RESERVE BANK OF INDIA
EXCHNAGE CONTROL DEPARTMENT
CENTRAL OFFICE, MUMBAI

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is taking up a project for design, development and implementation of an Integrated FOREX Management System (IFMS) for its Exchange Control Department (ECD) in the Central Office and its Regional Offices (ROs) for processing data received from ADs and users entities.

ECD of RBI, through its IFMS is aiming at making use of the recent technological breakthroughs such as relational and multidimensional database management systems, client server architecture, web enabling, graphical user interfaces, so as to build an integrated database management system that provides the decision-makers, analysts and researchers, online and real-time access to a central database of clean and consistent data.

RBI invites " Request for Proposal (RFP)" from leading Consultants/Systems Integrators for making a System Requirement Study (SRS) for the proposed IFMS. A System Requirement Study (SRS) will be done for developing an integrated data processing and information management system in a fully computerized environment to meet the functional requirements, as identified and mutually agreed by ECD. The objective and functioning of the ECD, has been furnished in Annexure – I. A representative data flow diagram has been furnished in Annexure – II.

Interested bidders should have been operating in India for the last 3 years and should have the experience of successfully implementing similar large projects in India during this period. They must satisfy the following minimum eligibility criteria:

1. Bidder must be a registered corporate in India, registered under the Companies Act 1956, and having a minimum annual turnover of Rs.100 crore (Rupees hundred crore) or above.
2. Bidder must warrant that it is financially solvent i.e. it is able to meet all its debts as and when they fall due.
3. Bidder must have prior experience in development, commissioning and maintenance of complete solutions for similar projects in financial transaction processing and information systems in ORACLE/SQL RDBMS, GUI and/or data warehousing environment in the last 3 years for other Central Banks, National Regulatory Authorities or Supervisory Agencies or large National/International Financial Institutions.

Bidders satisfying the following eligibility criteria only need to apply.

Eligible bidders may submit their proposal and other relevant documents to the office of the undersigned. It may be noted that the technical and commercial bids (two copies) may be submitted in separate sealed envelopes. One soft copy of the proposals may also be submitted in sealed envelopes separately.

Mrs. Grace Koshie
Chief General Manager-in-Charge
Exchange Control Department
Reserve Bank of India
Central Office, Administration Division
Amar Building, 3rd Floor
Fort
Mumbai 400 001.

The prescribed format for submission of the RFP is given in Annexure - III. This shall be accompanied by a forwarding letter duly signed by the authorised signatory of your organisation containing a list of all the documents submitted and the total no. of pages and a letter of the said authorisation. All the pages, annexures, enclosures etc. submitted as part of RFP shall be duly authenticated and numbered.. Documents containing false and/or inadequate information are liable to be rejected.

Sealed bids should be delivered on or before 3.00 p.m. on July 1,2002. The technical bids will be opened at 4.00 p.m. on the same day. The bidders, if they so desire, may remain present during the opening of the technical bids. The commercial bids will be opened at a later date only in respect of bidders whom the Reserve Bank finds suitable from the assessment of the technical bids.

RBI reserves the right to reject any or all of the applications without assigning any reasons whatsoever.

Sd.
(Chief General Manager-in-Charge)

The Exchange Control Department (ECD) proposes to establish a database system to computerize its operations. The IFMS is expected to provide their analysts, functional staff and management extensive access to timely and uniform information for decision making, monitoring and other purposes.

The present systems are mainly on stand-alone PCs and some are in networked environment. In most of the cases, the input to the system is by dial-up network/attachment in mail/floppy from ROs/ADs. Manual data entry is also being done in few cases.

The SRS to be prepared should be organised in the following manner:

This should include the details of the flow of information within and outside the ECD and study of the various modules and procedures that are currently operational both in manual and computerised environment. It should also cover the future business requirements of ECD.

The specification should be exhaustive and include all that is expected of the new system after it is put in place. It should contain details of various issues that are essential for software design. The various operational procedures and interfaces with other systems in the organization should be spelt out clearly, the logical design of the system, the system architecture and the Entity Relation Diagrams has to be defined and codified.

The hardware/ software specification should contain the details of the hardware configuration, software (inclusive of Operating system and application software), and includes the details of other integral sub-systems for the proposed system duly taking into account the security considerations, data migration, users privileges and system recovery & back-up procedures.

Interface of the above system with Data warehouse of the Bank viz. Centralised Data Base Management System (CDBMS) should be addressed.

The SRS aims at total computerisation of the ECD functioning in a networked environment preferably in a work flow environment within the CO/ROs etc. Therefore, the SRS would need to cover the following aspects in detail:

• Requirements for the on-line system : The existing system at ECD is mostly based on periodic statements originated from various external entities like Banks, Customs, FIPBs, and internal departments of RBI and regional offices/ Government/ Governmental agencies. The study would cover what would be the requirements for these entities considering the online data flow from/to these entities. Web based access wherever required may be explored.

• Tracking of transactions : The present system is dependent on the inputs to be originated from various sources. Hence structured database with exhaustive information with no overlapping/redundancy required with a system of tracking the source of data and their compatibility problem with the structured database.

• Controls at various levels : The system study should cover the controls required at various levels of data/transaction flow. For example what controls need to be in place for ADs, FIPB, Customs, etc. in addition to control at various level within RBI. Suitable suggestion for process reengineering and modified work flow may also be made.

