tender audit ii

8/7/2019 Tender Audit II

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Last Date of Submission of Bid

By 03.00PM on 26 th April, 2010

TELECOM REGULATORY AUTHORITY OF INDIA

Mahanagar Doorsanchar Bhavan,Jawaharlal Nehru Marg (Old Minto Road),

New Delhi 110 002

TENDER DOCUMENT No. II (QOS AUDIT)

Audit and Assessment of Quality of Service


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Tender Document-II (QOS audit) Signature of authorized representative of bidder ii

CONTENTS

Sl Section Title Pageno.

1 Notice inviting tender 1

2 Section- I Tender Conditions and Instructions toBidders

3

3 Section- II Terms of Reference 15

4 Section- III Schedule for Financial Bid 37

5 Section- IV Technical Proposals Sample Formats 45

6 Annexure-I Format of Performance Bank Guarantee 51

7 Annexure-2A Details of Telecom Circle/Metro ServiceArea, service provider (licensees) andsubscriber base (Basic and Cellular Mobile

Telephone Service)

53

8 Annexure-2B Details of Broadband service provider(licensees) and subscriber base

61

9 Annexure-2C Details of Telephone Exchanges of serviceproviders providing basic telephone service(wireline)

62

10 Annexure-2D Details of MSCs of cellular mobiletelephone service providers

65


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Tender Document-II (QOS audit) Signature of authorized representative of bidder 1

TENDER DOCUMENT I I (QOS AUDIT)

INVITATION OF BIDS FOR AUDIT AND ASSESSMENT OFQUALITY OF SERVICE

Notice Inviting Tender

1. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, Mahanagar DoorsancharBhavan, Jawaharlal Nehru Marg (Old Minto Road), New Delhi 110 002invites sealed tender from companies/firms, (hereinafter referred to asaudit agency), who satisfy the following eligibility conditions for audit andassessment of quality of service, in terms of the benchmarks specified in The Standards of Quality of Service of Basic Telephone Service (Wireline)and Cellular Mobile Telephone Service Regulations, 2009 (7 of 2009)dated 20 th March, 2009 and Quality of service of Broadband ServiceRegulations, 2006 (11 of 2006) dated 6 th October, 2006 on Zonal basis(East Zone, West Zone, North Zone and South Zone), namely:-

(i) the audit agency should have a turnover of not less than rupees onecrore during the financial year 2008-09 and should have a minimumcumulative turnover of rupees three crores in the last threeconsecutive financial years for which audit has been completed;

(ii) the audit agency should have similar experience of at least three yearsin conducting audit /assessment of quality of service and shouldhave sufficient staff and infrastructure to carry out the audit andassessment of quality of service work as per the Terms of Reference;

(iii) the audit agency should have sufficient staff with telecom background

for carrying out the audit and assessment of quality of service andother technical activities as per the Terms of Reference.

2. (i) The Zones shall comprise of the following Telecom Circle/MetroService Areas.

North Zone : Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab,Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh-East and Uttar Pradesh-West(including Uttarakhand). For the cellular mobile telephone service theservice area of Delhi includes Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Noida and Gurgaon.

South Zone : Chennai, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamilnadu (excludingChennai) and Kerala.

West Zone : Mumbai, Maharashtra (including Goa and excludingMumbai), Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh (including Chattisgarh).

East Zone : Kolkata, West Bengal (including Andaman & Nicobar, Sikkimand excluding Kolkata), Bihar (including Jharkhand), Orissa, Assam andNorth East which includes Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizorum,Nagaland, Manipur and Tripura.

(ii) Details of the areas covered under each Telecom Circle/ Metro

Service Area are given in the tender document.


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3. The tender documents can be purchased on any working daybetween 10.00 AM to 3.00 PM in person or by post, from the SectionOfficer (QoS), TRAI, 5 th Floor, Mahanagar Door Sanchar Bhavan, JawaharLal Nehru Marg (Old Minto Road), New Delhi- 110002, on payment of Rs.500/- (rupees five hundred) by demand draft drawn on any scheduledbank in favour of TRAI payable at Delhi, with effect from 25 th March,2010 to 9 th April, 2010 . The Audit agencies shall submit technical aswell as financial bids in separate sealed covers. The bidder shallsubmit for both Technical and Financial bid one set of original bid markedas Original Bid along with 4 copies of the same marking as Copy No.1,Copy No.2, Copy No.3, Copy No.4. In the event of any discrepancybetween the copies, the Original shall govern. Each page of the tenderdocument is to be signed in token of the firms having read and acceptedthe terms and conditions given in the tender document. The name andaddress of the bidder should clearly appear on the envelope. The TenderNo. and date of Tender opening should also appear on the envelope.

