Pre-Bid Query Response - Cloud Services RFP - 20102023

AGRICULTURE INSURANCE COMPANY OF INDIA LIMITED
भारतीय कृिष बीमा कंपनी

Regd. Office: Plate B&C, Fifth Floor, Block 1 East Kidwai Nagar, New Delhi - 110023
REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP) FOR CLOUD HOSTING AND SERVICES

Pre-Bid Query Response
S.No Page No. Section Name Section No. Statement as per RFP Query by Bidder AIC Response
Since high availability is required to be provisioned for

all the VMs, we assume that all database nodes are also Only Core business application & related databases may
The bidder shall ensure that the cloud platform should
to be provisioned in high availability mode and Bidder be provisioned in High Availability mode at sole
Provisioning of Virtual provide high availability across VMs so that even if any
1 27 2.14.7 needs to provision the cost for the same in the discretion of AIC. The confirmation regarding
Machines (VM) host goes down, all guest virtual machines should be
commercial bid (if needed, beyond the quantities listed applicable VMs for HA mode will be shared with the
migrated to another host automatically.
in Annexure 2). Please confirm or clarify, in case this selected bidder.
understanding is not correct
2.21.4. There shall be either synchronous (active – Our understanding is that CSP needs to provide
active) or asynchronous replication of data between sufficient network bandwidth and connectivity between
Disaster Recovery (DR)
2 34 2.21 Primary DC and DR and the CSP will be responsible for DC and DR sites. However, Bidder needs to comply for Yes, as per RFP.
Site
sizing and providing the DC-DR replication link so as to RPO and RTO requirements since the infrastructure is
meet the RTO and the RPO requirements. managed by the Bidder. Please confirm.
The estimated cost of this RFP is approx. INR 60 crores
and the minimum annual turnover for the bidders should
be at least INR 50 crores from managing cloud
S No. 5,The bidder should have a minimum annual
services only. Revenue from other streams (i.e. other
turnover of Rs. 20 Crore per year during the last three
than managing cloud services) is irrelevant for the
3 56 Eligibility Criteria 4.21.1 financial years i.e. 2020-21 2021-22 and 2022-23. This No change in RFP
purpose of this RFP. Since the entire IT infrastructure of
must be the individual company turnover and not of any
AIC, a regulated entity, will be transitioned to cloud as
group of companies.
part of this engagement, AIC must ensure that only
bidders who are well qualified and have a strong cloud
services management experience can participate.
Our understanding is that the Bidder needs to have the
experience of executing projects with the same CSP as
per its current bid and the billing should be considered
S No. 12, Bidder should have experience of executing
only for the cloud services consumption of the proposed
FIVE (5) Projects comprising operation and
CSP. Please confirm.
maintenance of Cloud Services (IAAS and PAAS) to any
4 57 Eligibility Criteria 4.21.1 No change in RFP
Government Departments/PSU’s/Private Clients from
It is not clear from the RFP that whether a Bidder can
the cloud service. The billing should pertain to Cloud
propose the services of a CSP with which it doesn't have
Services Consumption only.
any prior project experience and expertise since such
non-experience of bidders will lead to imementation
challenges for AIC. Please clarify
Since the databases are to be provisioned in High
Availability mode (i.e. at least two nodes) at the Primary
Data Centre side, at least one database node is required
Row # 2. of Table - “ CSP Cost for 25% of DC capacity,
at the Disaster Recovery site to execute data replication
and 100% of storage capacity to be maintained in
5 64 Commercial Bid Format 6.1 between DC and DR. To maintain DC - DR replication, No change in RFP
Active/Power On-Mode for entire duration of Project for
CSPs/ Bidder would need to configure at least 50% of
DR services (refer guidelines in Section 2.21)”
the DC capacity in DR. Therefore, we request you to
please change the DR capacity to a minimum of 50% of
DC from 25% to ensure parity.
Does the bidder need to ensure that all services listed in
Row # 2. of Table - “ CSP Cost for 25% of DC capacity, Annexure 2 are available in both the proposed DC and
and 100% of storage capacity to be maintained in DR of the CSP? Need clarification whether 25% DC
6 64 Commercial Bid Format 6.1 As per RFP
Active/Power On-Mode for entire duration of Project for capacity needs to be configured for each service in DR
DR services (refer guidelines in Section 2.21)” or whether it needs to be 25% of overall (which can be
met even without provisioning all the services in DR)
It is assumed that BoM (Annexure 2) needs to be
provided as cloud native services only, as specified in
S No. 6 in Notes:"6. All above services should be that of the RFP. However, bidder may propose third party
7 65 Commercial Bid Format 6.1 Kindly refer corrigendum
CSP except any third party mentioned" services for only those additional services which the
bidder may feel is necessary to meet the scope of work
of the RFP. Please confirm.
Please clarify whether the same MSP discount as quoted
by the Bidder in Commercial Bid Format shall be
applicable for all services to be provisioned under this
RFP but not presently listed in Annexure 2 - Bill of
Material for Data Centre MSP Discount % to be same and applicable to both DC
& DR.
For DR, in case the bidder has quoted a value, the bill
amount payable is limited to the number quoted and DR capacity provisioned is monitored as per clause
ii. In case service is not listed in BoM or a variation of
cannot be higher than the quoted value irrespective of "2.10 Self Service Management/ Provisioning"
8 66 Payment Schedule 6.2 service is not listed in BoM, the payments shall be made
DR required. Also, how are you ensuring that DR
based on actual invoice.
capacity provisioned is exactly 25% or more for every CSP Cost for 25% of DC capacity, and 100% of
minute of the project as this cost is taken as lumpsum. storage capacity to be maintained in Active/Power On-
Any deviation in such measurement will give undue Mode for entire duration of
advantage to bidder undertaking financial engineering in Project for DR services. Refer clause 2.21
bid price. Also, we request that BoM be proposed by
bidder for DR to ensure trasnparancy and that the DR be
always maintained for such quoted infra in "always On-
Mode"
C. Penalties: The commercial bid doesn't have any separate cost for
Kindly refer corrigendum
"Support". Please clarify whether the penalty will be
In clause "Penalty as % of the Monthly payment for
S No. 2, Table for Penalties, Column 2 header levied on the total monthly cost (including cloud
9 69 Service Level Agreement 7 Support to the Bidder", Monthly payment for support is
services, manpower costs, etc.) or whether it will be
considered as per line item 3 "Managed Services Cost"
"Penalty as % of the Monthly payment for Support to the levied only for a specific cost component. If so, please
in " 6.1 Commercial Bid Format".
Bidder" specify the cost component.
As per the table, maximum of 3% of monthly costs shall

be levied for IT infrastructure availability of up to 85%.
Kindly refer corrigendum
To avoid ambiguity, request you to please confirm
which one of the following understanding is correct:
"Availability of all IT infrastructure" is considered for
penalty which will include all VM/node/service.
Not more than 3% penalty shall be levied on the total
monthly cost even if the entire IT infrastructure is down
C. Penalties: Hence, if 20 nodes/services/DB are available less than
for 4.5 days in a month (i.e. 85% availability)
10 70 Service Level Agreement 7 99.9% & greater than equal to 95% i.e. <99.9%
S No. 2, Table for Penalties &>=95%, 20% penalty (1% * 20) will be levied on the
OR
total monthly cost (Penalty as % of the Monthly
payment for Support to the Bidder )" will be levied.
Uptime will be calculated at VM/node/service level at
Similarly if availbility is between "< 95% &>= 90%",
3% penalty will be levied if each of the nodes are down.
penalty of 2% of the Monthly payment for Support to
E.g. if 20 nodes/services/DB are available less than
the Bidder for each VM will be levied.
99.9%, 20% penalty (1% * 20) will be levied on the
total monthly cost
Annexure 1 - Technical Specs is not considered for
either Pre-Qualification Critieria of the CSP/Bidder or
Technical Specs
the Technical Evaluation. We assume that bidders/ CSP Kindly refer clause "4.21.1. Eligibility Criteria" S No. 11
11 NA Document - Selction Annexure 1 Entire Document
not conforming to the specifications provided in "CSP Compliance".
Process for Bidder
Annexure 1 will not be eligible to participate in the
bidding process. Please clarify.
Object Storage - The CSP should offer secure, durable,
It is assumed that the two data centres used for
TECHNICAL SPECS highly-scalable object storage for storing and retrieving
replication of object storage to ensure high durability is
12 4 DOCUMENT10102023 Annexure 1 large amount of data. The data should automatically be As per RFP
serving primary workloads and shall be at different and
(1).pdf stored in at least 2 different data centers to ensure high
distinct physical location. Please confirm.
durability.
There are many non-standard configuration listed in the
table like 12vCPU/24 GB RAM, 12vCPU/ 48 GB RAM,
Bill of Material for Data
13 NA Annexure 2 Configuration column in the table etc. Please confirm whether the CSP can provide the CSP can provide equivalent or next higher configuration.
Centre
nearest available configuration in case of absence of
exact configurations.
Please confirm whether the Bidder needs to provide the
cost for provisioning databases in High Availability Only Core business application & related databases may
Managed Databases mode (synchronous replication) since it is mentioned in be provisioned in High Availability mode at sole
14 NA Annexure 2 Section 2.1.2 of Annexure 1 to ensure ACID compliant discretion of AIC. The confirmation regarding
Centre
DB provisioning but is not specifically mentioned in applicable VMs for HA mode will be shared with the
Annexure 2 - Bill of Material for Data Centre for selected bidder.
deriving the cost
The Bill of Material has line items for Managed Services
(e.g. managed databases,storage,file system, data
integration, etc.) - please clarify what is meant by
15 NA Annexure 2 Managed Services managed services - whether these services are to be Kindly refer corrigendum
Centre
provided as a managed service by the CSP itself (cloud
native) or whether the MSP can provide these services
over VM
The IOPS requirement for Block Storage for Databases
is given as 6 IOPS per GB. DB requires much more
IOPS than application VMs due to the high read/write
Block Storage - Application, Point No. 2 in Description transactions and it is unlikely that VMs would require
16 NA Annexure 2 more IOPS than DB, as requested here. Such high IOPS No change in RFP
Centre
2. Min 10 IOPS per GB per volume. may have a huge impact on cost and hence it is
requested that the IOPS for "Block Storage -
Application" be reduced to 3 IOPS as per industry
standard.
etc., which can be met by a combination of other
Bill of Material for Data configurations while having no impact in the way the
17 NA Annexure 2 Configuration column in the table CSP can provide equivalent or next higher configuration.
Centre application operates as has been followed globally for
various workloads. It is assumed that such combinations
can be provided to reduce the cost to the Purchaser.
Please confirm.
For CSP certification on the Bill of Material (Annexure
18 NA Annexure 2 Per month cost (in INR) 2), request to allow certification in USD while the No change in RFP
Centre
commercial bid shall be quoted in INR by the MSP
all the VMs, we assume that all database nodes are also
to be provisioned in high availability mode and Bidder
19 27 2.14.7 needs to provision the cost for the same in the Refer Pre-Bid Query response to S. No 1
commercial bid (if needed, beyond the quantities listed
in Annexure 2). Please confirm or clarify, in case this
20 34 2.21 Primary DC and DR and the CSP will be responsible for DC and DR sites. However, Bidder needs to comply for Refer Pre-Bid Query response to S. No 2
Site
21 56 Eligibility Criteria 4.21.1 financial years i.e. 2020-21 2021-22 and 2022-23. This Refer Pre-Bid Query response to S. No 3
group of companies.

22 57 Eligibility Criteria 4.21.1 Refer Pre-Bid Query response to S. No 4
23 64 Commercial Bid Format 6.1 between DC and DR. To maintain DC - DR replication, Refer Pre-Bid Query response to S. No 5
24 64 Commercial Bid Format 6.1 Refer Pre-Bid Query response to S. No 6
Material for Data Centre
amount payable is limited to the number quoted and
cannot be higher than the quoted value irrespective of
26 66 Payment Schedule 6.2 service is not listed in BoM, the payments shall be made Refer Pre-Bid Query response to S. No 8
capacity provisioned is exactly 25% or more for every
minute of the project as this cost is taken as lumpsum.
Any deviation in such measurement will give undue
advantage to bidder undertaking financial engineering in
Mode"
27 69 Service Level Agreement 7 Refer Pre-Bid Query response to S. No 9

