TCS, India's largest IT services company, and Department of Electronics and Accreditation of Computer Classes or the DOEACC are said to have emerged as the only two entities that have responded to a tender notification of the Central Board for Secondary Education (CBSE) for conducting the All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE). The stiff conditions put forth in the tender document are said to be the reasons for lack of response from the companies to participate in the tender.
This has left the examination itself in a limbo as the process has to begin on November 1 when the tender would be opened.
According to rules there needs to be a minimum of three contenders for the bid. The CBSE's 'tender document for computer-based test delivery, administration and processing for Professional Entrance Exam (PEE) - 2012' has evoked some consternation among some prospective participants in the tendering process. This resulted in the fate of thousands of students who planned to take up the AIEEE this year hanging in limbo.
The schedule of the activities of the AIEEE 2012 too is now in a jeopardy. The examination process which is supposed to start on November 1 too is now in doubt.
The ministry of human Resource development had declared that, 50 per cent of the seats in NITs will be filled from AIEEE eligible candidates of states where NITs are located and the remaining 50 per cent will be filled on all India merit basis. Whereas for IIIT's all of the seats are being filled through all India merit basis.
The main firms from the testing and assessment industry that have conducted 90 per cent of the examinations in the country like Eduquity, MeritTrac, Pearson, Attest and Prometric did not participate in the tender process. What seems to have raised the hackles of these companies is that some of the technical qualifications mandated by the tender document left them ineligible even before their applications were made.
This finally left only TCS and DOEACC, a government entity, eligible for it. A top CBSE official in charge of the AIEEE refused to comment on it, saying the tendering process was over and nothing more is there to be said.
Meanwhile, a TCS spokesperson said, "The company does not comment on market speculations."
The chief objections of the five companies who stayed away from the tendering process was with regards to the insistence of the CBSE on the technical bid to contain a "duly signed copy of ISO 27001 certification". According to the head of a company who decided not to participate, "How can you insist on the certification for the company conducting the test, but not on the test centre? It doesn't help since the test centre must also have certificate."
Perhaps the biggest objection of the prospective participants was to the insistence on a CMMI-5 certification for the software. "Is it about the experience of conducting such a test or the software that should be considered while handing out such a project," said the co-founder of another testing and assessment firm. The objective of the AIEEE was to have half a million candidates taking their tests online and slowly increase it to 1.2 million or all candidates to go online.
The significance of the project can be understood by the fact that for CAT, IIMs had paid Prometric Rs 840 per candidate. Extrapolating it to some 0.5 million in first year and going on to 1.2 million by third year, the contract would be worth no less than Rs 200 crore, according to an analyst.
One objection of the testing and assessment industry is that the tender had insisted on the company having 1,000 permanent staff. Said the CEO of a testing and assessment firm: Not even the largest assessment firm in the country will have 1,000 permanent staff on-board. What do you achieve with just the employee strength."