4. An Audit agency can submit bids for one or more Zones but notmore than three Zones, in separate sealed covers. The bids in separatesealed covers for each Zone must be accompanied by earnest money of Rs.1,00,000/- (Rupees one lakh only) for each zone, as per the detailsgiven in clause 3.0 of the section-I of the tender document.

5. The bid, complete in all respects, should be submitted, not laterthan 3.00 PM on 26 th April, 2010, to Deputy Advisor (QoS), TelecomRegulatory Authority of India, Room No.521, 5 th Floor, MahanagarDoorsanchar Bhavan, Jawaharlal Nehru Marg (Old Minto Road), NewDelhi-110 002. The technical bid will be opened at 3.30 PM on 26 th April,2010. The bidders, if they so desire, may be present at the time of opening of the bids. A pre-tender conference will be held with theprospective bidders on 12 th April, 2010 at 3.00 PM in the Conferencehall of TRAI on 3 rd Floor, Mahanagar Doorsanchar Bhavan JawaharlalNehru Marg (Old Minto Road), New Delhi-110 002.

6. Unsealed bids or bids without the earnest money deposit shall besummarily rejected.

7. Late Bids: The bids received, either by post or in person, after the

due date and time for submission of bids shall be returned unopened.8. The audit agencies may be required to make a presentation on thetechnical aspects for which date(s) shall be advised separately.

9. No single bidder will normally be awarded work for more thantwo Zones. Where a single bidder emerges as successful bidder in threeZones, the choice of the two Zones for which work will be awarded to himshall rest with TRAI and shall be binding on such bidder. However, theAuthority reserves the right to award the work for more than two Zones toa successful bidder, at its discretion, if circumstances so warrant.

(S. C. Saxena)Deputy Advisor (QOS)


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SECTION-ITENDER CONDITIONS AND INSTRUCTIONS TO BIDDERS

1. Background

1.1 Telecom Regulatory Authority of India vide its Regulations TheStandards of Quality of Service of Basic Telephone Service(Wireline) andCellular Mobile Telephone Service Regulations,2009 (7 of 2009) dated20 th March, 2009 published in the Gazette of India Extraordinary Part-III-Section 4 dated 23 rd March, 2009, has laid down the `Quality of Service'parameters applicable to the basic telephone service (wireline) andcellular mobile telephone service. A copy of the said regulations isavailable at TRAIs website www.trai.gov.in. These Regulations areapplicable to all the Basic Service Operators/ Unified Access ServiceProviders and Cellular Mobile Telephone Service providers, includingBSNL and MTNL.

1.2 Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, vide its Quality of Service forBroadband Service Regulations, 2006 dated 6 th Oct. 2006 (11 of 2006)published in the Gazette of India Extraordinary Part-III-Section 4 dated10 th Oct. 2006, has laid down the `Quality of service' parametersapplicable to the broadband services. A copy of the said regulations isavailable at TRAIs website www.trai.gov.in. These Regulations areapplicable to all the Internet Service providers, Basic Service providers,Unified Access Service Providers and Cellular Mobile Telephone ServiceProviders including BSNL and MTNL providing broadband services.

1.3 S.N.(i) to (xii) under sub-regulation (1) of regulation 3, pertaining toBasic Telephone Service (wireline), and S.No. (i) to (x) under subregulation (1) of regulation 5, pertaining to Cellular Mobile TelephoneService, of the Standards of Quality of Service of Basic TelephoneService(Wireline) and Cellular Mobile Telephone Service Regulations, 2009(7 of 2009) dated the 20 th March, 2009, published in the Gazette of IndiaExtraordinary Part-III-Section 4 dated the 23 rd March, 2009 and Sl (i)to (viii) of regulation 3 of Quality of Service of Broadband ServiceRegulations, 2006 (11 of 2006) have laid down the benchmarks for theparameters on Quality of service to be achieved by the service providers.

