Tender Cost - Rs. 500/-

ICSI House, 22, Institutional Area, Lodi Road, New Delhi-110003

Tender No. Purchase:2012-13 (OMR-FP) Date: 27/06/2012

Sub: Outsourcing of printing and supply of OMR Answer Sheets for objective type examination, capturing of centre-wise attendance of students,scanning of OMR Answer Sheets and integration of data with ExamSystem (Dot Net with SQL) and result processing on Turnkey basis.

The Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) is a statutory body constituted under an Act of Parliament, i.e Company Secretaries Act, 1980. It is functioning under the overall administrative jurisdiction of Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India, with its headquarters located at “ICSI House” 22 Institutional Area, Lodi Road, New Delhi-110 003.

Sealed tenders / Quotations are invitedby the Secretary & CEO, The Institute of Company Secretaries of India (“ICSI”), ICSI HOUSE, 22, Institutional area, Lodi Road, New Delhi from experienced contractors/agencies for ‘printing and supply of OMR Answer Sheets for objective type examination, capturing of centre-wise attendance of students, scanning of OMR Answer Sheets and integration of data with Exam System (Dot Net with SQL) and result processing on Turnkey basis. The terms and conditions governing the instant Tender are as under-

The tender document may be obtained during working hours from 27th June, 2012 to 12th July, 2012(upto 12.00 noon)on all working days (except Saturdays, Sundays & Gazetted Holidays)from the office of the Director (Administration) of the Institute on payment of non-refundable tender cost of Rs. 500/- (Rupees Five Hundred Only) by Cash / Demand Draft, drawn in favour of “The Institute of Company Secretaries of India” payable at “New Delhi”. The tender document can also be downloaded from the website of the Institute (www.icsi.edu) for which tenderers would be required to enclose a demand draft of Rs. 500/- as mentioned above towards the cost of the tender document along with their quotes, failing which the tender shall be summarily rejected.

Sealed quotations consisting of “Technical Bid” and “Financial Bid” are invited by the Secretary & CEO, The Institute of Company Secretaries of India, ICSI HOUSE, 22 Institutional Area, Lodi Road, New Delhi, from professionally managed companies having a proven track record for providing pre and post examination services, for outsourcing of printing and supply of OMR Answer Sheetsfor objective type examination, preparation of centre wise Attendance Sheets and capturing of Centre-wise attendance ofexaminees, scanning of candidates answer sheets, tallying/matching of answers with solutions to questions, and preparation of subject-wise marks obtained by each candidates from OMR Answer sheets and integration of data with dot net exam module and providing required reports for result processing on turnkey basis as per details given in Scope of Work (Annexure-I ).

The bidders are also required to submit an interest free earnest money deposit (EMD)of Rs. 25,000/- (Rupees Twenty Five Thousand Only) by way of demand draft drawn in favour of TheInstitute of Company Secretaries of India, payable at New Delhi. Incomplete quotations and the quotations not accompanied with earnest money shall be summarily rejected. The earnest money of unsuccessful bidders will be refunded without any interest/Bank commission/collection chargesafter the acceptance of the tender/award of the contract to the successful bidder.

Sealed quotations addressed by name to Shri N K Jain, Secretary & CEO, The Institute of Company Secretaries of India may be sent at the Institute’s address in the prescribed manner mentioned herein below, duly accompanied with, in two separate sealed envelopes (i) EMDand “Technical Bid” (Annexure- II) and (ii) “Financial Bid” (Annexure-III)placed in one bigger sealed cover superscribed “Quotation for ICSI OMR Foundation Programme Examination result processing on Turnkey basis” and the samemust reach office of the Secretary & CEO, The Institute of Company Secretaries of India, ICSI House, 22 Institutional Area, Lodi Road, New Delhi-110003 either by Registered Post/Speed Post or by dropping in the quotation box placed at 3rdFloor not later than 2.00 PM on 12th July, 2012.

The Technical Bid of the tender will be opened on 12th July, 2012at 3.00 PM in the Institute’s Headquarters building at the address given above in the presence of such of the Tenderers or their authorized representatives as are present at the time of opening the tender and there will be no separate communication in this regard.

