E-tender no. RBI/Kolkata/HRMD/20/22-23/ET/167 Minutes of Pre-bid Meeting held on July 07, 2022 through WebEx The Pre-bid meeting for the captioned E-tender was conducted through Cisco-WebEx platform on July 07, 2022 at 03:00 PM in the presence of officials from Audit, Budget & Co-ordination Cell (ABCC), Reserve Bank of India, Kolkata (hereafter mentioned as the “Bank”). The meeting was attended by around 35 interested CA firms/prospective bidders. Officers from RBI, Kolkata (ABCC) present in the meeting: (i) Shri Saugata Chakraborty, DGM, HRMD/ABCC (ii) Shri Jai Bijay Agarwal, AGM, ABCC (iii) Shri Rabijit Debnath, AM, ABCC 2. Following a brief introduction by the Bank regarding the E-tender, various queries were raised by the prospective bidders/interested firms, which were clarified by the Bank. Summary of the same is as under: | Sr. No. | Query | Clarification / Response given | | 1 | If there is any blockage in the system due to technical error or overcrowding, and we are unable to put through our bids by the appointed date and time, will you cancel our bids? | The last date for submission of tender is July 25, 2022 till 12:00 PM. Tenders, if received (in any mode) after the said date and time, will not be accepted by the Bank.
Contact MSTC on the following numbers for any technical assistance regarding E-tender. The same contact numbers are also available in the tender document.
Contact Details (MSTC):
(i) MSTC Help desk – 033-23400020 / 21 / 22; 033-35013220 / 21 / 22 | | 2 | Is there any basis of calculation of the value of tender, both in terms of monthly and annually? If so, kindly let us know. | The minimum monthly remuneration indicated in the tender document i.e. Rs.1.52 Lakh (excluding GST) (₹18.24 Lakh, excluding GST - annually) has been calculated on the basis of required deployment of qualified manpower and the magnitude of transactions. | | 3 | Please let us know how the minimum financial bid will be determined. | Part-II (Financial Bid) will be opened electronically of only those bidder(s) whose Part-I (Technical Bid) is found acceptable by the Bank based on the evaluation parameter as detailed in the tender document (page no. 21 onwards). Financial Evaluation will be based on the evaluation parameters detailed in the tender document (page no. 23).
The bids/applications indicating less than the minimum monthly remuneration (Rs.1,52,000/- excluding GST) will be rejected out-rightly. | | 4 | We are unable to find any job on System Audit itself, but in the concurrent audit done by us, has to be based on system audit. Is it enough? | The weightage to be given for Experience of the firm in bank audits as System/IS auditor will be according to the criteria for technical evaluation as detailed in the tender document (page no. 22) | | 5 | i. How much are the transaction fees to be paid to MSTC?
ii. whether GST to be paid separately? | Payment of transaction fee as mentioned in the MSTC portal through MSTC payment Gateway/NEFT/RTGS in favour of MSTC limited or as advised by M/s. MSTC limited. (Details in page no. 7 of the tender document)
ii. GST on transaction fee is to be paid to MSTC. | | 6 | Where & how to upload Form 1 & Form 2?. Should both forms to be uploaded be signed? | As indicated in page no. 15-18 of the tender document, Form 1 & 2 along with relevant appendices should contain Signature of Authorized Signatory with the Seal of the firm. These forms are to be uploaded separately on MSTC portal for submission of Technical and Financial bid respectively.
For any technical assistance regarding uploading / submission of bids in MSTC portal, prospective bidders / interested parties may approach MSTC help desk in the contact numbers given in the tender document (page no. 5 & 24). | | 7 | Is it required to upload supporting documents viz. letters for assignments of Concurrent Audits, IS Audits, Statutory Central Audits, etc. along with the bids? | The applicants should submit their proposal on MSTC portal (www.mstcecommerce.com), as per the instructions regarding E-tender, along with all supporting documents complete in all respects (page 11 of tender document). | | 8 | i. Methodology of assigning marks for past experience with RBI.
ii. The range for L1 to L5 in price bid. | i. Marks for past experience will be as per the scale given in Criteria for Technical Evaluation (page no. 22 of tender document). It is a two-point scale based on the internal feedback on the performance of auditor given by auditee offices.
ii. Range for L1 to L5 in financial bid will be as per Criteria for Financial Bid Evaluation (page no. 23 of tender document). | | 9 | Does Statutory Audit mean Statutory audit of RBI or of commercial banks? | Experience of a firm in audit of banks and RBI will carry different weightage as detailed under Sr. No. 6 & 7 in the Criteria for Technical Evaluation (page no. 22 of tender document) | | 10 | Does the audit involve any outstation travel? | The Concurrent Auditors will conduct the audit of various departments of RBI, Kolkata as well as its Zonal Training Centre located at 8, Council House Street, Kolkata. | | 11 | Will there be training / walk through to the entire process to the audit team before / during the audit. | Before commencement of the tenure of the newly appointed Concurrent Auditor from October 01, 2022, Bank’s outgoing Concurrent Auditor will brief the newly appointed Concurrent Auditor firm about various aspects of the audit. | | 12 | How much and to what extent allowance be given for change of audit staff as change is bound to happen during one year’s period. | As indicated in para 8 of page no. 25 of the tender document, in normal course, the team leader deployed by the firm is not to be shuffled, but only under extreme exigency. | | 13 | Shall all the scope and checklist be covered in each and every month or the full scope can be divided into different month or quarter. | The concurrent audit will be as per the indicative checklist provided in Annex-I to the tender document. However, the scope of work/audit may be enhanced as per the requirement of the Bank. | | 14 | What happens when there is a tie in the bidding process? | In case of tie, it may be resolved by giving additional weightage to the firm that has higher number of years of experience, or more number of FCA partners or longer association of partners with the firms, or more number of key professional staff/skilled staff or more number of years of experience in bank and /or RBI audits, with these parameters been sequentially considered in order of which they have been listed out under the technical evaluation criteria (page 19-20 of tender document). | 3. All participants / CA firms were advised to go through tender document and the tentative scope of work in entirety. They were also advised to register themselves on the MSTC portal to be able to take part in the E-tender. Further, participants were advised to contact MSTC personnel for any technical issues regarding registration, bidding etc. on the MSTC portal. 4. Above minutes may be treated as a part of the tender. All terms and conditions of the tender shall remain unchanged. | |