• Report formats review : In context of centralised system at ECD, what would be the formats of existing reports and mechanism of reporting need to be considered taking into account factors such as authenticity of data, non-duplication etc..

• Availability of centralised data to various entities : It would need to ascertain what data should be made available out of the centralised system to external and internal users of the system based on their access rights and need for the relevant information..

• Controls on availability of data : Who should have access to what data would need to be defined.

• Requirement of interfaces for ADs, Constituents, etc. : Identification of standard interfaces needed for external and internal entities in order to acquire the data from and to these entities.

• Maintenance issues - reliability, scalability, scope for revision/changes for creation of extensive information base fordecision making and analysis keeping in mindall present and future requirements.

1. Introductory Letter

Bidder/Applicants should provide a brief letter of introduction describing their understanding of the scope of work and their qualifications to undertake the project. The letter should specifically identify the names of all professionals who would be assigned to provide the services if awarded the contract.

2. General Requirement

All proposals should be prepared simply and economically, providing straightforward, concise descriptions of applicant’s ability to meet requirements of the IFMS. Emphasis should be on completeness, clarity of content, responsiveness to the requirements and an understanding of the Bank’s needs.

3. Professional Experience and Qualifications

• They must provide evidence of direct experience and qualifications to perform the requested services described in RFP – scope of consultancy. The Bank is interested in applicants’ direct experience in both Central Bank functioning and construction of such integrated systems. We suggest the inclusion of specific recent or current clients.

• Applicant should state the names of all the individuals who will be assigned to the project. They must ensure that their referenced experience gives a clear description of the individuals to be assigned to this project.

• Track record and technical competence to execute the project successfully within the given time frame and the success rate of execution of last 3-4 major projects may also be indicated.

The Bank is particularly interested in qualifications, experience, track records and technical competence directly related to the scope of consultancy.

1. Price

Applicant is required to provide a fixed fee for the entire scope of consultancy. In addition, a full breakdown of cost and how they are derived – by unit of work or as a single job; inclusive or exclusive of reimbursable expenses; taxes and mobilisation costs will be required. Details of any equipment and facilities required from the Bank in carrying out the project may also be indicated.

2. Additional Elements

• All information in the RFP must be treated as confidential.

• Any documentation developed for the SRS will be the sole property of Reserve Bank of India.

• Applicants whose proposals best meet the requirements may be invited to meet representatives of the Reserve Bank of India for further discussions/technical presentation.

• Clarifications regarding the request for proposal should be directed to Mr. Deepak Kumar – Telephone No. (022) 2664398/99;

The Technical Committee formed for the purpose by taking into account the following factors will evaluate proposals:

• Demonstrated understanding of requirements.
• Experience with similar projects
• Specific experience and qualifications of proposed staff
• Completeness of proposal
• Projected timeframe for completion of project
• Project cost

The methodology of the study and deliverables after the study has to be defined clearly.

The applicant shall describe the methodology for reporting the progress of the project.

The project has to be completed within twelve weeks from the date of acceptance of the offer. Any spill over from the mutually agreed time frame will be liable for penalty.

Annexure - I

RBI is chief authority for Exchange Control in India. The transition from FERA to the Foreign Exchange Management Act 1999 (FEMA) has brought with it some major structural changes. FEMA has come into force with effect from June 1, 2000. In addition, the significant economic developments in the External sector have taken place in the country in the last few years:

• Substantial increase in the country’s foreign exchange reserves,
• Growth in foreign trade,
• Participation of Foreign Institutional Investors
• Rationalisation of Tariffs
• Increased access to External Commercial Borrowings by Indian Corporates
• Foreign Direct Investments into India by Foreign Financial Institutions in the major Indian Stock Markets.
• Liberalisation of Indian Investments abroad

FEMA has taken into account the above developments in our Markets and the other new developments in the light of liberalisation policy adopted by the Government.
The introduction of FEMA has resulted in significant structural as well as operational changes. With this, the information focus for the department has also changed. Now the greater focus is on management of information system.

• Data Collection:
• Follow-up:
• Pattern in Exceptions:

1. To implement the Provision of FEMA.
2. To facilitate the trade and payments by playing a pro-active role through regular interfaces with Exporters, Importers, Corporates, Custom Authorities, Banks, Government Departments, and other agencies and organizations.
3. To develop the domestic Foreign Exchange markets in an orderly fashion.
4. To ensure speedy realisation of export proceeds through regular follow-up.
5. To undertake focused on site and off-site inspections to regulate the activities of the Authorised Persons.
6. To function as an efficient conduit between the FEMA and the Authorised Persons in terms of interpreting the various provisions of the Act.
7. To exercise powers in areas not delegated to the Authorised Persons as per guidelines specified in FEMA

For effectively meeting the Objectives, the department is organised in the Central Office, which is located in Mumbai. There are 14 divisions at CO. In addition to the Central Office, the department has Eighteen Regional Offices at the following locations:

The primary function of the RO is data collection, aggregation and forwarding the same to the CO and the Follow-up on the different kind of transactions.

The Roles and responsibilities handled by each division / section within CO/RO are detailed as under:

Please ensure that your response clearly answers all the questions. If you use additional schedules or documentation to support your response, make sure that they are clearly cross-referenced to the relevant question.

I. BASIC INFORMATION OF COMPANY

Other: Please provide other information of a material and relevant nature, which you feel, has not been covered elsewhere