• The National Level Service Agency (NLSA) : Many of the potential citizen-centric services would lend themselves to aggregation at the national level. To enable the State-specific implementation plans to benefit from such economies of scale, aggregation of best practices, content providers, etc., the DIT has appointed M/s I L & F S as National Level Service Agency (NLSA). 
  
  
  
• The Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV): In addition to the NLSA, an SPV has been proposed for the day-to-day monitoring of the CSC Scheme, in terms of channeling Government support, content aggregation, etc. While the SPV is proposed to be set up during the initial implementation phase of the Scheme, it is essentially an entity created to be an integral part of the CSC

Requirements For Village Level Entrepreneur (VLE)

General Requirements

The CSCs will require computing capabilities in the form of PCs, printers, operating system and other related hardware. It is envisaged that initially CSCs would require a single terminal machine and as the demand increases the CSC would migrate to multi-terminal environment to deliver variety of services such as distance learning, IT Training etc.

The IT Infrastructure needs to be available continuously, hence power backup is necessary.

The Common Services Centre should be placed in a comfortable room of at least 150 - 200 sq ft. with adequate working space (2-3 people), furniture and storage space. The room should preferably have cement flooring, concrete roof and pucca walls without any water leakages from any side. The room should have good ventilation and light with good space outside for parking, display boards, etc.

The CSC shall comply with any branding/ logo/ colour scheme that the GoI or the State Government prescribes.

Technical Specifications of Hardware

Connectivity

The CSC is required to establish connectivity to the SCA through leased lines, ISDN, VSAT, Broad Band connection or any other available media  directly  or through internet.

The MP State Wide Area Network (MPSWAN) is going to be established, wherein Points of Presence (PoPs) will be established up to block level.  Connectivity to CSCs will be provided from these PoPs for all government services.  The charges for connectivity from MPSWAN PoP to CSC locations (including Hardware and recurring expenses) will be born by individual CSCs.  Connectivity within MPSWAN PoPs will be free of charge.   The connectivity to MPSWAN PoPs can be established through wireless (wherever feasible) leased-line, ISDN etc.

Service Level Requirements

Timings of Operation : The Common Services Centre shall function for a minimum of 9 hours on all days notified as working days by the MPSEDC. On all Sundays and public holidays, excluding the National Holidays, Common Services Centre shall function for a minimum of four hours. This is only indicative and can be different in different regions and during different times of the year as will be prescribed by MPSEDC. The Shops and Establishment Act as applicable in the State will be adhered to, if relevant.

A CSC will be deemed inoperable if it is not offering available Government Services for a continuous period of seven days, or more than a cumulative period of ten days in a month. A CSC needs to offer Government Services for at least 300 days per year.
 
Timely Deposit of Government Money.

Timely Deposit of Money with Utility Providers.

Any hardware problem has to be rectified within 5 working days.

Non-compliance of these Service Level Requirements will attract penalty.

Services to be Provided

Government Services

The CSC is required to necessarily provide all Government services offered by Government under this Scheme at the rates fixed by the Government.   Presently only few services are available, however, the following services are proposed, but not limited to be provided through CSCs in future:

• Land records
• Vehicle Registration
• Issue of certificates/ Government schemes
• Utility/Telephone Bills
• Employment exchange
• Ration cards
• Electoral services
• Pension schemes
• Public grievance

The services will be provided through MP Online Portal.  The services available presently can be viewed at www.mponline.gov.in

Private Services

 The CSCs will be free to provide any private service whether IT or non-IT to generate revenue for its sustainability.  The SCA will provide help to the VLEs in respect of private services to be offered to the CSCs. 

Revenue Support

The VLE shall receive a revenue support of Rs.500/- per CSC per month (Rupees Five Hundred Only) for all divisions except Chambal Division.  In case of CSC is established in Chambal Division revenue support of  Rs.677/- (Rupees Six Hundred Seventy Seven Only) per CSC per month.  This revenue support would be dispersed through the respective SCAs.

Requirements for Service Centre Agency (SCA)

The responsibilities of the SCA would include the following:

Selecting Rural Entrepreneurs : The SCA will select VLEs in the area allotted to him as per the approved numbers for each block. The SCA will get into suitable agreements with the VLEs clearly delineating their respective roles, responsibilities and service-level liabilities. Once the SCA has entered into an agreement with the VLEs, the SCA would be responsible for maintaining documents and database of information related to the VLEs.

Training VLEs: It will be the responsibility of the SCA to train the VLE on various aspects of the CSC business, particularly the delivery of G2C services.

Creating awareness: The SCA will sensitize the villagers about the benefits from the CSC and will promote the use of CSCs in the rural areas through the state-level and local promotion campaigns.

Coordinating with the SPV : The SCA would work closely with the SPV in the areas of content aggregation, PR, government services, monitoring processes, etc.

Government Services: The SCA would manage relationships with the MPSEDC for provision of G2C Services through the CSCs. The SCA will also be required to interface with other State Government Agencies and collaboratively work on improvement of services offered and introduction of new services from time to time.