2. Clarification of Tender Document and Pre-Tender Conference

2.1 A prospective bidder, requiring any clarification on the tenderdocument shall submit in writing the request for any clarification(s) notlater than 4.00 PM of 9 th April, 2010 to Deputy Advisor (QoS),

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, 5 th Floor, Mahanagar DoorsancharBhavan, Jawaharlal Nehru Marg (Old Minto Road), New Delhi-110 002(FAX No.011-23213036). Copies of the query (without identifying thesource) and clarifications by TRAI shall be sent to all the prospectivebidders who have purchased the Tender document.

2.2 Any clarification issued by TRAI in response to a query raised byprospective bidders shall form an integral part of tender document and it


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may amount to an amendment of relevant clauses of the tenderdocument.

2.3 The bidders are required to keep a watch on TRAIs Website www.trai.gov.in for any amendment to the tender document or forclarifications in response to the queries raised by the bidders up to a day

prior to the last date for submission of bids. TRAI reserves the right toreject any bids if the bids are submitted without taking into account theseamendments/ clarifications. Further, the prospective bidders shall befully responsible for downloading of the amendments, if any made in thetender document and clarifications, if any issued by TRAI and TRAIaccepts no responsibility whatsoever in this regard.

2.4 The request for clarification received as per para 2.1 above shall be,to the extent possible, clarified in the pre-tender conference. The pre-tender conference will be held with the prospective audit agencies, fortechnical discussion/ clarifications on technical and other mattersregarding terms and conditions of the tender document. This conference

will be held on 12 th April, 2010 at 3.00 PM i n the Conference Room of TRAI located on the 3 rd Floor, Mahanagar Doorsanchar Bhavan, NewDelhi 110 002. As a result of the discussion in this pre-tenderconference, if any modifications to the tender document are considerednecessary, suitable corrigenda/addenda to the tender document will beissued. A copy of such corrigenda/addenda will be sent to eachprospective bidder who was issued the tender documents. The prospectiveaudit agency should, on their own, attend the said conference without

waiting for any further communication.

3. Earnest Money Deposit (EMD)

3.1 The prospective audit agency shall submit along with their offer abank draft for a sum of Rs.1,00,000 (Rupees one lakh only) drawn on anyscheduled bank in favour of TRAI payable at Delhi as earnest money foreach Zone. Any bid not accompanied by earnest money shall besummarily rejected. The EMD shall be submitted with the Technical Bid.

The earnest money shall be refunded to the unsuccessful bidders afterfinalisation of the tender. The EMD will be returned to the successfulbidder after signing of the contract.

3.2 The EMD may be forfeited in any of the following circumstances :-

(a) If the bidder withdraws his bid during the period of validity of bids.

(b) In the case of successful bidder, if the bidder fails:(i) to sign the Contract; or(ii) to furnish Performance Bank Guarantee in accordance

with Clause 9 of this Section.

4. Eligibility

4.1 The companies/firms (hereinafter referred to as audit agency) whosatisfy the following conditions are eligible for bidding, namely:


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(i) the audit agency should have a turnover of not less than

rupees one crore during the financial year 2008-09 andshould have a minimum cumulative turnover of rupees threecrores in the last three consecutive financial years for whichaudit has been completed;

(ii) the audit agency should have similar experience of at leasttwo years in conducting audit /assessment of Quality of Service and should have sufficient staff and infrastructure tocarry out the audit and assessment of Quality of Service asper the Terms of Reference; and

(iii) the audit agency should have sufficient staff with telecombackground for carrying out the audit and assessment of Quality of Service and other technical activities as per the

Terms of Reference.

4.2 The audit agency should submit documentary evidence regardingfulfillment of the above eligibility conditions including the income taxclearance/ IT Certificate and PAN Number..5. Terms of Reference

The Terms of Reference for audit and assessment of Quality of Service provided by service providers is given in Section-II .

6. Schedule for Financial Bid

Schedule for Financial Bid is available at Section-III. The FinancialBid shall include all levies, duties and taxes, including service tax.