C. Penalties:
S No. 2, Table for Penalties
OR

total monthly cost
Technical Specs
the Technical Evaluation. We assume that bidders/ CSP
29 NA Document - Selction Annexure 1 Entire Document Refer Pre-Bid Query response to S. No 11
not conforming to the specifications provided in
Process for Bidder
30 4 DOCUMENT10102023 Annexure 1 large amount of data. The data should automatically be Refer Pre-Bid Query response to S. No 12
durability.
31 NA Annexure 2 Configuration column in the table etc. Please confirm whether the CSP can provide the Refer Pre-Bid Query response to S. No 13
Centre
cost for provisioning databases in High Availability
Managed Databases mode (synchronous replication) since it is mentioned in
32 NA Annexure 2 Section 2.1.2 of Annexure 1 to ensure ACID compliant Refer Pre-Bid Query response to S. No 14
Centre
DB provisioning but is not specifically mentioned in
Annexure 2 - Bill of Material for Data Centre for
deriving the cost
33 NA Annexure 2 Managed Services managed services - whether these services are to be Refer Pre-Bid Query response to S. No 15
Centre
over VM
34 NA Annexure 2 more IOPS than DB, as requested here. Such high IOPS Refer Pre-Bid Query response to S. No 16
Centre
standard.
35 NA Annexure 2 Configuration column in the table Refer Pre-Bid Query response to S. No 17
Please confirm.
36 NA Annexure 2 Per month cost (in INR) 2), request to allow certification in USD while the Refer Pre-Bid Query response to S. No 18
Centre
All Applications and Databases are hosted centrally at a
Current InfoTech Project What is the data replication strategy(Active-Active/
37 10 1.3 Data Center and mirrored at a Disaster Recovery Center, In existing setup of on-premise its active-passive
“SEWA” Active-Passive) ?
located in different seismic zones
All Applications and Databases are hosted centrally at a
Current InfoTech Project In existing setup RTO & RPO is 15 mins & 1 hour.
38 10 1.3 Data Center and mirrored at a Disaster Recovery Center, What is the RTO & RPO?
“SEWA” Refer clause 2.21 for RFP requirement.
located in different seismic zones
Current InfoTech Project
39 10 1.3 General Are there any pain points in the current environment? Kindly referr RFP
“SEWA”
Current InfoTech Project Please provide the number of end users accessing the
40 10 1.3 General As per scope of work defined in the RFP.
“SEWA” applications and services? What is the expected growth?
Current InfoTech Project What is the CMDB that is currently used? Does it have
41 10 1.3 General To be shared with the selected bidder.
“SEWA” all the inventory details with configuration items?
Is the entire current infrastructure setup covered in
Current InfoTech Project The systems are in a Private Cloud set-up, with all Oracle private cloud (Oracle Private Cloud Appliance
42 11 1.3 Kindly refer RFP
“SEWA” hardware owned by AIC and hosted in private cloud. (OPCA)) or are there any other virtualization platforms
where applications are hosted?
How many inscope applications are hosted in private
cloud? If there is any other virtualization platform apart
Current InfoTech Project The systems are in a Private Cloud set-up, with all
43 11 1.3 from Oracle private cloud (Oracle Private Cloud Kindly refer RFP
“SEWA” hardware owned by AIC and hosted in private cloud.
Appliance (OPCA)), please provide the number of
inscope applications hosted there as well.
SEWA consists of a bouquet of applications and
services which have been
Current InfoTech Project Are there any legacy applications? If yes, then how
44 11 1.3 developed/customized/procured on cutting edge As per RFP
“SEWA” many?
technology catering to the varied and agile business
needs of AIC.
What are the tools currently deployed for infrastructure
monitoring, backup, replication, network monitoring, Kindly refer details as mentioned in the RFP &
45 11 1.3 Solution Components database monitoring, ticketing, helpdesk solution, Annexure 3. Further details to be shared with the
“SEWA”
automation, patching tools etc.? Please provide the selected bidder.
licensing details for the same.
Kindly refer details as mentioned in the RFP &
Current InfoTech Project Please provide the detailed inventory of servers, storage,
46 12 1.3 DC H/W Details Annexure 3. Further details to be shared with the
“SEWA” network & security devices in DC and DR.
selected bidder.
Please provide the application inventory for DC and DR
Current InfoTech Project including their architecture, tech stack, complexity,
“SEWA” criticality, integrations with 3rd party, interdependencies
selected bidder.
etc.
Current InfoTech Project Please provide the current architecture and network
“SEWA” diagram for DC and DR.
selected bidder.
Current InfoTech Project Are there any workloads hosted on public cloud
49 12 1.3 DC H/W Details Kindly refer RFP Section 1.
“SEWA” currently?
What are the security tools (SIEM, DLP, Anti-Virus Kindly refer details as mentioned in the RFP &
50 12 1.3 Security Components etc.) currently deployed? Please provide the licensing Annexure 3. Further details to be shared with the
“SEWA”
details for the same. selected bidder.
The services should comply with all the Regulatory/
Compliance guideline of the AICs/ Regulatory authority Is the mentioned regulatory compliance standard limited
Cloud Infrastructure in India like IRDAI, MEITY, Cert-IN, etc. AIC has the only to regulations as mentioned in RFP. No other
51 19 2.2.12 Refer Clause 2.6 of the RFP
Design right to change the compliance/ guideline at any point of standards such as ISO, Digital Personal Data Protection
time and the service provider has to comply with the 2023
guidelines
Disaster Recovery (DR) What is the replication mechanism for DC and DR
52 34 2.21 Disaster Recovery (DR) Site In existing on-premise setup, it is asynchronous.
Site currently? Is it synchronous or asynchronous?
Disaster Recovery (DR) How is the failover to DR happening? Is it manual or
53 34 2.21 Disaster Recovery (DR) Site In existing on-premise setup, DR Failover is automatic.
Site automatic?
Managed Security
Services (MSS) & Does the SOC has to be setup onsite at the AICs Kindly refer section "2.24 Managed Security Services
54 36 2.24 General
Security Operations premises? (MSS) & Security Operations Centre (SOC)" of the RFP.
Centre (SOC)
The Selected Bidder shall store all logs (event, security,
55 38 SOC Controls 2.24.17. etc.) for minimum 6 months. Also, Selected Bidder shall Is this applicable for only primary site or DR also? As per RFP
scale the storage if the existing storage space is full.
Configuration backup: Take incremental configuration
Please comnfirm 90 days retention policy is only for
56 39 SOC Administration 2.24.18. backup daily for retention period of 90 days and As per RFP
Servers or security log ?
Restoration of configuration when required.
Please provide the expected operational, helpdesk, SOC
57 67 Service Level Agreement 7 Service Level Agreements Kindly refer the corrigendum
and change management SLAs.
Requesting customer to kindly amend the clause as
below, this will help qualified Meity Empanelled bidder
to participate in Thre RFP.
58 55 The Cloud Service Provider (CSP) should have been A CSP should have a minimum average annual turnover No change in RFP
offering cloud services (IaaS/PaaS) from at least last 2 of at least 75 Cr in last three audited financial years.
financial years with average annual turnover of at least Or allow the parent company financial to be considered
Eligibility Criteria 4.21.1 Rs. 200 crores in India as on date of bid submission. for the evaluation.
The bidder should have a minimum annual turnover of Requesting customer to Kindly clarify the below,which
Rs. 20 Crore per year during the last three financial is the final clause to be considered by bidder for For CSP kindly refer RFP Clause "4.21.1. Eligibility
59 56 years i.e. 2020-21 2021-22 and 2022-23. This must be Turnover criteria: Criteria" S No. 2 and for MSP kindly refer RFP Clause
the individual company turnover and not of any group of The Turnover ask in the SN 2 is of 200 Crore and the "4.21.1. Eligibility Criteria" S No. 5
Eligibility Criteria 4.21.1 companies. turnover ask in the Sno 5 is 20 Crores.
100 1. Sir these two resources should be combined into one
Project Manager: Certification : PMP or equivalent:- as "Cloud Architect" responsible for designing, planning
Annexure E: Resource
Dedicated - Till completion of migration + 1 Month and managing the Migration. A PMP project manager
Deployment Plan during
60 11.5 typically adds no value No change in RFP
Support and Maintenance
Solution Architect :- 6 + years of experience in design of
Phase
IT Infrastructure solution including Networking and 2. PMP should be removed Cloud Architecture
security:- Hybrid certification is more important
100 1. Sir, 2 onsite resources for Cloud operations will be
over kill, you may ask for 1 onsite resource and rest 2
Cloud Administrator / Operations coordination expert:- resources on shared basis. because having multiple
Annexure E: Resource No. of resources : 2, Dedicate - Contract Duration shared resources gives you better coverage
Deployment Plan during 2. Dedicated DBA shall not be included in cloud
61 11.5 managed services, as DBA main role is to for database No change in RFP
Support and Maintenance Database Administrator (MySQL): Dedicate -Contract
Phase Duration, No. of resources : 1, Onsite at AIC Office management for e.g. query optimization, indexing,
(Delhi) backup etc. when you use CSP managed DB, DBA is
not required. Also, cloud operation resource manage
database instances also
104 CSP Cost for 25% of DC capacity, and 100% of storage Sir, do we need to quote the DR for 36 months also. As Kindly refer "6. Payment Schedule and Commercial Bid
Annexure G: Commercial capacity to be maintained in Active/Power On-Mode for in the formula mentioned in the RFP there is no Format" of the RFP. Bid Estimate per month i.e.
62 11.7
Bid Format entire duration of Project for DR services (refer multiplication with 36 months. Column B is multiplied by 36 which gives value for 36
guidelines in Section 2.21) months in column D.
104 Sir, do we need to include the cost of resources in the %
Annexure G: Commercial
63 11.7 Costing of manpower of Managed Services Cost which you have asked. Please Yes
Bid Format
confirm.
30 The Selected Bidder shall provide backup solution Please confirm if bidder need to provide "Enterprise
(Disk based backups), covering but not limited to daily, Backup Solution" as part of solution or can propose
weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual backup functions cloud Native backups.
64 2.19.2 2.19.2 (full volume and incremental) for VM, DB, File system, Kindly refer RFP & Corrigendum
Applications, data and software maintained on the VMs, Also request to clarify if the line item "Backup
Servers and storage systems using Enterprise Backup Management" service in BOM pertains to Enterprise
Solution. Backup requirement
32 Backup data from DC must be copied to another facility Requst to remove this clause as you have already DC &
of the Selected Bidder (offsite: except DC & DR) DR. Keeping 3rd copy with bidder will not solve any
65 2.19.23 2.19.23 monthly. The report and location for the same must also technical purpose. No change in RFP
be shared with AIC monthly and shall be kept in
encrypted and secured manner.
55 Copy of Certificate of Incorporation or Certified copy of As CSP need to meet the criteria of 200 crores of annual
Partnership Deed turnover, document proof to be modified as :
Letter from Statutory Auditors / Certificate from " Letter from Statutory Auditors / Certificate from
66 4.21.0 4.21.1 No change in RFP
Chartered Accountant on their letterhead mentioning the Chartered Accountant on their letterhead mentioning the
annual revenue from Provisioning Cloud Services in annual revenue of Rs. 200 Crores in India"
India.
69 No Target performance has been define. Request to define the RTO of 120 minutes & RPO of 30
Point 4 &
67 Point 4 & Point 4 minutes post confirmation of declaration of "Disaster" No change in RFP
Point 5
by AIC management/or SPOC.
1 All CSP services should be native to CSP’s cloud Request to modify the clause:
environment. All CSP services should be native to CSP’s cloud
environment, until specified to use from
Annexure 1 -
68 Annexure 1 - 1.0 marketplace/bidder provided service in TQ/BOQ with Kindly refer corrigendum
1.1
enterprise grade support.
2 The CSP must offer operating systems (Linux, RHEL, Request to modify the clause:
Annexure 1 - Windows) for the VMs for both reserved and on demand The CSP/Bidder must offer operating systems (Linux,
69 Annexure 1 - 2.1.1 Kindly refer corrigendum
2.1.1 VMs. RHEL, Windows) for the VMs for both reserved and on
demand VMs.
4 The CSP should provide/support of relational database Request to modify the clause as :
service (like but not limited to Oracle DB, MySQL, The CSP/bidder should provide/support of relational
SQL, Windows SQL as applicable) provided as a native database service with enterprise support (like but not
cloud service (and not marketplace) enabling handling limited to Oracle DB, MySQL, Windows SQL as
Annexure 1 - of routine database tasks such as provisioning, patching,
70 Annexure 1 - 2.1.2 applicable) provided as a cloud service enabling Kindly refer corrigendum
2.1.2 backup, recovery, failure detection, and repair etc. handling of routine database tasks such as provisioning,
patching, backup, recovery, failure detection, and repair
etc.
4 Annexure 1 - Compression and Deduplication: The CSP managed File Request to remove this clause as it is Internal to CSP
71 Annexure 1 - 2.1.3 No change in RFP
2.1.3 System should support compression and deduplication. internal architecture and solution.
8 The native security module should have ability to Request to modify the clause as :
Annexure 1 - provide high availability and load balancing. The native security module should have ability to
72 Annexure 1 - 2.1.3 No change in RFP
2.1.3 provide high availability with 99.9% SLA with
capability of backup and restore as per FIPS standard.
BOM Usage - on demand Request to add below point under "Important note" in
commerical template:
The CSP should offer on-demand pricing, no
Reserved instance(RI) prices will be accepted.
Annexure 2 - Reserved Instance will be considered non compliance
Annexure 2 - Bill of
73 Bill of unless specified in BOQ. As per RFP
Material
Material
Also, mention that :
Physical core to vCPU ratio- up to 1:2 for all
environments and services.
BOM 3rd & 4th Line item It seems typo.
Please make " Compute Services - Linux Red Hat
Annexure 2 -
Annexure 2 - Bill of Enterprise (RHEL) OS - Usage -1 year Reserved
74 Bill of Kindly refer corrigendum
Material Instance" as
Material
Compute Services - Linux/ Red Hat Enterprise
(RHEL) OS - Usage -1 year Reserved Instance"
6 The CSP should offer content delivery network service Request to modify the clause
to speed up distribution of static and dynamic web "The CSP/Marketplace should offer content delivery
Annexure 1 -
75 Annexure 1 - 2.1.4 content. CSPs should have content delivery network network service to speed up distribution of static and Kindly refer corrigendum
2.1.4
edge locations in India. dynamic web content. CSPs/Marketplace should have
content delivery network edge locations in India."
8 The native security module should have ability to Request to modify the clause as :
Annexure 1 - provide high availability and load balancing. The native security module should have ability to
76 Annexure 1 - 2.1.3 Refer Pre-Bid Query response to S. No 72
2.1.3 provide high availability with 99.9% SLA with
BOM Annexure 2 - Managed file system with high availability1. Should be Request to modify as :
77 Bill of SSD based storage Managed file System/bidder supported system with high Kindly refer corrigendum
Material
Material 2. Should support both SMB and NFS protocols. availablity.
BOM Annexure 2 - Managed File System-Backup - Should have backup of Request to modify as :
78 Bill of 100% data stored in FileSystem Managed file System Backup /Bidder supported solution Kindly refer corrigendum
Material
Material with high durability of backup.
Annexure 2 -
BOM Annexure 2 - Bill of Managed Active Directory Request to modify as :
79 Bill of No change in RFP
Material Managed Active Directory / Bidder supported
Material
Site
S No. 2, The Cloud Service Provider (CSP) should have
We assume that the financial data for FY 2019-20,
been offering cloud services (IaaS/PaaS) from at least
FY2020-21 and FY 2021-22 will be acceptable for
82 55 Eligibility Criteria 4.21.1 last 2 financial years with average annual turnover of at No change in RFP
average annual turnover since the data of FY2022-23 is
least Rs. 200 crores in India as on date of bid
still under audit and hence yet to be finalized.
submission.
group of companies.
Request customer to change the clause to “ The CSP
S No. 9, The CSP and Bidder should not have been
and Bidder as on date is not blacklisted by any
blacklisted by any Government department/ PSU/ PSE/
84 56 Eligibility Criteria 4.21.1 Central/State Government department or PSU or any No change in RFP
Banks/ Insurance Company in India as on date of the
Banks/Insurance Company owned by the Central
RFP.
Government in India"
The MAF format (provided in 11.8 Annexure 8) is
meant for hardware suppliers and is not relevant for
S No. 10, CSP authorization/Manufacturer Cloud Service Providers. We assume that in lieu of this,
85 57 Eligibility Criteria 4.21.1 CSP 's Letter of Support to the bidder is valid.
Authorization Form (MAF) CSP's Letter of Support to the bidders shall be
acceptable which is the standard practice across Central
and State Government RFPs.

Mode"

C. Penalties:
OR

total monthly cost
Technical Specs
Process for Bidder
durability.
Centre
Centre
deriving the cost
Centre
over VM
Centre
standard.
Please confirm.
Centre
Site
group of companies.
Mode"

C. Penalties:
OR

total monthly cost
Technical Specs
Process for Bidder
durability.
Centre
Centre
deriving the cost
Centre
over VM
Centre
standard.
Please confirm.
Centre
2.1.1.Page 16 2.1.1.Page 16 The Bidder shall be responsible for provisioning of In which virtualization technology currently application
119 required cloud infrastructure for various application to is running? As per RFP
be migrated (Lift & Shift) to the cloud Please provide existing setup details?
2.25.1. Page 2.25.1. Page The Selected Bidder shall assess the current This analysis require application criticality & code
39 39 environment and discuss with AIC to determine which knowledge and the decision will be taken by AIC.
120 As per scope of work defined in the RFP.
workloads and applications are critical to AIC and have Bidder responsibililty is to do onbly infra analysis and
to be moved to the cloud. provide the assessment report, Please confirm?
The RFP requirement is for Cloud Native "Managed
Database - Oracle DB - Usage - on demand"
"The CSP should provide/support of relational database

service (like but not limited to Oracle DB, MySQL,
Database:
SQL, Windows SQL as applicable) provided as a native
Annexure 1 -TECHNICAL SPECS
cloud service (and not marketplace) enabling handling
DOCUMENT10102023(1) Document - 2.1.2. SERVICE
2.1.2. page 2 of routine database tasks such as provisioning, patching,
2.1.2. page 2 NAME: DATABASE SERVICES (1.Relational
121 of Annexure backup, recovery, failure detection, and repair etc." Kindly refer the corrigendum
of Annexure 1 Database Service)
1 Amendments sought-
Cloud native Managed database for Oracle is available
Annexure 2 - Bill of Material10102023 (1) Document -
in AWS (RDS) and OCI cloud platform.
Managed Database - Oracle DB - Usage - on demand
Oracle non-RAC self managed database can be
deployed on Azure VM (IaaS); Oracle RAC database
can be deployed on GCVE (Google Cloud VMware
Engine)
As per RFP document, The existing system needs to be
Database: migrated - (Lift & Shift) with customizations.
RFP Document - 1.2 Purpose of RFP
As per "Annexure 2 - Bill of Material10102023"
1. The selected bidder shall be required to migrate, host, document, the requirement is to provide on demand cost
support and maintain the operations of the cloud infra of Cloud Native Managed Databases as well as
122 1.2 Page 10 1.2 Page 10 Kindly refer RFP & Corrigendum
and related functions. The existing system will be expectation is "CSP should provide the required
migrated (Lift & Shift) with all the customizations from licenses for the managed database services"
existing legacy platform and should be deployed on
latest generation (Standard x86 based) compatible Cloud Need clarification about database deployment platform
Infrastructure whether it would be on IaaS or need to leverage Cloud
Native Managed Database Service as mentioned in BoM.
1.2 Page 10 1.2 Page 10 Database: 1.What is the existing DB Edition, Version, HA and DR
RFP Document - 1.2 Purpose of RFP solution for database technologies (MySQL, Oracle,
MSSQL)?
1. The selected bidder shall be required to migrate, host,
support and maintain the operations of the cloud infra 2. What is the average size of existing Databases and the
123 and related functions. The existing system will be incremental data change volumn that are need to be Kindly refer RFP & Corrigendum
migrated (Lift & Shift) with all the customizations from migrated to cloud?
latest generation (Standard x86 based) compatible Cloud 3. Application downtime duration possiblity for
Infrastructure database migration?
2.21.2. Page 2.21.2. Page RPO should be less than or equal to 15 minutes and "What is current RTO and RPO? In existing setup RTO & RPO is 15 mins & 1 hour.
124
34 34 RTO shall be less than or equal to 1 hour How is current RTO and RPO arrived?" Refer clause 2.21 for RFP requirement.
4.15 Page 53 4.15 Page 53 Sub-Contracting
Bidder is not allowed to subcontract any work for the Amendments sought-:
125 No change in RFP
scope of the RFP. Please allow bidder to partner with other organizations
and hire contarct resoures after signing necessary NDAs.
1.3 Page 12 1.3 Page 12 Security: Let us know the exising Security OEM details for Kindly refer details as mentioned in the RFP &
126 The details of Security Components implemented under Firewall, DDOS, Encryption, DLP, HSM, MFA etc? Annexure 3. Further details to be shared with the
Project “SEWA” are as follows: selected bidder.
1.3 Page 12 1.3 Page 12 Security: Do you required to migrate existing security stack (Same Kindly refer details as mentioned in the RFP &
127 Below are the Hardware details for DC & DR site under OEMs) to cloud? Annexure 3. Further details to be shared with the
Project SEWA. selected bidder.
Security:
1.2.1 The selected bidder shall be required to migrate,
host, support and maintain the operations of the cloud
infra and related functions. The existing system will be
migrated (Lift & Shift) with all the customizations from
latest generation
(Standard x86 based) compatible Cloud Infrastructure to
leverage the capability of flexible infrastructure, Is there any change in quantity of existing
128 1.2.2 Page 10 1.2.2 Page 10 platform, database, functions, security, monitoring, licenses? if any change please provide the Kindly refer RFP & Corrigendum
automation features wherever applicable to enhance the details.
efficiency of the system. As part of migration, the
selected bidder should explore and assess the Existing
System of the on-premises infrastructure including
sizing and licenses deployed. AIC reserves the right to
use existing licenses wherever applicable to safeguard
the investment of AIC and explore the possibilities to
optimize its costs.
72 72 Security: Is there any existing security patch cycle

