The Hindu Business Line : NIIT partners Singapore co, bags Govt deal

As a part of this association, DSTA will be outsourcing development and maintenance support of the Singapore Government's one-stop e-procurement portal, GeBiz to NIIT Technologies.

NIIT has been in Singapore over the last ten years and has been working with DSTA since 2000. Commenting on the partnership, Ms L Carol, Director, DSTA said, "Singapore has been ranked on the top among 175 countries for its e-governance, according to the World Economic Forum report in 2005. Lot of countries want to emulate our model. Since we have worked with NIIT over the last few years, we have granted the product and marketing licence to NIIT for other countries."

"With the commercialisation of the software, NIIT would focus on countries in the Asia-Pacific region, Europe and West Asia.

Declining to comment on the revenue model, the CEO, NIIT, Mr Arvind Thakur said, "The contract has two parts. One is the licensing fee for the sale of intellectual property. The other component will be based on customisation of the software and the number of users availing the platform. ."

Commenting on the partnership, Ms L Carol, Director, DSTA said, "Singapore has been ranked on the top among 175 countries for its e-governance, according to the World Economic Forum report in 2005. Lot of countries want to emulate our model. Since we have worked with NIIT over the last few years, we have granted the product and marketing licence to NIIT for other countries."

"With the commercialisation of the software, NIIT would focus on countries in the Asia-Pacific region, Europe and West Asia. The portal facilitates trading between government organisations and its local and overseas suppliers, on an "anytime, anywhere" basis. In financial year 05, more than 60,000 business opportunities from 120 government agencies worth $10 billion were published on GeBiz.

At present, around 150 government agencies, representing around 15,000 users, upload their quotation requests and tenders on GeBIZ, while 20,000 suppliers use GeBIZ to submit their bids online and undertake transactions with various Government entities.

The fully electronic process is expected to save lot of time and cost.

"Unlike other solutions designed by the private company, the USP of this software lies in being a product developed by a government for governments", said Regional Head, e-governance/ GIS Practice, Mr Kailash Agarwal.

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