The Hindu Business Line : IRCTC invites bids for Rlys call centre

Railways calling
BSNL to compete to keep Rly enquiry number in network Compete on the basis of licence fee/viability gap quotes Penalty provision for not adhering to deadline

New Delhi , Aug 11

Kicking off the process of setting up a call centre for the Railways, Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has invited bids from consortiums including a telecom operator with pan-Indian operations and a BPO firm.

The call centre would have to provide basic train enquiry services at the cost of a local call for passengers calling from anywhere in the country.

The consortium, which is required to establish, operate and maintain the call centres at North, East, West and South zones, would have to specify the licence fee it would pay to Railways or the viability gap grant it would need from Railways to operate the centre.

"From among the technically qualified bidders, the bidder quoting the highest licence fee or minimum viability grant would be awarded the contract," said IRCTC officials.

Currently, the Railways enquiry number is in the BSNL network. With the bidding process kicked off, BSNL would now have to compete with other private operators to ensure that it continues to get the termination charges of all phone calls made for Railway enquiries.

PERFORMANCE GUARANTEE

The last date for submitting bids is August 31; the financial bids of the technically qualifying bidders are likely to be opened by mid-September. The successful bidder would have to provide a performance guarantee of Rs 1 crore valid for about 10 years.

The project would have to be completed within five months of the contract being awarded. For subsequent delays, firms would have to pay a penalty of Rs 1 lakh a week.

The lead member of the consortium should have a turnover of over Rs 200 crore and the BPO firm is required to have two years of experience, having handled at least 30 lakh calls a month.

Railways gets about 14-15 lakh phone calls a day; it results in substantial revenues for the telecom firm in whose network the number resides as it gets the termination charges.

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