreshers / new product training / soft skills etc training shall not be
considered as “logged-in” duration. The Bidder will provide 4 different costs for
“Cost per FTE per shift per month” for CSA/ Sr CSA(Voice CSE /Non Voice CSE)/
Team lead/ SME (Domain expert) depending on the skills level as defined in the
Manpower Section
There shall be no difference in “Cost per FTE per shift per month” between night
shift and day shift.
The Bidder will build all costs into this “Cost per FTE per shift of 8 hrs per
month”. If the DoA decides to scale up or scale down the operations (up to 25% of
the estimated total FTE requirement as given in capacity plan), the above “Cost per
FTE per shift per month” will remain the same and DoA will pay depending on
the total logged in time duration of agents.
Annual Escalation
DoA proposes to enter into contract for initial period of one years and subsequent
extension of maximum 2 years on the price quoted by the Bidder as per DoA’s
discretion.
Cost to be quoted in the Financial Proposal should include year on year escalation
@ 5% to enable total cost of ownership calculation. Bidder can claim this escalation
in the cost per FTE on year on year basis if they can match and justify it with a
commensurate increase in efficiency & productivity so as to reduce the overall cost
to serve for the DoA. However, in this case DoA’s decision will be final.
Total Cost of Ownership calculated based on the Financial Proposal will be
considered while doing the techno-commercial evaluation.
Total Cost of ownership for DOA means the following:

Cost per FTE per shift of 8 hrs per month for CSA/ Sr CSA(Voice CSE /Non Voice
CSE)/ Team lead/ SME (Domain expert) multiplied by 2 (the number of shifts per
month) X number of executives X 12 months
Expenses
It may be noted that DoA shall not pay any amount/expenses / charges / fees /
training / travelling expenses / boarding expenses / lodging expenses / conveyance
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expenses / out of pocket expenses etc. other than the services fees as per finally
negotiated price.
3.7 Agencies shall express the price of their services in Indian Rupees.
4. SUBMISSIONS, RECEIPT, AND OPENING OF PROPOSALS

4.1 The Agencies shall upload the technical proposal comprising the documents
mentioned below on e-procurement platform in the formats specified:
a) Technical Proposal Submission Form as per Form 3A.
b) Bidder’s Profile and References as per Form 3B.
c) Methodology and approach to develop and operate IACC as per Form 3C.
d) Team Composition and Task Assignments as per Form 3D.
e) Format of Curriculum Vitae (CV) for proposed Key Professional Staff as per
Form 3E.
f) Time Schedule for Completion of Tasks as per Form 3F.
g) Copy of Registrations under relevant Acts / Rules
h) Copy of PAN Card
i) Copy of GST Registration Certificate
4.2 DoA reserves the right to seek original documents for verification of any of the
documents or any other additional information / documents upon opening of the
Bidding Documents.
4.3 An authorized representative of the Agency initials all pages of the Proposal. The
representative’s authorization is confirmed by a written power of attorney
accompanying the Proposal.
4.4 The completed Technical and Financial Proposal must be submitted in eportal on or
before the time and date stated in the Data Sheet. Any Proposal received after the
closing time for submission of proposals shall not be accepted.
4.5 After the deadline for submission of proposals the Technical Proposal shall be opened
in eportal on the date and time specified in the Data Sheet. The Financial Proposal
shall be kept unopened in eportal and Financial Proposals of only technically
qualified Agencies will be opened in eportal on the date and time specified in Data
Sheet.
5. PROPOSAL EVALUATION
General
5.1 From the time the proposals are opened to the time the contract is awarded, if any
Agency wishes to contact the DoA on any matter related to its proposal, it should do so
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in writing at the address indicated in the Data Sheet. Any effort by the firm to
influence the DoA in the DoA’s proposal evaluation, proposal comparison or contract
award decisions may result in the rejection of the bidder’s proposal.
5.2 Evaluators of Technical Proposals shall have no access to the Financial Proposals until
the technical evaluation, including its approval by competent authority is obtained.
Evaluation of Technical Proposals

5.3 An Evaluation Committee appointed by the DoA, evaluates the proposals on the basis
of their responsiveness to the Terms of Reference, eligibility criteria, applying the
evaluation criteria, specified in the Data Sheet. Each responsive and eligible proposal
will be given a technical score (St). Proposals which obtain equal or more than the
minimum qualifying mark shall only be considered as technically qualified. A proposal
shall be rejected at this stage if it does not respond to important aspects of the Terms
of Reference or if it fails to achieve the minimum technical score indicated in the Data
Sheet.
5.4 The proposals will be evaluated on QCBS (Quality and Cost based) basis. The
Proposals will be ranked according to their combined technical (St) and commercial
(Sf) scores using the weights (T = the weight given to the Technical Proposal = 70%; P =
the weight given to the Financial Proposal = 30%; T + P = 100%) using the formula: S =
St x T + Sf x P
5.5 Technical Score of each of the qualified bidder shall be calculated based on the
total technical marks of each bidder. The highest evaluated Technical Bid (Tm) will be
given the maximum technical score (Tf) of 100 (one hundred) points. The technical
scores (Tf) of the other qualified bidder will be computed as per the formula – Tf = 100
x T/Tm in which Tf is the technical score of the bidder, Tm is the highest technical
marks and T is the technical marks of bidder under consideration
5.6 The commercial proposals will be opened only for the bidders with score of 75
(seventy five) marks and above on the parameter defined above. The lowest evaluated
Commercial Bid (Fm) will be given the maximum commercial score (Sf) of 100 (one
hundred) points. The commercial scores (Sf) of the other Commercial Proposals will be
computed as per the formula – Sf = 100 x Fm/F, in which Sf is the commercial score, Fm
is the lowest commercial quote and F is the commercial quote under consideration.
6. NEGOTIATIONS
6.1 Negotiating Price: Should the need arise, DoA reserves the right to negotiate the
price with the successful bidder (S1). If negotiation with S1 fail, DoA reserves the
right to negotiate with S2.
7. AWARD OF CONTRACT
7.1 On completion of negotiation, Letter of Award (LoA) will be issued by the DoA to
the selected Agency. The selected Agency shall acknowledge the LoA as specified in
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the data sheet. On accepting the LoA, the selected Agency shall execute the Service
Contract within the time limit specified in the data sheet. Before executing the
contract, the selected Agency shall submit the performance bank guarantee as
specified in the data sheet. In case the selected Agency fails to execute the contract
within the specified time limit, DoA reserves the right to cancel the LoA and invite the
firm whose proposal received the second highest combined score to negotiate a
contract. After Service Contract is executed, the DoA will promptly notify other
Agencies that they were unsuccessful.
7.2 The Agency is expected to commence the Assignment on the date and at the
location specified in the Data Sheet.
8. CONFIDENTIALITY
8.1 Information relating to evaluation of proposals and recommendations concerning
awards shall not be disclosed to the Agencies who submitted the proposals or to
other persons not officially concerned with the process, until the winning Agency has
been notified that it has been awarded the contract.
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DATA SHEET
Information to Contractor
1.1 The name of the DoA is:

Commissioner for Agriculture
Department of Agriculture,
Govt. of Karnataka,
No.1, Sheshadri Road, K.R Circle,
Bengaluru – 560001
The method of selection is: Quality-and Cost-Based Selection (QCBS) with 70%
weightage to Technical Proposal and 30% weightage to Financial Proposal.
1.2 A Technical and Financial Proposals are requested: Yes
The name, objectives and description of the Assignment are:
(a) Name :To develop and operate Integrated Agriculture Call Centre (IACC)
for one years, extendable upto 2 more years based on mutual agreement
(b) Objectives and description :
A typical structure of the Call Centre is given below:
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Broad Objectives
 To establish digital mode of functional Integrated Agriculture Call Centre.
 The initial response by call centre executives for farmer's queries in IVR system.
 Automatic call routing facility to the concerned sectors (Agriculture/ Horticulture/
Fisheries/ Animal Husbandry/ Sericulture/ Agriculture Marketing etc.,)
 Call escalation structure in three tier system.
 Automatic Call escalation of unresolved issues at different levels to the next level.
 Automatic tracking and monitoring of the queries at each level.
 Push back final resolved queries digitally to the callers (farmers).
 Dash board for information with respect to query resolution, pendency etc.,
The Selected Bidder will operate Call Centre based in Bengaluru to cater all farmer/
caller languages and provide for disaster recovery. Going ahead, DoA may in its sole
discretion establish one or more centres where the Bidder will be expected to operate
from. The scope of functions/work/solutions to be covered by the selected Bidder for
the Call Centres to be set up can be broadly classified into the following categories:
(a) Inbound calls
(b) Out bound calls
(c) Multi Lingual
(d) Self service functions through multi lingual IVR
(e) Differential offering basis Customer Segmentation
(f) Service, transaction, activation, retention, grievance handling, marketing, surveys etc
(g) Web Chat /Video Chat/Email
(h) Co-browsing
(i) Development of Portal
(j) Operation of Portal
(k) The subsequent sections describe currently envisaged scope of services and they
are for illustration only.
1.3 The Assignment is phased: No. Single phase of delivery
1.4 Pre-bid queries: Yes. Date and Time specified in Schedule of Tendering Process
1.5 The clauses on fraud and corruption in the contract are in Sub-Clause 2.7.1 of G.C.C.
2.1 Clarifications may be requested up to date of pre-bid queries on 080-22074138/163
and E-Mail:- agri.kar2015@gmail.com. Further to that no queries will be
entertained.
3.1 Proposals should be submitted in the following language: English
3.2 (i) There are four categories viz., (i) Voice) CSE, (ii) Sr. CSA, (iii) Team Leader and
(iv) Domain Expert are required to manage the Call Centre.
Team leader and Domain expert would be required one each for every shift. The
numbers of other personnel depend on size of the ICC.
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(ii) The minimum required experience of proposed in-house key professional staff
are as below:
Sl Key Min.Educatio Minimum Previous experience

No Professional[and nal Length of
responsibilities] Qualification
Professiona
l Experience
1. Team Leader Post Graduate 10 years Should have successfully
[Responsible for the or equivalent executed atleast two call
overall project centre projects in last 5 years
activities] as Team Leader / Dy. Team
Leader for Central / State
Govt. Depts. / Organisations
/ PSUs / Educational Boards.
2 Domain Expert in Graduate 5 years Should have worked in
Agriculture Sector agricultural sector or
companies in agriculture
domain
Note: Atleast one of the above key professionals should have proficiency of reading,
writing and speaking Kannada, the official language of State Government.
(vi) Reports which are part of the assignment must be written in the following
language: English
(vii) Whether training is major component of contract : Yes.
(viii) Additional Information in the Technical Proposal includes: Agencies may include
additional information which are directly connected to the proposal and in
support of their capability.
4.1 Agencies must submit an copy of each proposal: Bidder shall submit one set of hard
copy of the documents whatever submitted in e-portal in clearly indexed and properly
bound format. This hard copy shall be put in an envelope and sealed. This sealed
envelope should be submitted at the office of DOA, of which, address is given in clause
2.1 of Data Sheet, before the due date and time for submission of proposals.
4.2 The proposal submission address is in the e-portal of GoK
(http://www/eproc.karnataka.gov.in).
The information on the envelope should also include: Should contain address of the
bidder along with contact number. The outer envelope should be superscribed as
‘Tender Document for selection of Agency for Integrated Agriculture Call
Centre (IACC)and not to be opened before _________.
4.3 DoA will adhere to the following Schedule of Tendering Process :
(i) Uploading the tender document in e-proc. portal 01.12.2017
(ii) Last date for Pre-Bid Queries 11.12.2017
(iii) Response to Queries will posted on e-proc 15.12.2017
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(iv) Last date & Time for submission of technical and 01.01.2018 at 5.30pm
financial proposals in e-procurement portal and
also submission of hard copy at the office of DOA.
[Proposal Due Date (PDD)]
(v) Date & Time of opening of Technical Proposals at 04.01.2018 at 11.30 am
the office of Department of Agriculture
(vi) Date & Time for opening of Financial Proposals of After completion of
technically qualified bidders at the office of technical evaluation of
Department of Agriculture proposals
Any changes in the above tendering schedule will be notified only through e-
procurement portal and will not be notified in the Newspapers.
The bidder shall pay an EMD of Rs. 4,50,000/- (Rupees four lakh fifty thousand only)
through any of the four modes of e-Payment as specified in the e-procurement portal.
The proposal shall be rejected in e- portal if EMD is not paid. The EMD shall be
refundable not later than 30 (Thirty) days after completion of selection process, except
in case of the Selected Bidder whose EMD shall be retained till Service Contract is
executed.
4.4 The address to send information to the DoA is:

A G THIMMAIAH.
Deputy Director of Agriculture
No.1, Sheshadri Road, K.R Circle, Bengaluru - 560001
4.5 Eligibility Criteria:

(i) Should be a Company incorporated under Companies Act 1956 / 2013 or a
Partnership Firm registered under Indian Partnership Act 1932 or Limited Liability
Partnership Firm registered under Limited Liability Partnership Act 2008 /
Proprietorship firm registered under any state / central Govt organization (Copy
of the Registration Certificate to be enclosed).
(ii) Registered firms should be existence for the past 5 years as on PDD. (Copy of
relevant proof to be enclosed)
(iii) Should have successfully executed online call center services for atleast one
Central or State Government Departments/PSUs/ Educational Boards during last
three years proceeding to PDD. The call centre should have been operational for at
least one full year.(Copy of Work Order / Agreement to be enclosed).
(iv) Should have successfully executed Knowledge management software/ online
portal implementation for Central or State Government Departments/PSUs /
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Educational Boards during three years proceeding to PDD, (Copy of Work
Order / Agreement to be enclosed).
(v) Should have minimum average annual turnover of Rs.25 crores during the latest
three financial years, i.e., 2014-15 to 2016-17. (Copy of the Chartered Accountant
Certificate, certifying the turnover to be enclosed).
(vi) Should have a valid CMMi level 3 certification or above. Also should have ISO
9001: 2008 in areas applicable to the services / ISO 27001:2013. (Copies of the
relevant quality certificates to be enclosed).
(vii) The bidder must possess a valid PAN and GST Certificate (copies to be enclosed).
(viii) Bidder should have local office in Karnataka as on PDD. (proof to be provided)
The numbers of points to be given under each of the evaluation criteria are:
Sl. Maximu
Parameter Evaluation Elements
No. m Marks
(i) Specific Experience of the Agencies related to the assignment
1. Operation of online call centres during  1 Assignment : 10 marks 20
last years for Central / State  Multiple Assignment(s)
Government / PSUs / Educational from same Central or
boards. State Government
Departments/PSUs /
Educational Boards: 10
marks
2 Experience in software development KMS/Online Portal : 15 15
(KMS/Online Portal implementation marks
for Central or State Government KMS: 7.5 marks
Departments/PSUs / Educational Online portal: 7.5 marks
Boards)
3 Certifications ISO 9001: 2. 5 marks 15
ISO 27001: 2.5 marks
CMMI 3 and above: 10
marks
All of above: 15 marks
Total 50
(ii) Conceptualisation, understanding, approach based on technical
proposal and live (web based) presentation
1. Conceptualisation and understanding 10
2. Available infrastructure (Call Centre facilities, hardware etc). If Call 10
Centre with infrastructure is not readily available no marks will be
awarded
3. Presentation of live (web based) KMS / online portal analytics / 10
15
reports for existing DoA (will be evaluated as per requirements of the
tender document)
4. Presentation of live (web based) CRM solution and reports for existing 10
DoA of bidder (will be evaluated as per requirements of the tender
document)
5 Qualification and experience of team leader and domain expert (5 10
marks each for qualification and domain experience – as per
requirement mentioned in the tender document)
Total (iii) 50
Grand Total 100
Threshold marks for technical qualification shall be 75.
4.6 The formula for determining the financial scores is the following:
[Sf = 100 x Fm/F, in which Sf is the financial score, Fm is the lowest price, and F the
price of the proposal under consideration]
The weights given to the technical and Financial Proposals are: T= 0.70, and P= 0.30
Validity of the Proposal : 90 days from PDD.
4.7 On conclusion of negotiation, Letter of Award (LoA) will be issued by Department of

Agriculture to the selected Agency. The Agency shall sign and return the duplicate copy
of Letter of Award as token of acceptance to Department of Agriculture within 7 days of
receipt of the LoA. On accepting the LoA, Department of Agriculture will send the draft
Contract Forms along with all terms & conditions to the selected Agency. Within 30
days of acceptance of LoA, the selected Agency shall execute the Master Service
Agreement (MSA), Service Level Agreement (SLA) and Non-Disclosure Agreement
(NDA) with Department of Agriculture.
Selected Bidder should provide a Performance Security at 10 (Ten) percent of the

Contract value by way of an unconditional & irrevocable Bank Guarantee (BG) from
Nationalised Bank, after receipt of LoA and before executing the above said Contracts.
The Performance Security shall be kept valid in full force and effect till the expiry of
the contract period by extending the validity date wherever required.
Execution of Master Service Agreement (MSA), Service Level Agreement (SLA)
and Non Disclosure Agreement (NDA)
The successful Bidder shall execute (a) Master Service Agreement, which include
overall terms of engagement (b)a Service Level Agreement, which would include
product level services and terms and conditions of the services to be extended and
any other conditions as may be prescribed by the DoA. (Scope of Service may be
enhanced based on DoA’s business needs/Regulatory requirement on an ongoing
16
basis) and (c) Non-disclosure Agreement.
The Bidder shall execute the MSA, SLA and NDA within one month from the date
of acceptance of Letter of Award. The contracts shall be executed by the authorized
signatory of the Bidder. Bidder are required to submit the Power of
Attorney/Board Resolution authorizing the person to execute the document on
behalf of the company
17
SECTION 3. TECHNICAL AND FINANCIAL PROPOSAL - STANDARD FORMS
3A. Technical Proposal Submission Form.

