Corrigendum (E-tender No. - RBI/DSIM-Central Office Departments/Others/6/24-25/ET/903[Empanelment of Survey Agencies]) Pre-bid meeting of the captioned tender was convened as per schedule on February 17, 2025, through online mode via WebEx. 2. The following officials of RBI and intending bidders were present during the Pre-Bid Meeting: | S. No. | Name and Designation | | i. | Shri Sourajyoti Sardar (Assistant Adviser, DSIM) | | ii. | Smt Arti Sinha (Assistant Adviser, DSIM) | | iii. | Shri Dibyarka Chaule (Manager, DSIM) | | iv. | Shri Abhilash Satape (Manager, DSIM) | | v. | Shri Ayan Paul (Manager, DSIM) |
| S. No. | Name of the intending bidder | Name of the representative of the intending bidder | | i. | Median Research and Consulting Pvt. Ltd. | Shri Subrata Das
Shri Subrata Dey | | ii. | Development & Research Services Pvt. Ltd. | Ms. Nabanita Roy | | iii. | Transrural Consulting Services Pvt. Ltd. | Shri Saurav Kumar | | iv. | Saptrishi Consultancy Services Limited | Ms. Daksha Goel
Shri Nishant Nirupam | | v. | IPSOS Research Pvt. Ltd. | Shri Gajanand Periwal | | vi. | Robas Research Pvt. Ltd. | Shri Arup Das | | vii. | MART Global Management Solutions LLP | Shri Biswadeep Palit | 3. The session commenced with Shri Sourajyoti Sardar, Assistant Adviser, extending a warm welcome to all participants, inviting them to share any doubts or queries related to the captioned tender, whose subsequent clarifications are outlined as follows: | S. No. | Queries by Companies | Clarification by RBI officials | | I. | Whether exemptions (in terms of Earnest Money Deposit (EMD), tender fee etc.) are available for MSMEs registered under Udyog issued by GoI in the tendering process. | No exemptions are provided for the EMD. For any inquiries related to tender fees, applicants are advised to contact M/s MSTC Ltd. | | II. | When will the RBI return the EMD? If an agency is selected through financial bidding, is the submission of a Performance Bank Guarantee (PBG) mandatory for the release of the EMD? Additionally, what are the required validity periods for the EMD and the PBG? | EMD of the vendor(s) will be returned by the RBI after the completion of the empanelment process. In case of the Bank Guarantee (BG), validity will be three months from the date of issue. The original hardcopy of the EMD should be reached at the address of the communication before opening of the bids. A tender which is not accompanied by such EMD will not be considered for further processing. No interest shall be paid on EMD.
At the time of calling for financial quotation for each survey, the empaneled bidders shall be asked to deposit the amount as specified while asking for financial bidding as EMD through Bank Guarantee / NEFT. It will be returned to the unsuccessful bidders without any interest amount after the completion of the process.
The successful bidder shall be required to furnish a PBG as a condition precedent to the execution of the contract. Upon submission and acceptance of the PBG, the EMD shall be returned to the bidder. PBG will be required at the rate of 5 per cent of the contract/ agreement value for each of the household and enterprise surveys separately. The PBG shall remain valid for a period of six (6) months after the completion date of the project. | | III. | Is the selection of the agency in the financial bidding process solely based on the L1 criterion? | After the successful empanelment, the survey agencies will be eligible to participate in the financial bidding. agency has to submit separate financial quotation for each survey. In the financial bidding process, the selection of a survey agency will be based on the L1 criteria. | | IV. | Under para 5.4 and 5.5, can Annex-E be submitted along with TDS/Work Order as supporting documentation? | The requirements under para 5.4 and para 5.5 are distinct and independent of each other, serving different purposes. Accordingly, they shall not be combined or treated as interchangeable for compliance purposes. | | V. | Can the agency seek any relaxation if the client certificate they possess does not comply with the format specified in Annex-E or lacks any required details? | The bidder must submit a minimum of three certificates from the relevant category (household/enterprise) issued by organizations where they have successfully completed CAPI-based household surveys, each valued at ₹30 lakhs or more, or enterprise surveys valued at ₹5 lakhs or more, within the past five years.