7. Technical Proposal

Standard formats for technical proposals are given in Section-IV .All the necessary details are required to be filled by the audit agency andsubmitted before the last date and time of submission.

8. Last date (due date) for submission of bids

The bid should be submitted not later than 03.00 PM on 26 th April, 2010. Any bid received after the specified date shall be rejected andreturned unopened to the bidder.

9. Performance Bank Guarantee Bond

9.1 The selected audit agency shall furnish a Performance BankGuarantee in the proforma given at Annexure-1 from any ScheduledBank in India within 15 (fifteen) days from the date of receipt of the letter of acceptance by the audit agency, for an amount

equivalent to 10% (ten per cent) of the value of the contract beforesigning of the contract. In case the furnishing of an acceptablePerformance Bank Guarantee is delayed by the audit agency beyond theafore-mentioned period, TRAI may cancel the said letter of acceptance


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and forfeit the Earnest Money Deposit (EMD) made by the audit agency.Initially, the bank guarantee(s) shall be valid for a period of one year. Theaudit agency, on its own, shall extend the validity period of the bankguarantee(s) on similar terms at least one month prior to the date of itsexpiry without any demand or notice from TRAI. The bank guaranteesshall be kept valid by the audit agency, for an extended period of sixmonths beyond the period of agreement. Any failure to do so, shallamount to violation of the terms of the agreement and entitle TRAI toencash the bank guarantee(s) and to convert it into a cash security

without any reference to the audit agency at its risk and cost. No interestor compensation whatsoever shall be payable by TRAI on suchencashment. On satisfactory completion of the contract in all respects,the Performance Bank Guarantee bond shall be returned to the auditagency.

9.2 In case the contract period is extended by one year to cover auditand assessment work for one more year, the audit agency shall submit,

within 15 (fifteen) days of intimation about such extension by TRAI, afresh (second) Performance Bank Guarantee for an amount equivalent to10% (ten per cent) of the value of the contract for the extended period insimilar manner and shall also extend the validity of such second bankguarantee one month before its expiry in the same manner as indicated inclause 9.1 above.

9.3 Without prejudice to its rights to terminate the contract and topursue any other remedy available to it under the law, TRAI may forfeitfull or part of the Performance Bank Guarantee in case

(i) the audit agency fails to carry out the assigned task as perthe terms and conditions specified in the tender documentand contract agreement; or

(ii) the report is not as per the format approved by TRAI; or(iii) the report contains information, which is found to befactually incorrect or materially wrong by TRAI.

10. TRAIs right to accept or reject a bid withoutassigning any reason

TRAI reserves the right to accept or reject any bid without assigning

any reason.

11. Evaluation of the Bid

11.1 The bids shall be evaluated based on both techno-commercial andfinancial considerations. The audit agency is required to provide thefollowing information/ documents along with the technical bid, namely:-

(i) a brief note indicating how the audit agency is equipped toperform the task, particularly their manpower andinfrastructure capability;

(ii) past experience of audit agency in undertaking works of similarnature as given in the Terms of Reference in Section-II;


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(iii) profile of key personnel to be engaged for the work given in the

Terms of Reference; and

(iv) financial capability.

11.2 The Technical Bid will be technically evaluated giving dueconsideration to the audit agencys conformity with the tender conditions,its capability to perform the assignment, past experience in carrying out

works of similar nature, profile of personnel to be engaged for thisassignment and financial capability. The audit agencies may be called tomake presentation to the tender evaluation committee constituted for thispurpose. The audit agency shall furnish the clarifications/ detailedexplanations, if sought, on the technical proposals by TRAI or tenderevaluation committee.

11.3 The Financial Bids of only those bidders who qualify in the

evaluation of the Technical Bids, will be opened and evaluated giving dueconsideration to the total quoted price on Zonal basis, i.e., as a packagecovering all three services, viz, Basic Telephone Service (Wireline), CellularMobile Telephone Service and Broadband service in all serviceareas/circles in respective Zone. Total quoted price for a zone only will betaken for ranking of bids from lowest quoted to highest quoted.Arithmetical errors shall be rectified on the following basis:-

If there is a discrepancy between words and figures, the amount in words shall prevail. If there is discrepancy in the total arrived atand the rates quoted for each service area of a zone, the total shallbe corrected taking into account the rates quoted for the serviceAreas within the zone. If the bidder does not accept the correctionof the errors, his bid shall be rejected.