3B. Bidder’s Profile and References
3C. Methodology and approach to develop and operate IACC
3D. Team Composition and Task Assignments
3E. Format of Curriculum Vitae (CV) for proposed Key Professional Staff
3F. Time Schedule for Completion of Tasks
3G. Financial Proposal Submission Form.
18
3A. TECHNICAL PROPOSAL SUBMISSIONS FORM
(in the letterhead of Bidder)
[Location, Date]
To,
Govt. of Karnataka,
Bengaluru - 560001
Sir,
Subject: Selection of Agency to develop and operate Integrated Agriculture Call Centre
(IACC) - Technical Proposal.
We, the undersigned, offer to provide the services for the above in accordance with
your Tender Document and our Proposal. We are hereby submitting our Proposal
which includes this Technical Proposal and a Financial Proposal in eprocurement.
If negotiations are held during the period of validity of the Proposal, we undertake to
negotiate on the basis of the proposed staff. Our Proposal is binding upon us and
subject to the modifications resulting from contract negotiations.
We understand you are not bound to accept any Proposal you receive.
We remain,
Yours sincerely,
Signature of Authorized Signatory
Name and Title of Signatory
19
3B. BIDDER’S PROFILE AND REFERENCES
1 Details of Bidder
(a) Name of the Agency/ Firm :
(b) Address of the Head Office :
(c) Address Branch Office (s) in Karnataka :
(d) Year of commencement of business :

(e) Registration Number and Details :
(f) PAN Number & Details :
(g) GST Registration Details :
Documentary evidence for 1 (e) to (g) to be enclosed.
2 Details of contact person for communication :
(a) Name :
(b) Designation :
(c) Telephone Number (land line) :
(d) Mobile No. :
(e) E-Mail Address :
20
3 Details of online call centres executed and operated during last years.
Details of
online call DoA and
Sl. Date of Date of Period of
centres and contact
No. Commencement Completion Operation
broad details
functions
1
2
3
….
3a. Details of experience in software development [refer evaluation parameter (ii) for
scores]
Note:
1 Provide details for maximum number of assignments (as per the above
Tables), as the number of assignments undertaken will be considered at the
time of technical evaluation.
2 Documentary proof such as Completion Certificates issued by the DoA
shall be provided for all the assignments listed above. Such Certificates
shall include details like year of completion, nature of projects, period of
operation, etc. required for confirming Eligibility Criteria / technical
evaluation.
4 Details of key professional:
Sl.
Position Name
No.
1 Team Leader
2 Domain Expert in Agriculture Sector
CVs of above key personnel shall be submitted as per the specimen provided in Form
3F. (Details should be captured to ascertain the qualification, experience, etc., specified
for key professionals).
21
5 Turnover of the Bidder:
Sl. Annual Turnover

Financial Year
No. (Rs. in Lakhs)
1 2014-15
2 2015-16
3 2016-17
Note: Certificate issued by Chartered Accountant on turnover to be submitted.
Signature of the authorized

Signatory with name & seal
22
3C. METHODOLOGY AND APPROACH TO DEVELOP AND OPERATE IACC
INCLUDING CONCEPTUALISATION AND UNDERSTANDING, APPROACH TO THE
ASSIGNMENT AND INNOVATIVE IDEAS AND SUGGESTIONS
23
3D. TEAM COMPOSITION AND TASK ASSIGNMENTS FOR KEY PROFESSIONALS
Sl. No. Position Name Task

1 Team Leader
2 Domain Expert in Agriculture Sector
24
3E. FORMAT OF CURRICULUM VITAE (CV) FORPROPOSED KEY PROFESSIONAL
STAFF
Proposed Position in the Team :
Name of Staff :
Designation :
Date of Birth :
Years with Firm/Entity : Nationality:
Membership in Professional Societies :
Detailed Tasks Assigned :
Key Qualifications :
[Give an outline of staff member’s experience and training most pertinent to tasks on
assignment. Describe degree of responsibility held by staff member on relevant previous
assignments and give dates and locations. Use about half a page.]
Education:
[Summarize college/university and other specialized education of staff member, giving
names of schools, dates attended, and degrees obtained. Use about one quarter of a page.]
Employment Record:
[Starting with present position, list in reverse order every employment held. List all
positions held by staff member since graduation, giving dates, names of employing
organizations, titles of positions held, and locations of assignments. For experience in
last ten / five years, also give types of activities performed and DoA references, where
appropriate. Use about two pages.]
Particulars on previous experience on development and operation of call centres and software
development (LMS/KMS):
Details of
online call
Whether operation
centres and
Sl. Date of Date of is involved. If yes, DoA and
software
No. Commencement Completion period contact details
development
(from ___ to ____ )
and broad
content
1
2
3
….
25
Experience in software development (LMS/KMS) : ……………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………................
Give particulars for max. no. of assignments as per the above table because the number and
nature of the assignment would be considered for confirming eligibility of staff and also for
technical evaluation.
Languages:
[For each language indicate proficiency: excellent, good, fair, or poor; in speaking, reading,
and writing ]
Certification:
I, the undersigned, certify that to the best of my knowledge and belief, these data correctly
describe me, my qualifications, and my experience.
Date:
[Signature of staff member and authorized representative of the Bidder]
Full name of staff member:______________________________________
Full name of authorized representative: ___________________________
Date:
26
3F. TIME SCHEDULE FOR COMPLETION OF TASKS
27
SECTION 4 : TERMS OF REFERENCE
1. BACKGROUND
Karnataka has an agrarian economy and as such, overall development of the State is
mainly depending on the growth of agriculture and allied sectors. Karnataka with its
diversified agro-climatic conditions is home for production of variety of agricultural
crops.
Department of Agriculture (DoA) is sphere heading the growth of agriculture sector

in the State. The Department has a vision to ensure food security and also to make
agriculture a sustainable and viable occasion for the livelihood support by 2020. The
Department also set a target to achieve the growth rate of 4.5% in the agricultural
sector by enhancing agriculture production and improving income level of farmers. To
enable this, the Department is implementing various schemes and programmes of
both Central and State Govt., across the State. The State has launched Karnataka Agri
Business and Food Processing Policy 2015 to guide the overall and sustainable
development of agri and allied sector in the State.
As part of its initiative in harnessing the potential of ICT in agriculture, Do proposes to

develop an online call centre by name Integrated Agriculture Call Centre (IACC) for
providing required information online to the Farmers Community of the State. This
call centre will be located in Bengaluru and farmers’ queries are to be answered
Kannada.
The IACC is aimed at having an efficient, effective system and an Integrated

Agriculture Call Centre Service based on a dynamic database and regularly
updated knowledge (through experts in research and extension system) to rapidly
enhance successful call inflow. This will necessitate corresponding augmentation of IT
infrastructure through ICC.
2. OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT
To harness the potential of ICT in agriculture, Department of Agriculture is adopting a

new initiative by launching “ Integrated Agriculture Call Centre (ICC)” aimed at
answering farmers queries on a telephone call in Kannada. The ICC shall be accessible
by dialing a toll free number through landline as well as mobile numbers of all
telecom networks from 6.00 A.M to 10.00 P.M. on all 7 days a week. With increased
awareness amongst farmers and introduction of various new measures, the DOA
intends to rapidly enhance coverage of farmers under this most important and
convenient tool of agricultural extension.
28
3. SCOPE OF WORK
The scope of functions/work/solutions to be covered by the selected Bidder for the
Call Centres to be set up can be broadly classified into the following categories:
(a) Inbound calls
(b) Outbound calls
(c) Multi Lingual
(d) Self service functions through multi lingual IVR
(e) Differential offering basis Customer Segmentation
(f) Service, transaction, activation, retention, grievance handling, marketing, surveys etc
(g) Web Chat /Video Chat/Email
(h) Co-browsing
(i) Development of Portal
(j) Operation of Portal
(k) The subsequent sections describe currently envisaged scope of services and they
are for illustration only.
(l) However, the DoA is open to suggestions / additions / modifications to this scope
based on Bidder interaction at the pre-bid meeting at the sole discretion of the
DoA. The scope of services will hence be finalized at the pre-bid meeting. This
scope can also be revised during the tenure of the contract based on farmer/ caller
expectations, business needs, regulatory requirements, competitive landscape,
Bidder’s capabilities etc. and any additional channels will be mutually agreed and
Bidder will need to support the DoA additional requirements that may arise from
time to time within the contract period.
The detailed scope of work covered in Schedule-1.
4. SCHEDULE FOR COMPLETION OF TASKS

Time line from
Sl.
Tasks signing the
No.
contract (cum.)
1 Call Centre readiness and recruitment 3 weeks
2 Development of KMS with initial FAQ 4 weeks
3 Launch of IACC 5 weeks
Operation of IACC: 1 year from contract date, extendable to 2 more years based on
mutual agreement.
In case of any delay caused due to approval of deliverables by the DoA, time frame
will be suitably extended.
5. PAYMENT DETAILS
The selected Agency will submit the invoice / bill for the amount calculated based on
clause 3.6 of section 3. The DoA will endeavour to release the amount after due
29
verification of invoice / bill within seven days after receipt of valid invoice / bill.
6. COMPOSITION OF REVIEW COMMITTEE TO MONITOR AGENCIES WORK

DoA will constitute a Review / Monitoring Committee with appropriate composition.
7. LIST OF KEY PROFESSIONAL POSITIONS WHOSE CV AND EXPERIENCE

WOULD BE EVALUATED. (Same as indicated in Clause 3.3 (ii) of Data Sheet to
Information to Bidder.)
i.
----
30
SECTION 5: SERVICE CONTRACT
(To be executed in Rs. 200/- e-Stamp paper, purchased in Bengaluru)
between
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
and
[Name of the Agency]
Dated :
31
CONTENTS
I. FORM OF CONTRACT
II. GENERAL CONDITIONS OF CONTRACT
1. General Provisions
1.1 Definitions
1.2 Law Governing the Contract
1.3 Language
1.4 Notices
1.5 Location
1.6 Authorized Representatives
1.7 Taxes and Duties
2. Commencement, Completion, Modification, and Termination of Contract

2.1 Effectiveness of Contract
2.2 Commencement of Services
2.3 Expiration of Contract
2.4 Modification
2.5 Force Majeure
2.5.1 Definition
2.5.2 No Breach of Contract
2.5.3 Extension of Time
2.5.4 Payments
2.6 Suspension
2.7 Termination
2.7.1 By the DoA
2.7.2 By the Agencies
2.7.3 Cessation of Rights and Obligations
2.7.4 Cessation of Services
2.7.5 Payment upon Termination
3. Obligations of the Agencies

3.1 General
3.2 Conflict of Interest
3.2.1 Agencies Not to Benefit from Commissions, Discounts, etc.
3.2.2 Procurement Rules of Funding Agencies
3.2.3 Agencies and Affiliates not to engage in certain Activities
3.2.3 Prohibition of Conflicting Activities
3.3 Confidentiality
3.4 Insurance to Be Taken Out by the Agencies
3.5 Contractor’ Actions Requiring DoA’s Prior Approval
3.6 Reporting Obligations
32
3.7 Documents Prepared by the Agencies to be the Property
Of the DoA
3.8 Equipment and Materials Furnished by the DoA
4. Contractor’ Personnel and Sub-Agencies

4.1 Description of Personnel
4.2 Removal and/or Replacement of Personnel
5. Obligations of the DoA

5.1 Assistance and Exemptions
5.2 Services and Facilities
6. Payments to the Agencies

6.1 Lump Sum Remuneration
6.2 Contract Price
6.3 Payment for Additional Services
6.4 Terms and Conditions of Payment
6.5 Interest on Delayed Payments
7. Settlement of Disputes
7.1 Amicable Settlement
7.2 Dispute Settlement
III. SPECIAL CONDITIONS OF CONTRACT
IV. APPENDICES
Appendix A — Description of the Services

Appendix B — Reporting Requirements
Appendix C — Key Personnel and Sub-Contractor
Appendix D — Services and Facilities to be provided by the DoA
Appendix E — Breakdown of Contract price in Indian Rupees
Appendix F — Form of Bank Guarantee for Performance Security
Note: The Details pertaining to Appendix A, B, C and D is provided in schedule 1 of this bid
document.
33
I. FORM OF SERVICE CONTRACT
This SERVICE CONTRACT (hereinafter called the "Contract") is made the _________ day of
the month of ______________, 2017 , between, on the one hand, Commissioner for
Agriculture, Department of Agriculture having its office at No.1, Sheshadri Road, K.R
Circle, Bengaluru – 560001 (hereinafter called the "Authority") and, on the other hand,
_______________(hereinafter called the "Agency").
WHEREAS
(a) the Authority has requested the Agency to provide certain consulting services as defined
in the General Conditions of Contract attached to this Contract (hereinafter called the
"Services");
(b) the Agency, having represented to the Authority that they have the required
professional skills, and personnel and technical resources, have agreed to provide the
Services on the terms and conditions set forth in this Contract;
NOW THEREFORE the parties hereto hereby agree as follows:
1. The following documents attached hereto shall be deemed to form an integral part of
this Contract:
(a) Tender document including Addenda / Corrigenda, proceedings of pre-award
meetings, etc.
(b) The General Conditions of Contract (hereinafter called "GC");
(c) The Special Conditions of contract (hereinafter called "SC");
(d) Technical Proposal Submission Form of the Agency
(e) The following Appendices:
Appendix A: Description of the Services / Scope of Services
Appendix B: Reporting Obligations / Deliverables
Appendix C: List of Key Professionals to be deployed
Appendix D: Services and facilities to be provided by the Authority
Appendix E: Financial Proposal
Appendix F: Bank Guarantee for Performance Security
2. The mutual rights and obligations of the Authority and the Agency shall be as set forth
in the Contract, in particular:
(a) The Agency shall carry out the Services in accordance with the provisions of the
Contract; and
(b) The Authority shall make payments to the Agency in accordance with the provisions
of the Contract.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the Parties hereto have caused this Contract to be signed in their
respective names as of the day and year first above written.
34
FOR AND ON BEHALF OF [NAME OF AUTHORITY]
By
(Authorized Representative)
FOR AND ON BEHALF OF

[NAME OF AGENCY]
By
(Authorized Representative)
35
II. GENERAL CONDITIONS OF CONTRACT