Scope of the Tender

The Institute has introduced New Syllabus for its Foundation Programme w.e.f 1st February 2012 and has decided to conduct Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) based Examination (Objective Type Multiple Choice Questions) for the Foundation Programme under the new syllabus on half yearly basis presently in the month of June and December each year. The first examination under the new syllabus will be held in December 2012. There are four papers for Foundation Programme examination, each paper containing 100 objective type multiple choice questions having one mark each with four options having one correct answer. There will be four set of question papers for each subject by interchanging the order of questions. There will be no negative marking. The examination will be conducted in two days. Each day, there will be one paper in the morning session and other paper in the after-noon session. There are approximately 120examination centers spread all over India and one overseas center at Dubai. Approximately 30,000 to 40,000 students are estimated to appear for each session of the examination. However, the number may vary depending upon the enrolment.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

  1. The Institute shall not be liable for any postal delays and tender received after the stipulated time/date are liable to be rejected summarily without giving any reason.
  1. All the quotations are to be submitted as per details given in the enclosed Annexure-I on Vendor’s letter head duly signed, stamped and dated on each page as their unconditional and explicit concurrence to the terms and conditions laid down by the Institute.
  1. The specifications with regard to paper to be used for OMR answer sheets and other proformae report along with the sample of paper and brand name shall be specifically mentioned in the quotation. If considered necessary, the ICSI shall have full right to procure, print and supply all OMR based answer sheets and other pre-printed stationery items and Vendor shall be required to get the quality of papers, format, design, proof,etc. approved by the ICSI.
  1. The ICSI shall have the right to assess the competencies and capabilities of the Tenderer/ bidder by going through the credentials given in the Technical Bid and on the basis of such credentials, ICSI may reject the candidature of any Tenderer without assigning any reason. In such case(s) the Financial Bid shall not be opened for that particular Tenderer.
  1. The Financial Bid of only those parties who qualify in the technical scrutiny shall be opened and time and date for opening the financial bid shall be intimated to the concerned vendors/bidders separately.
  1. The successful bidder would be required to make a Security Deposit of 3% ofthe total value of the contract by way of crossed demand Draft drawn in favour of ‘The Institute of Company Secretaries of India’, payable at ‘New Delhi’ or execute Bank Guarantee of the equivalent amount of 3% within 10 days of placement of the work order. The Security Deposit shall not bear any interest and in case of any Default/Non-performance/delay as per the schedules indicated for printing, or processing of result, penalties as stated in clause Nos. 21, 23, and 27 would be imposed which would be recovered from the Security Deposit and/or from the vendor.
  1. Normal payment term is 30 days of the submission of bill and the payment would be made through the RTGS system on receipt of completebill(s) after supply of entire quantityand on satisfactory completion of the entirework and submission of required reports as per instructions of the Institute.
  1. The Vendor/ Bidders must be in existence for a minimum period ofEight years of which at least 5 years should have been on result processing projects and should have experience of doingsimilar work in Examining Body(ies)/Organization(s)/ Professional Body(ies) conducting examinations at All India level. Vendors should produce documentary evidence in support of their claim to the satisfaction of the ICSI.
  1. The Vendor/ bidder should enclose certified photocopies of all certificates regarding their past experience in handling examination result processing jobsand also should submit a satisfactory performance report from at least three Organizations/ Examining Bodies for handling similar jobs.
  1. Previous experience of successful implementation ofOMR based result processing at all India level examining bodies will be given preference.
  1. The Vendor/ Bidders must possess ISO certification (Attach copy) with annual turnover of at least Three croes and above for the last three financial years 2008 – 09, 2009-10 and 2010-11. (Copies of Audited Balance sheets and IT returns must be attached).
  1. Vendor/ Bidders should have at least five numbers ofOMR Scanners /preferably ISR2000 or higher version having a scanning capacity of at least 40,000-50,000 OMR Answer Sheets per day.