11.4 In situations where lowest quoted rates (L1) of two or more biddersfor a Zone are same, in such cases fresh round of financial bidding fromsuch bidders shall be called. The lowest valid offer shall be declaredsuccessful for signing of the contract.

12.

Validity of Contract The contract for undertaking audit and assessment of Quality of

Service will be valid for a period of 18 (eighteen) months from the date of signing of the agreement, covering audit and assessment of Quality of Service of (i) Cellular Mobile Telephone Service provided by all CellularMobile Service Providers (CMSPs)and Unified Access Service Providers inall the service areas/ circles in the contracted Zone in every quarter forone year i.e. in each service area in the contracted Zone, the audit andassessment of Quality of Service of all such service providers have to beundertaken four times in a year; and (ii) Basic Telephone Service (wireline)

and Broadband Service provided by all Basic Telephone Service (wireline)Providers (BSOs), Unified Access Service Providers and ISPs (Providingbroadband service) in selected service areas/circles of the contracted Zone


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in every quarter for one year in such a way that audit and assessment of Quality of Service in each service area is undertaken once in a year. Thequarterly periods for the purpose of survey shall be a period of threemonths ending 31 st March, 30 th June, 30 th September and 31 st Decemberand two such consecutive quarterly periods shall be one and half yearlyperiod. The contract period may be extended, at the sole discretion of

TRAI, for one more year covering audit and assessment of Quality of Service, in similar manner, for four more quarters at the same rate andterms & conditions as may be specified in the contract.

13. Force Majeure

13.1 If at any time, during the continuance of the contract, theperformance in whole or in part, by the audit agency, of any obligationspecified in the contract, is prevented, restricted, delayed or interfered, byreason of war or hostility, act of the public enemy, civic commotion,sabotage, act of State or direction from statutory authority, explosion,

epidemic, quarantine restriction, fire, floods, natural calamities or any actof GOD, (hereinafter referred to as event), provided notice of happeningsof any such event is given by the audit agency to TRAI within sevencalendar days from the date of occurrence thereof, the audit agency maybe excused from performance of its obligation, provided further that theobligations under the contract shall be resumed by the audit agency, assoon as practicable, after such event comes to an end or ceases to exist.

The decision of TRAI as to whether the obligations may be so resumed(and the time frame within the obligations may be resumed) or not, shallbe final and conclusive.

13.2 However, the Force Majeure events mentioned above will not in any way cause extension of the period of the contract.

14. Termination:

14.1 TRAI reserves the right to terminate the contract (i) if the auditagency fails to carry out the work as per the terms and conditions in thetender documents/contract or (ii) if the reports are delayed or (iii) if thereports are materially incorrect. The decision of TRAI, as regards suchmaterial incorrectness of the report, shall be final and binding on the

audit agency.

14.2 Delivery of the performance of the audit work shall be made by theaudit agency in accordance with the time schedule specified by TRAI. Incase the audit is not completed in the stipulated delivery period, asindicated in the contract, TRAI reserves the right to foreclose /cancel thiscontract and/or impose a penalty as per clause 17.4. Thecancellation/foreclosing of the contract shall be at the risk andresponsibility of the audit agency and TRAI reserves the right to get theaudit completed for remaining part at the risk and cost of the defaultingaudit agency.


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15. Indemnity

In no event shall TRAI be liable to audit agency for special, direct,indirect or any other damages in connection with or arising out of theperformance or use of services provided by the audit agency under thiscontract. The audit agency shall indemnify the TRAI in respect of anydamages, claim, loss or action against TRAI for any act of commission oromission on the part of the audit agency, its agents or servants.

16. Coordination

16.1 The audit agency shall appoint one of its employees as coordinator who shall represent the audit agency in all dealings with TRAI.

16.2 All correspondence relating to the tender shall be addressed toDeputy Advisor (QOS), Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, MahanagarDoorsanchar Bhavan, New Delhi-110 002.