1. GENERAL PROVISIONS
1.1 Definitions
Unless the context otherwise requires, the following terms whenever used in this
Contract have the following meanings:
(a) "Applicable Law" means the laws and any other instruments having the force of
law in India, as they may be issued and in force from time to time;
(b) "Contract" means the Contract signed by the Parties, to which these General
Conditions of Contract (GC) are attached, together with all the documents listed
in Clause 1 of such signed Contract;
(c) “Effective Date” means the date on which this Contract comes into force and
effect pursuant to Clause GC 2.1
(d) “Contract Value” means the price to be paid for the performance of the Services,
in accordance with Clause 6;
(e) "GC" means these General Conditions of Contract;
(f) "Government" means the Government of Karnataka;
(g) "Local currency" means Indian Rupee;
(h) "Member", means the entity specified in the SC to act on their behalf in
exercising all the Agency’ rights and obligations towards the Authority under
this Contract.
(i) "Party" means the Authority or the Agency, as the case may be, and Parties
means both of them;
(j) "Personnel" means persons hired by the Agency or by any Sub-Agency as
employees and assigned to the performance of the Services or any part thereof;
and ‘key personnel’ means the personnel referred to in Clause GC4.2 (a).
(k) "SC" means the Special Conditions of Contract by which these General
Conditions of Contract may be amended or supplemented;
(l) "Services" means the work to be performed by the Agency pursuant to this
Contract as described in Appendix A; and
(m) "Sub-Agency" means any entity to which the Agency sub-contract any part of
the Services in accordance with the provisions of Clauses 3.5 and 4.
(n) ‘Third party” means any person or entity other than the Government, the
Authority, the Agency, or a Sub-Agency.
1.2 Law Governing the Contract
This Contract, its meaning and interpretation, and the relation between the Parties
shall be governed by the Applicable Law.
1.3 Language
This Contract has been executed in English language, which shall be the binding and
controlling language for all matters relating to the meaning or interpretation of this
Contract.
36
1.4 Notices
Any notice, request or consent made pursuant to this Contract shall be in writing
and shall be deemed to have been made when delivered in person to an
authorized representative of the Party to whom the communication is addressed,
or when sent by registered mail, email, to such Party at the address specified in the
SC.
1.5 Location
The Services shall be performed at such locations as are specified in Appendix A and,
where the location of a particular task is not so specified, at such locations, whether
in Karnataka or elsewhere, as the Authority may approve.
1.6 Authorized Representatives
Any action required or permitted to be taken, and any document required or
permitted to be executed, under this Contract by the Authority or the Agency may be
taken or executed by the officials specified in the SC.
1.7 Taxes and Duties
The Authority shall pay such taxes / duties applicable on professional fee, as the
amount of which is not included in the Contract Price.
2. Commencement, Completion, Modification and termination of Contract
2.1 Effectiveness of Contract
This Contract shall come into effect on the date the Contract is signed by both Parties
or such other later date as may be stated in the SC.
2.2 Commencement of Services
The Agency shall begin carrying out the Services within ten (10) days after the date
the Contract becomes effective, or at such other date as may be specified in the SC.
2.3 Expiration of Contract
Unless terminated earlier pursuant to Clause 2.7, this Contract shall terminate at
the end of such time period after the Effective Date as is specified in the SC.
2.4 Modification
Modification of the terms and conditions of this Contract, including any modification
of the scope of the Services or of the Contract Price, may only be made by written
contract between the Parties.
2.5 Force Majeure
2.5.1 Definition
For the purposes of this Contract, "Force Majeure" means an event which is
beyond the reasonable control of a Party, and which makes a Party's performance of
its obligations under the Contract impossible or so impractical as to be
considered impossible under the circumstances.
2.5.2 No Breach of Contract
The failure of a Party to fulfil any of its obligations under the contract shall not be
considered to be a breach of, or default under this Contract insofar as such inability
arises from an event of Force Majeure, provided that the Party affected by such an
37
event (a) has taken all reasonable precautions, due care and reasonable alternative
measures in order to carry out the terms and conditions of this Contract, and (b) has
informed the other Party as soon as possible about the occurrence of such an event.
2.5.3 Extension of Time
Any period within which a Party shall, pursuant to this Contract, complete any
action or task, shall be extended for a period equal to the time during which such
Party was unable to perform such action as a result of Force Majeure.
2.5.4 Payments
During the period of their inability to perform the Services as a result of an event
of Force Majeure, the Agency shall be entitled to be paid only for the services that have
been rendered. No amount shall be paid for any services that have not been rendered
on account of Force Majeure.
2.6 Suspension:
The Authority may by written notice of suspension to the Agency, suspend all
payments to the Agency hereunder if the Agency fail to perform any of their
obligations under this contract, including the carrying out of the Services, provided
that such notice of suspension (i) shall specify the nature of the failure, and (ii) shall
request the Agency to remedy such failure within a period not exceeding thirty (30)
days after receipt by the Agency of such notice of suspension.
2.7 Termination
2.7.1 By the Authority
The Authority may terminate this Contract, by not less than thirty (30) days’
written notice of termination to the Agency, to be given after the occurrence of any of
the events specified in paragraphs (a) through (d) of this Clause 2.7.1 and sixty (60)
days’ in the case of the event referred to in (e):
(a) if the Agency do not remedy a failure in the performance of their obligations
under the Contract, within thirty (30) days of receipt after being notified or within
such further period as the Authority may have subsequently approved in writing;
(b) if the Agency(or any of their Members) become insolvent or bankrupt;
(c) if, as the result of Force Majeure, the Agency are unable to perform a material
portion of the Services for a period of not less than sixty (60) days; or
(d) if the Agency, in the judgment of the Authority has engaged in corrupt or
fraudulent practices in competing for or in executing the Contract.
For the purpose of this clause:
“corrupt practice” means the offering, giving, receiving or soliciting of anything of
value to influence the action of a public official in the selection process or in
contract execution.
“fraudulent practice” means a misrepresentation of facts in order to influence a
selection process or the execution of a contract to the detriment of GOK, and
includes collusive practice among Agency(prior to or after submission of
38
proposals) designed to establish prices at artificial non-competitive levels and to
deprive GOK of the benefits of free and open competition.
(e) if the Authority, in its sole discretion and for any reason whatsoever, decides to
terminate this Contract.
2.7.2 By the Agency
The Agency may terminate this Contract, by not less than thirty (30) days' written
notice to the Authority, such notice to be given after the occurrence of any of the
events specified in paragraphs (a) through (c) of this Clause 2.7.2:
(a) If the Authority fails to pay any monies due to the Agency pursuant to this
Contract and not subject to dispute pursuant to Clause 7 hereof within sixty (60)
days after receiving written notice from the Agency that such payment is
overdue;
(b) If the Authority is in material breach of its obligations pursuant to this Contract
and has not remedied the same with in sixty (60) days (or such longer period as
the Agencymay have subsequently approved in writing) following the receipt by
the Authority of the Agency’ notice specifying such breach;
(c) if, as the result of Force Majeure, the Agency are unable to perform a material
portion of the Services for a period of not less than sixty (60) days.
2.7.3 Cessation of Rights and Obligations
Upon termination of this Contract pursuant to Clause GC 2.7, or upon expiration
of this Contract pursuant to Clause GC 2.3, all rights and obligations of the Parties
hereunder shall cease, except :
(i) such rights and obligations as may have accrued on the date of
termination or expiration;
(ii) the obligation of confidentiality set forth in Clause GC 3.3 hereof;
(iii) any right which a Party may have under the Applicable Law.
2.7.4 Cessation of Services
Upon termination of this Contract by notice of either Party to the other pursuant to
Clauses GC 2.7.1 or GC 2.7.2 hereof, the Agency shall, immediately upon dispatch or
receipt of such notice, take all necessary steps to bring the Services to a close in a
prompt and orderly manner and shall make every reasonable effort to keep
expenditures for this purpose to a minimum. With respect to documents prepared by
the Agency and equipment and materials furnished by the Authority, the Agency
shall proceed as provided, respectively, by Clauses GC 3.7 and GC 3.8.
2.7.5 Payment upon Termination
Upon termination of this Contract pursuant to Clauses 2.7.1 or 2.7.2, the Authority
shall make the following payments to the Agency:
(a) remuneration pursuant to Clause 6 for Services satisfactorily performed prior to
the effective date of termination;
39
(b) except in the case of termination pursuant to paragraphs (a) and (b) of Clause
2.7.1, reimbursement of any reasonable cost incident to the prompt and orderly
termination of the Contract.
3. Obligations of the Agency:
3.1 General
The Agency shall perform the Services and carry out their obligations hereunder with
all due diligence, efficiency and economy, in accordance with generally
accepted professional techniques and practices, and shall observe sound
management practices, and employ appropriate advanced technology and safe
methods. The Agency shall always act, in respect of any matter relating to this
Contract or to the Services, as faithful advisers to the Authority, and shall at all
times support and safeguard the Authority's legitimate interests in any dealings with
Sub-Agency or third parties.
3.2 Conflict of Interests
3.2.1 Agency Not to Benefit from Commissions, Discounts, etc.
The remuneration of the Agency pursuant to Clause 6 shall constitute the Agency'
sole remuneration in connection with this Contract or the Services, and the
Agency shall not accept for their own benefit any trade commission, discount or
similar payment in connection with activities pursuant to this Contract or to the
Services or in the discharge of their obligations under the Contract, and the Agency
shall use their best efforts to ensure that the Personnel, any Sub-Agency, and agents
of either of them, similarly shall not receive any such additional remuneration.
3.2.2 Procurement Rules of Funding Agency
If the Agency, as part of the Services, have the responsibility of advising the
Authority on the procurement of goods, works or services, the Agency shall
comply with any applicable procurement guidelines of the funding Agency
and shall at all times exercise such responsibility in the best interest of the
Authority. Any discounts or commissions obtained by the Agency in the exercise of
such procurement responsibility shall be for the account of the Authority.
3.2.3 Agency and Affiliates Not to engage in certain Activities
The Agency agree that, during the term of this Contract and after its
termination, the Agency and their affiliates, as well as any Sub-Agency and any of
its affiliates, shall be disqualified from providing goods, works or services (other
than the Services and any continuation thereof) for any project resulting from or
closely related to the Services.
3.2.4 Prohibition of Conflicting Activities
Neither the Agency nor their Sub-Agency nor the Personnel shall engage, either
directly or indirectly, in any of the following activities:
(a) during the term of this Contract, any business or professional activities in
the Government's country which would conflict with the activities assigned to
them under this Contract; or
40
(b) after the termination of this Contract, such other activities as may be specified in
the SC.
3.3 Confidentiality
The Agency, their Sub-Agency, and the Personnel of either of them shall not, either
during the term or within two (2) years after the expiration of this Contract, disclose
any proprietary or confidential information relating to the Project, the Services,
this Contract, or the Authority's business or operations without the prior written
consent of the Authority.
3.4 Insurance to Be Taken out by the Agency
The Agency(a) shall take out and maintain, and shall cause any Sub-Agency to
take out and maintain, at their (or the Sub-Agency', as the case may be) own cost
but on terms and conditions approved by the Authority, insurance against the risks,
and for the coverage, as shall be specified in the SC; and (b) at the Authority's
request, shall provide evidence to the Authority showing that such insurance has
been taken out and maintained and that the current premiums have been paid.
3.5 Agency’ Actions Requiring Authority’s Prior Approval
The Agency shall obtain the Authority’s prior approval in writing before taking any
of the following actions:
(a) entering into a subcontract for the performance of any part of the Services, it
being understood (i) that the selection of the Sub-Agency and the terms and
conditions of the subcontract shall have been approved in writing by the
Authority prior to the execution of the subcontract, and (ii) that the Agency shall
remain fully liable for the performance of the Services by the Sub-Agency and its
Personnel pursuant to this Contract;
(b) appointing such members of the Personnel not listed by name in Appendix C
(“Key Personnel and Sub-Agency”), and
(c) any other action that may be specified in the SC.
3.6 Reporting Obligations

The Agency shall submit to the Authority the reports and documents specified in
Appendix B in the form, in the numbers, and within the periods set forth in the said
Appendix.
3.7 Documents Prepared by the Agency to Be the Property of the Authority
All plans, drawings, specifications, designs, reports and other documents and
software submitted by the Agency in accordance with Clause 3.6 shall become and
remain the property of the Authority, and the Agency shall, not later than upon
termination or expiration of this Contract, deliver all such documents and
software to the Authority, together with a detailed inventory thereof. The Agency
may retain a copy of such documents and software. Restrictions about the future
use of these documents, if any, shall be specified in the SC.
3.8 Materials Furnished by the Authority
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Materials made available to the Agency by the Authority or purchased by the Agency
with funds provided by the Authority shall be the property of the Authority and
shall be marked accordingly. Upon termination or expiration of this Contract, the
Agency shall make available to the Authority an inventory of such equipment and
materials and shall dispose of such equipment and materials in accordance with
the Authority’s instructions. While in possession of such materials, the Agency,
unless otherwise instructed by the Authority in writing, shall insure them at the
expense of the Authority in an amount equal to their replacement value.
4. Agency’ Personnel and Sub-Agency
4.1 Description of Personnel
The titles, agreed job descriptions, minimum qualifications and estimated periods
of engagement in the carrying out of the Services of the Agency' Key Personnel
are described in Appendix C. The Key Personnel and Sub-Agency listed by title
as well as by name in Appendix C are hereby approved by the Authority.
4.2 Removal and/or Replacement of Personnel
(a) Except as the Authority may otherwise agree, no changes shall be made in the Key
Personnel. If, for any reason beyond the reasonable control of the Agency, it
becomes necessary to replace any of the Key Personnel, the Agency shall
forthwith provide as a replacement a person of equivalent or better qualifications.
(b) If the Authority finds that any of the Personnel have (i) committed serious
misconduct or has been charged with having committed a criminal action, or (ii)
have reasonable cause to be dissatisfied with the performance of any of the
Personnel, then the Agency shall, at the Authority's written request specifying
the grounds thereof, forthwith provide as a replacement a person with
qualifications and experience acceptable to the Authority.
(c) The Agency shall have no claim for additional costs arising out of or incidental
to any removal and/or replacement of Personnel.
5. Obligations of the Authority
5.1 Assistance and Exemptions
Unless otherwise specified in the SC, the Authority shall use its best efforts to
ensure that the Government shall:
(a) issue to officials, agents and representatives of the Government all such
instructions as may be necessary or appropriate for the prompt and effective
implementation of the Services;
(b) assist the Agency and the Personnel and any Sub-Agency employed by the
Agency for the Services from any requirement to register or obtain any permit to
practice their profession or to establish themselves either individually or as a
corporate entity according to the Applicable Law;
(c) provide to the Agency, Sub-Agency and Personnel any such other assistance as
may be specified in the SC.
5.2 Services and Facilities
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The Authority shall make available to the Agency and the Personnel, for the
purposes of the services and free of any charge, the services, facilities and
property described in Appendix D at the times and in the manner specified in said
Appendix D, provided that if such services, facilities and property shall not be
made available to the Agency as and when so specified, the Parties shall agree on
(i) any time extension that it may be appropriate to grant to the Agency for the
performance of the Services, (ii) the manner in which the Agency shall procure any
such services, facilities and property from other sources, and (iii) the additional
payments, if any, to be made to the Agency as a result thereof.
6. Payment to the Agency:
6.1 Lump Sum Remuneration
The Agency’s total remuneration shall not exceed the Contract Value and shall be
a fixed lump sum including all staff costs, Sub-Agency’ costs, printing of reports,
communications, travel, accommodation, and the like, and all other costs incurred
by the Agency in carrying out the Services described in Appendix A. Except as
provided in Clause 5.2, the Contract Value may only be increased above the
amounts stated in clause 6.2 if the Parties have agreed to additional payments in
accordance with Clause 2.4.
6.2 Contract Value
The Contract Value is set forth in the SC.
6.3 Payment for Additional Services
For the purpose of determining the remuneration due for additional services as
may be agreed under Clause 2.4, a breakdown of the lump sum price is provided
in Appendix E.
6.4 Terms and Conditions of Payment
Payments will be made to the account of the Agency and according to the
payment schedule stated in the SC. Any other payment shall be made after the
conditions listed in the SC for such payment have been met, and the Agency have
submitted an invoice to the Authority specifying the amount due.
6.5 Interest on Delayed Payments
If the Authority has delayed payments beyond sixty (60) days after the due date
stated in the SC, interest shall be paid to the Agency for each day of delay at the rate
stated in the SC.
6.6 Penalty
Authority shall impose penalty on the selected Agency for failure in carrying out the
assignment in respect of quality, time schedule and adequacy, as specified in SC.
7. Settlement of Disputes
7.1 Amicable Settlement
The Parties shall use their best efforts to settle amicably all disputes arising out of
or in connection with this Contract or its interpretation.
7.2 Dispute Settlement
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Any dispute between the Parties as to matters arising pursuant to this Contract
will be settled in accordance with the provisions specified in the SC.
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III. SPECIAL CONDITIONS OF CONTRACT
Number of
GC Clause
[1.1 (h) The Member in Charge is].

[1.4.1 The addresses are:
Authority : Department of Agriculture,
No.1Sheshadri Road, K.R Circle,
Bengaluru - 560001
Attention : Commissioner for Agriculture

E-mail : agri.kar2015@gmail.com
Agency :
Attention :
E-mail :
[1.6 The Authorized Representatives are:

For the Authority :
For the Agency:
[2.2 The time period to begin carrying out services shall be 10 days from the date of
signing of agreement/contract.
[2.3 The expiration period of the contract shall be 12 months.
[3.4 The risks and the coverages shall be:
1) Third Party liability insurance, as per standard Industry Practice for the period of
Contract;
2) Authority’s liability and workers' compensation insurance in respect of the
Personnel of the Agencyand of any Sub-Agency, in accordance with the
relevant provisions of the Applicable Law, as well as, with respect to such
Personnel, any such life, health, accident, travel or other insurance as may be
appropriate;
3) Professional liability insurance, with a minimum coverage equal to total contract
value for this service; and
4) Insurance against loss of or damage to (i) equipment purchased in whole or in
part with funds provided under this Contract, (ii) the Agency' property used in
the performance of the Services, and (iii) any documents prepared by the
Agency in the performance of the Services.
[3.5 (c)The other actions are.]Nil.
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[3.7 The Agency shall not use these documents for purposes unrelated to this Contract
without the prior written approval of the Authority.]
[6.2 The amount of Contract is Rs.
6.4 The account is :…………………….]