  1. Vendor/ Bidders must enclose banker’s certification on satisfactory banking.
  1. Vendor/ Biddersmust have VAT/CST and PAN Number and must enclose certified photocopies of VAT, CST and Service Tax payment challans and other documents as per Technical Bid for the specified period.
  1. The Vendor/ Bidders shall have to undertake to start the scanning and processing of OMR Answer Sheets for bi-annual examination including special examination, if any, expeditiously within three days from the date of request from the Institute at ICSI NOIDA Office:C-37, Sector-62, Institutional Area, Noida-201309. The result processing work shall be completed within such time as stipulated by the Institute.
  1. The Vendor / Bidders shall be required to deliver the OMR AnswerSheets and other required stationary items/materials at Institute’s designated premises FORat Noida (Uttar Pradesh),Chennai, Mumbai and Kolkatawithin 20 days of the placement of the purchase order. In case the vendor is asked to supply the OMR Answer sheets at other cities other than the above mentioned four cities, actual transportation/postal/courier charges shall be reimbursed to the vendor on production of bills.
  1. The interested / eligible bidders are, therefore, advised to clearly understand the nature and scope of work involved in printing, supplying, scanning, processing of OMR Sheet and capturing/retrieval and integration of data for generating the desired output / reports for result processing within the time-bound schedule.
  1. Before the assignment of the work order, the short-listed vendors/bidders would be required to make presentation with regard to their capability and competency before the appropriate Committee of the Institute at three days’ advance notice either at ICSI Headquarters at New Delhi or at C-37, Sector – 62, NOIDA.
  1. The rates quoted should be net to the Institute inclusive of VAT, S.T, Octroi, transportation charges, etc. The quotation shall remain valid for a period of 18 months, i.e. covering three sessions of examinations of December, 2012, June, 2013 and December, 2013 exams.
  1. The Vendor/ Bidders must display its capability for one full life cycle of the examination project in a trial run on a sample data of 1000candidates at the premises of the Institute within20 days of the issue of the Purchase/Work Order.
  1. The Vendors / Bidders should note that Examination related activities as specified in this Tender Document are of utmost confidential nature. It shall be the responsibility of the vendor to take all necessary precautions and measures to maintain utmost confidentiality with regard to each and every stage of work including safe custody of sample data. The Vendor should not disclose any information relating to any activities of the project to any third party. In case of breach of confidentiality at any stage of work, the Institute may impose any financial penalty and/or take any other legal course of action, as deemed fit, and the same shall be binding on the Vendor/successful bidder.
  1. Contract Period: The contract shall be initially for a period of 18 months as stated Para-19 herein above, which may be extended for such further period(s) and on mutually agreed terms and conditions in writing .
  1. The ICSI reserves the right to terminate the Contract with an advance notice in writing of one month without assigning any reason, whatsoever. The Contract can also be terminated at the request of the vendor, with an advance notice of 3 (three) months in writing after completion of the project in a session. In case the contractor fails to give the advance notice of 3 (three) months, then he shall be liable to pay liquidated damages @ 5 % of the total cost of billing by the vendor besides forfeiture of Security Deposit.
  1. The vendor/ Biddersshall not assign or transfer and sub-contract its interest / obligations for printing of OMR Answer Sheets and other stationeries under the contract without prior written permission of the ICSI.
  1. The vendor/ Bidders is not permitted to further outsource any part of scanning/processing or other assigned activities of result processing to any other party(ies).
  1. The Institute reserves the right to accept or reject any or all quotations including the lowest tender(s) without assigning any reason at its sole discretion and the decision of the Institute will be final and binding on all concerned.
  1. All disputes, differences, claims and demands arising under or pursuant to or touching the contract shall be referred to the arbitrator to be appointed by the Secretary & CEO of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India, New Delhi. The award of the sole arbitrator shall be final and binding on both the parties under provisions of the Arbitration and Reconciliation Act, 1996 or any statutory modifications on re-enactment thereof as in force. Place of such arbitration proceedings shall be at Delhi.