17. Payment terms:

17.1 Payment shall be made after completion of audit and submission of the reports as per the following schedule and after TRAI is satisfied thatthe report submitted by the audit agency complies with the formats,norms and quality specified in the contract:-

Sl.No.

Schedule % payment in termsof total payment forone year

1. Submission of final reporting formats by theaudit agency incorporating modifications/corrections suggested by TRAI and itsacceptance by TRAI.

10%

2. Submission of reports of audit and assessmentof Quality of Service conducted during the firstquarter-

(a) for the cellular mobile telephone servicein all the service areas; and

(b) for basic telephone service (wireline) &broadband service in the specifiedservice areas,

in the contracted zone and acceptance of thereport by TRAI

22.5% of the contractprice for cellularmobile telephoneservice and 90% of thecontract price for

basic telephoneservice (wireline) &Broadband services inthe service areascovered in the quarter

3. Submission of reports of audit and assessmentof Quality of Service conducted during thesecond quarter-


(b) for basic telephone service (wireline) &broadband service in the specified

22.5% of the contractprice for cellularmobile telephoneservice and 90% of thecontract price forbasic telephoneservice (wireline) &Broadband services in


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service areas,


the service areascovered in the quarter

4 Submission of reports of audit and assessmentof Quality of Service conducted during the thirdquarter-




22.5% of the contractprice for cellularmobile telephoneservice and 90% of thecontract price forbasic telephoneservice (wireline) &Broadband services inthe service areascovered in the quarter

5. Submission of reports of audit and assessmentof Quality of Service conducted during thefourth quarter-




22.5% of the contractprice for cellularmobile telephoneservice and 90% of thecontract price forbasic telephoneservice (wireline) &Broadband services inthe service areascovered in the quarter

17.2 In case the validity of the contract is extended for one more year, inaccordance with clause 12 hereinbefore, the payment for the extendedperiod will be made as follows:

Sl.

No.

Schedule % payment in terms

of total payment forone year (extended)1. Submission of reports of audit and assessment

of Quality of Service conducted during the firstquarter




25% of the contractprice for cellularmobile telephoneservice and 100% of the contract price forbasic telephoneservice (wireline) &Broadband services inthe service areascovered in the quarter

2. Submission of reports of audit and assessment 25% of the contract


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of Quality of Service conducted during thesecond quarter




price for cellularmobile telephoneservice and 100% of the contract price forbasic telephoneservice (wireline) &Broadband services inthe service areascovered in the quarter

3 Submission of reports of audit and assessmentof Quality of Service conducted during the thirdquarter

(a) for the cellular mobile telephone service

in all the service areas; and(b) for basic telephone service (wireline) &broadband service in the specifiedservice areas,


25% of the contractprice for cellularmobile telephoneservice and 100% of the contract price for

basic telephoneservice (wireline) &Broadband services inthe service areascovered in the quarter

4 Submission of reports of audit and assessmentof Quality of Service conducted during thefourth quarter-




25% of the contractprice for cellularmobile telephone

service and 100% of the contract price forbasic telephoneservice (wireline) &Broadband services inthe service areascovered in the quarter

17.3 The audit work shall be completed and all the reports shall besubmitted within the respective time limits as may be specified in thecontract. In respect of Cellular Mobile Telephone service, all the serviceareas/circles in each Zone shall be audited in every quarter of the year.i.e. a service area will be audited four times in a year. However, Inrespect of Basic telephone service (wireline) and Broadband service, aservice area/circle in the contracted Zone shall be audited only once in a

year. No extension of the time for completion of the audit and assessment work and for submission of the report thereof shall be given, except forexceptional circumstances which, in the opinion of TRAI, necessitate such

extension.

17.4 In case the quarterly audit and assessment of Quality of Service orthe report thereof is delayed a penalty at the rate of 1% (one per cent) of


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the contract price for the whole year, for the service areas to be covered inthat quarter, for each week of delay, shall be levied by TRAI subject to themaximum penalty of 10% (ten per cent) of the contract price for theservice areas to be covered in that quarter . This amount shall be deductedfrom the amount payable to the audit agency by TRAI.

17.5 In case the audit report is found by TRAI to be materially orfactually incorrect or is not as per the format of report approved by TRAI,the report is liable to be rejected and no payment will be made for suchcontracted work if the said report is rejected by TRAI and TRAI may alsoforfeit and encash the Performance Bank Guarantee. The decision of

TRAI, as regards such material or factual incorrectness of the report, shallbe final and binding on the audit agency.