The selected Agency will submit the invoice / bill for the amount calculated based
on clause 3.6 of section 3. The DoA will endeavour to release the amount after due
verification of invoice / bill within fifteen days after receipt of valid invoice / bill.
Note: Department of Agriculture reserves the right to stop the assignment at any point of
time and in such case, no payments shall be made for the subsequent services.
6.5 Liquidated Damages for error/variation

In case any error or variation is detected in the deliverables submitted by the
Agency and such error or variation is the result of negligence or lack of due
diligence on the part of the Agency, the consequential damages thereof shall be
quantified by the Authority in a reasonable manner and recovered from the Agency
by way of deemed liquidated damages, subject to a maximum of 10% (ten per cent)
of the Contract Value.
Liquidated Damages for delay
In case of delay in completion of Services, liquidated damages not exceeding an
amount equal to 0.2% (zero point two per cent) of the Contract Value per week,
subject to a maximum of 10% (ten per cent) of the Contract Value will be imposed
and shall be recovered by appropriation from the Performance Security or
otherwise. However, in case of delay due to reasons beyond the control of the
Authority and/or Agency, suitable extension of time shall be granted.
Encashment and appropriation of Performance Security
The Authority shall have the right to invoke and appropriate the proceeds of the
Performance Security, in whole or in part, without notice to the Agency in the event
of breach of this Contract or for recovery of liquidated damages specified in this
Clause 6.6.
Penalty for deficiency in Services
In addition to the liquidated damages not amounting to penalty, as specified in
Clause 6.5, warning may be issued to the Agency for minor deficiencies on its part.
In the case of significant deficiencies in Services causing adverse effect on the Project
or on the reputation of the Authority, other penal action such as forfeiture of EMD,
Bank guarantee and debarring for a specified period may also be initiated as per
policy of the Authority.
7.2Disputes shall be settled in accordance with the following provisions.
7.2.1 Dispute resolution
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Any dispute, difference or controversy of whatever nature howsoever arising under
or out of or in relation to this Contract (including its interpretation) between the
Parties, and so notified in writing by either Party to the other Party (the “Dispute”)
shall, in the first instance, be attempted to be resolved amicably in accordance with
the conciliation procedure set forth in Clause 7.2.2
The Parties agree to use their best efforts for resolving all Disputes arising under or
in respect of this Contract promptly, equitably and in good faith, and further agree
to provide each other with reasonable access during normal business hours to all
non-privileged records, information and data pertaining to any Dispute.
7.2.2 Conciliation
In the event of any Dispute between the Parties, either Party may call upon the
Commissioner for Agriculture, Govt. of Karnataka for amicable settlement. If the
Dispute is not amicably settled within 15 (fifteen) days of the meeting, either Party
may refer the Dispute to arbitration in accordance with the provisions of Clause
7.2.3.
7.2.3 Arbitration
Any Dispute which is not resolved amicably by conciliation, as provided in Clause
7.2.2, shall be finally decided by reference to arbitration. Any dispute, difference or
claim arising out of Or in connection with, or relating to the work order (including
clauses and annexure(s)) or the interpretation, breach, termination or invalidity
thereof, shall be referred and settled under Arbitration Centre-Karnataka (Domestic
and International) Rules 2012
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IV. APPENDICES
Appendix A: Description of the Services
Appendix B: Reporting Requirements / Deliverables
Appendix C: Key Personnel Professional
Appendix D: Services and Facilities to be provided by the Authority
Appendix E: Financial Proposal
Appendix F: Bank Guarantee for Performance Security (Format given).
Please note: The details pertaining to Appendix A, B, C and D is provided in Schedule 1 of

this Bid Document.
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Schedule-1
BROAD SCOPE OF WORK
1. Manpower to be deployed in IACC

Raitha Sahayaka (RS) :The Call Centre Staff known as Raitha Sahayaka (RS)with
excellent communication skills in Kannada shall attend the calls. These Raitha
Sahayakas are considered as Level1 (L1) support of Integrated Agriculture Call
Centres (ICC). Minimum qualification of RS should be any graduate with fluency in
Kannada. Atleast 25% each of the total RSs should have fluency also in English and
Hindi, enabling to answer the queries of farmers easily.
In addition, the RS should also have good knowledge of reading and writing English
Language so that he/ she is able to record the queries and other necessary details.
Initially, the ICC will have 20 agents and one team leader and one domain expert for
each shift with 2 shifts daily. The number of RSs would be increased or decreased
depending on the response for ICCs.
DoA has the right to evaluate the Raitha Sahayaka appointed by the selected Bidder/
Agency at any stage and can terminate them in case they are not found suitable.
Under such circumstances, the Bidder shall replace the Raitha Sahayaka within one
week..
2. Location and Number of Call Centers
ICC will be operated out of up at a single location
3. Call Center Timings

ICC will work between 6:00AM to 10:00PM ,and the ICCs would operate on all days
including Sundays and Holidays. During 10:00 PM to 6:00 AM in the night and
when the lines are busy, appropriate IVRS prompt in Kannada will be played
informing the caller about the working hours of the ICC, The English and Kannada
script for this message will be provided by DOA.
Following is the proposed shift timings of ICCs:
 Morning Shift: 6.00 AM to 2.00 PM
 Day Shift: 10.00 AM to 6.00 PM
 Evening Shift 2.00 PM to 10.00 PM
4. Call Facilities to Farmers

The ICCs will be accessible by the farmers on toll free Telephone Number. The calls
initiated shall and in the Integrated Agriculture Call Centre. Besides referring to
books and other resources (to be provided by DoA)to answer the queries of Farmers,
Raitha Sahayakas will access any information Portal developed by DOA and other
Web Portals having agriculture based information.
49
Raitha Sahayaka (RS)will act as a first level of support and it is envisaged that
majority of queries will be replied by them. If a Raitha Sahayaka unable to answer
any query during office hours, an attempt will be made to refer the caller to higher
level experts (Call Conference Experts) in a conference call along with the
information collected by the Raitha Sahayaka.
If such a conference call does not take place or leads to no satisfactory answer, the
query will then be escalated by the RS to Block level officer (or District level where
block level escalation has not been enabled)and thereafter to higher levels as
depicted in Figure1. Details of Primary Rate Interface at Figure 2.
When a call is in queue, an appropriate pre-recorded message through dynamic IVR

should be played intermittently to tell about Farmer Queue No. and approximate
time left and season specific standard advisories will need to be played to educate
the farmer while call is on hold.
Such advisories shall be provided by DoA in text form which will need to be
recorded/ digitized by the Bidder.
A Voice Mail System (VMS) should also be provided to ensure that a farmer who
cannot get across to a RS due to all lines being busy, gets a periodic prompt on IVRS
that in case the farmer does not want to wait, he/ she can record a voice mail leaving
his number and brief message of up to 2 minutes.
Requisite hardware/software for structured recording of such voice mail also to be

provided on the server. Farmers leaving voice mails with are quest to call back must
be called back by the Supervisor/ RS during lean period of inflow of calls.
5. Knowledge Management System(KMS)

The Bidder shall be responsible for developing a web based learning management
system portal (with responsive template) “Knowledge Management System (KMS),
an application software to maintain the queries and their answers being provided
by the Raitha Sahayakas and DOA identified experts. The KMS shall also have links
to various schemes of the DOA as well as weather related databases.
Every call would been entered in relevant module of KMS with details of farmers,
query of the farmer and answer provided to him. The gist of answer given by the
RSs shall also be sent as SMS in local vernacular to the caller farmer after the same is
entered in KMS.
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If the queries are not answered by RS these will be escalated to concerned Block
Level Officer for replying the query through KMS interface in given time frame.
Escalation of calls to next higher level will happen automatically if not escalated
manually by the lower level. Besides KMS, Raitha Sahayakas are required to go
through standard books/publications of UAS/Dept Portal, browse Farmers’ Portal,
other relevant portals & various Scheme Guidelines of DOA and material provided
by the DOA for answering farmers’ queries.
The Bidder would ensure regular training/orientation of the RSs in use of KMS
application and availability of latest information/literature on agriculture related
issues pertaining to various schemes in Karnataka.
In case any new features are added in KMS the Bidder will provide needed
orientation to the RSs. The Bidder would undertake data analytics on KMS data for
real time monitoring of key issues/problems and to generate alerts in case of
anything unusual happening and same will be shared with DOA.
DOA may also come with new communication technologies and social
media(including smart phone based apps) and the Bidder shall e
6. Handling the Calls

The generic Procedure for handling the Call is given below. The actual process flow
will be provided to successful bidder:
a) The Integrated Agriculture Call Centre shall receive the queries of farmers
through the toll free number. DOA shall bear the call charges of the Toll Free
Numbers and calls for outgoing charges (for volume of 90% of inbound calls)
used for contacting designated experts/farmers (calling ICC in last three
months). Bidder will bear costs for outgoing calls (in volume upto 10% of
inbound calls)
It is essential that the IPBBX system in the Integrated Call Centre is capable of
handling the calls from all the telecom Bidders and route the same to an
available operator. The system should also have the capability of Call Holding
and Call Conferencing/Forwarding facilities within and outside ICC.
Wherever essential, PRI facilities will need to be created additionally to enable
routing of more number of incoming telephone lines, for which extra funds will
be provided by DOA.
The Bidder shall integrate the KMS and DOA with Call Centre Solution to fetch
callers’ number in the relevant screen of KMS within 3 months from award of the
contract.
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b) The Raitha Sahayaka shall record the name, address, gender, contact details,
queries in detail, type/subject of the query, answer given, status of the calls, etc
in the KMS or in any other suitable form at approved by DOA.
If KMS is down due to non-availability of internet connection at any point of
time or due to any other technical reason, the RS shall record the details of every
call as above in an off line module of KMS.
The data so entered shall be exported to KMS database once it comes live.
Accordingly each ICC should have adequate capabilities in terms of hardware&
system software to support this feature.
The information recorded in the database shall be used for the purpose of
preparing MIS reports and sent to DOA and concerned district on regular basis
at predefined interval sand also accessible online. Further details in this respect
will be worked out with the successful bidder.
c) The Raitha Sahayaka would be required to refer to Portal relevant, websites
maintained by Central/State Government agencies as well as other reliable
websites elsewhere to answer queries from the farmer.
The Raitha Sahayaka must, therefore, have on-line access to these sites
continuously. Farmer related information such as seed varieties, availability of
inputs, list of input dealers, machinery &equipment etc. is made available on the
portal. ICC RS is expected to use this database extensively for the benefit of
farmers.
d) In order to supplement the efforts of RS, it is envisaged to actively involve the
Raitha Seva Kendras (RSK) being established by DoA in providing access to
farmers to this KMS database and escalate this query through the module of
KMS customized for the RSK.
e) The RSK agents can also log onto farmers Portal or respective websites as
illustrated in para(c) above to answer queries of the farmers and if this is not
possible, they may themselves escalate unresolved queries to higher levels.
After prescribed time period, the unresolved queries shall automatically get
escalated to the next higher level. The RSKs can also upload photographs
alongwith description of the problem, if farmer comes with specimens of crops
affected by diseases. Answers to the queries which are not given immediately,
will be provided later.
f) The database of farmers’ queries received at RSK will also be available at ICC
and viceversa.
g) Call Escalation Matrix from the ICCs/RSKs has been depicted in Figure 1.
As may be seen from this figure, a RS will first try call conferencing with higher
level Call Conferencing Experts (CCEs) for unresolved queries and escalating
the query to the concerned Block level officer if call conferencing does not
materialize or caller is not satisfied with the reply given.
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If Block level officer also does not reply the query within the specified time,
queries automatically get escalated to District (Level–III) &thereafter to State
(Level–IV).
There may be some Blocks where either IT infrastructure or broadband
connectivity may not be available or there may be some administrative reasons,
such blocks need not be assigned codes as of now and queries in such cases will
get directly escalated to the District level.
At the District level, experts/officers of the Agriculture and allied departments
shall be responsible for replying to the queries escalated from the ICCs/RSKs, if
necessary, after taking inputs from the relevant authorities.
Similarly, even though queries escalated to State level will be in parallel
escalated to the UASs concerned, the DD at the State level will ensure that an
appropriate reply is conveyed by his/her Department within the prescribed time
limits.
h) The level-II expert(Block) should reply within 3 to 4 days of query logged in and
the unanswered query should get escalated to District Level (L-III) within one
week. In case L-III does not answer the query within 7 days of receipt of query
from the Block, the same will be escalated to the State Level. Urgent matters will
need to be attended to more promptly. If discussion with the farmer is necessary
to resolve the query or to render proper advice, a conference call with the farmer
can be held by dialing the Integrated Agriculture Call Centre.
i) The Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and other locally relevant
information at the district/state level may need to be updated after appropriate
53
authentication and validation of such solution or answer given by authorized
Raitha Sahayakas. Such validation will be done not below the level of the District
In-charge of Agriculture (or allied sectors) Department in a State for Block level
FAQs and Director Agriculture (or allied sectors) in case of District level FAQs.
j) Every district will have different problems and issues. Therefore, interaction of
RSs with the Divisional /Zonal level officers of the DoA and allied departments
would be organized every month by the DoA on pre-announced dates at the
video conference for which NIC would also be actively involved. These
video conferences may need to be held in such a manner that every RS gets at
least a bi-monthly exposure to various issues in different parts of the State.
k) The RSs will also update the farmers grievance in the relevant grievance
handling interface, if required by the DOA.
7. Training Schedule of RS: Following training schedule of RSs shall be adhered to:
i) Besides updating and upgrading the domain expertise of the RSs in the areas
related to agriculture and allied sectors, the Bidder is also expected to
periodically refresh and enhance soft skills (including computer operations,
KMS, personal tone and tenor while attending a farmer’s call etc) at least once in
a year.
ii) Facilitate Pre-seasonal technical training in UAS or other institutes to be once in
each crop season, supported by DoA
iii) Technical Training: Three number of Technical Trainings in a year to be
arranged on a fixed day by calling District/ Zonal Level Officers in Agriculture
and allied sector as experts as well as from IMD/Meteorological Centers for
weather related matters.
iv) Field Orientation: RSs to be deputed in place of Assistant Technology Manager
under ATMA for field exposure. RSs/Supervisors are lacking in field experience
and Assistant Technology Managers (ATMs) have a little experience in use of
ICT in agriculture extension.
Hence RSs to be deputed to nearby Agriculture Technology Management Agency
(ATMA) on a rotation basis to work as an ATMs for a period of atleast a fortnight
each in Kharif and Rabi crop seasons. Equal number of ATMs s ha ll be deputed to
the ICC to act as RSs during the intervening period for adequate exposure to ICT
based extension services.
The proposed ICC architecture of the Bidder shall base on the state of the art
Decentralized Call Centre with centralized manageability which ensures central
monitoring, live recording of all call conversations, automated MIS reports and
decentralized survivability. It shall be integrated with the KMS. The phone number
of caller shall be automatically populated to KMS wherein the callers details shall be
instantly retrieved if called earlier.
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8. Reporting Requirements
Various MIS data/ reports generated from the call data recorded by the ICC are
required to be provided to DOA and concerned Districts on pre-defined regular
intervals so as optimize the operations of the Integrated Agriculture Call Centres
and make best use of data collected by the ICCs. Some reports would be required in
Kannada.
The ICCs shall also give a weekly feedback to the DoA& Allied Departments
regarding the nature of calls including area specific prevalence of crop diseases,
pest infestation etc. The Bidder shall also be required to do data mining in the
details farmers’ queries recorded in KMS and provide feedback to the Districts
about prevalence of problems in specific districts. In order to ensure that this is a
two-way communication channel, the Commissioner/Director of Agriculture shall
ensure that the designated ICC Nodal Officer gets across to the ICC Supervisor
periodically.
Provide MIS Reports on monthly basis or at any interval prescribed by DoA. The
MIS reports must contain information related to state-wise, district wise, taluk wise
etc of number of ACD calls, hourly call details, escalated calls, pending calls,
answer given to farmers queries, trends, call utilization, query asked by callers,
reply given, FAQs, classification of queries based on problem/crop, details of RSs/
Supervisors etc. The format for MIS reports will be finalized in consultation with
DoA, which will be suitably modified from time to time based on information
requirement of DoA.
9. Basic Facilities at ICC

Adequate space for each Staff –with separate gender based rest rooms, gender based
toilet facilities, pantry, common area, passages etc. shall be available at ICC.
Adequate/good quality furniture and fixtures including table, chair, cup boards,
book shelf, shelf for Servers and other gadgets etc. should be provided at the ICC.
Facility shall adhere to ISO 27001 norms in terms of information security, disaster
recovery, cabling, installation and maintenance, safety etc
10. Hardware requirements at ICC

