[Reader-list] Embedding multiple government contracts on a single ID card- 206

[Taha Mehmood]

Dear All

it rained for just 40 minutes in Delhi yesterday and a roof of the New
jazzy, snazzy, cool, truly world class terminal 1D of Indira Gandhi
International Airport started leaking.

I wonder why?

Was it Hafeez Contractor's fault? Hafeez was the man in charge of this
project. A man who knows his job thoroughly, yet the roof leaked when
it rained. He is man who has proved his mettle to the world many times
over, yet the roof leaked when it rained.

Was it the vendors fault. GMR are a truly world class company, yet the
roof leaked when it rained. We don't know what happened? We don't know
why the roof leaked when it rained? We don't know what the hell
happened? Perhaps we will never know.

Like Hafeez heading the airport redevelopment project we have Nandan
Nilekani heading Unique Identification Database Authority of India.

Could we assume that just as the roof of terminal 1D leaked when it
rained so to something untoward might happen to the handling of
databases if it were to rain incompetency and data entry errors for
just about 40 minutes?

Vendor driven construction at terminal 1D leeked when it rained 40
minutes does not mean that ALL vendor driven constructions will leak
if it rains for 40 minutes BUT it also does not mean the NOT A SINGLE
vendor driven contract will be at fault? Is it not the latter half,
which should be bothering us more?

Is the UIDAI completely fool-proof? if not then could we in India
afford a transmission loss of say 5% of data? Or data entry errors of
say 1% or like could we allow ten million identities to get mixed up.
Can we even allow a Six sigma standardization for UID or in other
words can we allow even long-term defect levels below 3.4 defects per
million opportunities (DPMO)? or in other words for a thousand million
we are talking about thirty four THOUSAND people losing their
identities? or going through the usual grind of bureaucratic process
often paying money to sort their identities out for the State, when in
fact the State should be bothered about it in the first place?

Please read the story for more as Verma Sa'ab tries to explain the
fine challenges of vendor driven database management to us.

Warm regards

Taha



http://www.expresscomputeronline.com/20090824/management02.shtml

Business Accent

Embedding multiple government contracts on a single ID card

Sandeep Verma on how to choose the right procurement models for the
Unique Identification Database Project

With the Unique Identifica-tion Database Authority of India (UIDAI) to
be headed by one of the most respected business leaders and IT
professionals anywhere in the world, it may be worthwhile to look at
the procurement and implementation challenges in view of the enormity
and complexity of designing and running a live, multi-layered, and
possibly one of the most expansive and secure databases ever attempted
in recent times.

The UIDAI will have the mandate to own and operate a database of the
Unique Identification (UID) numbers and be responsible for its
updating and maintenance regularly; and UID numbers will sooner or
later be linked to other identification databases such as those
operated by the Election Commission of India and the Income Tax
Department. Undoubtedly, a significant portion of the project will
involve setting of technical standards and protocols for creating and
updating the UID database(s), exchanges of information amongst
multiple databases owned and operated by separate agencies, and
suchlike. But the more challenging aspects may well relate to
designing and implementing efficient government contracts for
delivering intended project outcomes uniformly across all Indian
states.

The UIDAI would certainly use lessons learnt from the successes and
failures of various government database projects already undertaken in
India, right from land records computerization to smart card-based
driving licenses to the Multipurpose National Identity Card (MNIC)
project. Many of these lessons will range from the obvious to the more
complex, for instance, the simplest ones being that when you design a
contract for a computerized electoral roll, you don't pay 90% for
delivery of hard copy printouts and risk non-delivery of the database
itself.

The more difficult contractual issues will relate to designing
specifications that avoid controversies about lack of competition and
concerns with high project costs; defining a-priori the roles and
responsibilities of partnering government bodies and agencies to avoid
jurisdictional overlaps and consequent disputes and litigation; making
choices on structuring the project as a supplies or a
performance-based services contract; the respective roles,
geographical distribution and accountability of multiple government
contractors to the central or state UID authorities; rules for
selection of vendors, protest of contract award decisions and
arbitration of contract administration disputes; and the extent of
government rights and licenses in technical data, computer software
and future system upgrades.

The project will certainly require innovative approaches to product
delivery, as close to a billion identity records get created and
delivered within a very short span of time. A public-private
partnership approach will therefore most likely be followed, based on
the services/supply delivery model that is eventually picked up for
implementation. Sooner than later, the project will also bring into
sharp focus the industry divide on adoption of open-source software
(OSS), a government mandate that is currently an important part of the
draft national policy. It remains to be seen whether the UID project
will base itself on OSS as the central core, or if it will eventually
adopt alternative strategies like using standard commercial software
bundled with appropriate government-specific IP-rights that could also
potentially avoid an embarrassing and expensive “lock-in” situation.

The contracting environment is also likely to throw up significant
challenges regarding mitigation of organizational
conflicts-of-interest (OCIs), and their resolution will require
careful and dexterous handling. Mr Nilekani's stepping down from the
Board of Directors of Infosys is akin to a leader setting ethical
standards through his own, personal conduct; but as he himself noted
in a recent interview, challenges will remain and will need to be
resolved.

The “airport-privatization”- approach of debarring potential
OCI-affected vendors—of taking such vendors completely out of the zone
of consideration for contract-award may prove to be unworkable in the
IT world where the industry is inherently far-more networked in its
structuring. Some borrowing of international experiences with
mitigating OCI issues—of putting in place negotiated, mutually
acceptable mitigation plans with potential vendors, rather than a
complete debarment, may therefore become necessary in the UID context.

India is witnessing exciting and challenging times in the efficient
and economical delivery of public services, and UID project
implementation will prove to be no different.

The real challenges, then, will lie in administering well-designed
government contracts that can prove to be efficient vehicles for
fulfilling the important, critical and impressive public-policy
objectives of the UID project.

Sandeep Verma is a member of the 1993 batch of the IAS. He recently
completed his LLM from The George Washington University Law School,
Washington DC. He is also an alumnus from IIT Delhi and the London
School of Economics and Political Science. Email: sverma at law.gwu.edu