Continuation of IT Modernisation Project of Department of Posts – Phase II

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs today approved the proposal of Rs.4,909 crore towards IT modernisation project of the Department of Posts, covering 1.55 lakhs post offices.

The total expenditure for the project involving Rs.4,909 crore includes both implementation phase and operation and maintenance phase for the IT infrastructure of Post Offices. The IT project of the Department is a part of the Mission Mode Project (MMP) included in the National e-Governance Plan (NEGP).

The Department of Posts has a network of 1.55 Lakhs post offices spread across all the States and Union Territories of the country. The key objective of the India Post IT Modernisation project is modernization and computerization of all Post offices in the country including branch post offices in rural areas to create a urban-rural network spanning across the length and breadth of the country. 

The IT modernisation project is expected to give following benefits to the citizens of the country:

• Improve customer satisfaction due to faster and more reliable delivery of services

• Enhance visibility and transparency

• Provide access by multiple channels to the customers e.g. post office counters, kiosks, internet, mobiles ATMs etc;

• Ensure delivery of "citizen centric services"

The IT modernisation project will provide a national asset and infrastructure for all users apart from the post offices including various government departments, business houses and the citizens to use the services effectively for their communication, banking, insurance and service delivery needs. The project will improve the delivery of mails, banking and insurance services rendered by the Post offices across the length and breadth of the country.

For the purpose of implementation, the IT modernisation project has been structured into 8 segments catering to IT infrastructure such as datacentre, network, computers and peripherals, software applications which will cover all the product and services of the Department of Posts, and change management which will help in effective transformation into IT mode. The project will be implemented in all the 1.55 lakh post offices in a phased manner over a time period of 2 years, to be followed by the O&M phase over the period of contract.

The project will be rolled out to all the post offices covering all States and Union Territories in the country a phased manner.

Background:

The proposal of the Department of Posts is in continuation of the proposal which was approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on 26th Aug 2010. The overall project has been segregated into eight RFPs, of which, selection of vendors have been finalized in case of 5 RFPs and LOIs have been issued. Of these 5 RFPs, in four cases the contracts have been signed with the selected bidders. In respect of two RFPs the financial bids have been opened and selection of the bidder is under process.