The Bidder will be responsible for all the hardware and software facilities required
for smooth operation of a Call Centre. This includes:
 Complete hardware and software (e.g virtualized desktops, headphones, Servers,
Routers, gateways etc that will host the solution etc); Cloud based solutions may
be proposed but will be subject to review and approval by the DoA;
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 Personal computers (without USB and other copying devices)
 Necessary middleware required for integration with all the DoA’s systems.
 IVR application with Server, CTI Solution including ACD, Dialer, voice logger,
disaster recovery solutions, etc.
 Omni-channel applications for Web chat, Email management, Video chat, Co-
browsing, Click to call, Click to chat, Fax services, Social media response
management etc.
 Omni-channels applications should support contextual continuity.
 Integration of IVR with CRM through a standard CTI solution for popping up
farmer/ caller dashboard.
 Unified desk top solution (holistic CRM), Knowledge management system,
Workforce Management system, Quality management tools
 Standard security system / network security solutions and firewalls
 UPS
 Authorized internet connections
 Bidder should provide top notch ACD capable of load balancing and automatic
routing orrerouting of calls between different centres.
 All contemporary state of the art Business Intelligence Tools including but not
limited to AutomaticRoster Workforce Management Tool, Call Back Manager with
Dialer, Voice Mail module (not only onIVR but for all Agents across all services),
Barge in& Online Reports & Management Dashboards forDoA.
 The Bidder is obligated to provide new Business Intelligence (BI) Tools and their
updates at any time during the contract if the DoA so desires at no extra cost. DoA
requires web based reporting of all SLAs and KPIs, call volume diagnostic which
shall include the type of calls, farmer/ callers, their volume, queries that cannot be
resolved etc.
 The solution proposed by the Bidder shall be made PCI DSS and PA DSS
compliant, as pardon’s / regulatory requirement without any additional cost.
 Dedicated resource at DoA’s DC / DR and Call Centre locations as may be
required for maintenance of hardware, software, troubleshooting etc.
The above list is not exhaustive and the Bidder needs to provide complete network
architecture and infrastructure to meet DoA’s requirements as per the Scope of Work.
The Bidder should completely own the infrastructure at all points without any capital
or operational cost implications for the DoA. The DoA will not be responsible for
payment of any AMC etc. for any equipment. Also, the Bidder should provide for all
HR related processes for the Call Centre employees and the DoA shall not have any
responsibility towards this.
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The Bidder may bring in any other infrastructural facilities that it feels necessary to
deliver the required level of performance. If the Bidder wants to host any application
for better management of Call centre, the same may be allowed by the DoA as per the
Security policy of the DoA.
The technical quality and standards of all the hardware and software will need to be
finalized in consultation with the DoA to ensure that it meets the quality standards as
expected by the DoA.
The Bidder shall provide a read only access to all tools/solutions (including capabilities
of live call barging) used by the Bidder to the DoA’s designated staff at its Call Centre
as well as the DoA’s Head/Central Office.
 Toolkit guides and Troubleshooting guides.

i. Facility for 100%audio recording of calls: These recorded calls will be kept
live for six months thereafter achieved for six more months.
ii. Local standby internet bandwidth to be maintained.
iii. SMS to Farmers: Farmer specific information as per KMS (viz. gist of advice
provided during a call and similar other inputs) shall be sent to the farmer
by SMS while thanking him for calling ICC. The Bidder shall ensure that the
text of the SMS sent to farmers is meaningful and serve as a credible
reference for the farmer.
iv. Provision for registration of calling farmers mobile number for sending SMS
messages to them in the areas of their choice in agriculture and allied sector
and other value added services as decided by DoA from time to time.
v. Biometric attendance system shall be installed with facility for central
monitoring set up to be accessible to DoA or any authority designated. One
time fund will be provided by DoA for installation of biometric attendance
machine. However, the expenditure towards repair, replacement and
maintenance of the biometric attendance machine will not be borne
/reimbursed by DoA.
vi. Provide facilities to put the call centre on IVRS with call waiting message or
suitable pre-recorded message during working hours and suitable pre-
recorded message during non-working hours (10 PM to 6 AM).
11. Project Management Cell

Service Provider would set up Project Management Cell (PMC) for administrative
and coordination purpose without any financial support from DoA. The PMC shall
have the following members:
(i) Project Manager with experience of Call Centre operation,
(ii) MIS Assistant and
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(iii) System Assistant.
(iv) Domain Expert in agriculture (with minimum 5 years of field experience)
The Bidder may also deploy other resources as per need for smooth functioning of ICC
operation.
The Project Manager must have good understanding of ICC operation and possess
excellent communication and technical skills.
The Bidder shall extend all the cooperation/support to a Third Party Monitoring
Agency to be appointed by the DoA.
12. Telephone Facilities

The following indicates an illustrative (not exhaustive) list of functions to be covered
under inbound calls.
These service offerings will be offered in a phased manner over a period of time. The
Bidder while designing and developing the IVR tree, will be expected to incorporate
these services as part of the IVR offering as well.
Focus will need to be on straight through processing and first contact resolution
integrated across multiple channels for a seamless, consistent, integrated farmer/ caller
journey and hence agent desk top applications and hands off to DOA systems will
need to be designed accordingly. Further status of any query / request / complaint
logged should be available with the agent online / real time.
The Bidder selected to run the Call Centre on Managed Services model will be
required to benchmark the IVR services provided by DoA and design the IVR tree
structure in consultation and with the approval of the DoA.
The IVR developed and deployed by the Bidder shall be built exclusively for the DoA
and hosted at DoA’s location. The IVR shall be enabled to receive calls directly from
the telecom service provider without the need for outbound dialling for transfer of
calls between agents. Necessary infrastructure such as ACD, CTI, Call Logger etc shall
be made available at the centre for call logging/recording at the centre.
The Bidder shall make available the necessary infrastructure for routing of calls as
maybe necessary to facilitate transfer of calls between the different agents. The Bidder
shall be responsible for providing the connectivity with required bandwidth for
further routing of calls post IVR.
Bidder is required to provide different IVR for different farmer/ caller segments. IVR
design, development, integration, maintenance etc. must include-
 Should be dynamic/intelligent to offer customized menu based on farmer/ caller
analytics/transaction history and play the customized message like festival greeting
to farmer/ callers on the basis of their profile/calendar
 Should support upto3 major regional languages in addition to Kannada and
English (with professionally recorded voice ensuring standardization and
consistency).
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 Should announce waiting time and allow farmer/ caller to leave name/number for
automatic call back
 Should have fast keys
 Should play the recorded promotion audio at the time of waiting. These audio will
be changes as and when requested by DoA.
 Should save the farmer/ caller data like preferred language, etc. and provide the
services in the preferred /saved language.
 Over the above, IVR must provide best in class functionality per industry
standards
 The entire design, development, integration, maintenance and upgrade of the IVR
including services in different regional languages will be done by the Bidder at its
own cost. DoA will not bear any cost of the design, development, integration,
maintenance, upgrade, recording in different languages, support etc. of the IVR
solution.
The DoA may suggest changes and customization in IVR tree structure from time to
time, which the Bidder will be required to execute within 7 working days free of cost.
In the event that the changes/service requests are complex in nature the execution time
will be mutually agreed upon. The initial IVR flow implemented by the Bidder should
be capable of being scaled up to support increase in ports as well as functionalities
required by the DoA and no incremental cost would be borne by the DoA for these
changes.
The Bidder should be able to configure important messages/campaigns free of cost on
IVR /waiting period of the call. The content and time period for such
messages/advertisements shall be decided by the DoA.
DoA would provide the advertisement to be configured on the IVR.
Additionally, the DoA, at its discretion might include more functions on IVR. The IVR
technology deployed should be compliant with all services mentioned above and any
other services that may be required by the DoA. No additional cost will be borne by
the DoA for development of additional services that would be required by the DoA on
the IVR during the contract period.
13. Email and Chat based services

The DoA offers active issue resolution through email services. However, the services
need to be enhanced.
The Bidder should be able to support these services and integrate them with other
systems of the DoA for resolving queries through such channels without any
additional cost.
The Bidder shall provide email solution as part of this proposal and extend the same to
required number of agents.
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The email services require authentication of farmer/ caller through various means like
through registered Email ID or through registered channel like Mobile App of DoA.
Bidder is required to customize and integrate email service (like templating, auto
answer, restriction for copy/paste/forward the mails, segmentation of emails based on
some key words etc.) as per DoA’s requirement.
DoA is presently providing web chat service through the link provided in DoA’s
corporate website.
Presently resolutions of only general queries are provided through web chat services.
However DoA wants that Bidder should provide authenticate web chat services by
integrating it with DoA’s various portals. Bidder is required to integrate and
customize the web chat services as per DoA’s requirement.
The DoA requires more experienced and better rated Agents to provide web chat
service to farmer/ callers.
14. Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
The Bidder will provide the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software. The
CRM shall be hosted at DoA’s locations which are at Bangalore. The selected bidder is
required to integrate all the system with the CRM provided by him. The solution
provided by Bidder should have following functionalities -
 Omni-channel platform for best in class farmer/ caller experience - Service and
sales aspect of engagement and takes appropriate action based upon farmer/ caller
behavior.
 Customer 360 degree View with complete farmer/ caller analysis indicating their
likes, dislikes and preferences to support intelligently
 Predictive analytics to indicate Customer preferences and likely future engagement
options e.g. cross-sell / up sell predictor, churn reduction predictor, loyalty
predictor etc.
 Issue Anticipation / Prediction : Customer Issue Anticipation Prediction, Next Best
Action recommendation and automated close looping
 Seamless Omni-channel Experience : Unified view across all interaction channels to
for a complete view and enable a Seamless cross channel Experience for farmer/
callers
 FCR (first call resolution) / STP (signal transfer protocol) / online fulfillment
capabilities
 All service requests would have to be recorded and made seamlessly available to
the respective districts / processing units / wings for processing of such requests
through a web based service request module to be provided by the Bidder.
15. Deployment of Manpower and their qualification
Voice Customer Service Executives (Voice CSEs)
The profile of the Voice Customer Service Executive should be as follows:
 Mix of Graduates & Undergraduates - Not more than 50% can be undergraduates
minimum 12thpassed.
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 Able to speak, read and write in Kannada and English.
 Good command over the Kannada language
 Able to communicate confidently and politely, with very good speaking skills.
 Experience of at least 2 years in a Call Centre (3 year if undergraduates), (could be in
outbound call function) (Fresh candidates CANNOT be considered).
Proficient in handling non voice channels like email, web chat, video chat, co-
browsing, social media management etc.
Indicative ROLES to be performed:
 Handling inbound calls/queries; Escalation calls; Grievance redressal;
Handling inbound and outbound non voice channels like email, web chat, video
chat, co-browsing, social media management etc.
Senior Customer Service Associates (Sr. CSAs)

The profile of the Sr. CSAs should be as follows:
 Must be a Graduate or equivalent.
 Able to speak, read and write in Kannada and English.
 Kannada speaking & communication skills should be high
 Able to communicate confidently and politely, with excellent speaking skills.
 Experience of at least 2 years in a Call Centre, in handling inbound calls (Fresh
candidates CANNOT be considered).
 Detailed knowledge of intricacies of DoAs products
Proficient in handling non voice channels like email, web chat, video chat, co-
browsing, social media management etc.
INDICATIVE ROLES to be performed:
 Handling very complex calls/queries; Escalation calls;
 Supporting different agri sectors / verticals as domain/subject matter experts;
Handling inbound and outbound non voice channels like email, web chat, video chat,
co-browsing, social media management, etc.
Substitution of Project Team Members
The bid should contain resource planning proposed to be deployed for the project
which includes, interalia, the number of personnel, skill profile of each personnel,
duration etc.
During the assignment, the substitution of key staff identified for the assignment
shall not be allowed unless such substitution becomes unavoidable to overcome the
undue delay or that such changes are critical to meet the obligation. In such
circumstances, the Bidder can do so only with the concurrence of the DoA by
providing other staff of same level of qualifications and expertise. If the DoA is not
satisfied with the substitution, the DoA reserves the right to terminate the contract
and recover whatever payments made by the DoA to the Bidder during the course
of this assignment besides claiming an amount, equal to the contract value as
liquidated damages. However, the DoA reserves the right to insist the Bidder to
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replace any team member with another (with the qualifications and expertise as
required by the DoA) during the course of assignment.
16. Training
The Bidder in consultation with the DoA, shall design capsule training programs for
different products and also prepare a quarterly calendar to provide training to all
resources on the systems and procedures laid down by the DoA, as appearing in this
document, but not limited to the provisions herein.
Best in class training pedagogy should be applied to ensure effective training and
learning outcomes. Use of videos, role plays, system simulations etc should be
encouraged to increase training effectiveness.
The training must cover at the minimum the following:
 Communication and Soft Skills training with a focus on enhancing farmer/ caller
experience
 Call Centre processes
 Technology / systems / applications used
 Products and services of the DoA
 Domain specific training based on the business / channel (e.g. voice, chat, email,
social media) the
 agent is servicing
 The behavioral and cultural expectations of DoA from a professional Customer
Service Associate
 Information security and its relevance and importance to the farmer/ callers
 Knowledge of Doing systems, operational procedures, and KYC norms
 Documentation and formalities required for availing various products and services
of the DoA.
 Customer Service and Citizen Charter
 Doing industry market trends
An Induction Training of at least 21 days viz., 4 days for communication and soft
skills, 14 days for products, and services of the DoA and 3 days for buddy up/system
training, will need to be imparted to all newly recruited Agents. Onboarding/induction
training must include a certification post completion of training and only those who
obtain more than 75% marks will be permitted to go on the production floor. The
induction training and certification process will need to be pre-approved by the DoA.
Additionally, as the DoA will keep enhancing its products and services, and keep
introducing new products and campaigns, the Bidder will put in place a training
system/schedule to ensure continuous updating of knowledge, processes and skills
and certification of agents / managers.
Time spent in training either for the new recruits or existing agents will not be
included for the purpose of billing.
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Each agent will be cross trained about different activities for a minimum period of 1
day every month.
The DoA, at its discretion, may additionally interview the newly recruited Agents
before their deployment on the floor. In case DoA feels that the performance is not
adequate, the Agent shall have to repeat the required training process or be replaced
with suitable Agent as defined above at no cost to the DoA.
The actual requirement of training may be assessed while setting up the Call Centre
and will be advised by the DoA. However, the training infrastructure would need to
be made available in the premises by the Bidder till the setting up the infrastructure at
Call Centre premise. While the DoA will support training efforts by providing its
faculty and training the trainers of the Bidder on DoA operations and processes one
time, the Bidder will be required to develop the training content, design, pedagogy,
curriculum etc. and make available the training material along with certified faculty
for the training of the CSAs/ Sr. CSEs on an ongoing basis. All trainers must undergo a
train the trainer session and certification provided by the Bidder before imparting
training.
17. Assessment & Remedial Action

The Bidder will put in place evaluation systems to continuously evaluate the
performance of its resources. A 'Quality Score' may be generated for all Agents on
daily basis and put up to the DoA on weekly basis. The parameters for 'Quality Score'
will include among other parameters, time duration for various functions, number of
calls handled, number of leads generated, farmer/ caller satisfaction levels, fatal /
technical error, etc. The DoA and Bidder may jointly decide on the benchmarks for
Quality Score and the Bidder will agree to maintain only those Agents who qualify the
“Quality Score” criteria as decided above. All details of the quality scoring process
would be made available to the DoA for audit/inspection.
The DoA reserves the right to seek replacement of any Agent /staff whose performance
/ conduct is not satisfactory or their continuation affects the reputation of the DoA. In
all such cases, the bidder shall replace the resource without any additional cost.
18. Quality Management

Bidder will deploy an exclusive quality management team who will continuously
audit the systems and procedures of the Call Centre. This team will also suggest
systems to improve the ratings against SLA parameters. The Bidder will present
information about its internal audit and quality assurance practices in all areas of
operations, including human resources in periodical review meetings. The DoA’s
internal resources, statutory authority or any external person/agency appoint by DoA
may inspect / audit the Call Centre facility any time with or without notice to the
Bidder and the Bidder shall extend all necessary support and make available necessary
data/records relating to Call Centre. DoA’s authorised resources will inspect the
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procedures, reviews of Agents, etc., based on “Quality Score” discussed in this
document. DoA will conduct any ghost calling / Barging in process, onsite & offsite, to
ensure service quality management.
19. Compliance to labor laws

The Bidder shall be responsible for compliance of all laws, rules, regulations and
ordinances applicable in respect of its employees, sub-contractors and Agents
(including but not limited to Minimum Wages Act, Provident Fund laws, Workmen
Compensation Act etc.). The Bidder shall establish and maintain all proper records
including, but not limited to, accounting records required by any law, code, practice or
corporate policy applicable to their line of activity from time to time, including records
and returns as applicable under labour legislations. The Bidder shall indemnify the
DoA against any claims made by any statutory authorities regarding the non
compliance of any of the related laws from time to time.
20. Professionalism
The Bidder should provide professional, objective and impartial advice at all times and
hold the DoA’s interests paramount and should observe the highest standard of ethics
while executing the assignment.
21. Adherence to Standards