In case of any further information/clarification, you may contact, Mr. T R Manik, Joint Director (Examination), Noida Office: C-37, Sector-62, Institutional Area, Noida-201309(telephone no. 0120-4522023)or the undersigned at telephone No. 011-45341015 on any working day during office hours.

Date: 27thJune, 2012 (P K GROVER )

DIRECTOR

ANNEXURE-I

SCOPE OF WORK

Sl. / Item Requirements / Technical Specifications.
1. / Designing, printing and supply of OMR Answer Sheets / OMR Answer Sheets should be of A-4 Size and of 100– 110 GSM Paper with scanable quality. OMR design, bar code for capturing image and instructions should be printed on the front page.
The OMR Answer Sheets are tobe packed as per the specified quantities inthick polythene covers, sealed with tamper proof seal indicating numbers (quantity) of the OMR Answer Sheets.
(Sample of OMR Answer Sheet to be enclosed)
2. / Attendance Sheets / The Attendance Sheets be of legal Size and of 110 – 120 GSM Paper
Each Attendance Sheet should contain at least 5 (Five) Examinees’ Name, Roll No., Registration No., Examination Centre, Scanned Photograph and signatures; space for signature by the Examinees on each day of examination with OMR design formarking attendance.
(Sample of Attendance Sheet to be enclosed)
3. / Absentees List / Centre-wise Absentees’ List of A-4 Size and of 100-110 GSM Paper, with OMR design and scanable quality.
(Sample of Copy should be enclosed)
4. / Other Related Work /
  • The Vendor should have its own arrangements of scanners preferably ISR 2000 or higher version, software together with all requisite hardware such as printers, UPS, etc. and competent manpower for printing and supply of OMR Answer Sheet, OMR designed Attendance Sheets and Absentees Lists and scanning thereof at the Institute’s Noida Office C-37, Institutional Area, Sector – 62, NOIDA – 201 309. The Vendor shall hand over all the scanned data (including images) to the Institute given in the format (In Dot Net SQL) required by the Institute for integration of data with Exam System (Dot Net with SQL) for result processing on Turnkey basis in a time-bound manner.
  • The vendor is required to deliver OMR Answer Sheetsand other stationery items/materials atInstitute’s designated premises FORat Noida, (Uttar Pradesh) Chennai, Mumbai and Kolkata within 20 days of the placement of the order. In case the vendor is asked to supply the OMR Answer sheets at other cities other than the above mentioned four cities, actual transportation/postal/courier charges shall be reimbursed to the vendor on production of bills.
  • Centre-wise and subject-wise Double Scanning of List of candidates “Present” and “Absentees” and capturing of data and image in the format (In Dot Net SQL) as required by the Institute for the processing of results. Providing reports on each examination relating to No. of candidates appeared, absent, exempted and expelled from examinations at Examination Centre/All-India level.
  • Tallying/matching of answers of each candidate with the correct answers for the respective set of Question Papers attempted by him/her out of 4 sets of Question Papers for each subject.
  • Double Scanning of OMR based Answer Sheets, in two different sets by two different operators, for capturing of data and image ofthe Answer Sheetsand converting the data for result processing. Scanning should be done of the same Answer Sheet in two tier system – one by one operator in one machine and to be repeated by another operator on second machine to bring out the discrepancies, if any, for validation by the vendor. (Validation/variation report with manual correction thereof shall be provided to ICSI)
  • Data of scanned OMR Answer Sheets should be collated, verified and corrected with that of Centre-wise and subject-wise Attendance Sheet/Absentees’ Data. (Variation report with correction shall be handed over to ICSI).
  • Exam Centre-wise Report relating to No. of OMR Answer Sheets received from each exam venue shall be made available to the Institute. (Variation reports shall also be provided to Institute.)
  • Matching of candidates’ appearance vis a vis with marks awarded to the present examinees shall be collated, corrected and verified. (Variation reports shall also be provided to the Institute.)
  • Capturing of marks data through student’s Registration No./Roll No. of the candidate and data to be given in the specified format as required by the Institute for the processing of results.
  • Sample manual checking ofat least 15%-20% data of all examination activities in the prescribed manner. (Hard copies of such verified reports and corrections shall be handed over the Institute.
  • Validation and correction of all data and reports wherever required and ensuring 100% of accuracy of all data supplied to the ICSI(Variation reports shall also be provided to the Institute.)
  • Preparation of candidates’ result andother MIS reports.
  • The data transfer/data back-up on daily basis in ICSI Data structure shall be the responsibility of the vendor.
  • The Vendor shall provide a software application for retrieval of backup data at ICSI systems for displaying full particulars of an examinee viz. Students Name, Regn. No., Date of birth, Roll No., Subject wise Marks secured, Centre of Examination, result position, No. of attempt, rank of the candidate, etc. along with scanned image of OMR Answer Sheets, Attendance and Absentees List .

Following Reports with data, in SQL (RDBMS) format and integration with examination module, are required to be submitted by the Vendor to the Institute after necessary corrections (manual and in computer records) and validation of data —