129 8.6.1.9 Service provider shall be responsible for defined? if any change please provide the To be shared with the selected bidder.
deployment of Security patches on Infra and Software. details.
17 17 Security: 1. What is the expected traffic (Gbps) to protect
2.1.18 Managed Firewall, Built-in security like IDS / at DDOS and firewall?
130 IPS, DDoS mitigation, SSL Interceptor firewall shall be As per RFP
provided in the cloud platform. 2. Do we need to ptotect IP level or network level or
both for DDOS? please confirm.
2.10.1. Page 2.10.1. Page Security: How many SSL Certificate are required and what type of
24 24 2.10.2 The Selected Bidder shall provide Self Service certificates are required?
Provisioning Portal/ Basic monitoring tool/ Dashboard
with two factors authentications via the Secure Sockets
131 Layer (SSL)/Transport Layer Security (TLS) or Secure As per scope of work defined in the RFP.
Shell (SSH) or through a web browser to remotely
administer their virtual instances having fine-grained
role- based access
controls. The tool/ dashboard shall:
1.3 (Security 1.3 (Security Security: How many number of encryption keys are
Components) Components) f) Hardware Security Module - General purpose required to store in KMS?
132 Page 13 Page 13 hardware security module that safeguards their As per scope of work defined in the RFP.
encryption and digital signing keys and processes
sensitive data on the trusted appliance.
2.1.6 Page 16 2.1.6 Page 16 2.1.6.The selected Bidder shall be responsible for Request customer to share the security compliance Regarding security compliance guidelines, kindly refer
133
ensuring security of cloud services and infrastructure. guidelines. section 2.24.5 of the RFP.
2.2.21 Page 2.2.21 Page The Cloud services shall be available on pay as per Request customer to change this clause to a fixed
20 20 usage model. The billing shall be minimum plus usage based billing model.
done quarterly irrespective of Fixed or On-Demand
model of the Cloud Service Provider.
2.24.1 Page 2.24.1 Page 2.24.1. The Selected Bidder shall implement and Request customer to share number of end-points.
36 36 manage complete end-to-end security
solutions, as part of SOC as a service, for AIC's
environment. The solution and its
components must cover AIC 's VMs, Applications
135 Servers, systems, and endpoints at As per RFP
every AIC location. The Selected Bidder shall be
responsible for any breach in security or
any security incidents and the onus of mitigating all
such risks shall lie with the Selected
Bidder.
38 38 Log Monitoring and Correlation: All Application Request customer to share tentative log size in GB and
Servers/ sub systems/ network devices/ appliances/ the current EPS of the setup. Also request customer to
endpoints as proposed shall have capability and throw include the costing for SOC resources in the bill of
logs to the log server. The Logs and events generated by material and indicate the number of personnel which
VMs, applications, DB, network, endpoints, security would be required for the SOC services
component/ devices of the system shall be monitored.
The Selected Bidder must provide a Security Adequate number of personnel to be deployed for SOC
136 information and event management (SIEM) solution for service.
the same which shall be capable to analyse logs from all
these sources and provide various security alerts, events,
logs generated from various IT infrastructure
(Hardware/Software) components. The Selected Bidder
shall ensure the IT security compliance and therefore
monitor the threats/ logs generated by various
2.24.18 Page equipment’s/
2.24.18 Page Antivirus/ IPSsub systemsupdate, when released by OEM
Signature The cost for AV licenses and quantity is not mentioned
137 As per RFP
38 38 in the bill of material. Request customer to include the
2.27.4(Incide 2.27.4(Incide Every Incident/ Event that is not resolved within the The penalties for incident/data leaks/breaches have not
nt nt agreed timeline will be considered as breach of SLA been mentioned in the RFP. Request customer to define
138 Kindly refer the corrigendum
Management) Management) attracting liquidated damages as per the Liquidated the same in the document. Any SOC penalties have not
Page 42 Page 42 Damages clause. been clearly defined.
2.1.4 Page 16 2.1.4 Page 16 The selected Bidder shall support the respective Does bidder need to perform image migration?
application teams for migration and deployment of
139 As per scope of work defined in the RFP.
applications on the cloud infrastructure and maintaining
all infrastructure related activities during the contract
9.9 Page 78 9.9 Page 78 9.9 Indemnity 9.9 Indemnity
The bidder shall also be liable to indemnify AIC, at its
own cost and expenses, against all losses/ damages,
which AIC may suffer on account of violation by the
bidder of any or all national/ international trade laws,
norms, standards, procedures etc. This liability shall not
ensue if such losses/ damages are caused due to gross
negligence or wilful misconduct by AIC or its
employees.
140 Amendments sought-: 9.9 Indemnity The bidder shall No change in RFP
also be liable to indemnify AIC, at its own cost and
expenses, against all losses/ damages, which AIC may
suffer on account of violation by the bidder of any or all
national/ international trade laws. This liability shall not
ensue if such losses/ damages are caused due to gross
negligence or wilful misconduct by AIC or its
employees.
9.11 Page 79 9.11 Page 79 9.11 Termination (iv) Effect of Termination:
Notwithstanding any other rights and remedies provided
elsewhere in the Agreement, or the terms of the/Tender
document/Purchase Order, on termination of the
Agreement:
a. AICIL shall have the right to forfeit the Performance
Security of the Successful Bidder in the event of
Termination for Cause.
Amendment sought-:
141 (iv) Effect of Termination: No change in RFP
Notwithstanding any other rights and remedies provided
elsewhere in the Agreement, or the terms of the/Tender
document/Purchase Order, on termination of the
Agreement:
a. AICIL shall have the right to forfeit the Performance
Security of the Successful Bidder in the event of
Termination for Cause in the event of default by the
Bidder.
9.14 Page 81 9.14 Page 81 9.14 Delay’s in Bidder’s Performance The bidder must strictly adhere to the implementation
schedule, as specified in the purchase order / contract,
executed between the Parties for performance of the
obligations, arising out of the purchase contract and any
delay in completion of the obligations by the bidder will
enable AIC to resort to any or all of the following:
9.14.1. Claiming Liquidated Damages
9.14.2. Termination of the purchase agreement fully or
partly and claim liquidated damages.
9.14.3. Forfeiting of Earnest Money Deposit/ invoking
EMD Performance Bank Guarantee
Amendments sought-:
9.14 Delay’s in Bidder’s Performance @Pg. 81
142 The bidder must strictly adhere to the No change in RFP
implementation schedule, as specified in the purchase
order / contract, executed between the Parties for
performance of the obligations, arising out of the
purchase contract and any delay in completion of the
obligations by the bidder will enable AIC to resort to
any or all of the following:
9.14.1. Claiming Liquidated Damages
9.14.2. Termination of the purchase agreement fully
or partly
9.14.3. Forfeiting of Earnest Money Deposit/
invoking EMD Performance Bank Guarantee
2.1.3 Page 5 2.1.3 Page 5 Annexure 1 The CSP should offer ability to retrieve archived data in
of Annexure 1 of Annexure milliseconds.
9.15 Page 81 9.15 Page 81 9.15 Liquidated Damages 9.15.3. The liquidated damages shall be applicable
under the following circumstances: (i) If the deliverables
are not submitted as per schedule, the Bidder shall be
liable to pay 1% of the total cost of the services for delay
of each week or part thereof.
(ii) If the deliverables are not acceptable to AIC, and
144 defects are not rectified to the satisfaction of AIC within No change in RFP
30 days of the receipt of the notice, the Bidder shall be
liable for Liquidated Damages for an amount equal to
1% of the total cost of the Services for every week or
part thereof for the delay.
9.23 Page 85 9.23 Page 85 9.23 Contract Period Contract Continuity- The contract shall terminate only
on explicit correspondence to that effect. Until that time,
successful bidder shall continue to provide the service at
the contracted price per the agreement. As and when
AIC decides to change the current business model/
vendor, successful bidder has to coordinate for
migration of existing AIC Applications to AIC’s new
model without causing disruption of the Services at no
extra cost to AIC. The migration period and the support
required from successful bidder shall be communicated
to successful bidder one month before the transition
starts. AIC shall reserve right to revise the migration
period. During transition period successful bidder shall
145 at least, but not limited to, provide support in terms of No change in RFP
migration support of assets and data, training and
knowledge transfer and any other type of support during
the defined transition period.
Amendments sought-:
9.2.3 Contract Period @Pg. 85
Contract Continuity- The contract shall terminate only
on explicit correspondence to that effect. Until that time,
successful bidder shall continue to provide the service at
the contracted price per the agreement. As and when
AIC decides to change the current business model/
vendor, successful bidder has to coordinate for
migration of existing AIC Applications to AIC’s new
model without causing disruption of the Services at
2.2 page 19 2.2 page 19 2.2 Cloud Infrastructure Design 2.2.16. The Selected Bidder shall ensure that the
proposed solution is working as intended and as per
AIC’s satisfaction post migration and implementation.
Amendments sought-:
146 2.2 Cloud Infrastructure Design @Pg. 19 No change in RFP
2.2.16. The Selected Bidder shall ensure that the
proposed solution is working as per the agreed
documentation post migration and implementation.
4.21.1 (Point 4.21.1 (Point 4.21.1. Eligibility Criteria Purchase Order with the client’s confirmation on having
13) Page 57 13) Page 57 executed the PO to satisfaction.
Amendments sought
Purchase Order with the client’s confirmation on having
executed the PO.
NA NA Query- Legal Content requiring Clarification: This RFP does not have
148 Kindly refer 10.1.9 of the RFP.
a limitation of liability clause.
2.19.2 / Pg 30 2.19.2 / Pg 30 The Selected Bidder shall provide backup solution Please confirm if bidder need to provide "Enterprise
149 (full volume and incremental) for VM, DB, File system, Refer Pre-Bid Query response to S. No 64
2.19.23 / Pg 2.19.23 / Pg Backup data from DC must be copied to another facility Requst to remove this clause as you have already DC &
32 32 of the Selected Bidder (offsite: except DC & DR) DR. Keeping 3rd copy with bidder will not solve any
monthly. The report and location for the same must also technical purpose.
150 Refer Pre-Bid Query response to S. No 65
4.21.1/ Pg 55 4.21.1/ Pg 55 Copy of Certificate of Incorporation or Certified copy of As CSP need to meet the criteria of 200 crores of annual
Partnership Deed turnover, document proof to be modified as :
Letter from Statutory Auditors / Certificate from " Letter from Statutory Auditors / Certificate from
Chartered Accountant on their letterhead mentioning the Chartered Accountant on their letterhead mentioning the
annual revenue from Provisioning Cloud Services in annual revenue of Rs. 200 Crores in India"
India.
Point 4 & Point 4 & No Target performance has been define. Request to define the RTO of 120 minutes & RPO of 30
152 Point 5 / Page Point 5 / minutes post confirmation of declaration of "Disaster" Refer Pre-Bid Query response to S. No 67
69 Page 69 by AIC management/or SPOC.
Annexure 1 - Annexure 1 - All CSP services should be native to CSP’s cloud Request to modify the clause:
1.1 / Pg 1 1.1 / Pg 1 environment. All CSP services should be native to CSP’s cloud
153 marketplace/bidder provided service in TQ/BOQ with Refer Pre-Bid Query response to S. No 68
Annexure 1 - Annexure 1 - The CSP must offer operating systems (Linux, RHEL, Request to modify the clause:
2.1.1 / Pg 2 2.1.1 / Pg 2 Windows) for the VMs for both reserved and on demand The CSP/Bidder must offer operating systems (Linux,
VMs. RHEL, Windows) for the VMs for both reserved and on
demand VMs.
Annexure 1 - Annexure 1 - The CSP should provide/support of relational database Request to modify the clause as :
2.1.2 / Pg 4 2.1.2 / Pg 4 service (like but not limited to Oracle DB, MySQL, The CSP/bidder should provide/support of relational
SQL, Windows SQL as applicable) provided as a native database service with enterprise support (like but not
cloud service (and not marketplace) enabling handling limited to Oracle DB, MySQL, Windows SQL as
155 of routine database tasks such as provisioning, patching, applicable) provided as a cloud service enabling Refer Pre-Bid Query response to S. No 70
backup, recovery, failure detection, and repair etc. handling of routine database tasks such as provisioning,
patching, backup, recovery, failure detection, and repair
etc.
Annexure 1 - Annexure 1 - Compression and Deduplication: The CSP managed File Request to remove this clause as it is Internal to CSP
2.1.3 / Pg 4 2.1.3 / Pg 4 System should support compression and deduplication. internal architecture and solution.
Annexure 1 - Annexure 1 - The native security module should have ability to Request to modify the clause as :
2.1.3 / Pg 8 2.1.3 / Pg 8 provide high availability and load balancing. The native security module should have ability to
provide high availability with 99.9% SLA with
Annexure 2 - Annexure 2 - Usage - on demand Request to add below point under "Important note" in
Bill of Bill of commerical template:
Material Material The CSP should offer on-demand pricing, no
Reserved instance(RI) prices will be accepted.
Reserved Instance will be considered non compliance
158 unless specified in BOQ. Refer Pre-Bid Query response to S. No 73

Annexure 2 - Annexure 2 - 3rd & 4th Line item It seems typo.
Bill of Bill of Please make " Compute Services - Linux Red Hat
Material Material Enterprise (RHEL) OS - Usage -1 year Reserved
Instance" as
Compute Services - Linux/ Red Hat Enterprise
(RHEL) OS - Usage -1 year Reserved Instance"
Annexure 1 - Annexure 1 - The CSP should offer content delivery network service Request to modify the clause
2.1.4 / Pg 6 2.1.4 / Pg 6 to speed up distribution of static and dynamic web "The CSP/Marketplace should offer content delivery
160 content. CSPs should have content delivery network network service to speed up distribution of static and Refer Pre-Bid Query response to S. No 75
edge locations in India. dynamic web content. CSPs/Marketplace should have
Annexure 1 - Annexure 1 - The native security module should have ability to Request to modify the clause as :
2.1.3 / Pg 8 2.1.3 / Pg 8 provide high availability and load balancing. The native security module should have ability to
provide high availability with 99.9% SLA with
Annexure 2 - Annexure 2 - Managed file system with high availability1. Should be Request to modify as :
162 Bill of Bill of SSD based storage Managed file System/bidder supported system with high Refer Pre-Bid Query response to S. No 77
Material Material 2. Should support both SMB and NFS protocols. availablity.
Annexure 2 - Annexure 2 - Managed File System-Backup - Should have backup of Request to modify as :
163 Bill of Bill of 100% data stored in FileSystem Managed file System Backup /Bidder supported solution Refer Pre-Bid Query response to S. No 78
Material Material with high durability of backup.
Annexure 2 - Annexure 2 - Managed Active Directory Request to modify as :
Bill of Bill of Managed Active Directory / Bidder supported
As mentioned above, the selected bidder shall furnish Do we need to provide performance security excluding
Performance Security in the form of license cost and project?
NEFT/RTGS/cheques/insurance surety bond/demand
165 80 Performance Security 9.13 draft/bank guarantee for 10% of the Contract Value As per RFP
valid for period of sixty days beyond the date of
completion of all contractual obligations including
warranty obligations of the supplier
Subject to the above and unless otherwise stated in this Can Liability caping to the 2% of TCV?
Miscellaneous terms and Contract, the maximum aggregate liability of the Bidder
166 92 10.1.10 As per RFP
conditions shall be, regardless of the form of claim, the total
contract value.
Selected Bidder shall always remain adhered and we as a bidder, do not have these certificates. CSP
complied to the prevailing guidelines issued by MeitY, (Oracle) should be compliant to it.
167 22 Compliances 2.6.3 To be read as CSP/Selected Bidder.
NCIIPC, IRDAI, RBI, CERT-In, GoI, etc., from time to
time
Experience from Bidder We have done the projects as per the qualification
Bidder should have experience of executing FIVE (5) criteria. However, letter will be provided when the
Projects comprising operation and maintenance of contract is awarded. Meanwhile, we can provide PO or
Cloud Services (IAAS and PAAS) to any Government signed agreement
Departments/PSU’s/Private Clients from the cloud
service. The billing should pertain to Cloud Services
Consumption only. The total cloud services billing for
the bidder over a period of 5 year should also meet any
one of the below criteria: Kindly refer Point 12 of section "11.11 Annexure K:
Confirmation of Eligibility Criteria", under Supporting
168 57 Eligibility Criteria 4.21.1 One Project/One Customer in Government/PSUs/Private Documents Required
Sector with a minimum total Cloud Services Billing of Documentation: Proof of Payment/ Invoices/ Self
at least ₹ 2 Crores in last 5 years. (OR) Certification Letter
Three Projects/Three Customers in
Government/PSU/Private sector with combined cloud
services billing of at least
₹ 3 Crores in last 5 years. (OR)
Five Projects/Five Customers in
Government/PSU/Private sector with combined cloud
services billing of at least ₹ 4 Crores in last 5 years.
Managed Firewall, Built-in security like IDS / IPS, The scope is not defined in Bill of Material. Please Kindly refer details as mentioned in the RFP and
169 17 Scope of Work 2.1.18 DDoS mitigation, SSL Interceptor firewall shall be clarify corrigendum. Further details to be shared with the
provided in the cloud platform selected bidder.
Identity and access management (IAM). Kindly confirm whether IAM should be integrated
170 17 Scope of Work 2.1.18 To be provisioned as per RFP.
through OCI console via ON prem AD
Malicious Software Prevention: Implementation of anti- There is no mention of EDR and Anitvirus in Bill of
virus software on Servers and End-point Detection and Material.
Scope of Work -SOC Response (EDR) on endpoints must be performed by the
171 37 2.24.14 To be provisioned as per RFP.
Controls Selected Bidder, and other malicious software
prevention tools shall be supported for all applications,
servers, data bases, etc.
As per the requirement of AIC‘s VAPT (Vulnerability 1)What are the tools in place for patching?
Assessment & Penetration 2)Patching frequency (Monthly/quarterly/Half Yearly)?
Testing)/ audit Observations during the Contract Period 3)Total number current Vulnerability count?
,the Selected Bidder shall carry 4) Is hardening document is available with client?
Cloud Infrastructure out hardening of OS (Operating System), patch and
172 20 2.2.19 As per RFP
Design other configuration management
activity on all OS, DB, private cloud, and its related
software, etc., (which is provided
under this RFP)
.Selected Bidder shall provide Backup solution with 1)Please share a brief on overall backup solution and
different features, like snapshots of support scope.
Infrastructure Analysis VMs, DB backup, incremental and full back up of all 2)Share the data size of backup/restore being done?
173 20 2.3.4 As per RFP
and Build data, restoration of data in test 3)Frequency of backup (Daily/Weekly/Monthly)
environment as and when required. Backup schedule processes?
shall be as per AIC’s policy.
Ownership of .AIC retains ownership of all data & application licenses Does all OS licences will be managed by bidder?
174 21 Data/VMs/Software/Licens 2.5.1 hosted on AIC’s Cloud infrastructure and shall be able As per scope of work defined in the RFP.
es to retrieve full copies of these (without any charges).
additonal queries 1) Do we have current inventory
175 22 Documentation 2.7 2) Availability of Standard operating procedure To be shared with the selected bidder.
3) Existing HLD document
Incident Management response team deployed by the 1) Please share inventory for past 6 month with detail of
176 23 Operation Services 2.9.8 selected bidder shall share Root Cause Analysis (RCA) major incident To be shared with the selected bidder.
report for every incident/ outage if occurred. 2) Detail of changes/problem record
Active Directory & DNS 1)Number objects(user,computer,printer, etc.) are linked
to AD in support scope?
2)Please share the of replication topology used?
3)Please share the number of location/sites under
support scope.
4)What are the major issues faced AD envirnment over
177 33 Active Directory & DNS 2.20 last 6months? To be shared with the selected bidder.
5)If application services are dependent on AD?
6)If 3rd party applications are dependent on AD?
7)Please share the ticket dumps(
incident/SR/change/problem) in past 6months.
8)Can you share the list of PDC/DC(Domain Controller)
available in environment? Or a brief with measurables.
Provisioning of Virtual Machines (VM) 1)Number of ESXI hosts in support environment?
2)OS version installed on hosts (i.e. ESXI 7.0, Nutanix
AOS 6.1 etc.)?
3)Which backup tool used for VMs?
4)If OEM support available for in-scope environments?
5)Share incident dump and/or major incident/downtime
Provisioning of Virtual report for last 6 months.
178 27 2.14 6)Please share server hardware details. To be shared with the selected bidder.
Machines (VM)
7)Please share a brief on backend infra solution (i.e.
storage, N/W, etc.).
8)Which monitoring tools are used for administration
and maintenance?
9)Please share details on patch frequency and hardening
policy information.
The CSP should allow modification of virtual machine / The CSP should allow modification of virtual machine /
instance configuration (like CPU, memory, storage) instance configuration (like CPU, memory, storage)
Annexure 1: parameters seamlessly. parameters seamlessly.
179 1 SERVICE NAME: 3 CSP should provide the capability to scale storage CSP should provide the capability to scale storage No change in RFP
COMPUTE SERVICES automatically without any manual intervention and automatically without any manual intervention and
downtime. This should help AIC to pay only for the downtime. This should help AIC to pay only for the
used capacity rather than unused allocated storage to VM used capacity rather than unused allocated storage to VM
The native SSO service should be able to centrally Does SSO configuration is required for application? if
manage SSO access to multiple accounts and business yes how many applicatios are in SSO & which are those?
Annexure 1:
applications. Kindly refer the RFP. Further details to be shared with
180 9 2.1.5. SERVICE NAME: 12
The native SSO service should be highly available.The the selected bidder.
SECURITY SERVICE
native SSO service should support built-in SAML
integrations to many business applications
Annexure 1: The CSP offered File System should be accessible from Is Kubernates & container is also required to be
181 2 2.1.3. SERVICE NAME: 4 containers as well. configured As per RFP
STORAGE SERVICES
Annexure 1: CSP should have a native serverless service for ETL Serverless ETL service ?
2.1.6. SERVICE NAME: and data processing tasks
182 2 VISUALIZATION/ 36 As per RFP
ANALYTICS/ AI/ML
SERVICES
Annexure 1: General Queries Database version with details of configuration like
183 1 2.1.2. SERVICE NAME: 1 (RAC,standalone ASM & file system database, OS To be shared with the selected bidder.
DATABASE SERVICES details)
Annexure 1: General Queries Is Database upgrade is also required ?
184 1 2.1.2. SERVICE NAME: 1 As per scope of work defined in the RFP.
DATABASE SERVICES
Annexure 1: General Queries Is datawarehouse is also part of the scope of work
2.1.6. SERVICE NAME:
185 10 VISUALIZATION/ 14 As per scope of work defined in the RFP.
ANALYTICS/ AI/ML
SERVICES
The CSP must offer operating systems (Linux, RHEL, How many servers need to migrated to OCI
Annexure 1:
Windows) for the VMs for both reserved and on demand
186 2 SERVICE NAME: 8 To be shared with the selected bidder.
VMs.
COMPUTE SERVICES
Annexure 1: The CSP must offer operating systems (Linux, RHEL, Is OS upgrade is required
187 2 SERVICE NAME: 8 Windows) for the VMs for both reserved and on demand As per scope of work defined in the RFP.
COMPUTE SERVICES VMs.
We request AIC to kindly amend this criteria as below:
Bidder Should have experience in migration to the
Cloud environment along with "Bidder Should have experience in migration to the
Clause No. Clause No.
188 commissioning/implementation/rollout/go live and Cloud environment along with No change in RFP
13, Page 57 13, Page 57
support & maintenance in at least two organization in commissioning/implementation/rollout/go live and
India in the last ten years as of March 31, 2023 support & maintenance in at least ONE organization in
India in the last ten years as of March 31, 2023"
In case of corporate restructuring of a company, We understand that this clause is applicable for all
documentary evidence prior to such any documentary Eligibility Criteria and Technical Marking (4.21.3)
189 Page 58 Page 58 As per RFP
proofs of earlier entity may be considered for eligibility Criteria as well. Kindly confirm if our understanding is
criteria evaluation. correct.
Our understanding is that supporting documents against
this technical scoring will be the same as that of
Supporting Documents under Technical Scoring for
190 Page 60 Page 60 eligibility criteria, i.e. Proof of Payment/ Invoices/ Self As per RFP
Section IV (Experience)
Certification Letter. Kindly confirm if our understanding
is correct.
Supporting Document for Turnover Criteria: We understand that since the RFP Criteria is for the
average annual turnover of the CSP, the average "total"
Clause No. 2 - Clause No. 2 Letter from Statutory Auditors / Certificate from turnover of the CSP should be mentioned on the CA
Page 55 - Page 55 Chartered Accountant on their letterhead mentioning the Certificate and not just turnover from provisioning of
annual revenue from Provisioning Cloud Services in cloud services. Kindly confirm if our understanding is
India correct.
We request AIC to kindly amend this criteria as below:
Bidder should have experience of executing FIVE (5)
Projects comprising operation and maintenance of
Clause No. Clause No. Projects comprising operation and maintenance of
192 Cloud Services (IAAS and PAAS) to any Government No change in RFP
12, Page 57 12, Page 57 Cloud Services (IAAS/PAAS) to any Government
service…....
service
Kindly amend the scoring criteria as below:

