Embassy of India, Washington DC intends to pre - qualify agencies to assist in the processing of applications from foreign nationals for the issuance of Indian visa, Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) & Person of Indian Origin (PIO) card, surrender and renunciation of Indian citizenship certificate etc. with effect from 1st January 2013. The agency so identified, would have, on behalf of the Embassy of India, Washington DC (& the six Indian Consulates General in USA), the responsibility for the following broad activities:
Distribution, collection and scrutiny of visa, Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) & Person of Indian Origin (PIO) card, surrender and renunciation of Indian citizenship certificate etc. applications, as per procedure to be decided by the Embassy. Such agencies would also be responsible for collection of passports, supporting documents and prescribed fees from the applicants;
Depositing the visa, Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) & Person of Indian Origin (PIO) card, surrender and renunciation of Indian citizenship certificate etc. applications, passports and other related documents as mentioned below in original, as well as in electronic format, at the Consular Wing of the Embassy / concerned Indian Consulate General by the quickest and safest means. The prescribed fee will also have to be deposited at the designated bank as per the procedure and timelines to be communicated by the Embassy / Indian Consulates General.
Digitisation/Indexing of Visa application form along with encosures, capturing of biographic data and photograph and transfer the data electronically to enable the Embassy / Concerned Consulate to upload the same into the IVFRT platform. Similar procedures should be done in the case of services pertaining to OCI, PIO card, surrender and renunciation of Indian Citizenship certificates etc by creating metadata file and an attachment/sub- file for enclosures.
Capture fingerprint biometric and facial biometric data, as and when introduced and pass on such data electronically to enable the Embassy / concerned Consulate to upload the same into the IVFRT platform.
Collection of passports and / or other documents from the Consular Wing after the service there has been rendered;
Dispatching / handing-over document/s to applicants by secure and fast means;
Maintenance of an information desk / service to answer enquiries over telephone, distribute printed guidelines and handle queries by e-mail, post or fax, as the case may be; and
Scheduling of personal interviews of the applicants at the Consular Wing of the Embassy / Post, where required.
2. To carry out the above mentioned activities on behalf of the Embassy / Consulates General, the agency would be expected to establish Application centre(s) at prominent localities near to the Embassy in Washington DC and Indian Consulates General at New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Houston, Atlanta, Seattle (when notified) and other cities in the US, if deemed necessary. The Embassy / Post may need to increase the number of facilitation centres in Washington DC, New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Houston, Atlanta and Seattle (when notified) and other cities of the US, if deemed necessary.
3. The agencies would be expected to provide courteous and efficient service at all times. The Embassy / Consulates General reserve the right to monitor the quality of service provided and impose necessary corrective measures on the agencies in terms of their contractual obligations.
4. The short-listed agencies will have to furnish a bank guarantee, the amount of which is specified in the Request For Proposal (RFP) posted on the website of the Embassy of India - www.indianembassy.org.
5. Agencies intending to participate in the bidding process should have sound financial and business credentials. The bidder must have experience of operating a Centre for such services on behalf of a Diplomatic Embassy (ies) or Post(s) for at least one year; dealing with at least 100 applications per day, on any one of the services mentioned, on an annual average basis, with electronic data entry. Further, the bidder must be able to deal with up to 1000 applications per day with electronic data entry." Companies with hese credentials are invited to send their profiles and expression of interest, along with a detailed offer for pre-qualification.
6. All offers/bids should be accompanied by a refundable deposit of US $ 5,000/- (US dollars five thousand) by cheque / draft drawn in favour of ‘Embassy of India, Washington DC’. The cheque/draft should be put in a separate envelope marked refundable deposit and not with envelopes for Financial Bids or Technical Bids. This deposit would be refunded within ten working days of date of opening of pre- qualification bids.
7. Only Indian / Indian origin companies with or without a local partner either of Indian or Foreign origin are eligible to apply.
8. The agencies are required to submit technical and financial bids in two separate envelopes. In the first stage, only the technical bids will be opened and examined and only those bidders who fulfil the technical requirements will be selected for opening of their financial bids. Any remaining bids will not be processed further. For further details please refer to RFP. Bidding agencies should give specific and clear response to the RFP in the same format and order without omitting any point mentioned therein.
9. Financial bids of companies qualifying on technical evaluation will be opened in the next stage and the consolidated Contract Price shall be the criterion for selecting the successful Service Provider. If the consolidated contract price is same for more than one company, the company graded higher in the technical bid evaluation will become eligible.
10. The Technical Bids will be evaluated by the Embassy and graded according to the quality of services offered by the bidding Companies. This information would be given to the Companies which qualified for the Financial Bids before opening of the ‘Financial Bids’.
11. For details of evaluation criteria etc., please refer to the Request For Proposal posted on the website of the Embassy of India, Washington DC at http://www.indianembassy.org./ www.indianembassy.org and that of Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi (http://mea.gov.in/)
12. The offers / bids may be sent in sealed covers (superscribed “Indian visa, Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) & Person of Indian Origin (PIO) card, surrender and renunciation of Indian citizenship certificate etc. Outsourcing”. It should contain two separate sealed covers superscribed “Technical Bid" and "Financial Bid" respectively - as applicable). A separate cover, containing cheque/draft for US dollars 5000/- in favour of ‘Embassy of India, Washington DC’, should be marked as “Refundable deposit” The sealed bids should be addressed to the Mr. G. Balasubramanian, Head of Chancery, Embassy of India, Washington DC, 2107 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington DC 20008. Tel#: 202-939-7025). These offers / bids should reach the Embassy latest by 1500 hours on 1st November 2012. All the ‘Technical Bids’ received by this deadline shall be opened at 1600 hours on the same day. The decision of Embassy of India, Washington DC on the pre-qualification of the agencies shall be final.
