Preface : Agreement representing  a Service Level Agreement (“SLA” or “Agreement”) between the Buyer and  Service Provider has been  uploaded in bid section . The purpose of the agreement uploaded is to facilitate implementation of Services intended by the Buyer . Each  documents as uploaded by buyer should be read in totality to conclude the requirement of Custom e Bid floated on portal .

The Agreement uploaded in bid section will generally   contain the Scope of Work, (SOW) , stakeholder's  obligations, Special Terms and Conditions (STC)  related to service delivery as formulated by the Buyer and  Payment Terms etc of the service for mutual understanding of the stakeholders. The Agreement remains valid till completion of Scope of Services or end of contractual duration (whichever is earlier) unless either superseded by a revised agreement mutually endorsed by the stakeholders or terminated by either of the parties thereof.

Guiding Principle : The Services contracts placed shall be governed by following set of Terms and Conditions :

1. General Terms and Conditions for Goods and Services;
2. Buyer’s Formulated  Service Specific STC  including  the Service Level Agreement (SLA) for the service as uploaded with  the bid  in form of suitable matching  document ,

The above terms and conditions are in reverse order of precedence .Service specific STC  supersede GTC, whenever there are any conflicting provisions. The above set of terms and conditions along with scope of work and service level agreement as enumerated in the document shall be construed to be part of the Contract between Buyer and Service Provider.

Intended Objectives And Goals of SLA :The objective of Agreement (SLA) as uploaded in bid section  is to ensure that all the commitments and obligations are in place to ensure consistent delivery of service to buyer by service provider. Generally The goals of  an Agreement  are to:

1. Provide clear reference to service ownership, accountability, roles and/or responsibilities of both parties
2. Present a clear, concise and measurable description of service offered to the buyer
3. Establish Terms and Conditions for all the involved stakeholders, it also includes the actions to be taken in case of failure to comply with conditions specified
4. To ensure that all the parties understand the consequences in case of termination of services due to any of the stated reasons
5. The agreement will act as a reference document that both the parties have understood the above-mentioned terms and conditions and have agreed to comply by the same. The agreement can also be revised/ modified on mutual consent of the stakeholders.

Parties To The Agreement

The main stakeholders associated with this agreement are:

1. Buyer: Buyer is responsible to provide clear instructions, approvals and timely payments for the services availed.
2. Service Provider: Service provider is responsible to provide all the required services in timely manner. Service provider may also include seller, any authorized agents, assignees, successors and nominees as described in the agreement

The responsibilities and obligations of the stakeholders have been outlined in this document. The document also encompasses service level /penalties in case of non-adherence to the defined terms and conditions. It is assumed that all stakeholders would have read and understood the same before signing the SLA document.

ADVISORY WITH RESPECT TO SCOPE OF SERVICE

Scope of Work (SOW) is the most  important & crucial component of any bidding process. It is for this that the whole bidding process is entered upon  to execute the scope of work and deliver outcomes that the Government strives for. Scope of work directly affects the performance of contract therefore utmost care should be taken to aboid ambiguity with respect to deliverable .

For example , in case of Complex / Intricate Consulting Services , Some key guiding principles for drafting scope of work may be  as under : 

• “Detailed” specification of requirements is extremely critical – please ensure that even standard assumptions on scope of work are laid down and described .
• Make sure that  specifications are endorsed by key stakeholders .
• Identify mandatory and non-mandatory requirements in scope of work · It should clearly provide the outcomes expected from solution/service delivery .
• The scope of work should mention what the outcome is based upon – time or material?
• A check should be made that the final specification of requirements :(a) addresses the targeted outcomes and business objectives . (b)meets the agreed stakeholder needs   (c) covers whole-of-life of the contract deliverables .
• The objective, structure and expected set of contents of each knowledge item/deliverable should be laid down, in as much detail as possible, rendering the best level of clarity to it.
• The coverage of services needed in the form of activities like client visits, geographies to be studied, stakeholder meetings / interviews / workshops to be conducted, must be detailed out to avoid delivery compromises .
• Buyer must ensure that the service provider complies with the Rule 144(xi) of General Financial Rules (GFR), 2017 and the product supplied, if any, must also comply with Make In India guidelines of DPIIT"

Important Note  : Buyers authorities  are  advised  to upload GAR report  positively and without fail at appropriate place to ensure process complinace . Buyer may indicate about requirement  Past  Experience   if so required  by uploading the same at time of bid creation including   approval  of their competent authority . Service Providers's response may be assessed atime of technical evaluation.