1. Should have experience of executing FIVE (5)
Projects comprising operation and maintenance of 1. Should have experience of executing FIVE (5)
Cloud Services (IAAS and PAAS) to any Government Projects comprising operation and maintenance of
Departments/PSU’s/Private Clients from the cloud Cloud Services (IAAS/ PAAS) to any Government
service in the last ten years as of March 31, 2023. - 5 Departments/PSU’s/Private Clients from the cloud
marks service in the last ten years as of March 31, 2023. - 5
2. Should have experience of executing SIX (6) Projects marks
comprising operation and maintenance of Cloud 2. Should have experience of executing SIX (6) Projects
Services (IAAS and PAAS) to any Government comprising operation and maintenance of Cloud
193 Page 60 Page 60 No change in RFP
Departments/PSU’s/Private Clients from the cloud Services (IAAS / PAAS) to any Government
service in the last ten years as of March 31, 2023 - 7.5 Departments/PSU’s/Private Clients from the cloud
marks service in the last ten years as of March 31, 2023 - 7.5
3. Should have experience of executing SEVEN (7) marks
Projects comprising operation and maintenance of 3. Should have experience of executing SEVEN (7)
Cloud Services (IAAS and PAAS) to any Government Projects comprising operation and maintenance of
Departments/PSU’s/Private Clients from the cloud Cloud Services (IAAS / PAAS) to any Government
service in the last ten years as of March 31, 2023 - 10 Departments/PSU’s/Private Clients from the cloud
marks service in the last ten years as of March 31, 2023 - 10
marks
Projects comprising operation and maintenance of
There may be projects, wherein cloud services are
Cloud Services (IAAS and PAAS) to any Government
provided as a part of a bundled solution to the customer
Clause No. Clause No. Departments/PSU’s/Private Clients from the cloud
194 (cloud services are not billed separately). We request As per RFP
12, Page 57 12, Page 57 service. The billing should pertain to Cloud Services
AIC to allow self-certification for value of Cloud
Consumption only. The total cloud services billing for
Services provided by the CSP in such projects.
the bidder over a period of 5 year should also meet any
one of the below criteria:
195 Page # 15 Page # 15 Point # 1.8 Local Servers File Server sizing with CPU & OS Detals also. To be shared with the selected bidder.
196 Page # 16 Page # 16 Point # 2.1.9 Retention period for audit logging As per RFP
Bidder On-boarding & Project Kick-Off - Timelines
197 Page # 62 Page # 62 Project Timelines No change in RFP
should be T + 15 Days from the PO Date.
198 Page # 60 Page # 60 VI Change Request Handling Plan Please define the CR Handling scope a As per RFP
Please give us the P2P Link sizing of DC - DR
199 General To be shared with the selected bidder.
Replication and change data per day also.
Please explain the L1 criteria if the bidder leverage the
existing Security components mentioned in the RFP. Kindly refer details as mentioned in the RFP &
200 Page #13 Page #13 Other Security components:
This will give advantage to your existing MSP. We Annexure 3.
request you to remove this clause
Please give us the End of support with End of Life
details of existing software (OS & DB) with Version &
201 Page #13 Page #13 Other Security components: Annexure 3. Further details to be shared with the
License details too like CPU based or core based to
selected bidder.
evalute and leverage it for new cloud set-up
h) Other Security components: Please give us the breakup of license Qty of DC & DR
202 Page # 13 Page # 13 Kindly refer RFP & Corrigendum
Software (license) deployed at DC & DR wise. And DB name
Please confirm if the existing Microsoft licenses are
h) Other Security components: As per RFP, further details to be shared with the
203 Page # 13 Page # 13 with software assurance or not. If yes then please
Software (license) deployed at DC & DR selected bidder.
confirm the date.
1.2 Purpose of RFP 1.2 AIC intends to engage an experienced service provider Is there any option for further extension post contract
204 10 for implementation of the following in the period of 3 years. Kindly refer clause "9.23 Contract Period".
Cloud environment for a period of 3 years.
We are assuming Landing zone creation and
205 10 1.2 Purpose of RFP 1.2.1 The existing system will be migrated (Lift & Shift). As per scope of work defined in the RFP.
configuration are not part of Migration.
1.2 Purpose of RFP 1.2.1 The existing system will be migrated (Lift & Shift). Is there any changes in technology or version of
206 10 application technology, OS, Database or middleware in Kindly refer RFP Section 2.
this Lift & Shift
The existing system will be migrated (Lift & Shift) with
Customization which are not supported to cloud need
all
modification and redevelopment.
207 10 1.2 Purpose of RFP 1.2.1 the customizations from existing legacy platform and As per RFP
should be deployed on latest generation
AIC to provide more clarity on this.
(Standard x86 based) compatible Cloud Infrastructure
AIC reserves the right to use existing licenses wherever use existing licenses is depends upon feasibility and
applicable confirmation of respective partner/vendors hence, It can
208 10 1.2 Purpose of RFP 1.2.1 As per RFP
to safeguard the investment of AIC and explore the be decided mutually where cost may have to bear by
possibilities to optimize its costs. AIC wherever applicable
all the customizations from existing legacy platform and
should be deployed on latest generation (Standard x86 Are there any specific requirements for the automation
based) compatible Cloud Infrastructure to leverage the scripts that need to be developed for infrastructure
capability of flexible infrastructure, platform, database, deployment and configuration? Are there preferred
functions, security, monitoring, automation features scripting languages or frameworks?
wherever applicable to enhance the efficiency of the
system.
all the customizations from existing legacy platform and
should be deployed on latest generation (Standard x86
based) compatible Cloud Infrastructure to leverage the Could you provide more details on how reusability of
capability of flexible infrastructure, platform, database, these automation scripts will be beneficial for AIC?
functions, security, monitoring, automation features
wherever applicable to enhance the efficiency of the
system.
211 10 Purpose of RFP 1.2 Purpose of RFP Do you have a Cloud Strategy in place Question unclear.
212 10 Purpose of RFP 1.2 Purpose of RFP Did you had Cloud workshop with any CSP Question unclear.
Do you have Application Mapping and Cloud readiness
Current InfoTech Project report. Please share assessment report if available, or
213 10 1.3 Current InfoTech Project “SEWA” As per RFP
“SEWA” confirm if selected bidder needs top carry out
assessment and part of SOW.
The details
of Security
Components
The details of Security implemented Hardware at DC & DR for Mobile Device Management
Hardware at DC & DR for Mobile Device Management
Components implemented under Project & IT Security Governance Risk and Blank values in Hardware at DC and DR refers to
214 13 & IT Security Governance Risk and
under Project “SEWA” “SEWA” are Compliance are blank. Shall we consider no quantity or components which are Software licence based.
Compliance
are as follows: as follows: -> something else
h) Other
Security
components:
1.4 Oracle
Based
Oracle Based Financial Financial
The selected bidder has to set up
Management System and Management A detailed number of integrations touch points will be
215 14 the existing connectivity with the SEWA systems to be As per scope of work defined in the RFP.
Treasury Management System and required for mentioned components as a scope of work.
shifted.
System Treasury
Management
System
bidder need to assist all the require help in
1.5 HRMS
216 14 HRMS Solution application and data transfer to proposed cloud Volumetric to be shared by AIC To be shared with the selected bidder.
Solution
infrastructure
Since This is shifted to the Cloud through a separate
1.5 Email This is shifted to the Cloud through a separate RFP. No RFP and It is clearly mentioned in RFP that No action is
217 14 Email Solution As per RFP
Solution action is required in this RFP. required in this RFP. We are assuming that there is no
integrations points as well.
This is implemented in VMs in the above-mentioned
hardware and is to be shifted to the Cloud
Infrastructure through this RFP. The selected Bidder
need to provide and provision the requisite
VMs in consultation with AIC/HRMS application
vendor. Respective HRMS vendor will carry out the
application and database migration, however bidder
need to assist all the require help in
218 14 HRMS Solution 1.5 application and data transfer to proposed cloud Scope of Support to be provided As per RFP
infrastructure.
Hardware / Software as part of infrastructure used in
HRMS solution are as below:
i. Operating System – Microsoft server
ii. Database – Microsoft SQL Server on Microsoft
Windows Server
iii. Storage – Oracle FS-1
iv. Backup Software
This is implemented in VMs in the above-mentioned
hardware and is to be shifted to the Cloud
Infrastructure through this RFP. The selected Bidder
need to provide and provision the requisite
VMs in consultation with AIC/HRMS application
vendor. Respective HRMS vendor will carry out the
application and database migration, however bidder
need to assist all the require help in
Any other Application which is targetted to migrated to
219 14 HRMS Solution 1.5 application and data transfer to proposed cloud As per RFP
Cloud other than SewaCore and HRMS.?
infrastructure.
Hardware / Software as part of infrastructure used in
HRMS solution are as below:
i. Operating System – Microsoft server
ii. Database – Microsoft SQL Server on Microsoft
Windows Server
iii. Storage – Oracle FS-1
iv. Backup Software
The detailed sheet containing the VMs to be lifted and
shifted to the cloud shall be shared with the selected
bidder. Some of the services currently deployed
(particularly in security and backup, etc) will have to be
provided as cloud native service at the Cloud Data
Are there any additional cloud components beyond
Centre. Virtual machines, if any, required for them, and
220 15 Virtual Machines 1.7 those listed (e.g., machine learning services, analytics) As per RFP
cost of the services have to be included as part of the
that should be managed or considered for provisioning?
cost of “Managed Services” (see Annexure 2). Annexure
3 contains the list of currently deployed
solution/services for which cloud native services are
required to be provisioned and shall be deployed post
confirmation from AIC.
AIC has three local Windows file servers located at
1.8 Local Head Office premise for daily usage. What is the expected volumetric for next 3 years (till the
221 15 Local Servers 20% increment YoY
Servers These need to be provisioned in the cloud as File contract)
System Servers or equivalent service
We assume that Data migration volumes for local
222 15 Local Servers 1.8 Local Servers servers will be part of bidder Scope of work, please Yes
confirm?
2. Detailed Are there any existing third-party integrations or
223 16 Detailed Scope of Work Scope of Scope of work dependencies that need to be considered during the As per scope of work defined in the RFP.
Work migration?
The Bidder shall be responsible for provisioning of

required cloud infrastructure for various application to
be migrated (Lift & Shift) to the cloud. The selected
bidder shall examine the infra landscape that needs to be
hosted on cloud infrastructure. This activity may enable
224 16 2 2.1.1 AIC to specify CSP preference (Public or Private). As per RFP
the Bidder to gauge the application / infra workload
requirements before provisioning the respective cloud
infrastructure / Configuration and Services for the
respective applications as per the industry standards.
Annexures 1, 2 and 3 provide details of the requirements.
The Bidder shall be responsible for provisioning of
required cloud infrastructure for various application to
be migrated (Lift & Shift) to the cloud. The selected
bidder shall examine the infra landscape that needs to be Can you provide additional details on the "Lift & Shift"
Managing the cloud hosted on cloud infrastructure. This activity may enable migration process for the existing system? Are there any
225 16 2.1.1 As per scope of work defined in the RFP.
infrastructure the Bidder to gauge the application / infra workload specific tools or methodologies preferred for this
requirements before provisioning the respective cloud migration?
infrastructure / Configuration and Services for the
respective applications as per the industry standards.
Annexures 1, 2 and 3 provide details of the requirements.
Could you specify the expected thresholds or criteria for
The selected Bidder shall be responsible for
Managing the cloud monitoring the utilization of cloud infrastructure (e.g.,
226 16 2.1.3 provisioning, monitoring, optimization and management As per RFP
infrastructure CPU usage, memory usage) and how actions are
of all cloud infrastructure and services.
triggered based on those thresholds?
The Bidder shall provide written progress reports at
regular intervals to the AIC team. Project status report
shall include progress against the Project Management
Plan, status of all risks and issues, exceptions and issues
along with recommended resolution etc. Governance Are there any specific reporting frequency or format
2.1 Managing the cloud
227 16 2.1.3. structure will be mutually decided between Bidder and requirements for the monitoring of cloud infrastructure As per RFP
infrastructure
AIC team at the time of on-boarding. Other than the and services?
planned meetings, in exceptional cases, project status
meeting may be called with prior notice to the Bidder.
AIC reserves the right to ask the Bidder for the project
review reports other than the standard review reports.
The selected Bidder shall support the respective
application teams for migration and deployment of Are there any critical customizations on the existing
Managing the cloud
228 16 2.1.4 applications on the cloud infrastructure and maintaining legacy platform that should be highlighted during the As per RFP
infrastructure
all infrastructure related activities during the contract migration process?
period.
The selected Bidder shall have automated monitoring
tools (to be provided by the Bidder) for measuring the
availability and utilization of Cloud Infra i.e., servers,
storage, network, etc. The tool shall be capable of Can you provide more details on the specific metrics
229 16 Detailed Scope of work 2.1.5 providing the exact utilization of servers and shall be and parameters that need to be monitored for availability As per RFP
able to generate per day, per week, per month and per and utilization of the cloud infrastructure?
quarter utilization reports based on which the payments
will be made to the selected Bidder. The selected Bidder
should also provide access of this tool to AIC.
storage, network, etc. The tool shall be capable of
Are there any specific compliance requirements or
230 16 Detailed Scope of work 2.1.5 providing the exact utilization of servers and shall be As per RFP
standards that the monitoring tool needs to adhere to?
able to generate per day, per week, per month and per
Are there any specific integration requirements with
existing systems or tools?
storage, network, etc. The tool shall be capable of Are there any specific reporting formats or templates
232 16 Detailed Scope of work 2.1.5 providing the exact utilization of servers and shall be that need to be followed for generating utilization As per RFP
able to generate per day, per week, per month and per reports?
Is there a preference for any particular monitoring tool
or platform?