In the event where the client certificate is not in conformation with the prescribed format (Annex-E) and lacks any of the requisite information, the agency shall submit alternative valid documentary evidence substantiating the required details. Additionally, the agency shall provide a comprehensive list of such supporting documents along with the client certificate. | | VI. | Do Point Nos. 19 and 20 of the ‘Technical Bid Application Form (Annex-A)’ apply to both Household and Enterprise surveys? | With reference to Point Nos. 19 and 20 of the Technical Bid – Application Form (Annex-A), it is hereby clarified that Point No. 19 shall be applicable to both household and enterprise surveys, whereas Point No. 20 shall be exclusively applicable to household surveys. | | VII. | Under para 5.5 of the NIT, will certificates received by a survey agency for carrying out fieldwork for a single survey across different regions under separate contractual agreements be regarded as multiple certificates? | If a survey agency has received multiple certificates for executing survey fieldwork in different survey locations under separate contractual agreements, such certificates shall be collectively treated as a single certificate for the purpose of evaluating compliance with the prescribed eligibility criteria for that survey. | | VIII. | Under Chapter 5, Clause 5.4, how many projects are necessary to fulfil the eligibility criteria and scoring requirements? | There is no restriction on the maximum number of projects. However, the cumulative value of such projects, whether completed or ongoing, must be a minimum of ₹1.0 crore in any of the preceding four accounting years, separately for household and/or enterprise surveys, to meet the eligibility criteria. | | IX. | Under Chapter 3.4 (Manpower Requirement for Household Surveys), is it mandatory to submit CVs for the ‘All India Staff’ and ‘Field Team’? | The bidder is required to complete ‘Annexure-C’ as part of the submission. Documentary evidence regarding personnel details will be required at a later stage. Failure to provide satisfactory documentation on demand at that stage shall be deemed a breach of contract. | | X. | What are the specific formatting requirements, including font type, font size, line spacing, and other details, for the two-page write-up on understanding household surveys (Ref. Annex-H1)? | The required formatting for the two-page write-up is as follows:
Font: Arial
Font Size: 11
Line Spacing: Multiple – 1.5
Spacing: 6 pts before and after
Margin: Normal | | XI. | Under Chapter 3, Clause 3.1.2 and 3.1.5, for what duration is the agency expected to conduct the bi-monthly Inflation Expectations Survey of Households (IESH) and Consumer Confidence Survey (CCS)? | The Inflation Expectations Survey of Households (IESH) and Consumer Confidence Survey (CCS) are regular surveys conducted bi-monthly currently in 19 cities. Since the empanelment period is for three years, the selected agency is expected to continue conducting these surveys throughout this period, subject to satisfactory performance. | | XII. | Under Chapter 3, Clause 3.1.8, for how long is the agency required to carry out the bi-monthly Rural Consumer Confidence Survey (RCCS)? | The Rural Consumer Confidence Survey (RCCS) is conducted bi-monthly across 31 states/UTs. As with other surveys, the selected agency is expected to continue conducting the fieldwork for the duration of the three-year empanelment period, contingent upon satisfactory performance. | | XIII. | Under Chapter 3.4 (Manpower Requirement for Household Surveys), which specific centres/cities/states necessitate the deployment of supervisors for the IESH, CCS, and RCCS surveys? Can a detailed list of these locations be provided? | Supervisors are required for all 31 designated states/UTs under RCCS. For CCS and IESH, supervisors must be provided separately for the 19 designated centres. | 4. Above clarifications are issued for the information for all intending bidders. Minutes of the pre-bid meeting shall form part of the tender. All other parts of the tender continue to remain unaltered. Submission of bid shall be construed to be in conformity to the tender document and amendments/ clarifications. Principal Adviser
Reserve Bank of India
Department of Statistics and Information Management
Central Office
Mumbai |
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