Back-end support: The SCA will ensure adequate back-end support to the VLE. The SCA should also set up a Call Center/ Help Desk for quick redressal of queries by the VLEs.  A dedicated team should be posted at each district, which will coordinate the activities with the VLEs. The Call Center/ Help Desk would provide support to the VLE, receive feedback and respond to complaints logged in by telephone / email /chat. Software to monitor complaints / resolution time / frequency of complaints etc. may be deployed in the Call Centre. The Call center/ Help desk should be manned by trained technical/ support personnel during the working hours of the CSC.

Sales Management and follow-up : The SCA should ensure that each and every VLE is involved in effective delivery of content and services. The SCA sales team at the district should also provide appropriate support to drive the CSC profitability.

Content and Service Management : The SCA should develop a local content and services ecosystem by identifying the required applications and services, harnessing the network, supplying, aggregating and updating the content (this would include entering into appropriate commercial agreements with local third party content/ service providers). The SCA will also have to identify, collaborate and contract with B2C/B2B service providers to create and manage specific services. At the back-end SCA will integrate the G2C and B2C content services and also integrate with the appropriate payment gateways.

Monitoring :  The SCA shall monitor the VLE at all times and provide adequate support for their smooth functioning. Each SCA will be evaluated based on the performance of the VLEs under it. It is the responsibility of the SCA to ensure cross-pollination of best practices across the various VLEs under its areas of operation to ensure the success of the CSC Scheme. The SCA should make provision to enable DIT/ SPV / SDA / NLSA to monitor all aspects of operations and management of CSCs by devising appropriate Management Information System(s) (MIS).

Manage Service Delivery: The SCAs will integrate suppliers, partners, the State Government, CSCs and customers into a Web-enabled value chain. The key challenges for the SCA would be to manage secured, safe and trusted service delivery channel on one hand and integrate pieces of the service delivery chain on the other. SCA would host applications in a centralized data centre and deliver applications via the Internet. The SCA will maintain the security and integrity of the data, business processes and transactions at all times and protect all the assets of the project, intellectual and physical. The SCA will assume complete responsibility for the managerial, technical, financial, HR, logistics and other resources and ensure its viability, visibility and high quality of performance of the CSCs.

Connectivity : The SCA will interact with the State/ MPSEDC as well as private telecom service providers to enable appropriate last-mile connectivity to the CSCs.

Network : The Support strategy for network should include deployment of personnel who can solve issues related to network and Internet connectivity. To ensure that both citizens are served and MPSEDC  conditions are met, it is recommended that the SCA should deploy a team that can trouble shoot connectivity related issues at the kiosk level and liaise with ISP and telecom providers to improve uptime and network performance.

Maintenance of IT infrastructure : The SCA should pay special attention to the management of IT hardware at the CSC, which includes the PCs, Network, UPS, applications, security systems etc. The key responsibilities here include:

1. Proactive monitoring of the network and its performance
2. Logging in CSC calls for maintenance and proactive monitoring so as to ensure that the calls are attended within a reasonable time
3. Preventive maintenance for carrying out the necessary repairs and replacement of parts wherever needed to keep the performance levels of the hardware and equipment in tune with the requirements of the Service Level Agreements.
4. Preventive maintenance should be planned and not be attended during working hours
5. Positioning rapid action teams at key places in the state to trouble shoot the technical snags.

Infrastructure Requirement

List of indicative IT Infrastructure required at SCA location is given in the table above. Each SCA would need to build and provide a detailed architecture and provide an appropriate solution to cater to the CSC needs.

The SCA will extend technical support to a VLE and undertake critical services such as remote diagnostics of the CSC IT infrastructure and provide training and guidance to manage the CSC. From a technology perspective the SCA/CSC relationship is discussed hereafter:

SCA shall be the first point resolution for all technical issues at the CSC. Hence the SCA should ensure:

1. Helpdesk assistance
2. SLAs for resolving of issues
3. Provide CSCs with IS Security guidelines
4. Provide periodic training to VLE operators
5. Conduct periodic review of CSC environment
6. Collate data to help VLEs in performance appraisal
7. Provide means to upgrade software versions
8. Patch updates for operating system

The SCA should establish and operate a Data Centre of appropriate size and run applications, which will be VLE centric and accessed by all VLEs under the SCA. Specific services which SCA should provide includes:

• VLE master details
• CSC infrastructure details
• Recording of customer registration at CSC
• Record of customer access 
• Customer Billing and Collections
• Data on Technical break down and resolution
• CSC’s staff data including attrition
• Staff training and certification
• Periodic upload of data across all CSCs on SCA’s servers

The core business services of SCA may be made available to CSCs through a centralized SCA portal /application.  This portal could offer information, applications and services in one place. Thus, it will inherently organize tools to help the SCA/VLEs to organize their electronic workspace, their daily tasks, and their jobs as a whole. 

A detailed Agreement has been entered into between SCA and MPSEDC for each division.  The Agreement specifies the Service Level Requirements and other terms and conditions.