The Bidder should adhere to laws of the land and rules, regulations and guidelines
issued by the various Regulatory, Statutory and Government authorities and
especially the guidelines issued by RBI with respect to outsourcing and protection of
SPDI (sensitive personal data or information) as per IT (Amendment) Act 2008.
DoA reserves the right to ascertain information from the DoAs and other institutions
to which the bidders have rendered their services for execution of similar projects.
Such feedbacks from high ranking officials would also form part of Bidder selection
and any strong adverse comment/action about product or service would make the
bidder ineligible for further assessment/processing.
22. Audit
DoA reserves the right to conduct an audit/ ongoing audit of the services provided by
Bidder. The Bidder should allow the Reserve DoA of India (RBI) / any other statutory
body or persons authorized by them to access DOA documents, records or transaction
or any other information given to, stored or processed by Bidder within a reasonable
time failing which Bidder will be liable to pay any charges/ penalty levied by RBI /
statutory body.
Bidder should allow the Reserve DoA of India (RBI) / any other statutory body to
conduct audits or inspection of its Books and account with regard to DoA documents
by one or more RBI officials or employees or other persons duly authorized by RBI.
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The following audits will need to be conducted by the Bidder as per industry
standards and results shared with the DoA.
1. Information security audit
2. Process audit
3. Vulnerability assessment / Ethical hacking
The DoA may decide, on its discretion to additionally conduct these audits or any other
itself or through a third party.
23. Integration with DoA’s back-end applications

The Bidder selected to run the Call Centre will be required to carry out integration
with multiple applications/Systems used by the DoA as part of providing a unified
Omni-channel desk top application for the agents.
DoAs systems are maintained by different Bidders and some packages developed in
house by DoA and may have different interface/protocols. The Bidder has to
coordinate and liaison with the respective source Bidders to provide seamless
integration and factor the cost for the above integrations as part of the FTE costs. DoA
shall facilitate interaction/meeting with the source Bidders.
Some of the systems mentioned above may be upgraded/replaced with enhanced
systems during the contract period. After upgradation/replacement of the systems, the
Bidder is required to integrate the call centre solution with upgraded/enhanced system
without any costs to DoA.
The Bidder will also perform such integration with sub systems including web portal,
mobile app and other alternative delivery channels of the DoAetc to facilitate single
view of all requests placed by farmer/ callers and to enable straight through
processing.
While such required software shall be implemented by the Bidder, Bidder should
recommend a highly secure model, agreeable by the DoA to ensure utmost data
security of farmer/ caller data. These integrations will solely be with the purpose of
enabling authentication access based on farmer/ caller information.
Integration with Call Centre Solution of any new systems/upgradation of existing
systems /applications introduced/implemented by the DoA should be done by the
Bidder, free of cost.
The Bidder being the solution provider should undertake necessary upgradation/
enhancements to Call Centre software solution and technology hardware as per best in
class industry standards during the period of contract, with no incremental cost to the
DoA for the same.
24. Indicative list of infrastructure provided by Bidder is as under -

In these Call Centres, the entire infrastructure required for setting up, implementing
and maintaining the Call Centre like hardware (desktop/PC, headset, phone
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instruments, projectors, screen, printers, soft board, white board, servers etc.), software
(softphone, knowledge management portal, CRM, agent desktop application, quality
management tools, web chat, email management/web chat systems, workforce
management tools, etc.), various equipment (e.g. ACD, IVR, Voice Loggers, Dialer,
Switch, Router etc), security, insurance, regulatory licenses (e.g. OSP from DOT,
Shops & Establishment and other regulatory/statutory licenses), all other
infrastructural needs will be arranged by the Bidder
25. Centre Infrastructure IVR & CTI Technical

 Solution shall support advanced encryption standards (128 bit) for routing financial
transactions and farmer/ caller data through IVRS
 Solution shall route transactions over secured HTTPS, SSL channels
 Solution shall adhere Compliance to PCI DSS standards
 Solution shall adhere compliance to all guidelines as prescribed by regulatory
authority like DOT /TRAI, etc.
 IVR should be able to read data from HTTP and XML Pages
 Solution shall provide GUI based tool to be provided for designing the IVR and call
distribution flow.
 Solution should support text to speech conversion and voice/phrase activated IVR
 Solution shall support single sign on applications
 Busy signals on the phone are not acceptable.
 IVR should include full capabilities that includes support for self-service, 3rd party
application integration etc.
 IVR should be able to integrate with backend database for self service.
 GUI based tool to be provided for designing the IVR and ACD call flow.
 IVR should support Voice XML for ASR, TTS, and DTMF call flows
 IVR ports should be 3 times the number of agents as farmer/ callers want more call
closures in IVR
 IVR based campaigns should support Call Progress Analysis (CPA) on the voice
gateway
 The solution must provide full call-progress analysis for Fax detection, Voice mail
detection, Hang ups, network busy and no-answer detection
 The PBX system should support redundant solution. In case of redundancy it should
provide 1:1 redundancy. Both the server should do call processing all the time and
act as backup in case of the failure of one server.
 The solution must support SNMP capabilities, SNMP alarm notification, alternate
operational support system alarm access, and the ability to route alarm notifications
to a centralized support organization via PSTN if WAN access is not available.
 PBX in case of one server failure should have the capacity to handle the soft and hard
DoA connected on the other server. PBX should have the option to place one server in
Datacenter and another in the DR of the farmer/ caller over WAN.
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 The telephony, ACD and IVR should support Virtualization to reduce the rack space
and save powering the Data Centre.
 Visual IVR Solution should offer Web services API
 IVR should be capable to offer Call Back Option to the High Profile farmer/ callers if
expected time is going to be more than threshold with following choices
 Call back as soon as Agents is available
 Call back at Specific time defined by Customer(by entering preferred call back time in
hh:mm format)
 Continue to hold until Agent gets free
 Should support BidderP,E1QBidderG PRI, (multiple types of trunks) as well as TDM
connectivity with EPABX and/or Bidder
 Tool to configure IVR must be completely Graphical and it should allow to make
changes on the fly
 Visual IVR Solution shall be compatible with all major Internet browsers like Internet
Explorer
(above IE 8), Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari or Mobile (IOS, Android,
Microsoft etc
 Solution shall be able to extend and integrate existing IVR applications to mobile
apps and Web
 Solution should be synchronous of any code changes across all changes like voice,
web and Mobile
 Solution should allow on demand assistance and allow routing of call to expert agent
from mobile/web
 Solution should be able to offer expected wait time on web / mobile
 Functionality to repeat the node details if no option is selected by the farmer/ caller
during the prescribed time.
 Solution should have the ability to walk through troubleshooting call trees and
connecting to, or requesting a call back from, a call center Agent
 Solution should support auditing and reporting of farmer/ callers self service sessions
 It should support multiple source of Music
 Caller be given the option to continue waiting in queue or to leave a message
26. Agent & Supervisor Softphone

 Agent Softphone should be supported on Windows 8 and above operating system
 Agent Softphone should support conditional based URL Screen pop feature without
any CTI
integration on the basis of ANI, DNIS, Selected prompt Features such as Mute, Call
Hold, Call Transfer, Bargin, Call Conference(ad-hoc, drag-drop), IM should be
supported
 Up to 6 simultaneous contacts can be handled by an agent through webchat
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 It should be possible to make Agent Softphone work in Shared Control mode where
application should be able to control adjacent IP Desk phone
 Agent Softphone must support 3 different modes
1. VoIP Mode - call will be taken to/from PC headset/mic
2. Telecommuter Mode - call is controlled from PC but patched to any external phone
number
3. Desk phone mode - call is controlled via PC and audio is patched to Desk IP phone
 Agent should be able to see his own/group real time statistics such as ACD calls,
Abandon calls, Break time etc.
 It should work in VDI / Citrix / VMware Environment
 It should support Click-to-Call functionality from Web and MS Outlook
 Should support silent install using Microsoft installer; Should be able to push and
install all patches centrally rather than on each agent and supervisors work station
 LDAP Integration is required
 Pre Rerecorded Greeting should be supported by Agent Softphone
 Should be capable to support contextual data in screen pop – Period (parameterized)
and multiple source
 It should be possible to have call barge in through Supervisor Softphone(without
Agent being notified)
 It should be possible to customize settings based on Agent Profile/Group from
Centralized Server with following other functionalities
a. secure and role based access
b. centralized control of end points
c. creation of global settings for all users
d. creating templates that can be assigned to agent groups based on role and
business area
e. Centrally control agents from accessing various critical DoA settings
f. Import multiple agent profiles, with their customized settings, from an existing
setup
g. Support Active Directory authentication
h. Centrally store setting changes made by an agent and makes them available the
next time the agent logs in
i. Centrally store and manages predefined location data and links the desktop DoA
to call server that supports the Hot-Desking feature
 Supervisor should be able to force Remote Agent to logout
 Supervisor should be able to send Quick Alters to the Agent
 Agent sets must have the ability automatically to go into a wrap-up, unavailable
work state at the completion of a call
 The system must support up to 6000 BHCC with all Call Centre applications running
and scale to 30 agents.
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ACD solution should be highly available with hot standby and seamless failover in
case of Main server failure in the same location
 The ACD hardware and software should be from a single OEM.
 It should function on standards based Operating Systems
 The ACD should support active and passive server mode in DR. In case of server in
the Data center fail the server in DR should take over seamlessly.
 The above architecture of distributing the Main and standby server over the WAN
should work where the round trip delay will be more than 60ms between DC and DR
 The system must have a single unified service creation environment for capturing
farmer/ caller business rules for ACD and IVR to optimize call handling and First Call
Resolution.
 Agent desktop should dynamically pass the call data like ANI/DNI or farmer/ caller
id to any browser based application like CRM.
 ACD should support Web based administration like adding new agents, assigning
skills etc.
 The systems should support at least 30 queues
 The system must allow agents and tele workers to log in from anywhere on the
network via the desktop or an endpoint
Non- voice
 Single interface supporting Audio, Chat and Video communication
 Masking of critical/confidential information such as Aadhar card etc.
 Agent should not be able to click on buttons such Submit Form etc.
 Audio Call to be seamlessly escalated from Audio to IM to Video
 Support for WebRTC to allow farmer/ callers to reach Call Centre agent through Web
browser
 The solution should provide Integrated real-time and historical reporting with
comprehensive campaign data including time period, contact results, Do Not Call,
agent status, revenue and more
27. Call Center Management and Administration

 Common tool to support multiple modules of proposed Call Centre solutions such as
Telephony, ACD, IVR, CTI, Reporting, Dialer, Logger etc.
 Centralized security features, including the ability to apply roles-based permissions
for every object administered and should support complete integration with single
sign-on functionality
28. Call Recording

 It should support Bulk Recording and Quality Recording for Voice as well as Screen
 It should support recording of H.323 and/or Bidder endpoints(hard and soft)
 Should have provision to convert voice files into windows standard media format
such as, WAV, in real time
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 It should be possible to convert recorded file in standard format based on requests
 Supervisor should be able to score agents based on their performance
 It should support eLearning and Coaching module
 Call Recording solution must support N+1 and/or N+N Redundancy from day one
 Should support archiving of call records on removable media such as DVD, Blu-Ray,
Tapes and archiving on external storage media such as SAN, NAS
 Ability to provide automatic digital recording for all calls (voice and screen
recording) - this has to capture at least the following information:
(A) Date
(B) Time
(C) Call Duration
(D) Agent ID
(E) Caller Number
(H) Inbound/Outbound Identifier - System Generated
Searching capabilities for recorded calls with any combination of the following
parameters:
(A) Date
(B) Time
(C) Agent ID
(D) Caller Number
(G) Number Dialed
(H) Inbound/Outbound
 Solution should support centralized or decentralized search and replay of calls
29. Multi Channel ACD

 Feature rich Call Centre solution supporting fully blended support for voice, email,
instant messaging, Web Chat, Fax, SMS, and social media contact
 Managers/Supervisors should be able to:
 Listen to a call silently - not heard by the agent or the farmer/ caller
 Interact with a call (both agent and the farmer/ caller can hear the Supervisor)
 Ability to support auxiliary codes to enable call centre agents to indicate their current
mode of operation (i.e. Available/Unavailable/Wrapping Up/At Lunch, etc.…)
 Ability to place callers on hold and play marketing messages, or music while the
caller is on hold
 Ability to transfer calls back to the IVR
 Customer should be able to go back to previous menu/node by pressing * and at any
point on the IVR, farmer/ caller should be able to connect to the agent by pressing 9
 Support for online performance management:
 Ability to define on the system KPIs target performance - these KPIs can be call
durations, % of answered calls or other KPIs defined by the DoA
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 Online view for the overall performance against the defined KPI (Can be shown by
Managers & Supervisors only)
 Online view for specific agent performance against the defined KPIs (can be shown
by the agent him/herself, the Supervisor and the Manager)
 The agent can push SMS to the farmer/ caller
 Ability to upload the DoA's standard templates to be used for printing requests
 Ability to send fax to the farmer/ callers through the fax engine
 The entire Call Centre solution should be provisioned and managed through a single
web-based application
 It should be possible to create an organization hierarchy so that users at each level are
automatically assigned access rights into the application.
Contextual Data Store and Integration to meet following benefits

1. Monitor DoA caller/farmer’s journey in real time across web, mobile, and enterprise
transactions and touch points
2. Capture and consolidate farmer data across web, mobile, and Call Centre touch points to
simplify an end to end farmer/ caller journey with data mining and analysis
3. Capture information about your farmer/ caller’s web visits to better personalize follow
on call routing and self-service
4. Simplify delivery of real time farmer/ caller and business information to agents via
screen pop without the use of complex, fragile computer telephony
5. Track repeat callers, provide a better farmer/ caller experience, and handle service
abusers more efficiently
 Ability to manage dynamic call queues to allow queues to be opened or closed as
required by
 authorized person
 Ability to allow call agents to be members of multiple ACD groups
 Ability to transfer call to other call agent with call data & screen shot attached
 Ability of skills based routing to allocate calls to call agents based on the skills
 Ability to route calls based on Data-driven Routing, Agent-level (last
agent/relationship-based),
 Service level, Agent Capacity, Interaction life-cycle management, Caller type / Call
type, Predictive
Routing, Multimedia, Multi-site/Virtual Call Centre, Business Priority Routing, Cost
Based Routing, Shared Agent by SLA Routing, Proactive Routing, Geography /
region.
 Ability to configure SLAs such as:
a)Total talk time
b)Avg Handling time
c) First Call resolution Rate
d) Call Agent Available time
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e)Call agent Idle time
f) Average time to Answer
g)Call abandoned count
h) Call abandoned percentage
i) % of calls closed on the IVR
j) % of calls transferred from IVR to agent
 ACD should support Web based administration like adding new agents, assigning
skills etc.
 ACD should support routing of incoming calls based upon caller input to menus,
real-time queue statistics, time of day, day of week, ANI, dialed number etc.
 The system must provide business rules for routing the calls using the least expensive
and/or the most effective method
 ACD should support routing based on longest available agent, Circular agent
selection algorithms.
 Up to 6 levels of farmer/ caller contacts should be prioritized based upon call or
farmer/ caller data, and calls may be moved within or among queues under workflow
control using priority information
 ACD should support transfer of calls to another group in case of a queue in a
particular ACD group based on the settings defined
 ACD should support the playing of customizable queuing announcements based
upon the skillgroup that the call is being queued to, including announcements related
to position in queue and expected delay.
 The system must support supervisor-administered re-skilling of agents without
agents re-logging in
 The system must provide call control via the desktop
 ACD should support Data driven routing, ACD should have the ability to use data
obtained from backend database to make routing decisions. The database can have
parameters like a list of holidays, hours of operations, a short list of hot farmer/ caller
accounts, and so on.
 Agents can be configured with up to 20 skills, each with up to 5 different competency
levels. Skill groups should be configurable as requiring up to 20 skills per agent, each
with up to 5 minimum skill competency levels
 Agents should be able to login, logout, make ready or not ready from the desktop
application.
 Supervisors should be able to send messages to one or all agents and also send
broadcast messages that will scroll on the agent desktop.
 Agent desktop should display ANI or DNIS or any farmer/ caller related data.
 Supervisors should be able to barge in a agents call and also if required take a call
from an agent and attend it.
 Supervisor to create and configure preview campaigns.
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 Should support Queuing of calls and playing different prompts depending on the
type of call and time in the queue
 The system must allow the supervisor to log an agent out and make an agent ready
 The system must allow agents and supervisors to see their call-handling statistics in
real time.
 The system must allow redirection of unanswered calls to other agents or allow call
backs
 System should provide alternate routing automatically based upon time of day and
day of week, eg.
 Routing calls to IVR post business hours
 System should to collect information about the caller such as position in the queue,
estimated wait time etc. to be forwarded to an IVRS and used for routing purposes or
trigger IVR applications system should redirect unanswered calls
 The Call Centre solution must allow instant messaging (IM) access to experts.
Solution must support workforce management integration
 It must be possible to display the expected waiting time and/or queue count when the
farmer/ caller is waiting for his or her chat request to be connected to an agent.
 Call Centre solution must provide social media integration.
30. Data Availability and Integrity