Are there any specific security requirements or access
controls for the monitoring tool?
Managing the cloud The selected Bidder shall be responsible for ensuring What security measures are expected to be in place for
235 16 2.1.6 As per RFP
infrastructure security of cloud services and infrastructure. safeguarding the cloud services and infrastructure?
In order to deliver the Scope, the selected bidder will
ensure audit logging is enabled on all VMs, network
devices, security devices etc., and the logs are captured
Managing the cloud
236 16 2.1.9. & stored. The bidder will ensure logs from devices like What is the period for which history to be maintained As per RFP
infrastructure
Anti-Virus, IPS, firewalls, Active Directory, VPN etc.
and logs from the SEWA core application infra will be
suitably integrated and stored.
What are the expected responsibilities and tasks
involved in supporting application teams for migration
application teams for migration and
Managing the cloud on the cloud infrastructure? Are there any specific
237 16 2.1.4 deployment of applications on the cloud infrastructure As per RFP
infrastruture requirements or considerations for security, scalability
and maintaining all infrastructure related activities
and performance that need to be taken into account
during the contract period.
during migration and deployment?
application teams for migration and What are the operational requirements for maintaining
Managing the cloud
238 16 2.1.4 deployment of applications on the cloud infrastructure the cloud infrastructure? Do you expect 24/7 support or As per RFP
infrastruture
and maintaining all infrastructure related activities specific maintenance windows?
during the contract period.
The selected Bidder shall be responsible for ensuring Can you please provide more details on the specific
Managing the cloud
239 16 2.1.6 security of cloud services and security measures that are required to be implemented As per RFP
infrastruture
infrastructure. for cloud services and infrastructure?
The selected Bidder shall be responsible for ensuring
Managing the cloud Are there any specific risks or threats that the bidder
240 16 2.1.6 security of cloud services and As per RFP
infrastruture should address in their proposal for cloud security?
infrastructure.
The cloud infrastructure and service provisioned by the
selected Bidder must be scalable
Managing the cloud What is the anticipated growth rate or capacity needs
241 16 2.1.7 and flexible. AIC shall be able to add/reduce cloud As per RFP
infrastruture that cloud infrastructure should be able to handle?
infrastructure and services on
demand basis.
Is there a need for dynamic scaling, where the cloud
selected Bidder must be scalable
Managing the cloud infrastructure automatically adjusts resources based on
242 16 2.1.7 and flexible. AIC shall be able to add/reduce cloud As per RFP
infrastruture demand? If so, what are the specific requirements or
infrastructure and services on
triggers for scaling up or down?
demand basis.
selected Bidder must be scalable Does flexibility means to move to the difference
Managing the cloud
243 16 2.1.7 and flexible. AIC shall be able to add/reduce cloud instance. If yes then specify the condition when it has to As per RFP
infrastruture
infrastructure and services on be moved. Please clarify
demand basis.
selected Bidder must be scalable Do you have any preferences or requirements regarding
Managing the cloud
244 16 2.1.7 and flexible. AIC shall be able to add/reduce cloud the cloud service provider that should be used for As per RFP
infrastruture
infrastructure and services on provisioning the infrastructure?
demand basis.
Can you provide examples of scenarios where AIC
Managing the cloud selected Bidder must be scalable and flexible. AIC shall
245 16 2.1.7 might need to add or reduce cloud As per RFP
infrastructure be able to add/reduce cloud infrastructure and services
infrastructure/services on a demand basis?
on demand basis
ensure audit logging is enabled on
all VMs, network devices, security devices etc., and the
Cloud native tools only to be consider or 3rd party cloud
Managing the cloud logs are captured & stored. The
246 16 2.1.9 supported which provide more robust feature, may also As per RFP
infrastructure bidder will ensure logs from devices like Anti-Virus,
be used.?
IPS, firewalls, Active Directory, VPN
etc. and logs from the SEWA core application infra will
be suitably integrated and stored.
Take backups, snapshots of application servers,
Managing the cloud
247 16 2.1.18 applications, databases and it’s Scope of Backup and backup retention to be defined. As per RFP
infrastructure
archival, retrieval, access, authorization
We assume that cloud comsumption is out of scope for
248 16 Detailed Scope of Work 2 Detailed Scope of Work As per RFP
MSP, and will be taken care by AIC directly.
ensure audit logging is enabled on all VMs, network
devices, security devices etc., and the logs are captured
Managing the cloud
249 16 2.1.9 & stored. The bidder will ensure logs from devices like What will be the retention period for audit logs? As per RFP
infrastructure
Anti-Virus, IPS, firewalls, Active Directory, VPN etc.
and logs from the SEWA core application infra will be
suitably integrated and stored.
tools (to beprovided by the Bidder) formeasuring the
availability and utilization of Cloud Infra i.e.,servers,
Cloud integrated monitoring tool would be enough or
Managing the cloud providing the exact utilization of servers and shall be
250 16 2.1.5 have any specific monintoring requirement? Need more As per RFP
infrastructure able to generate per day, per week, per month and
info
per quarter utilization reports based on which the
payments will be made to the selected Bidder. The
selected Bidder should also provide access of this tool
to AIC
The selected Bidder shall be responsible for the
Could you elaborate on the specific compliance
compliance of the Solution in accordance with IRDAI
Managing the cloud requirements outlined by IRDAI and AIC's Information Regarding security compliance guidelines, kindly refer
251 17 2.1.9 guidelines, AIC’s Information and Management Policy
infrastructure and Management Policy that the solution needs to section 2.24.5 of the RFP.
and other applicable statutory and regulatory
adhere to?
requirements throughout the Contract Period.
Managing the cloud 2.1.14. Selected Bidder to intimate AIC about surge in
252 17 2.1.14 What will be the necessary action on this at bidder side As per RFP
infrastructure cloud service usage.
The support cost quoted by the selected Bidder shall
Cost for the tools and dynamic scaling of resources will
Managing the cloud include all cost towards monitoring, optimization,
253 17 2.1.16 be decided in detailed mutual discussion and final scope As per RFP
infrastructure management and support for the cloud infrastructure and
as per proposal
services etc.
2.1.18. The selected Bidder will be required to provide a
minimum of the following managed
services, which will include setup, configure, maintain,
monitor, optimize and manage Could you provide more details on the desired
2.1 Managing the cloud
254 17 2.1.18 the following cloud components but not limited to: management approach for services like managed Load As per RFP
infrastructure
Managed Load Balancer Balancer, firewall, and database administration tasks?
Managed Firewall, Built-in security like IDS / IPS,
DDoS mitigation, SSL Interceptor
firewall shall be provided in the cloud platform.
The Selected Bidder shall provision the entire Cloud
What if any deviation/change comes from the
infrastructure (compute, storage,
Cloud Infrastructure requirement gathered as per the approved solution
255 17 2.2 network, security, software, bandwidth etc.) required for As per RFP
Design during the activity or at the final stage? What
setting up of the Cloud
guidelines/process will be followed in such scenario?
Environment as per the approved solution document.
The selected Bidder shall submit a well-defined plan for
Managing the cloud backup and recovery including processes and
256 17 2.1.17 what would be the data retention policy? As per RFP
infrastructure procedures etc. related to recovery or continuation of
services.
TheselectedBidder will be required to provide a
minimum of the following managed services, which
will include setup, configure, maintain, monitor,
optimize and manage the following cloud components
but not limited
to:•Virtualmachines,containers.•Storage(block,object,etc.
,asapplicable).•Networkandsecurity(publicsubnets,privat
esubnets,securityrules,VLAN,etc.).•Identityandaccessma
nagement
(IAM).•Setupofdatabaseanddatabaseadministrationtasks.• any specific requirement for load balancer? Need any
Managing the cloud ManagedLoadBalancer.•ManagedFirewall,Built- specific load balancer or cloud provided load balancer
257 17 2.1.18 As per RFP and corrigendum
infrastructure insecuritylikeIDS/IPS,DDoSmitigation,SSLInterceptorfir will be enough. Share SLA details. SMTP needs to be
ewallshall beprovidedinthecloudplatform.•Take configured or it is already configured?
backups, snapshots of application servers, applications,
databases and it’s
archival,retrieval,access,authorization.•Monitoringofallin
stancesandreportingoffailureasperSLA.•Provideaccessto
monitorhealth/systemutilizationthroughadashboard.•Mon
itoringallcloudservicesusedforanapplicationandfixingofis
sues,ifany.•GenerateSMS/E-
Mailalertsforallmajorproblemsinthecloudinfrastructure&
application
The selectedBidder shall be responsible for the
compliance of the Solution in accordance with IRDAI
Managing the cloud
258 17 2.1.19 guidelines, AIC’s Information and Management Policy any specific internal tool is available for compliance? As per RFP
infrastructure
and other applicable statutory and regulatory
requirements throughout the Contract Period.
. AIC may seek right to perform remote audits / review
through management console
of the provisioned cloud environment through a third- Could you specify the level of detail required for audit
Managing the cloud
259 18 2.1.21 party auditor appointed or logging and how the logs should be captured, stored, As per RFP
infrastructure
authorized by MeitY/GoI/IRDAI or appointed by AIC. and integrated from various devices and applications?
AIC will notify the selected Bidder
in advance regarding the same.
2.1.21. AIC may seek right to perform remote audits /
review through management console
of the provisioned cloud environment through a third-
Managing the cloud Are there specific compliance requirements related to
260 18 2.1.21 party auditor appointed or As per RFP
infrastructure audit trails and log storage?
authorized by MeitY/GoI/IRDAI or appointed by AIC.
AIC will notify the selected Bidder
in advance regarding the same.
AIC may seek right to perform remote audits / review
through management console of the provisioned cloud
what will be the frequency for audit and for any
Managing the cloud environment through a third-party auditor appointed or
261 18 2.1.21 additional efforts. Additional cost might be required. As per RFP
infrastructure authorized by MeitY/GoI/IRDAI or appointed by AIC.
This can be concluded based on support provided
AIC will notify the selected Bidder in advance regarding
the same.
The selected Bidders must propose a strategy to migrate
Cloud Infrastructure VMs, data, applications, databases, and associated
262 18 2.2.1. Who and what basis timeline will be decided As per RFP
Design services along with all the necessary installations and
configurations within a specified timeline.
AIC will undertake periodic audits of the provisioned what will be the frequency for audit and for any
Cloud Infrastructure
263 18 2.2.4. cloud environment. Selected Bidder is required to additional efforts. Additional cost might be required. As per RFP
Design
facilitate such timely audits as decided by AIC. This can be concluded based on support provided
AIC, during the period of the contract, based on its
technical and functional
requirements may intend to add additional third-party
Managing the cloud application and interfaces.
264 18 2.2.9 How many Intefaces are expected to be introuduce. As per RFP
infrastructure Selected Bidder has to extend all necessary support and
assistance for addition to the Solution with the required
third-party applications and interfaces desired by the
Company at no additional costs.
As part of requirement gathering. Shall we part of that
Managing the cloud application and interfaces.
265 18 2.2.9 discussion, how the efforts of technical and functional As per RFP
infrastructure Selected Bidder has to extend all necessary support and
discussion will be calculated.
assistance for addition to the Solution with the required
VMs, data, applications, Since, It is migrating as-is (Lift and Shift) strategy. Does
266 18 2.2.1 databases, and associated services along with all the any upgradation or existing component or solution will As per RFP
Design
necessary installations and be part of this plan.
Cloud Infrastructure Do you have any existing landing zone or bidder has to
267 18 2.2.1 As per RFP
Design design and build it from scratch.
VMs, data, applications,
Cloud Infrastructure How it will be taken up if IRDAI or any authority
268 18 2.2.1 databases, and associated services along with all the As per RFP
Design recommeded for upgradation or existing components..?
necessary installations and
Cloud Infrastructure MPLS links and network connectivity are provided by a
269 18 2.2.6 network, security, software, bandwidth etc.) required for What strategy will be used to connect Cloud and Offices.
Design separate vendor.
Does any Bandwidth allocation to each Offices has been
Cloud Infrastructure defined. What will be volumentric of data growth and
270 18 2.2.6 network, security, software, bandwidth etc.) required for To be shared with the selected bidder.
Design Network bandwidth requirement throught out the
contract period.
Cloud Infrastructure Is there any managed Active Directory setup configured
271 18 2.2 Cloud Infrastructure Design As per RFP
Design on Cloud or partner needs to propose this.
Cloud Infrastructure Is there any project implementation timeline and
272 18 2.2 Cloud Infrastructure Design As per RFP
Design milestone defined in advance
The Selected Bidder shall ensure minimum downtime
while migration from the existing setup. The migration
activity will includemigrating VMs, data, applications,
Cloud Infrastructure How much downtime will be provided for migration
273 18 2.2.2 databases, and associated services. The Selected Bidder As per RFP
Design activity?
should support and coordinate forquick and efficient
migration. The bidders shall submit a detailed migration
plan as part of Technical Bid submission.
AIC,during the period of the contract, based on
its technical and functional requirements may
intend to add additional third-party application and
Cloud Infrastructure Additional application license cost would be handled by
274 18 2.2.9 interfaces. Selected Bidder has to extend all necessary As per RFP
Design bidder or AIC?
support and assistance for addition to the Solution with
the required third-party applications and interfaces
desired by the Company at no additional costs.
Could you provide more information about specific
Cloud infrastructure application and interfaces.
275 19 2.2.9 third-party applications and interfaces that the company As per RFP
Design Selected Bidder has to extend all necessary support and
intends to add to the solution?
assistance for addition to the solution with the required
Are there any compatibility or integration requirements
Cloud infrastructure application and interfaces.
276 19 2.2.9 that we need to consider in advance for adding these As per RFP
Design Selected Bidder has to extend all necessary support and
3rd party applications and interfaces?
assistance for addition to the solution with the required
requirements may intend to add additional third-party Any addition of additional third-party application and
Cloud infrastructure application and interfaces. interfaces are subject to technical feasibility and Cost
277 19 2.2.9 As per RFP
Design Selected Bidder has to extend all necessary support and will be bear by AIC if not provisioned in advance in
assistance for addition to the solution with the required detailed solution document.
The Selected Bidder should ensure that all systemic

changes or new requirements Are there any any specific documentations or reporting
Cloud infrastructure necessitated out of Government / other regulatory requirements mandated by Government/ regulatory
278 19 2.2.10 As per RFP
Design guidelines or other requirements as authorities that we need to consider in advance in
per the RFP are made available from day one of the detailed solution Proposal ?
solution going live.
changes or new requirements
Any addition of additional requirement are subject to
Cloud infrastructure necessitated out of Government / other regulatory
279 19 2.2.10 technical feasibility and Cost will be bear by AIC if not As per RFP
Design guidelines or other requirements as
provisioned in advance in detailed solution proposal.
per the RFP are made available from day one of the
solution going live.
The Selected Bidder shall carry out the capacity
planning in advance to identify & provision, where
necessary, the additional capacity to meet the user How does AIC envision scaling and flexibly adjusting
Managing the cloud growth and/ or the peak load requirements to support the cloud infrastructure and services based on demand? Are
280 19 2.2.14 As per RFP
infrastructure scalability and performance requirements of the solution there specific scalability requirements we should
for the Contract Period. There should not be any consider?
constraints on the services. The final decision on
capacity addition will be taken in consultation with AIC.
changes or new requirements Since, All the components migrated to the cloud as part
Managing the cloud necessitated out of Government / other regulatory of Lift and Shift, thus it might have older version.
281 19 2.2.10 As per RFP
infrastructure guidelines or other requirements as Which might not be compliant as per IRDAI guidelines
per the RFP are made available from day one of the over Cloud environemt. What will AIC take on it.
solution going live
As per the requirement of AIC‘s VAPT (Vulnerability
Assessment & Penetration Testing)/ audit Observations
Can you provide more information about the
during the Contract Period ,the Selected Bidder shall
Cloud Infrastructure vulnerability assessment process and how the selected
282 20 2.2.19 carry out hardening of OS (Operating System), patch and As per RFP
Design bidder should carry out hardening of operating systems
other configuration management activity on all OS, DB,
and related software?
private cloud, and its related software, etc., (which is
provided under this RFP).
during the Contract Period ,the Selected Bidder shall
Cloud Infrastructure Are there specific audit observations that the bidder
283 20 2.2.19 carry out hardening of OS (Operating System), patch and As per RFP
Design needs to address through hardening activities?
provided under this RFP).
Assessment & Penetration
Testing)/ audit Observations during the Contract Period
,the Selected Bidder shall carry
Cloud Infrastructure How it will be taken up if IRDAI or any authority
284 20 2.2.19 out hardening of OS (Operating System), patch and As per RFP
Design recommeded for upgradation or existing components.?
other configuration management
activity on all OS, DB, private cloud, and its related
software, etc., (which is provided
under this RFP)
Selected Bidder should provide security solutions as per
Cloud Infrastructure the requirements specified Is it limited to Cloud Native tools or 3rd party tool also
285 20 2.2.22 As per RFP
Design in this RFP to secure the cloud infrastructure deployed may be used
for AIC.
during the Contract Period,the Selected Bidder shall
286 20 2.2.19 carry out hardening of OS (Operating System), patch and What should be the baseline for hardening? As per RFP
Design
provided under this RFP)
AIC retains ownership of all data & application licenses
Some Services of CSPs are paid in nature. Cost vary
Ownership of Data/ VMs/ hosted on AIC’s Cloud
287 21 2.5.1 based on size of the data. It is require to submit volume As per RFP
Software/ Licenses infrastructure and shall be able to retrieve full copies of
of data which will be retrieved.
these (without any charges).
Are there specific documentation standards or templates
that should be followed for documenting the cloud
288 22 Documentation 2.7 Documentation infrastructure, configurations, and processes? As per RFP
How does AIC expect knowledge transfer to be handled

for the internal teams to ensure effective management of
the cloud environment after implementation?
289 22 Documentation 2.7 Documentation As per RFP
The Selected Bidder shall provide a webpage and

associated Uniform Resource Locator
290 22 Resource Management 2.8.4 Can you provide specific SLA metrics or guarantees? As per RFP and corrigendum
(URL) that describes the following:
• Service Level Agreements (SLAs)
(URL) that describes the following: Do you have any specific preferences for the format of
291 22 Resource Management 2.8.4 As per RFP
• Service Level Agreements (SLAs) the resources?
• Help Desk and Technical Support
• Resources (Documentation, Articles/Tutorials, etc.)

