State likely to assign government IT projects to Telangana MSMEs

HYDERABAD: The State government on Saturday formed an Advisory Committee on Telangana IT MSME Promotion with an aim to provide timely support to MSMEs in the various possible ways such as giving opportunities in government IT projects and so on. 

The committee will have IT secretary Jayesh Ranjan as the Chairman, with other members from Telangana State Technology Services, HYSEA, NASSCOM, and so on. The committee will be responsible for coming up with guidelines to ensure that all IT projects awarded by the government goes to companies registered in TS. 

“In case of large projects up to a certain threshold, which require multi-competency or proportionate financial strength, SME consortiums shall be encouraged to participate,” said the government order released on Saturday, and it also said that in case of very large projects, committee would come up with guidelines to ensure a pre-bid consortium between the prime bidder and the MSME consortium.

The committee has also been entrusted to define norms and to oversee that the projects are awarded equitably among MSMEs. 

The companies’ past track record, yearly turnover requirement, ernest money deposits, and performance guarantee will be looked over by the committee as an eligibility criteria.

The State government has also directed officials to come up with a dashboard which will show all IT projects and spending by the government.

Apart from that the committee will work towards identifying departments that may require different digital solutions offered by MSMEs. The committee is set to meet once a month.

Since the lockdown in March, majority of the MSMEs and start-ups in the IT & ITES sector have been severely affected and State government must ensure their sustenance and help them get back on track.