 The solution shall provide full back up and restore functions with logging.
 Solution to use statuses to indicate records that were created in error.
 Solution shall ensure that attacks against the system will not cause it to fail in an open
state exposing it to damage, duplication, or integrity changes.
 Solution should support multiple users and distributed system access.
 The solution shall allow one or more logins to view the same record simultaneously.
 The solution shall apply locks at the record level for update processing to ensure
correct updating of the data.
 The solution shall allow one or more users to query information and run reports at
the same time.
 Solution must support real time and batch update processing.
 Solution must support to prohibit record deletions.
 Solution must allow administrators to override or correct user data with logging.
 The Solution shall minimally log time, date, user, field changed, pre-change content,
and post-change content.
 Solution shall support to define and maintain user profiles centrally
 Solution shall support to customize layouts and restrict data access based on roles
and position of users in hierarchy at DoA
 Solution shall allow authorized users to change previously entered data with changes
captured in audit trail
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 The solution shall support to define system privileges based on user role or
responsibility.
 The solution shall provide the system administrator to define views, roles, and
responsibilities in a single location in the system.
 DoA shall own all the data
 The Solution must support managing compatibility of archived data for any table
alterations as part of new releases.
31. Security
 Solution shall support to enable/disable audit trail on specific data entities or
transactions
 Solution shall generate audit trails for reports/queries executed
 The Solution shall protect the stored audit records from unauthorized deletion.
 The Solution shall prevent modifications to the audit records.
 System must support single sign on solutions
 Solution shall use encryption when transmitting passwords over the network
 Solution shall provide appropriate security at the RDBMS level to protect data from
unauthorized personnel
 Solution shall support backup all data and metadata across all the sub systems of the
proposed solution
 Solution shall provide mechanism for incremental and full backups with zero down
time
 The solution shall prevent the display or printing of passwords.
 The Solution shall provide the ability to provide an automatic log-off feature at user-
specified time limits.
 Solution shall manage all user credentials and permissions (e.g.: user name,
password) and user sessions
 Solution shall provide access to the system only using secured passwords and other
identifiers as necessary
 Solution shall allow administer password policies such as minimum and maximum
lengths,
alphanumeric usage and expiry periods
 Solution shall provide users to change their passwords based on authentication rules
 Ability to provide read write, read only or execute level access to users based on role
 The Bidder agrees to assist DoA in investigating and remediating any security issues
detected.
 The solution maintains information on security events and can provide reporting on
demand.
32. Standards
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 The Bidder shall provide a system user interface that is easy to read, and user-
friendly.
 The Bidder shall not quote any custom appliance-based solutions.
 The Solution shall be used by DoA in English
 The Solution must provide a web-based software solution that operates with the DoA
current software standards.
 The Solution should support transaction logging.
 Solution shall support users to change their passwords based on authentication rules
 Solution should support IT security Act and any other regulatory data standards
 Solution shall adhere to a documented approach for migrating code and
configuration across environments
 Availability of published software release schedule
 Solution shall support to customize layouts and restrict data access based on roles
and position of users in hierarchy at DoA
33. Integration
 The solution should provide the ability to queue if an integration fails, allowing the
solution to run standalone until the integration is available again.
 IVRS and CTI systems to integrate with DoA's backend system through the
middleware/web services and support and record telephonic interactions
 IVRS system shall be integrated with DoA's backend system and will update farmer/
caller records in case of agent less conversation
 System shall support integration with Web and Video Chat interface for recording
chat interactions
 IVRS shall be integrated with SMS Gateway for sending SMSs
 IVRS shall be integrated with the Email Gateway
 Proposed Solution must support seamless integration with DoA's solution.
34. General Requirements

 Solution must be extendable, scalable with no inherent limitation on the number of
modules, data formats and fields that can be customized
 Solution shall be scalable to deal with increased transaction volumes as provided in
the volume Metrics
 Solution shall be scalable to deal with increased number of source applications
 Solution shall be scalable to deal with increased number of users as provided in the
volume metrics
 Solution shall be scalable to deal with additional subject areas & additional lines of
business
 Solution shall provide performance monitoring tools to proactively identify and
notify Solution administrators of performance degradations
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 Solution must support keyboard shortcuts for common tasks and provision for
customizing the same
 The solution must be a tiered architecture solution. The tiers must run on separate
servers broken out by Presentation, Business and Data layer
 Solution shall run across key browsers like IE, Mozilla Firefox and Chrome and also
standard mobile browsers - Please specify exceptions/version limitations if any, in
Bidder Comments
 Solution shall be used with key OS like Windows, Mac, Linux etc. - Please specify
exceptions/version limitations if any, in Bidder Comments
 Solution should be a web based thin DoA without the need to install any component
on the user's machine
 Solution shall provide support for web services and service oriented architecture
 Solution shall integrate with HTML pages and web forms for capture of data
 Solution shall integrate with Chat interface for recording chat interactions
 Application layer should hide all business logic from the frontend or the interface
(Presentation layer) using well defined interfaces
 Solution shall allow for performance troubleshooting, bottleneck identification
 Solution shall support to trace and measure performance at the interface and
component level
 Solution shall provide performance, utilization and load related reports and statistics
 Solution shall support load balancing and fail-over techniques to prevent
performance degradation as a result of extra loads and to provide additional
reliability
 Solution shall support for an error logging framework
 Solution shall support backup all data and metadata across all the sub systems of the
proposed solution
 Solution shall provide support for mirrored devices
 The Solution shall provide a database with fault tolerance and high performance that
can watch for problems and resolve them such as stopped processes, violations of
data integrity policies, isolation, and verification.
 The Solution shall provide the ability to clone data from one environment to another.
 The Solution must support to clone configuration settings from one environment to
another (i.e., from production to trainer, etc.).
 Support for different testing environments such as load test, stress test and regression
test, and simulation for end-to-end performance testing
 The solution shall support drag-and-drop open development environment
 No Single Point of Failure should be present for any of the critical components of the
solution.
 Solution should feature a roll-back capability so that any changes applied to the
system can be rolled back if there is any negative impact on the production system.
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35. Audit Trails of Customer Contacts
Bidder will maintain call recordings / screen recordings / audit trails for farmer/ caller
contacts / contact history across all channels/ farmer/ caller interaction history etc. per
retention period as agreed with the DoA.
Bidder will provide access to call recordings /screen recordings / audit trails etc. to the
DoA through a remote login facility.
Beyond agreed retention period, Bidder will provide call recordings/ screen recordings /
audit trails / contact history across all channels/ farmer/ caller interaction history etc. via
agreed mode and agreed format to the DoA for storage at the DoA’s Data Centre.
Bidder will provide the necessary infrastructure at DoA’s Data Centre to allow for
retrieval & review of these call recordings / screen recordings / audit trails / farmer/
caller interaction history etc.
36. Intellectual property rights

The Bidder shall ensure that it has obtained appropriate rights to provide the
Deliverables upon the terms and conditions contained in this RFP. The DoA
acknowledges that save as expressly provided in this RFP, all Intellectual Property
Rights in relation to the Software and Documentation and any adaptations, translations
and derivative works thereof whether protectable as a copyright, trade mark, patent,
trade secret design or otherwise, provided by the Bidder during, in connection with or
in relation to fulfilling its obligations under this RFP belong to and shall remain a
property of the Bidder or its licensor.
The Bidder represents that a separate agreement is required to be entered into by the
DoA with Third-party
Bidders either for statutory or proprietary reasons, notwithstanding the Bidder’s

obligations for performance. The DoA shall enter into a separate Confirmation of
License Agreement with the Bidder as per the format provided by the DoA, wherein the
DoA is being granted a license to use the Software solely in the manner set out herein.
During the Term of this Project and, if applicable, during the Reverse Transition Period,
DoA grants Bidder a right to use at no cost or charge the Software licensed to the DoA,
solely for the purpose of providing the Services.
The Bidder shall be responsible for obtaining all necessary authorizations and consents
from third party licensors of Software used by Bidder in performing its obligations
under this Project.
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If a third party's claim endangers or disrupts the DoA’s use of the Software, the Bidder
shall at no further expense, charge, fees or costs to the DoA, (i) obtain a license so that
the DoA may continue use of the Software in accordance with the terms of this Tender
and subsequent Agreement and the license agreement; or (ii) modify the Software
without affecting the functionality of the Software in any manner so as to avoid the
infringement; or (iii) replace the Software with a compatible, functionally equivalent and
non-infringing product.
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Appendix E
FINANCIAL PROPOSAL SUBMISSION FORM
(in the letterhead of Bidder)
(This is only for reference. Provision for uploading Financial Proposal Format in e-portal.
Bidders are requested to enter the Financial Proposal amount in the relevant slot
provided in e-portal.)
[Location, Date]
To,
Govt. of Karnataka,
Bengaluru - 560001
Sir,
Subject: Selection of Agency to develop and operate Integrated Farmer's call centre
(IFCC)- Financial Proposal.
---
We, the undersigned, offer to provide the services for the above in accordance with
your Tender Document and our Proposal (technical and Financial Proposals). Our
financial proposal is for the sum of Rs. ________ [Rupees ___________ only]. Our proposal is
exclusive of GST and all other applicable taxes applicable from time to time.
Our financial proposal shall be binding upon us subject to the modifications resulting
from contract negotiations, up to expiration of the validity period of the Proposal.
Sl Full time equivalent per Cost per Number Total Rupees (per
No shift per month person per of Rupees year)
month persons (per
per month)
month
1 CSA
2 Sr CSA
3 Team Leader
4 Domain Expert
Total (In words)
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We undertake that, in competing for (and, if the award is made to us, in executing) the
above contract, we will strictly observe the laws against fraud and corruption in force in
India namely “Prevention of Corruption Act 1988”.
We understand you are not bound to accept any Proposal you receive.
We remain,
Yours sincerely,
Signature of Authorized Signatory:

Name and Title of Signatory:
Please Note: The Bidder to quote lump sum amount for providing Integrated Agriculture
Call Centre services as per the term and conditions of the bid document in the financial
bid slot provided in e-procurement platform and to submit a hard copy of the appendix E
– financial proposal to the DoA on the day of opening of financial bid.
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Appendix F: Bank Guarantee for Performance Security
To :
Govt. of Karnataka,
No.1Sheshadri Road, K.R Circle,
Bengaluru - 560001
Dear Sir,
1. Whereas you, the Authority, have issued Letter of Award dated ………… to M/s.
………………………….., hereinafter referred to as the “Agency “to develop and operate
Integrated Agriculture Call Centre (IACC) and propose to execute a Service Contract
with the said Agency who is required to produce a bank guarantee for Rs.___________,
being 10% of the contract value to secure its obligations to the Authority.
2. We the Bank………………………….. hereby expressly, irrevocably and unreservedly
undertake and guarantee as principal obligors on behalf of the Agency that, in the event
that the Authoritydeclares to us that the services have not been provided according to
the Contractual obligations under the aforementioned contract, we will pay you, on
demand and without demur, all and any sum to a maximum of Rs.________. Your
written demand shall be conclusive evidence to us that such repayment is due under the
terms of the said contract. We undertake to effect payment upon receipt of such written
demand.
3. We shall not be discharged or released from this undertaking and guarantee by any
arrangements, variations made between you and the Agency, indulgence to the Agency
by you, or by any alterations in the obligations of the Agency or by any forbearance
whether as to payment upon receipt of such written demand.
4. In no case shall the amount of this guarantee be increased.
5. This guarantee shall remain valid for _____ months or till the date of completing the
contractual obligations under the said Contract whichever is later.
6. Unless a demand or claim under this guarantee is made on us in writing or on/before the
aforesaid expiry date as provided in the above referred Contract or unless this guarantee
is extended by us, all your rights under this guarantee shall be forfeited and we shall be
discharged from the liabilities hereunder.
7. This guarantee shall be a continuing guarantee and shall not be discharged by and
change in the constitution of the Bank or in the constitution of
_________________________.
Bank Seal Authorized Signature

From the Bank
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SECTION 6 : SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENT
1. Average Handling Time (AHT) or Average Talk Time (ATT) -
AHT is defined as the duration from the moment the agents picks up the call till the end
of the conversation and after call work.
It will be DoA’s endeavour to constantly improve the AHT associated with different
call / query types. For the first 6 months, a baselining of the AHT will be created based
on call tagging/ACD reports/call evaluation or any other appropriate measurement
technique (in consultation with the Bidder). Thereafter, this will form a key SLA where
in the Bidder will be expected to improve the AHT for different call / contact types
quarter by quarter.
The Bidder will be expected to provide a continuous improvement plan for AHT
reduction including but not limited to better agent training, moving calls to self service
channels, process improvements to ensure call avoidance, faster system navigation/
screen refresh etc. to ensure a lower handle time.
The DoA reserves the rights to revise the AHT limits from time to time in consultation
with the Bidder. In the first year of operations, the DoA will meet the Bidders at the end
of every quarter to compare the current AHT against the observed AHT for every
category of call and revise the AHT of different call categories, based on the
observations. However, in the subsequent years of operations,theDoA will execute this
exercise only at its discretion.
2. System Availability
Availability is defined as the amount of time, if a farmer/ caller had called; his call would
have been attended to by an Agent at the Call Centre. It excludes any and every form of
downtime which might prevent a caller's call from being answered.
Objective To ensure that the period in which no farmer/ caller could

have been serviced is not more than 0.3% of the total period.
Definition This is measured as Total down time minutes / Total minutes
in a month. For example, if there were 2 hours in July when a
farmer/ caller's call could not have been answered, availability
will be[100- {120/ (31days x 24 hours x 60 minutes)}x 100 ]
=99.73%
Data Capture System availability should be captured by the IT systems at
the Call Centre.
Period of non-availability should be clearly split by causes i.e.
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power failure, network downtime, telecom link failure,
manpower failure, hardware downtime etc.
Measurement Interval Daily
Reporting Period Monthly
Service Level
Sl. System availability value Penalty
No Formonth
.
1 >=99.70% Nil
2 >99%but<99.70% 1%ofmonthlybilledamount
3 >=98%but<99% 2%ofmonthlybilledamount
4 <98% 4%ofmonthlybilledamount
5 <95% 7%ofmonthlybilledamount
6 <90% 10% of monthly billed amount
While the overall system availability needs to be >=99.7%, frequency of downtime and
duration of downtime will also need to be monitored and reported.
3. Call Answer/Call response time
Objective To ensure that more than 85% of calls requesting to speak with
an Agent are attended to within 15 seconds
Definition This is measured as the waiting time in Automatic Call
Distributor (ACD) queue after pressing prescribed digit to talk
to the Agent but before being answered by the Agent.
Data Capture This will be captured from the time the farmer/ caller has
keyed the relevant number in the IVR option menu, for
speaking to an Agent.
Measurement IntervalHalf hourly interval
Reporting Period Daily
Service Level
S No Percentage of calls attended Penalty
1 >=85%callsattended within 15seconds Nil
2 <85%calls attended within 10seconds 5% of monthly billed
Amount
3 Even if overall 85%responsetimeisachievedin a month, 5%ofmonthlybilled
but in case there is huge shortfall (<70%) in response Amount
time in more than 8% of half hour intervals. E.g that is,
<70% calls attended within 15 seconds,for more than
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120 half hour intervals in a month(Total of 48X30 half
hour intervals in a month)
For different farmer/ caller segments or call types handled by different skilled agents,
the DoA at its sole discretion may change the above standard. E.g.
 Calls handled by CSA :75/20 (that is ,70%of calls requesting to speak with an Agent
are attended to within 30 seconds)
 Calls handled by Voice CSE 80/20(that is, 80% of calls requesting to speak with an
Agent are attended to within 20 seconds
 Calls handled by Sr CSA : 85/15(that is, 85% of calls requesting to speak with an
Agent are attended to within 15seconds)
The SLAs will be accordingly modified for the different skilled agents.
4. Callabandonment rate (onACD)
Objective To ensure that no more than 3% of calls requesting for an Agent

go unattended.
Definition This is measured as: Number of calls abandoned on ACD
(excluding call abandoned before 15 seconds)/Number of calls
which reached ACD
Data Capture The number of calls requesting for agents and the number of calls
which are answered by the agents, both, would need to be
captured
Service Level
S. No Percentage of calls abandoned Penalty
1 <3% Nil
2 Between3%-5% 1%ofmonthlybillvalue
4 >8% 5%ofmonthlybillvalue
5. Call/Contact abandonment rate (on IVR)
Objective To ensure that no more than 5% of calls on IVR get abandoned

without execution of a single function. This SLA will also help
to ensure that menus/content on IVR are appropriately
designed so that it does not take too long for the farmer/ callers
to be self- serviced through IVR
Definition This is measured as: Number of calls which were
abandoned on IVR without execution of a single
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function/Number of calls which reached IVR
Data Capture The number of calls that reached IVR and the number of calls
which were abandoned on IVR without execution of a single
function, both, would need to be captured.
Service Level
S.No Percentage of calls Penalty
abandoned
1 <5% Nil
3 >10% 5%ofmonthlybillvalue
6. Call/Contact Quality Score
Objective To measure the quality of calls being handled by the agents and
ensure that certain standards are adhered to during the calls
with respect to quality of information provided, diction,
language, politeness etc.
Definition This is measured by scoring a random sample of calls on pre-
defined parameters as per industry practice and mutual
agreement with the DoA
Data Capture The Call Centre needs to have a call (voice & screen) logging
facility to record all the different calls/contacts that have been
handled by the agents. A random sample of these calls/contacts
will then be graded by the Bidder’s/DoA's call quality audit
team against pre-decided parameters. For every agent, 20
calls must be monitored per month. For agents with , a higher
number of calls will need to be monitored.
ReportingPeriod Monthly
Service Level
S.No. Score on Call quality Penalty
1 >90% Nil
2 Between85%to 90% 5%of monthly billed value
3 Between75%to85% 7.5% of monthly billed value
4 <75% 10% of monthly billed value
At any point in time, agents with consistently less than 70%
quality score(for 3 months) should be removed from the
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process after taking them through a performance
improvement plan
7. Occupancy: in percentage terms

