Seven IT firms, including five of India, are in the race for the Rs 2,000-crore e-governance project CCTNS. Sources say Indian software majors TCS, Infosys Technologies, Wipro, Tech Mahindra and NIIT Technologies have been shortlisted for the project, along with American tech giant Accenture and Frech firm CapGemini. The Crime and Criminal Tracking Network & Systems (CCTNS) project is among the largest e-governance projects the country has launched.
One of the 27 mission mode projects under the Rs 23,000-crore national e-governance plan, CCTNS aims to overhaul the policing system by creating a secure, scalable and interoperable security database with real-time access. The project is under the ministry of home affairs and has an allocation of Rs 2,000 crore.
?Post-second round short-list, the players will be called to present a proof-of-concept, which is due in January,? said the source. The final contract would be finalised by the fiscal-end.
The first level of the project involved development of core application software (CAS) at the central level, by the selected agency. The same software module will be later adopted by the Centre and all the states, where they will appoint independent agencies to do integration and maintenance work around the software. ?The actual cost of the project could touch Rs 3,000 crore, which will require more funds to be released,? said Navin Agrawal, executive director, advisory services, KPMG.
The development of the core application software aims at linking the state crime record bureaus with the national crime record bureau to ensure there is a seamless flow of information between states and the Centre. States have simultaneously started work on the project, with around 12 of them already releasing funds, according to the latest data from the ministry of home affairs.
?The scope of the work may be small at the initial level, where the software module is being developed, but once the states begin to implement the software, there will be a lot of action around it,? said a senior official at a software company. According to industry estimates, each state has a budget of Rs 60-70 crore. Under the CCTNS project, around 14,000 police stations across the country will be automated along with 6,000 higher offices in the police hierarchy.