(URL) that describes the following:
292 22 Resource Management 2.8.4 Is there any existing website or template to be used? As per RFP
• Service Level Agreements (SLAs)
• Help Desk and Technical Support
• Resources (Documentation, Articles/Tutorials, etc.)
Proposed Solution should be compatible with IPv4 and
IPv6 both, and Selected Bidder
shall provide High-level architectural diagram showing
293 22 2.3.2 different layers of solution like tentative timeline to implement IPv6 at both the ends. As per RFP
Design
Internet, ILL & MPLS Connectivity, Network, Security,
Compute, Hardware, Storage &
Backup layers.
Is partner can suggest shared managed suport survice for
cloud infrastructure or is dedicated/onsite resource is
294 22 Resource Management 2.8 Resource Management Resource deployment as per RFP.
mandatory as per RFP. Please share the preffered
location for onsite team.
295 22 Documentation 2.7.3 Details of manpower deployment at NOC and SOC NOC and SOC will be part of this RFP..? As per RFP
The Selected Bidder shall enable workflow based Currently any software tool is present for automatic
296 22 Resource Management 2.8.3 As per RFP
automatic switch over/ failover between DC & DR. switch over and switch back?
Selected Bidder is required to provision additional
VMs/ compute/memory/ storage/
network when the corresponding component utilization
What is the expected level of utilization that should
exceeds 70% in any Server/
trigger the provisioning of additional resources? Is it
VM/ Network. Further, the selected bidder will perform
always when utilization exceeds 70 percent, or are there
297 23 Operation services 2.9.6 capacity management and share As per RFP
any specific thresholds for different components (e.g.,
weekly/monthly reports to AIC and will share plan for
compute, memory, storage, network)?
optimum resources utilization and
propose upgrade/downgrade based on the monthly
capacity management reports wrt
to compute/memory/ storage/ network.
VM/ Network. Further, the selected bidder will perform What is the expected timeline for provisioning and
298 23 Operation services 2.9.6 capacity management and share allocating additional resources once the utilization As per RFP
weekly/monthly reports to AIC and will share plan for threshold is reached?
Can you provide more details on the expected capacity
VM/ Network. Further, the selected bidder will perform
management reports, such as the required format,
299 23 Operation services 2.9.6 capacity management and share As per RFP
frequency, and specific metrics or information that
weekly/monthly reports to AIC and will share plan for
should be included?
Selected Bidder shall provide all administrative support
for user registration, User ID creation, maintaining user
profiles, granting user access, authorization, user
What type of Active Directory is needed.? Cloud AD or
300 23 Operation SERVICES 2.9.11 password support, domain creation, domain As per RFP
In-House AD.
management, (Organization Unit (OU) & Group
creation & maintenance, etc., for Active Directory &
DNS services
301 23 Operation SERVICES 2.9.11 password support, domain creation, domain Does any AD require within the LAN…? As per RFP
DNS services
302 23 Operation SERVICES 2.9.11 password support, domain creation, domain Does it require SSO/ADFS..? As per RFP
DNS services
Does it have any Backup domain or Child domain
303 23 Operation SERVICES 2.9.11 password support, domain creation, domain As per RFP
provisioning…?
DNS services
Selected Bidder shall generate Alerts well in advance on What are the preferred methods of communication for
304 24 Operation services 2.9.14 the upcoming patches via the alerts? Should they be sent via both SMS and email, As per scope of work defined in the RFP.
SMS/E-mail and management portal. or is either method sufficient?
Is there a specific format or template that should be
Selected Bidder shall generate Alerts well in advance on
followed when sending the alerts? Should they include
305 24 Operation services 2.9.14 the upcoming patches via To be shared with the selected bidder.
any specific information about the patches or any
SMS/E-mail and management portal.
additional instructions for the recipient?
Are there any specific criteria or conditions that should
trigger an alert for upcoming patches? For example,
306 24 Operation services 2.9.14 the upcoming patches via As per scope of work defined in the RFP.
should the alert be sent for all patches, or only for
critical or security-related patches?
Are there any specific tools or systems that should be
used for generating and sending the alerts?
307 24 Operation services 2.9.14 the upcoming patches via As per RFP
Alternatively, should the bidder propose their own
approach and tools?
How frequently are patches expected to be released and
applied? Should the alerts be sent for every patch, or can
the bidder propose a customized frequency based on the
client's requirements?
Are there any specific requirements or preferences for
the management portal that will be used to view and
track the alerts? Should it have any specific features or
capabilities?
Is there a preference for automated alert generation, or
should the alerts be manually generated by the selected
bidder? If automated, should there be any specific rules
or logic for triggering the alerts?
2.10.2 Self
Enable AIC to provision virtual machines, storage, and
Self Service Management/ Service What is the Prefer mode for AIC either self-service
311 24 bandwidth dynamically (or on- demand), on a self- As per RFP
Provisioning Management/ mode or on request basis
service mode or as requested.
Provisioning
The Selected Bidder shall provide for automatic
monitoring of resource, compute, storage, network,
Could you specify the key performance indicators
Managing the cloud backup, etc., utilization and other events such as failure
312 24 2.10.4 (KPIs) that should be monitored, reported, and made As per RFP
infrastructure of service, degraded service, etc. via service dashboard
accessible through a dashboard?
or other electronic means. The Utilization Monitoring
tools shall have minimum following features:
The Selected Bidder shall ensure that effective Remote
Self Service Management/ Management features exist for all VM/ Servers with What type of Security Services shall be incorporate with
313 24 2.10.3 As per RFP
Provisioning admin privileges so that issues can be addressed by AIC Remote Access or SSH accessibility
in a timely and effective manner
The Selected Bidder shall provide Trouble Ticketing via
Self Service Management/ online portal/ interface (tools). All such tickets shall be Any existing tool being used or part of migration which
314 24 2.10.3 As per RFP
Provisioning visible and manageable from the monitoring tool/ shall be used.
dashboard.
The Selected Bidder shall support maintenance of user
Self Service Management/
315 24 2.10.3 profiles and present the user with his/ her profile at the What activity to be monitor within User Profile As per RFP
Provisioning
time of login on the monitoring tool/ dashboard
The Selected Bidder shall provide Trouble Ticketing via
Self Service Management/ online portal/ interface (tools).
316 25 2.10.5 Detailed understanding required on this. As per RFP
Provisioning All such tickets shall be visible and manageable from
the monitoring tool/ dashboard.
The Selected Bidder shall provide Self Service
Provisioning Portal/ Basic monitoring
tool/ Dashboard with the ability to automatically
provision services via a Web Portal (Self
Provisioning), provide meter billing, to provide service
Self Service Management/ Can you provide more information on specific services
317 25 2.10.6 assurance for maintenance & As per RFP
Provisioning that need to be provisioned through web portal?
operations activities. Detailed user level or user group
level auditing, monitoring,
metering, accounting, quota, and show-back information
is essential for the cloud
platform to be offered.
Provisioning Portal/ Basic monitoring
tool/ Dashboard with the ability to automatically
provision services via a Web Portal (Self
Provisioning), provide meter billing, to provide service Can you provide more details on the auditing,
Self Service Management/
318 25 2.10.6 assurance for maintenance & monitoring, metering, accounting, quota and show back As per RFP
Provisioning
operations activities. Detailed user level or user group requirements?
level auditing, monitoring,
metering, accounting, quota, and show-back information
is essential for the cloud
Provisioning Portal/ Basic monitoring tool/ Dashboard
with the ability to automatically provision services via a
Web Portal (Self Provisioning), provide meter billing, to
Managing the cloud Are there any specific metrics or parameters for
319 25 2.10.6 provide service assurance for maintenance & operations As per RFP
infrastructure measuring usage upon which billing will be based?
activities. Detailed user level or user group level
auditing, monitoring, metering, accounting, quota, and
show-back information is essential for the cloud
Are there any specific authentication or authorization
Self Service Management/ profiles and present the user
320 25 2.10.7 requirements for user login on the monitoring tool As per RFP
Provisioning with his/ her profile at the time of login on the
/dashboard?
monitoring tool/ dashboard
Could you provide more details on the specific
321 25 2.10.7 maintenance tasks that would be performed on user As per RFP
profiles?
Could you clarify if the user's profile should be
322 25 2.10.7 displayed automatically upon login or if the user needs As per RFP
to request it?
The Selected Bidder shall provide tools and mechanism

to AIC (or its appointed
vendor/ agency) for configuring, scheduling,
Data handling & performing, and managing applications and Are you looking for specific tools or decisions will be
323 25 2.11.1 As per RFP
management other related activities (as and when required) of all the taken mutually based on proposal from bidder side.
data including but not limited
to files, folders, images, system state, database, and
enterprise applications.
How is data ownership and privacy addressed in the
2.11 Data
2.11 Data Handling & cloud environment? Are there any specific data handling
324 25 Handling & Data Handling & Management As per RFP
Management or data residency requirements that should be
Management
considered?
2.11 Data
2.11 Data Handling & Are there data encryption or data masking requirements
325 25 Handling & Data Handling & Management As per RFP
Management that need to be implemented for sensitive data?
Management
Self Service Management/ Type of User Profile recommended to use within
326 25 2.10.3 profiles and present the user with his/ her profile at the As per RFP
Provisioning network.
time of login on the monitoring tool/ dashboard
The Selected Bidder shall implement Identity and
Access Management (IAM) that properly separates users
2.12.1. User by their identified roles and responsibilities, thereby Are you looking for any GUI based tools here. We
327 26 2.12 User Administration Administratio establishing least privilege principles and ensuring that would required various types of roles and As per RFP
n users have only those permissions necessary to perform responsibilities to explore more.
their assigned tasks. Only admins/users designated by
AIC are to be given privileged access.
2.13 Cloud Resource and Selected Bidder shall ensure that there should be
What will be the size of historical data and access
328 26 Network Traffic 2.13.10. historical data for resource utilization to resolve any As per RFP
mechanism for the same
Monitoring billing/ audit disputes if any.
Provisioning of Virtual
329 27 2.14 Provisioning of Virtual Machines (VM) Are these VMs other than migrated one…? As per RFP
Machines (VM)
Provisioning of Virtual
330 27 2.14 Provisioning of Virtual Machines (VM) If, yes then how many VMs are expected to be created As per RFP
Machines (VM)
Only Core business application & related databases may
Since high availability is required to be provisioned for be provisioned in High Availability mode at sole
331 27 2.14.7 all the VMs, we are assuming that all database nodes are discretion of AIC. The confirmation regarding
also to be provisioned in HA. Need clarification applicable VMs for HA mode will be shared with the
selected bidder.
Upon deployment of VMs, Applications & Servers, the
Selected Bidder must take full administrator access and
is responsible for performing additional configuration,
Administration,
332 28 2.15.1 security hardening, vulnerability scanning, application Need to more clarification on BIOS and Firmware…? As per RFP
Configuration & Training
installation, troubleshooting, hardening, patch/ upgrades
deployment, BIOS & firmware upgrade, DB patches/
upgrade, etc. , as, and when required
The Selected Bidder shall arrange training for AIC
Administration, personnel or nominated persons on proposed cloud
333 28 2.15.10 Does it require separate team for training. As per RFP
Configuration & Training platforms from OEM and Self-Service portal, with
respective certifications.
The Selected Bidder shall arrange training for AIC
Administration, personnel or nominated persons on proposed cloud
334 28 2.15.10 Number of Employee to whom training to be provided As per RFP
Configuration & Training platforms from OEM and Self-Service portal, with
respective certifications.
Network Interfaces & The Selected Bidder must ensure that cloud virtual Could you please provide more details on the expected
335 29 Segmentation of VMs & 2.17.1 machine is into separate network configuration of the separate network tenant and virtual As per RFP
DB Servers tenant and virtual LAN. LAN for the cloud virtual machines?
Network Interfaces & The Selected Bidder must ensure that cloud virtual Are there any security or isolation requirements that
336 29 Segmentation of VMs & 2.17.1 machine is into separate network need to be considered in the network tenant and virtual As per RFP
DB Servers tenant and virtual LAN. LAN setup?
Network Interfaces & The Selected Bidder must ensure that clouds VMs are How Cloud Servers and Office locations systems will be
337 29 Segmentation of VMs & 2.17.10 accessible from all AICL locations through private internet connected. It require more information about As per RFP
DB Servers network. the interconnectivity.
The Selected Bidder shall provide Cloud services that
support auditing with features
such as what request was made, the source IP address
2.18 Security of VMs, Are you expecting any reporting using data set
338 30 2.18.6. from which the request was As per RFP
Servers & Endpoints mentioned in this point ?
made, who made the request, when it was made, login
attempts, login failure, software
installation attempts, security logs, and so on.
The Selected Bidder shall provide backup solution
(Disk based backups), covering but
not limited to daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and
annual backup functions (full Backup frequency and policies will be done as per final
339 30 2.19 Backup & Restoration 2.19.2. As per RFP
volume and incremental) for VM, DB, File system, proposed solution as per finalized requirement
Applications, data and software
maintained on the VMs, Servers and storage systems
using Enterprise Backup Solution
The solution must have the capability to copy or clone
Capability can be provided as per technical feasibility
VMs, Applications & Servers
340 30 2.19 Backup & Restoration 2.19.4. however additional cost will be bear for AIC as an As per RFP
for archiving, troubleshooting, restoration drill and
additional efforts
testing
The Selected Bidder shall configure, schedule, monitor
and manage backups of all the data including but not
What are the critical aspects that should be included in
limited to files, images, and databases as per the
341 30 Backup & Restoration 2.19.7 the backup and recovery plan, especially related to As per RFP
policy/procedure/plan finalized by AIC. The Backup
ensuring continuity of services in case of a disaster?
Policy and final schedule will be shared with selected
Bidder after RFP.
Security of VMs, Servers All VMs, Applications & Servers should have Host & Any Gateway which might be used to control Network
342 30 2.18.2 As per RFP
& Endpoints Network based Security Software. traffice.
Security of VMs, Servers All VMs, Applications & Servers should have Host &
343 30 2.18.2 How traffice of all Offices will be controlled. As per RFP
& Endpoints Network based Security Software.
The Selected Bidder shall provide Disk-Based Backup-