Objective To ensure that the agent is available 85% of total time to handle
any calls
Definition The total percentage of time when agent is actually working on
the calls to the total time agent is logged in
Data Capture Occupancy % = (Talk time+ Wrap time)/Agent logged in time
Service Level
S.No Percentage of Penalty
callsAbandoned
1 >85% Nil
2 Between80%-85% 6% of monthly bill value
3 <80% 10% of monthly bill value
8. FirstTimeResolution
Objective To ensure that issues are resolved first time in the Call Centre.
Definition This is measured as: Number of calls in which issue was resolved
in the first call itself/Number of calls handled;
Data Capture To measure this, a SMS will be sent to a random sample of farmer/
callers. For e.g. every5th farmer/ caller who calls. This sample shall be
dynamically defined by the DoA. Through this SMS, the farmer/ caller
will be requested to confirm whether his/her issue was resolved or not,
to which the farmer/ caller will respond with either a'Yes' or 'No'.
In case the farmer/ caller does not respond to the SMS, it will be
assumed that the issue has been resolved. Once the issue has been
resolved, it will be updated accordingly on Bidder's CRM .Measure:
Number of farmer/ callers replied Yes or no reply/Number of SMS sent
over a period of time, the process for capturing FCR may change and
be linked to call tagging / tracking repeat calls / automated through
CRM etc and the measurement& reporting methodology will change
accordingly of this key SLA.
Measurement Daily
Interval
Service Level
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S. % of calls resolved first time Penalty
No.
1 >95% Nil
2 Between90%to95% 2%of monthly billed value
3 Between85%to90% 5%of monthly billed value
4 <85% 10% of monthly billed value
9. Penalty for man-power requirements
DoA will also levy penalty in case the manpower profiles are not maintained as per
DoA's requirement specified in or ratio of team structure is not maintained as given in
this document. The penalty structure shall be of 2 types:
1) The personnel do not meet the minimum qualifications as laid out by DoA
for their designation/profile.
For assessing this requirement, the DoA may conduct periodic sample checks of the
Agents at any time of the month. If any personnel are found to be not qualified,
during the sample check, as per DoA’s guidelines, 1% of the monthly amount
payable for that month will be deducted. If more than 20% of the personnel are
found to be not meeting the criteria during the sample check, 5% of the monthly
amount payable for that month will be deducted.
2) The ratio of the team structure must be maintained as laid out by the DoA
 If the number of Sr.CSAs is short by more than 4% at any point of time during
the month, 1% of the monthly amount payable for that month will be deducted.
If the number is short by more than 8%, 3% of the monthly amount payable for
that month will be deducted and if the number is short by
morethan10%,5%ofthemonthlyamount payable for that month will be
deducted.
 If the number of TLs & AMs is short by more than 4% from the number
stipulated as per DoA's required ratios,6% of the monthly amount payable for
that month will be deducted. If this number is short by more than 10, 3%of the
amount payable for that month shall be deducted.
 If the number of other team is not as per the DoA’s required ratios, then DoA
will charge the penalty in following as per following formula =3XSr. CSA FTE
monthly cost X no. of shortage
Example–If 2 Quality team member are not provided by Bidder and the per
month FTE cost isRs.30000 then penalty amount =3X30,000X2=1,80,0000
10. Key Performance Indicator (KPI) Parameters
87
Similar to SLAs defined in the above sections, there are other critical performance
parameters that shall be tracked on a regular basis to evaluate the Call Centre
performance. The DoA reserves the right to include any of these KPIs as part of the
SLAs from a future date in consultation with the Bidder.
Unlike SLAs, these KPIs shall not be linked to commercial penalties, but the Bidder is
expected to maintain and ensure that its performance on these parameters is acceptable.
In the quarterly review meetings, the DoA and Bidder shall jointly take decisions
regarding acceptable performance, on different KPIs. The DoA may also decide on
additional KPIs that would need to be monitored by the Bidder and such additional
KPIs will be provided by the Bidder and monitored without any extra charges.
11. IVRS Eficiency(% of calls disposed of successfully at IVR)
Objective To measure % of calls that are successfully disposed off

by the IVR System.This is to track if appropriate capacity
of IVR ports and quality of content is in place to achieve
maximum successful disposal rate at IVR. The aim is to
move regular calls from agent handled channels to self
service channels.
Definition This is measured as: Number of calls satisfactorily
disposed off at IVR/Total number of calls reaching IVR.
The calls considered disposed off at the IVR are the calls
that are ended at a defined level in the IVR menu and
which do not request for talking to the operator.
Data Capture The number of calls satisfactorily disposed off at IVR
and the total number of callsreaching IVR, both,would
need to be captured
MeasurementInterval Daily
Desired Level >50%; This is expected to increase year on year by atleast
5%;
Average time taken for a farmer/ caller to be disposed off at IVR
Objective It is a measure to ensure that the IVR menus/content is

appropriately designed sothat it does not take too longfor the
farmer/ callers tobe self- serviced throughIVR
Definition This is measured as the time it takes for the farmer/ callers to
be successfully servicedby IVR oncalls where farmer/
callerdoes not ask for an operator.
Data Capture This is measured from the time the farmer/ caller reaches
88
IVR to the time the farmer/ caller is successfully disposed
off from IVR (only for those calls in which the farmer/ caller
chooses to be serviced from IVR itself by keying in the
required menu option and does not request to speak with an
agent)
MeasurementInter Daily
val
Desired level >90% calls to be disposed off within 45 seconds to final
service button press
Percentage of calls that fail to connect to Call Centre due to limited infrastructure
provided by Bidder
Objective To measure the % of callers that fail to connect to Call

Centre.
Definition This is measured as % of calls getting rejected at
telecom serviceprovider switch directly connected to
the Call Centre due to limited infrastructure provided
by the Service Providers or fault in some element of
the Call Centre, averaged over the month.
Data Capture The Bidders will carryout daily reconciliation after
obtaining report from all connecting BSNL switches
and the Call Centre system. Reconciled figures for all
days ina month will be added upto arrive at monthly
call failure figure.
MeasurementInterval Daily
Fatal Error:
Component Explanation of Component

Definition The percentage of total contacts, wherein an error occurs in
delivering Call Centre specific services which is totally
unacceptable, primarily due to the behaviour of the Agent,
which might lead to total dissatisfaction of caller or
misleading the caller due to providing of wrong
information.
Requirement Throughout the uptime of Call Centre except for
scheduled downtime for scheduled maintenance or when
89
the DoA’s system is down for whatever reason
Measurement Low=0%;High=0.25%
Range
Compliance < 0.25%
Frequency Monthly
Calculation Monthly, by taking <1% of daily activities and scanning for
Formula fatal error in each of the documented processes and
procedures. The sampling should be divided over the
various functional areas. Number of calls where fatal error
occurred /sample size=Service Level Attained
Data Sources Listening to voice calls from the log by the Bidder’s quality
assurance team/ DoA’steam or/ and system report.
12. Forecast Accuracy

Definition The percent variance between the contacts forecasted
and the contacts actually received
Requirement To have an accurate prediction of the expected
workload so as to deliver efficient, consistent service
and achieve high levels of farmer/ caller satisfaction
Measurement Range Difference between forecasted and actual; (Forecast–
Actual)/(Actual)
Compliance <5%
Frequency Reported for every Half hourly interval level and
Monthly
Calculation Formula (Forecast–Actual)/(Actual)for every half hour interval
Data Sources Work force management system, Internal reports
13. Non voice channels

For nonvoice channels like mails, webchats, videochats, social media management etc,
the following metrics would form theKPIs initially.
Once the process is established and stabilized (within 45 days of going live), working
jointly with the Service Provider, SLAs will be established to ensure high farmer/ caller
satisfaction and efficient functioning.

Objective To ensure high levels of farmer/ caller satisfaction to
interactions through various channels
KPI1 Customer satisfaction measured at the end of the
contact(measured in%)(either through survey or self
90
select by the farmer/ caller)
KPI2 First Contact Resolution (measured in%)
KPI3 Average Response Time(measured in seconds for
webchat/ video chat; Measured in hours for email)
KPI4 Average Handle Time (measured in seconds)
KPI5 Call handling efficiency of agents
14. Reporting Tool to calculate Performance Parameters

The Bidder shall generate standard reports including reports to verify KPI &SLA
parameters. In addition, they should also be capable of generating customized reports /
MIS as per the DoA’s requirement. Reports should also be available in web enabled
format & should be configurable to be e- mailed to a defined mailing list.
The report format shall be flexible and shall be available either in xls, txt or any other
user-friendly structure including graphics depending on the request of the DoA from
time to time.
MIS portal access should be provided to DoA’s team posted at/for Call Centre and
Central Monitoring Team at Bangalore or any other location specified by DoA.
Bidder will provide a relevant tool to calculate performance parameters, the results of
which may be vetted by the DoA independently. In case, any inaccuracy is found in the
results of the tool for any parameter, the DoA may consider levying maximum penalty
for that parameter.
If Bidder is not able to provide the required MIS for calculation of a specific SLA as per
DoA’s satisfaction then DoA’s will charge the maximum penalty applicable in that SLA
till the Bidder is not able to provide the require MIS.
The Bidder shall be responsible for deployment of systems that would capture all MIS
and data regarding the call center that would be requested by the DoA. Any new MIS
requirements by the DoA shall be carried out and met within 15days and any
exceptions to be mutually agreed.
15. Overall Penalty:
While the Bidder will make every attempt to meet all the service levels from the date
of going live, to allow for stabilization of processes, the DoA, at its sole discretion, will
implement the penalty structure after 3 months of going live.
After the initial baselining of SLAs, the DoA will review the SLAs and at its sole
discretion, will establish benchmarks to improve efficiency and performance of the Call
Centre. The DoA, at its sole discretion, may add/reduce/modify the SLAs to be
implemented.
The above SLAs are focused on inbound calls. The DoA in consultation with the Bidder,
will introduce suitable SLAs for all other contacts being serviced at the Call Centre.
The overall cap on monthly penalty of all SLAs shall be levied upto a maximum of
20%of monthly bill amount. However, if the maximum penalty limit is reached
continuously for 2 billing months, then the penalty for the third month shall be levied at
91
actual or 25% of the monthly billed amount whichever is lower. To encourage better
performance, the cap on monthly penalty shall berestoredto20% of the monthly billing
amount if there is improvement in the performance under SLA parameters in the
subsequent two months.
The method for calculating penalty shall be as under:
While calculating penalty for the current month, the penalties levied for the previous
2months shall be considered and if they are at maximum limit of 20% of monthly bill
amount, then the penalty cap shall be increased to 25% of monthly bill amount and the
penalty shall be levied at actual or 25% of monthly bill amount whichever is lower.
16. Claw back:

The Bidder will be entitled to claim back the penalties deducted under a particular
category for a month by continuously improving performance under that category to
above SLAs prescribed, for two successive months. Any claim made by the Bidder will
be limited to that respective financial year only. In any case, the aggregate of such claw-
back will not exceed the balance of penalties yet to be re-claimed through claw-back
mechanism.
17. Penalty and Liquidated Damages:
The DoA will consider the inability of the Bidder to deliver the manpower and other
deliverables as per scope of this RFP and proposed Agreement within the specified time
limit, as a breach of Contract and would entail the payment of penalty on the part of the
Bidder. The penalty and liquidated damages represent an estimate of the loss or damage
that the DoA may have suffered due to delay in performance of the obligations (relating
to delivery, implementation and Training etc) by the Bidder.
If the Bidder fails to deliver or perform the Services within the time period(s) specified
in subsequent Contract, the DoA shall without prejudice to its other remedies under the
Contract deduct from the Contract Price, as penalty ,a sum equivalent to 0.5% of the
complete contract amount until actual delivery or performance, per week or part
thereof.
If the successful bidder fails to complete the due performance as per subsequent
Agreement, DoA reserves the right to terminate the contract and recover Liquidated
Damages 2% of contract value.
Both the above penalty as well as liquidated damages are independent of each other and
are applicable separately and concurrently in addition to the termination of the contract
if found desirable by the DoA.
18. Set-of:
Without prejudice to other rights and remedies available to DoA, DoA shall be entitled
to set-off or adjust any amounts due to DoA under this RFP and subsequent agreements
from Bidder against payments due and payable by DoA for the services rendered,
beside the amount of penalty and Liquidated damages. The provisions of this Clause
shall survive the termination of this Agreement.
92
19. No outsourcing by Bidder
The selected Bidder will undertake to provide the Call Centre services required in this
RFP to the DoA and will not outsource or sub contract any of the core Call Centre
services (like agents, supervision, management oversight, etc)offered to DoA to any
company or to a company fully/partly owned by the Bidder.
Sd/-
Director of Agriculture and
Tender Inviting Authority
93

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Selection of Agency for Integrated Agriculture Call Centre(IACC)

Tender Document for

No.: DOA/FICC/2017/ Date :27.11.2017

E-Tender for Selection of Agency to develop and operate Integrated Agriculture

Department of Agriculture proposes to create an Online Integrated Agriculture Call

The Department of Agriculture invites Proposals for selection of a reputed Agency to

The following table gives an illustrative example.

 Total logged-in hours will be ascertained

Total Cost of ownership for DOA means the following:

4. SUBMISSIONS, RECEIPT, AND OPENING OF PROPOSALS

Evaluation of Technical Proposals

1.1 The name of the DoA is:

A typical structure of the Call Centre is given below:

Sl Key Min.Educatio Minimum Previous experience

4.4 The address to send information to the DoA is:

4.5 Eligibility Criteria:

Threshold marks for technical qualification shall be 75.

4.7 On conclusion of negotiation, Letter of Award (LoA) will be issued by Department of

Selected Bidder should provide a Performance Security at 10 (Ten) percent of the

3A. Technical Proposal Submission Form.

(c) Address Branch Office (s) in Karnataka :

(d) Year of commencement of business :

4 Details of key professional:

5 Turnover of the Bidder:

Sl. Annual Turnover

Note: Certificate issued by Chartered Accountant on turnover to be submitted.

Signature of the authorized

Sl. No. Position Name Task

Department of Agriculture (DoA) is sphere heading the growth of agriculture sector

As part of its initiative in harnessing the potential of ICT in agriculture, Do proposes to

The IACC is aimed at having an efficient, effective system and an Integrated

2. OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT

To harness the potential of ICT in agriculture, Department of Agriculture is adopting a

4. SCHEDULE FOR COMPLETION OF TASKS

6. COMPOSITION OF REVIEW COMMITTEE TO MONITOR AGENCIES WORK

7. LIST OF KEY PROFESSIONAL POSITIONS WHOSE CV AND EXPERIENCE

[Name of the Agency]

2. Commencement, Completion, Modification, and Termination of Contract

3. Obligations of the Agencies

4. Contractor’ Personnel and Sub-Agencies

5. Obligations of the DoA

6. Payments to the Agencies

III. SPECIAL CONDITIONS OF CONTRACT

Appendix A — Description of the Services

I. FORM OF SERVICE CONTRACT

FOR AND ON BEHALF OF

II. GENERAL CONDITIONS OF CONTRACT

3.6 Reporting Obligations

[1.1 (h) The Member in Charge is].

Attention : Commissioner for Agriculture

[1.6 The Authorized Representatives are:

For the Agency:

[6.2 The amount of Contract is Rs.

6.4 The account is :…………………….]

6.5 Liquidated Damages for error/variation

Appendix A: Description of the Services

Appendix B: Reporting Requirements / Deliverables

Appendix C: Key Personnel Professional

Appendix D: Services and Facilities to be provided by the Authority

Appendix E: Financial Proposal

Appendix F: Bank Guarantee for Performance Security (Format given).

Please note: The details pertaining to Appendix A, B, C and D is provided in Schedule 1 of

1. Manpower to be deployed in IACC