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January 7, 2011 -- After receiving a lacklustre response to the request for proposal (RFP) to set up national call centres for highway users, the Union road transport ministry has decided to rope in a consultant to prepare the tender document.

The ministry had initiated the proposal, to set up call centres in five zones, twice last year.

"We did not receive a good response to the call centre plan owing to some drawback in our tender document. We have now decided to rope in a consultant with expertise in call centre operations to rework the tender so that we re-invite the applications," said a transport ministry official.

The ministry will advertise the consultancy requirement in a month and is likely to prefer companies in the call centre/outsourcing business.

The revised tender document is likely to allow interested parties to set up the facility at a place of their choice. According to ministry officials, the earlier rules did not prescribe this, thereby evincing low interest from participants.

The 24/7 service, dedicated to national highway users, will provide four-digit toll-free universal access number to distressed road users to report accidents and other national highway-related issues, such as reporting traffic jam or vehicle break-down, among others.

The common four-digit toll-free call centres will be set up in northern, southern, eastern, western and central regions of the country.

Currently, highways have a different helpline number, a system that the government wants to centralise.

An RFP was issued in April last year to set up a call centre at a single location. The tender was cancelled in July and it was decided to set up call
centre services at five different regions.

Proposals were once again invited in August. In response, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) received a single bid each for southern and eastern region. In yet another attempt made in October, the NHAI received two bids for the southern region and a single bid each for eastern and central region. No bid was received for northern and western regions.

Posted by Veronica Silva Cusi, news correspondent
Source: http://www.dnaindia.com

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