as-a-Service for entire AIC Cloud Infrastructure. The
Services must be sized as per AIC’s current Backup
344 30 Backup & Restoration 2.19.1 require more details on current backup schedule. As per RFP
schedule and considering growth for the Contract
Period. All Backups must be encrypted as per
Industry standards
The Selected Bidder shall perform Restoration Drill/ Drill can be done for agreed defined agreed interval of
345 31 2.19 Backup & Restoration 2.19.13 testing quarterly or on duration However, demand basis drill can be done on As per RFP
demand basis with the permission of AIC. via change management process
Are you using O365 or Gsuite mailing solution which
346 33 Active Directory & DNS 2.2 Active Directory & DNS MS O365
are cloud based
CSP would be responsible for Disaster Recovery
Are there specific recovery time objectives (RTOs) and
Disaster Recovery (DR) Services to ensure business continuity of operations in
347 34 2.21.1 recovery point objectives (RPOs) that we need to adhere As per RFP
Site the event of failure of primary DC and meet the RPO
to?
and RTO requirements.
RPO should be less than or equal to 15 minutes and Is definition for RPO and RTO is common for all
2.21 Disaster Recovery
348 34 2.21.2 RTO shall be less than or equal to components/applications or can be bifurcated based on As per RFP
(DR) Site
1 hour complexity ?
DR must be configured minimum at 25% of production
data center capacity from resource perspective and
storage at 100%. DR Database Storage shall be
replicated on an ongoing basis and shall be available in
Disaster Recovery (DR) full (100% of the Primary DC) as per designed RTO/ What, when moved to DR. How SLA to be maintained.
349 34 2.21.6 As per RFP
Site RPO and replication strategy. The storage should be Need more clarification.
100% of the capacity of the Primary Data Centre site.
This requirement could be carried out manually/or
automatically subject to meeting RPO/ RTO
requirements.
What percentage of infra we need to consider for other
350 34 2.21 Disaster Recovery (DR) Site environment (Dev/Test, UAT/Training) baselining with As per RFP
Site
production infrastructure components and Services.
There shall be either synchronous (active – active) or
asynchronous replication of data between Primary DC Our understanding Public Network and connectivity
351 34 2.21.4 and DR and the CSP will be responsible for sizing and amongh Offices will be taken care by AIC. Need As per RFP
Site
providing the DC-DR replication link so as to meet the clarification
RTO and the RPO requirements.
2.21 Disaster Recovery The service provider should offer dashboard to monitor What kind of dashboard you are looking. It can be
352 35 2.21.13 As per RFP
(DR) Site RPO and RTO discussed to address further
Regulatory / Compliance Requirements: The services
should comply with all the
Regulatory/ Compliance guideline of the AICs/
Regulatory authority in India like IRDAI,
MEITY, Cert-IN, MCA etc. AIC has the right to change
Managed Security the compliance/ guideline at any
Are there specific industry regulations, apart from
Services (MSS) & point of time and the service provider has to comply
353 36 2.24.5 IRDAI guidelines, that the cloud infrastructure and As per RFP
Security Operations with the guidelines. In addition to
services should comply with (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA)?
Centre (SOC) above, the Bidder would be responsible to adhere the
IRDAI Information and Cyber
Security Guidelines, 2023 as mentioned on IRDAI
Website
(https://irdai.gov.in/document-
detail?documentId=3314780).
Regulatory / Compliance Requirements: The services
should comply with all the
Regulatory/ Compliance guideline of the AICs/
Regulatory authority in India like IRDAI,
MEITY, Cert-IN, MCA etc. AIC has the right to change
Managed Security the compliance/ guideline at any
Services (MSS) & point of time and the service provider has to comply How does the bidder ensure ongoing compliance with
354 36 2.24.5 As per RFP
Security Operations with the guidelines. In addition to these regulations throughout the contract period?
Centre (SOC) above, the Bidder would be responsible to adhere the
IRDAI Information and Cyber
Security Guidelines, 2023 as mentioned on IRDAI
Website
(https://irdai.gov.in/document-
detail?documentId=3314780).
The Selected Bidder shall store all logs (event, security,
What Policy need to implemented post 6 months ? Shall
etc.) for minimum 6
355 38 SOC controls 2.24.17 we consider for purge or any other policies needs to be As per RFP
months. Also, Selected Bidder shall scale the storage if
implemented
the existing storage space is full
The Selected Bidder shall store all logs (event, security, Can you provide any additional details on the scalability
etc.) for minimum 6 requirements of storage? For instance, is there an
356 38 SOC controls 2.24.17 As per RFP
months. Also, Selected Bidder shall scale the storage if expected storage growth rate, or any specific criteria for
the existing storage space is full when we should scale up the storage?
Are there any specific dependencies or requirements that
357 39 Migration approach 2.25 Migration approach need to be addressed before starting the migration As per RFP
process?
Detailed Risk Management Plan that will identify
What risk management strategies are expected to be in
potential risks, set out possible
place for identifying, assessing, and mitigating risks
358 40 Migration Planning 2.25.2 mitigation approaches, and identify specific tasks the As per RFP
associated with the cloud migration and ongoing
Selected Bidder shall undertake
operations?
to help avoid all risks connected with the Migration.
Detailed Risk Management Plan that will identify
potential risks, set out possible
Are there any specific risk assessment methodologies or
359 40 Migration Planning 2.25.2 mitigation approaches, and identify specific tasks the As per RFP
tools that should be utilized?
Selected Bidder shall undertake
to help avoid all risks connected with the Migration.
Does it require dedicated resources at each Location.
360 41 Help Desk 2.26 Help Desk As per RFP
Further clarification require.
The Selected Bidder shall provide AIC with
methodologies/ tools to demonstrate
ability to meet the performance requirements stated in
the proposed contractual SLAs.
Performance/ SLA Existing tool can be used for SLA measurement or new
361 42 2.27.3 A ticketing tool, for creating/ managing incidents & As per RFP
management tool will be required ?
service-related requests, must be
provided as mentioned in Scope of Work. The tool must
have a dashboard to monitor
all open & closed tickets.
1. What type of testing is expected to be done by the
2.3.1.1.6
Bidder to include software tools for testing as part of the bidder, specifically from mobile app perspective (if any)
362 42 SOW- Tech Mobile As per RFP
scope. Handset for testing shall be of AIC. – functional, quality testing, load, etc. Please provide
application
details for each.
2.3.1.1.6 2. It is expected that use cases will be provided by AIC
Bidder to include software tools for testing as part of the
363 42 SOW- Tech Mobile for various testing as AIC would be aware of all the use As per RFP
scope. Handset for testing shall be of AIC.
application cases they want to have mobile app for. Please confirm.
2.3.1.1.6
Bidder to include software tools for testing as part of the 3. Please provide details of the handsets like Model
364 42 SOW- Tech Mobile As per RFP
scope. Handset for testing shall be of AIC. details, OS, resolution, etc.
application
2.27
PERFORMA
Uptime: Uptime shall mean the time-period for which
NCE / SLA
the specified services/ components with
2.27 PERFORMANCE / MANAGEM
365 43 specified technical and service standards are available to Uptime is related to devices only or Application as well As per RFP
SLA MANAGEMENT ENT->
AIC. Uptime, in percentage, of any
Service
component (Non-IT & IT) can be calculated as:
Request (SR)
Management:
Response Time: Response time refers to how quickly
Selected Bidder’s support team will Could you specify the expected response times and
Service Request (SR)
366 43 2.27 acknowledge with suggested solution to an issue being support levels for addressing technical issues and As per RFP
Management
raised as ticket, email, or other methods incidents related to the cloud infrastructure?
with subsequent status updates in email/ tool dashboard.
Response Time: Response time refers to how quickly
Selected Bidder’s support team will
Service Request (SR) Are there any requirements regarding 24/7 support or on-
367 43 2.27 acknowledge with suggested solution to an issue being As per RFP
Management call availability for critical incidents?
raised as ticket, email, or other methods
with subsequent status updates in email/ tool dashboard.
Should the mobile app be developed in English as well
2.3.1.3.1
as Hindi or only English? If both, then how and where is
General
368 43 Scope of Work The System to be developed in English & Hindi. AIC expecting to select the language option by the end As per RFP
Guidelines
user? (eg. As soon as application launches, or on login
(g)
screen, etc.)
To meet statutory and MIS requirements, archiving and
easy retrieval of data along with supporting
documents/ attachments is required for 3 years. The
bidder must ensure that the Solutions provide a data
3.2 Data Are you looking for bespoke solution or a COTS
369 44 3.2 Data Archival archiving capability, with support for implementing As per RFP
Archival solution?
archival policies. The Solutions should also be able to
access archived data for on-line inquiry and reporting as
and when required. Bidder shall provide a policy
document for archival along with the solution.
The Solutions should be capable of enabling the Please mention the Audit standards and compliance
3.4 Auditor
370 44 3.4 Auditor Access financial audit (both internal and statutory) through the orders. System can be design as per the requirement and As per RFP
Access
system. technical feasibility
Bidder shall ensure that the Solutions shall be modular
in nature, i.e. it is possible for AIC to implement
3.5 modules/ add-ons, which are not implemented as part of Modular solution can be discussed based on
371 44 3.5 Modularity As per RFP
Modularity this project, at a later date, without any technical component/application instead of general approach
difficulties. Integration between such modules with the
modules already implemented should be seamless.
The Solutions should be capable of generating alerts/ What kind of notifications are these i.e. Email & SMS or
3.7 Alerts/
372 44 3.7 Alerts/ Notifications notifications in various processes. These alerts/ any other medium ? Is this requirement bespoke or any As per RFP
Notifications
notifications could be time based or event based. third party solution integration ?
The Solutions should be capable of generating alerts/
3.7 Alerts/ What would be nature of User communication? Text or
373 44 3.7 Alerts/ Notifications notifications in various processes. These alerts/ As per RFP
Notifications Image or audio or a combination of all ?
notifications could be time based or event based.
Selected Bidder shall provide support to the application Based on this statement we are assuming that, existing
3.8.1 Data vendor to migrate the data from existing on premises application team will be accountable for Data migration
374 45 Data Migration As per RFP
Migration Applications/infra to new proposed cloud solution and bidder just need to provide support. We need to
before Go-Live at no extra cost to AIC. understand detailed scope of support here
Selected Bidder shall provide support to the application
3.8.1 Data vendor to migrate the data from existing on premises Do you have any requirement for specific type of tools
Migration Applications/infra to new proposed cloud solution or decision will be taken based on bidder's proposal
before Go-Live at no extra cost to AIC.
Selected Bidder shall provide support to the application
vendor to define the data conversion process in
technical proposal which should include (but not be Do you have any preferred tools for the this point ? Also
3.8.2 Data
376 45 Data Migration limited to) the conversion standards, conversion specific scope of work would be required for efforts As per RFP
Migration
approach, data cleaning approach, environment analysis, estimation.
data quality strategy, conversion plan, data validation
and integrity checks post migration etc.
Do we need to develop a new tool specifically for this
3.8.8 Data Support in Developing Data Extraction tools (to extract task or there is any proposed existing tool to utilize
Migration data from existing application). same. If the requirement is for a bespoke tool then it
may take extra time on top.
The Company expects the selected bidder to support the
3.8.12 Data What kind of customer accounts data is expected to be
378 46 Data Migration application vendor in migrating the entire data As per RFP
Migration migrated
pertaining to the customer accounts.
3.8.12 Data What are the legal obligations to be fulfilled for such
Migration migration?
3.8.12 Data Can the customer under any circumstances object to the
Migration data strategy and tools used?
The bidders must factor licenses for all suitable database
licenses and other related software required
3.9 Database What kind of database is AIC looking to procure?
for the proper functioning of the existing AIC
3.9 Database and other and other Would it be the usual RDBMS or other non RDBMS
381 46 Applications in line with the RFP requirements. Bidders As per RFP
software licenses software database systems. Can we be specific ? Please refer
will be required to factor any database licenses proposed
licenses annexure to related this requirement.
and required for the functioning of the
solution
We would request "T" to be date of contact signing date
5. Project Milestone 1 - Issuance of Purchase Order to successful
382 63 5. Project Timelines rather than Issuance of Purchase Order date. Please No change in RFP
Timelines Bidder "T" Purchase Order issuance by AIC
confirm.
Milestone 2 - Bidder On-boarding & Project Kick-Off
5. Project
383 63 5. Project Timelines T + 7days Please change it to T + 30 days No change in RFP
Timelines
Signed-off
Milestone 3:
Creation of environment for Lift & Shift of
SEWACORE Application on Cloud Infrastructure
5. Project
384 63 5. Project Timelines including Validation, Integration and related Please change it to T + 90 days No change in RFP
Timelines
documentation
T + 30 days
Signed-off & Reports
Milestone 4:
Migration, Reconfiguration, Customization, reporting of
current Application data from existing On-Premises to
5. Project
385 63 5. Project Timelines Cloud including enablement & configuration of security Please change it to T + 210 days No change in RFP
Timelines
& other services
T + 55 days
Signed-off & Migration Report
Milestone 5:
Production Cut-Over & Complete Go Live on Cloud
5. Project
386 63 5. Project Timelines Environment Please change it to T + 240 days No change in RFP
Timelines
T + 60 days
Signed-Off
Milestone 6:
5. Project Training
387 63 5. Project Timelines Please change it to T + 245 days No change in RFP
Timelines T + 60 days
Training report/Minutes
Please confirm that the standard reports coming from
CSP will be acceptable to AIC to meet below
requirement. No report will be customized.
• SLA Compliance Report

• Project Status Report
• Change Control Note and Report
• Server monitoring Report
• Issue/ Incident logs (category, severity and status of
Milestone 7:
5. Project call etc.)
388 63 5. Project Timelines Operation and Maintenance As per RFP
Timelines • Incidents escalated.
Post Go-Live
• Problem Management Report
• Business level reports to ensure compliance to all
types of regulations including compliance report
• Performance reports pertaining to Process and Memory
Management, monitoring CPU performance, monitoring
Memory performance, monitoring Input / Output
performance, etc.
• Any other report as requested by AIC (Please share the
list or format of the Reports mentioned/required here)
2. AIC at its sole discretion may alter (increase/decrease)
6. Payment
quantity or may remove item . The above BoM We would request AIC to remove this clause as the cost
6. Payment Schedule and Schedule and
389 64 represents no commitment towards usage as per BoM will be applicable for BOQ provided in the RFP. For any No change in RFP
Commercial Bid Format Commercial
and AIC has the right to leverage services as per change in quantity it will be chargeable on CR basis.
Bid Format
requirement
6. Payment
6. Payment Schedule and Schedule and 3. One Month is equivalent to 730 hours for purpose of Please confirm that the support is required for
390 64 As per RFP
Commercial Bid Format Commercial calculations in above BoM 24X7x365 days in a year.
Bid Format
6. Payment 11. In the event the rates of services varies between DC
6. Payment Schedule and Schedule and and DR, the lower unit rate shall be considered for Please remove this. The rates will be applicable as per
391 64 As per RFP
Commercial Bid Format Commercial invoicing by the Selected Bidder during the the rates mentioned in the commercial format.
Bid Format implementation of the scope of this RFP.
6. Payment 13. All compute OS and managed DB licenses (if
6. Payment Schedule and Schedule and applicable) shall be provided as part of monthly cost of All licenses and subscriptions will be quoted upfront as
392 65 As per RFP
Commercial Bid Format Commercial CSP as per format. License cost shall not be considered per CSP commercial modeling. Please confirm.
Bid Format as upfront cost in any manner by bidders.
1.
6.2 Payment CSP cost based on Actual Usage Generated Monthly
393 66 6.2 Payment Schedule The payment should be made on monthly basis. As per RFP
Schedule Invoice * (1- MSP Discount Quoted by bidder)
Quarterly
2.
6.2 Payment
394 66 6.2 Payment Schedule Manpower/Managed Services/Maintenance Cost The payment should be made on monthly basis. As per RFP
Schedule
Quarterly
3.
Provisioning and setup of Data Centre & DR, IT The payment terms proposed should be:
6.2 Payment Infrastructure installation, Network Connectivity, 1. 30% on design finalization
395 66 6.2 Payment Schedule As per RFP
Schedule Migration Cost as per scope of work defined in the RFP 2. 50% on completion of DC site
(One time cost) 3. 20% on completion of DR set
Upon Operational Acceptance & Sign-Off
4.
6.2 Payment
396 66 6.2 Payment Schedule Other Cost Please change it to Monthly As per RFP
Schedule
Quarterly
The unit cost of all services listed in BoM (in INR as
applicable as per commercial bid format declaration)
6.2 Payment cannot be higher than the quoted price during entire Please remove this clause as this is not acceptable. The
397 66 6.2 Payment Schedule No change in RFP
Schedule duration of bid. In case “quoted unit price for a service” cost will be applicable as per the commercial annexure.
and “public listed price of the service” is different,
lower of the two shall be applicable for payment by AIC.
In case service is not listed in BoM or a variation of
6.2 Payment
398 66 6.2 Payment Schedule service is not listed in BoM, the payments shall be made It will be treated as Change Request As per RFP
Schedule
6.2 Payment All payments will be made on Quarterly basis and in
399 66 6.2 Payment Schedule All payments to be made on Monthly basis As per RFP
Schedule INR only.
shall mean the time that the System is not in service due
to a
1.
scheduled activity as defined in this SLA. The
7. Service Level “Scheduled Business hours are same for all components/applications
400 67 scheduled maintenance time would not be during As per RFP
Agreement Maintenance or vary. Please specify
business hours. Further, scheduled maintenance time is
Time”
planned downtime with the prior
permission of AIC
Measured as the difference between If there is any delay in project timeline because of
7. Service Level a. Project
401 68 the agreed project timelines and the dependencies at AIC or 3rd party then It bidder must not As per RFP
Agreement Timeline
actual date of Project completion penalize.
7. AIC shall have the right to forfeit the performance
security or terminate the contract or both in any of the
following cases:
7. Service Please remove this clause.
7. Service Level a. Overall penalty applicable on bidder for any of the
402 68 Level Also please confirm that AIC will pay for all the services No change in RFP
Agreement Quarter exceeds 25% of the quarterly payment.
Agreement rendered till the date of termination.
b. Overall penalties applicable on bidder for both the
consecutive Quarters is above 15% of the quarterly
payment.
7. Service
7. Service Level Level The SLA parameters will be as per CSP standard SLA
403 68 SLA parameters As per RFP and corrigendum
Agreement Agreement parameters. Please confirm our understanding
c Penalities
The overall aggregate penalty including (a. Project
7. Service
Timeline; b. IT Infrastructure; c. Penalties)) applicable
7. Service Level Level Overall penalties (a. Project Timeline; b. IT
404 68 in a month or quarter should not exceed 5% of the As per RFP and corrigendum
Agreement Agreement Infrastructure; c. Penalties)
monthly invoice value or 5% of the quarterly invoice
c Penalities
value during the contract duration.
If the Bidder fails to achieve the completion of project
If the Bidder fails to achieve the completion of project within project timelines defined in RFP or agreed
7. Service within project timelines defined in RFP or agreed timelines for implementation, the payment to the bidder
7. Service Level Level timelines for implementation, the payment to the bidder will be liable for deduction @ 0.1% 1%of the Total
405 69 No change in RFP
Agreement Agreement will be liable for deduction @1% of the Total Purchase Purchase order from any subsequent invoice without
c Penalities order from any subsequent invoice without taxes for taxes for delay of each month or part thereof with
delay of each month or part thereof. maximum cap of 1% of the Total onetime setup cost as
per Commercial Annexure.
The Bidder shall ensure that the latest versions and
7. Service patches released for all the Infrastructure/Applications
7. Service Level Level by OEM should be deployed within 6 Months of its
406 70 Please remove the applicability of penalty on this. No change in RFP
Agreement Agreement release by OEM. If same has not deployed, 2% of
c Penalities Monthly Support Cost for that period may be levied as
penalty.
AIC shall reserve the right to perform root cause
7. Service
analysis (RCA) by its internal team(s) or engage external
7. Service Level Level Please remove this clause. RCA done by 3rd party
407 70 parties to perform the same. The Service Provider shall No change in RFP
Agreement Agreement should not be in the purview of the bidder.
cooperate with the team performing the procedures.
c Penalities
Decision taken by AIC for RCA performed shall be final.
9.11 Termination
(i) Termination for Cause: If the Successful Bidder is in
breach of the terms of the Agreement, or the terms of the
/Tender document/Purchase Order, AICIL may give
written notice of such breach to the Successful Bidder
and an opportunity to cure the breach within thirty (30) Please confirm that all the expenses or services
9.11
408 78 9.11 Termination business days or such lesser period as agreed between rendered till the date of termination will be paid by AIC No change in RFP
Termination
the parties. If such breach is not cured within such to bidder.
period, AICIL may immediately terminate the
Agreement by subsequent written notice to the
Successful Bidder which shall be without prejudice to
any liability, claims or damages due or accrued to AICIL
in lieu of Services provided
(ii) Termination Without Cause: Either Party may
terminate the Agreement at any time and for any reason
Please confirm that all the expenses or services
9.11 by providing sixty (60) days written notice to the other
409 78 9.11 Termination rendered till the date of termination will be paid by AIC No change in RFP
Termination Party. However, both the parties shall continue
to bidder.
performing their respective liabilities and obligations
during the notice period.
(iv) Effect of All the expenses or services rendered till the date of
410 78 (iv) Effect of Termination: To be added No change in RFP
Termination: termination will be paid by AIC to bidder.
The selected bidder, only after furnishing Performance
The selected bidder, only after furnishing Performance
Security of 3% 10% of the Contract Value valid for. The
Security of 10% of the Contract Value valid for. The
Performance Security shall be submitted within 30 days
Performance Security shall be submitted within 15 days
15 days from the issuance of work order the contract
from the issuance of work order by AIC which shall be
signing date by AIC which shall be valid for a period of
9.12 Earnest valid for a period of sixty days beyond the date of
9.12 Earnest Money sixty days beyond the date of completion of all
411 80 Money completion of all contractual obligations including No change in RFP
Deposit contractual obligations including warranty obligations of
Deposit warranty obligations of the selected bidder.
the selected bidder.
The EMD of the unsuccessful bidders shall be returned,
The EMD of the unsuccessful bidders shall be returned,
without any interest whatsoever, on or before 30 days
without any interest whatsoever, on or before 30 days
after the issue of work order and submission of
after the issue of work order and submission of
performance security.
performance security.
9.15 9.15.2. The amount of liquidated damages under this
9.15.2. The amount of liquidated damages under this
412 81 9.15 Liquidated Damages Liquidated Contract shall not exceed 5% 10% of the Onetime No change in RFP
Contract shall not exceed 10% of the total contract value.
Damages implementation cost total contract value.
9.15.3. The liquidated damages shall be applicable
9.15.3. The liquidated damages shall be applicable under the following circumstances:
9.15 under the following circumstances: (i) If the deliverables are not submitted as per schedule,
413 81 9.15 Liquidated Damages Liquidated (i) If the deliverables are not submitted as per schedule, the Bidder shall be liable to pay 0.1% of the total cost of No change in RFP
Damages the Bidder shall be liable to pay 1% of the total cost of the onetime services for delay of each week or part
the services for delay of each week or part thereof. thereof with maximum LD capped to 1% of the onetime
services cost as per Commercial annexure.
(ii) If the deliverables are not acceptable to AIC, and
(ii) If the deliverables are not acceptable to AIC, and defects are not rectified to the satisfaction of AIC within
defects are not rectified to the satisfaction of AIC within 30 60 days of the receipt of the notice, the Bidder shall
9.15
30 days of the receipt of the notice, the Bidder shall be be liable for Liquidated Damages for an amount equal to
414 82 9.15 Liquidated Damages Liquidated No change in RFP
liable for Liquidated Damages for an amount equal to 0.1% 1% of the total cost of the Services for every week
Damages
1% of the total cost of the Services for every week or or part thereof for the delay with maximum LD capped
part thereof for the delay. to 5% of the onetime services cost as per Commercial
annexure.
This will be done on chargeable basis post expiration of
9.37 Exit The bidder shall provide uninterrupted services on
415 89 9.37 Exit Management the contract or AIC has to renew/extend the contract on As per RFP
Management existing terms till an alternate solution is available.
timely basis.
Before the expiry of the exit management period, the
bidder shall deliver to AIC or its nominated vendor all AIC has to initiate this on timely basis as per Exit
9.37 Exit new or updated materials from the categories set out in management plan. Any extension beyond exit
416 89 9.37 Exit Management As per RFP
Management point (1) above, and shall not retain any copies thereof, management plan will be on chargeable basis as per
except that the bidder shall be permitted to retain one mutually agreed T&Cs
copy of such materials for archival purposes only.
10.
Miscellaneou
s Terms and
Conditions 10.1.10. Subject to the above and unless otherwise 10.1.10. Subject to the above and unless otherwise
10. Miscellaneous Terms
and stated in this Contract, the maximum aggregate liability stated in this Contract, the maximum aggregate liability
417 91 and Conditions and No change in RFP
Provisions of the Bidder shall be, regardless of the form of claim, of the Bidder shall be, regardless of the form of claim,
Provisions
10.1 the total contract value. 10% of the total contract value.
Miscellaneou
s terms and
conditions:
11.11 2 2
11.11 Annexure K: Annexure K: The Cloud Service Provider (CSP) should have been The Cloud Service Provider (CSP) should have been
418 111 Confirmation of Confirmation offering cloud services (IaaS/PaaS) from at least last 2 offering cloud services (IaaS/PaaS) from at least last 2 No change in RFP
Eligibility Criteria of Eligibility financial years with average annual turnover of at least financial years with average annual turnover of at least
Criteria Rs. 200 crores in India as on date of bid submission. Rs. 200 500 crores in India as on date of bid submission.
11.11 5 The bidder should have a minimum annual turnover of 5 The bidder should have a minimum annual turnover of
11.11 Annexure K: Annexure K: Rs. 20 Crore per year during the last three financial Rs. 20 750 Crore per year during the last three financial
419 111 Confirmation of Confirmation years i.e. 2020-21 2021-22 and 2022-23. This must be years i.e. 2020-21 2021-22 and 2022-23. This must be No change in RFP
Eligibility Criteria of Eligibility the individual company turnover and not of any group of the individual company turnover and not of any group of
Criteria companies. companies.
11.11
11.11 Annexure K: Annexure K:
The bidder should be CMMi Level 5 company as on
420 111 Confirmation of Confirmation Criteria to be added No change in RFP
date of submission of RFP.
Eligibility Criteria of Eligibility
Criteria
Are there specific cost optimization strategies that
Cost Management and
421 NA NA General should be implemented to ensure efficient utilization of As per RFP
Billing
cloud resources and cost savings for AIC?
Can you elaborate on any cost allocation or tagging
Cost Management and
422 NA General requirements for tracking expenses related to cloud As per RFP
Billing
services and infrastructure?
Is there a strategy or preference for minimizing vendor
lock-in with the chosen cloud service provider? Should
423 NA Vendor Lock-in Mitigation NA General As per RFP
the solution be designed with multi-cloud capabilities or
any form of cloud-agnostic approach ?
Could you provide more information on how AIC
424 NA Vendor Lock-in Mitigation NA General envisions managing vendor dependencies and ensuring As per RFP
flexibility in the cloud environment?
How crucial is seamless integration with existing
systems during the migration process? Are there any
Integration with Existing
425 NA NA General specific integration challenges or considerations that As per RFP
Systems
need to be addressed?
Could you provide details on the existing systems that

Integration with Existing require integration and any preferred integration
426 NA NA General As per RFP
Systems methodologies?
How does AIC envision managing changes to the cloud
Change Management and
427 NA NA General infrastructure, especially regarding version control and As per RFP
Versioning
rollback strategies?
How does AIC envision managing changes to the cloud
Change Management and
428 NA NA General infrastructure, especially regarding version control and As per RFP
Versioning
rollback strategies?
Could you clarify the expected billing mechanism for
429 NA Billing and Payment NA General cloud services in both Fixed and On-Demand models? Is As per RFP
there a preferred payment structure or method?
The Selected Bidder shall provide backup solution Please confirm if bidder need to provide "Enterprise
430 2.19.2 / Pg 30 2.19.2 / Pg 30 (full volume and incremental) for VM, DB, File system, Refer Pre-Bid Query response to S. No 64
Requst to remove this clause as you have already DC &
Backup data from DC must be copied to another facility
DR. Keeping 3rd copy with bidder will not solve any
of the Selected Bidder (offsite: except DC & DR)
2.19.23 / Pg 2.19.23 / Pg technical purpose.
431 monthly. The report and location for the same must also Refer Pre-Bid Query response to S. No 65
32 32
Copy of Certificate of Incorporation or Certified copy of
Partnership Deed As CSP need to meet the criteria of 200 crores of annual
Letter from Statutory Auditors / Certificate from turnover, document proof to be modified as :
432 4.21.1/ Pg 55 4.21.1/ Pg 55 Chartered Accountant on their letterhead mentioning the " Letter from Statutory Auditors / Certificate from Refer Pre-Bid Query response to S. No 66
annual revenue from Provisioning Cloud Services in Chartered Accountant on their letterhead mentioning the
India. annual revenue of Rs. 200 Crores in India"
Point 4 & Point 4 & Request to define the RTO of 120 minutes & RPO of 30
433 Point 5 / Page Point 5 / No Target performance has been define. minutes post confirmation of declaration of "Disaster" Refer Pre-Bid Query response to S. No 67
69 Page 69 by AIC management/or SPOC.
Request to modify the clause:
All CSP services should be native to CSP’s cloud
Annexure 1 - Annexure 1 - All CSP services should be native to CSP’s cloud
434 marketplace/bidder provided service in TQ/BOQ with Refer Pre-Bid Query response to S. No 68
1.1 / Pg 1 1.1 / Pg 1 environment.
Request to modify the clause:

The CSP must offer operating systems (Linux, RHEL,
Annexure 1 - Annexure 1 - The CSP/Bidder must offer operating systems (Linux,
435 Windows) for the VMs for both reserved and on demand Refer Pre-Bid Query response to S. No 69
2.1.1 / Pg 2 2.1.1 / Pg 2 RHEL, Windows) for the VMs for both reserved and on
VMs.
demand VMs.
Request to modify the clause as :
The CSP/bidder should provide/support of relational
The CSP should provide/support of relational database database service with enterprise support (like but not
service (like but not limited to Oracle DB, MySQL, limited to Oracle DB, MySQL, Windows SQL as
Annexure 1 - Annexure 1 - SQL, Windows SQL as applicable) provided as a native applicable) provided as a cloud service enabling
2.1.2 / Pg 4 2.1.2 / Pg 4 cloud service (and not marketplace) enabling handling handling of routine database tasks such as provisioning,
of routine database tasks such as provisioning, patching, patching, backup, recovery, failure detection, and repair
backup, recovery, failure detection, and repair etc. etc.
Annexure 1 - Annexure 1 - Compression and Deduplication: The CSP managed File Request to remove this clause as it is Internal to CSP
2.1.3 / Pg 4 2.1.3 / Pg 4 System should support compression and deduplication. internal architecture and solution.
Annexure 1 - Annexure 1 - The native security module should have ability to The native security module should have ability to
2.1.3 / Pg 8 2.1.3 / Pg 8 provide high availability and load balancing. provide high availability with 99.9% SLA with
Request to add below point under "Important note" in
commerical template:
The CSP should offer on-demand pricing, no Reserved
instance(RI) prices will be accepted. Reserved Instance
Annexure 2 - Annexure 2 -
will be considered non compliance unless specified in
439 Bill of Bill of Usage - on demand Refer Pre-Bid Query response to S. No 73
BOQ.
Material Material
It seems typo.
Please make " Compute Services - Linux Red Hat
Enterprise (RHEL) OS - Usage -1 year Reserved
440 Bill of Bill of 3rd & 4th Line item Refer Pre-Bid Query response to S. No 74
Instance" as
Material Material
Compute Services - Linux/ Red Hat Enterprise (RHEL)
OS - Usage -1 year Reserved Instance"
Request to modify the clause
The CSP should offer content delivery network service
"The CSP/Marketplace should offer content delivery
Annexure 1 - Annexure 1 - to speed up distribution of static and dynamic web
441 network service to speed up distribution of static and Refer Pre-Bid Query response to S. No 75
2.1.4 / Pg 6 2.1.4 / Pg 6 content. CSPs should have content delivery network
dynamic web content. CSPs/Marketplace should have
edge locations in India.
Annexure 1 - Annexure 1 - The native security module should have ability to The native security module should have ability to
2.1.3 / Pg 8 2.1.3 / Pg 8 provide high availability and load balancing. provide high availability with 99.9% SLA with
Annexure 2 - Annexure 2 - Managed file system with high availability1. Should be Request to modify as :
443 Bill of Bill of SSD based storage Managed file System/bidder supported system with high Refer Pre-Bid Query response to S. No 77
Material Material 2. Should support both SMB and NFS protocols. availablity.
Annexure 2 - Annexure 2 - Request to modify as :
Managed File System-Backup - Should have backup of
444 Bill of Bill of Managed file System Backup /Bidder supported solution Refer Pre-Bid Query response to S. No 78
100% data stored in FileSystem
Material Material with high durability of backup.
Request to modify as :
445 Bill of Bill of Managed Active Directory Refer Pre-Bid Query response to S. No 79
Managed Active Directory / Bidder supported
Material Material
The selected bidder shall be required to migrate, host, for Lift & Shift exisring environment; Migration tool
support and maintain the operations of the cloud infra cosideration is required for which we request you to
and related functions. The existing system will be please share existing environment details below.
1.2 Purpose 1.2 Purpose
446 migrated (Lift & Shift) with all the customizations from 1) No of Environment such as (Prod, UAT, Dev, DR etc). Kindly refer corrigendum
of RFP of RFP
existing legacy platform and should be deployed on 2) No of VM's and Databases in each environment to be
latest generation (Standard x86 based) compatible Cloud migrated.
Infrastructure
The selected bidder shall be required to migrate, host,
support and maintain the operations of the cloud infra
Please confirm Whether all the applicaitons and DB
and related functions. The existing system will be
1.2 Purpose 1.2 Purpose VM's are running on VMWare 6.5 virtalization
447 migrated (Lift & Shift) with all the customizations from Current version being used is VMWare 6.7
of RFP of RFP environment?
latest generation (Standard x86 based) compatible Cloud
Infrastructure
Are you planning to upgrade Database and Forms &
Report. If yes,
1) Please share Source & Target Version of the
Database?
2) Please share Total no of Database environment and
1.3 Page no 1.3 Page no Transaction Data Store:- MySQL Enterprise Edition
448 Its size. As per scope of work defined in the RFP.
is 10 & 11 is 10 & 11 Oracle Business Intelligence (Existing solution)
3) Please share Source and Target version of the Forms
and Report
4) total No of Forms and Report.
5) Please o confirm whether all are stadalone OR in
cluster.
1.3 Page no 1.3 Page no DC H/W Details Will be Okay If we will Propose Cloud Native Key
449 May be provisioned.
is 12 is 12 Regarding HSM Management service instead of HSM?
1.4 Page no 1.4 Page no Assuming; Only cloud infra level Support will be
450 The selected bidder has to set up the existing As per scope of work defined in the RFP.
is 12 is 12 required.
connectivity with the SEWA systems to be shifted.
These need to be provisioned in the cloud as File
These are local servers where various AIC users access
1.8 Local 1.8 Local System Servers or equivalent service to meet the same Assuming; all the application servers standalone. Pls
451 departmental files and folders,which are to be migrated
Servers Servers functionality to users (included in Annexure 2, Bill of confirm.
to the cloud.
Materials).
2.1.9. In order to deliver the Scope, the selected bidder
1) The Bidder need to propose the Solution? OR AICIL
will ensure audit logging is enabled on all VMs,
2.1 will provide antivirus and Bidder need to managed ?
2.1 Managing network devices, security devices etc., and the logs are
Managing 2) Are currently Using AD and want to migrate the same
452 the cloud captured & stored. The bidder will ensure logs from As per scope of work defined in the RFP.
the cloud on Cloud? OR A cloud Native user and Domain
infrastructure devices like Anti-Virus, IPS, firewalls, Active Directory,
infrastructure management (IAM & IDS) will be okay?
VPN etc. and logs from the SEWA core application infra
3)
will be suitably integrated and stored
2.3.2. Proposed Solution should be compatible with
2.3 2.3 IPv4 and IPv6 both, and Selected Bidder shall provide
Infrastructure Infrastructure High-level architectural diagram showing different Assuming, MPLS Links and availability will be taken MPLS links and network connectivity are provided by a
453
Analysis and Analysis and layers of solution like Internet, ILL & MPLS care by AICIL. separate vendor.
Build Build Connectivity, Network, Security, Compute, Hardware,
Storage & Backup layers.
The Selected Bidder shall ensure that there is a set of IT
security management processes and tools to ensure
Please confirm Whehter Single biddler can front end
complete security of AIC Cloud solution. An IT security
2.24 Page no 2.24 Page no and can have Back to back with partner for SOC Service Kindly refer section "2.24 Managed Security Services
454 policy, framework, and operational guidelines as per
36 36 . (MSS) & Security Operations Centre (SOC)" of the RFP.
ISO 20000, ISO 27001, ISO 27017, ISO 27018, PCI-
DSS, SOC1, SOC2 and SOC3 must be maintained &
implemented by the Selected Bidder.
Kindly refer "1.3 Current InfoTech Project “SEWA”,
Please confirm whehter this solution will be migrated to point h, under The details of Security Components
455 h) Page no 14 h) Page no 14 Arc Sight SIEM cloud OR it will be continue on Premises with cloud implemented under Project “SEWA ” of the RFP.
integration Kindly refer section "2.24 Managed Security Services
(MSS) & Security Operations Centre (SOC)" of the RFP.
S.No 2 of S.No 2 of
Eligibility Eligibility
The Cloud Service Provider (CSP) should have been Please consider group company turnover. Definition of
Criteria to be Criteria to be
offering cloud services (IaaS/PaaS) from at least last 2 Group Company: A group as defined in Accounting
456 met by the met by the No change in RFP
financial years with average annual turnover of at least Standard (AS) 21 or the companies whose majority
CSP/Bidder CSP/Bidder
Rs. 200 crores in India as on date of bid shareholding is with the
and Page no and Page no
55 55
S.No 3 of S.No 3 of
The Cloud Service Provider (CSP)should have a For CSP and For competitive and vendor agnostic
positive net worth for any two years in the last three (3) consideration we request you to consider positive
Criteria to be Criteria to be
financial years in India.Net worth is to be calculated as networth of the bidder for the latest financial year and
457 met by the met by the No change in RFP
follows: Capital Funds (Paid up equity capital + Paid up we humbly seek ammendedment in the clause as
CSP/Bidder CSP/Bidder
preference shares + Free reserves) – (Accumulated follows:The CSP should have positive net worth* for the
balance of last financial year i.e. FY 2022-23.
55 55
S.No 4 of S.No 4 of
For bidder and For competitive and vendor agnostic
Criteria to be Criteria to be Bidder should have maintained a positive net-worth in
consideration we request you to consider positive
458 met by the met by the the last three financial years 2020-21 2021-22 and 2022- No change in RFP
networth of the bidder for the latest financial year and
CSP/Bidder CSP/Bidder 23.
we humbly seek ammendedment in the clause as follows:
56 56

Pre-Bid Query Response - Cloud Services RFP - 20102023

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Pre-Bid Query Response - Cloud Services RFP - 20102023

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AGRICULTURE INSURANCE COMPANY OF INDIA LIMITED

भारतीय कृिष बीमा कंपनी

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP) FOR CLOUD HOSTING AND SERVICES

Since high availability is required to be provisioned for

As per the table, maximum of 3% of monthly costs shall

Our understanding is that the Bidder needs to have the

Not more than 3% penalty shall be levied on the total

Uptime will be calculated at VM/node/service level at

Our understanding is that the Bidder needs to have the

Not more than 3% penalty shall be levied on the total

Uptime will be calculated at VM/node/service level at

Not more than 3% penalty shall be levied on the total

Uptime will be calculated at VM/node/service level at

"The CSP should provide/support of relational database

72 72 Security: Is there any existing security patch cycle

Also, mention that :

Kindly amend the scoring criteria as below:

The Bidder shall be responsible for provisioning of

The selected Bidder shall have automated monitoring

The Selected Bidder should ensure that all systemic

How does AIC expect knowledge transfer to be handled

The Selected Bidder shall provide a webpage and

The Selected Bidder shall provide a webpage and

The Selected Bidder shall provide tools and mechanism

The Selected Bidder shall provide Disk-Based Backup-

• SLA Compliance Report

Could you provide details on the existing systems that

Request to modify the clause:

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