17.6 Without prejudice to the provisions contained in Clause 17.5, inany specific case where the report submitted by the audit agency for anyquarterly period, is found by TRAI to be incomplete in respect of any of

the parameters specified in the format of the report approved by TRAI orthe extent of work as carried out by the audit agency falls short of theprescribed quantum and the parameters or the quantum of work so leftincomplete does not exceed ten per cent of the total parameters orquantum of work, as the case may be, laid down for all Service Areas inthe Zone which are covered in the quarterly period and the non-completion of such parameters/quantum of work does not impact thereport in general and it is possible to make comparison of performance of all the service providers in the respective Service Area for variousparameters of quality of service covered under the assignment, or wheresuch comparison of performance of all the service providers is impactedby such incompleteness of the work/report in only one service area,

TRAI may, at its discretion, accept such a report:

Provided that the payment for such incomplete report shall be reducedby-

(a) ten percent of the total payment for the Service Areas which arecovered in that quarterly period to which such report pertains, if the report does not impact the comparison of performance of theservice providers in all service areas covered in the quarterly

period;(b) a sum equivalent to the proportionate value of the quarterly

payment attributable to the particular Service Area, if thedeficiency or incompleteness of any parameters or quantum of

work in such report impacts the report itself and it is notpossible to make a comparison of the performance of all theservice providers in that Service Area.

Provided further that in case such deficiency as referred to in clause (b) of the first proviso is noticed in the report for more than one Service Area or

the uncompleted portion of the audit work is more than ten percent inthe service areas covered in that quarterly period in a Zone, such reportshall not be accepted by TRAI and no payment whatsoever will be made


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for the entire quarterly report and such non-payment for the quarterlyreport shall be without prejudice to the rights of TRAI to foreclose orcancel the contract and that such foreclosure or cancellation of thecontract shall be at the risk and responsibility of the audit agency andthat TRAI shall be free to get the audit and assessment work completedfor the remaining part of the contract at the risk and cost of the auditagency. The Performance Bank Guarantee of the audit agency shall alsobe forfeited in such cases.

Provided also that the decision of TRAI as regards the acceptability of such quarterly reports and the quantum of payment for such quarterlyreport shall be final and binding on the audit agency.

18. Confidentiality

All information gathered during the audit and assessment of Quality of Service and reports submitted to TRAI will be the sole property

of TRAI. The audit agency will not transfer / pass on the information of one service provider to another service provider or to any third partyunder any circumstances.

19. Laws governing contract

The laws of India in force for the time being shall govern theContract

20. Jurisdiction of courts

The courts located at New Delhi/Delhi shall alone have the jurisdiction to decide any dispute arising out of or in respect of thecontract made pursuant to this tender.

21. Arbitration

In the event of any dispute arising between the TRAI and the auditagency, the matter shall be referred to the Secretary, TRAI who mayhimself act as sole arbitrator or may name as sole arbitrator an officer of the TRAI notwithstanding the fact that such officer has been directly or

indirectly associated with the tender process or the contract signedbetween the parties. The audit agency shall not be entitled to raise anyobjection to the appointment of such officer of TRAI as the sole arbitrator.

The award of the arbitrator shall be final and binding on both the parties,subject to the provisions of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 andrules made thereunder for the time being in force. The parties expresslyagree that the arbitration proceedings shall be held at New Delhi. Thelanguage of arbitration shall be English.

22. Language of the bid:

The bid shall be submitted in the English language.


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23. Currency for the financial bid:

The financial bid shall be quoted in Indian Rupees (INR). The bidshall be inclusive of all taxes, levies and duties including service tax.

24. Bid validity period:

The bid shall remain valid for one hundred twenty (120) days fromthe date of submission of the bid.


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SECTION-II

TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR AUDIT AND ASSESSMENT OFQUALITY OF SERVICE

1. Objective:

1.1 The Regulations - The Standards of Quality of Service of Basic Telephone Service (Wireline) and Cellular Mobile Telephone Service, 2009(7 of 2009) Regulations, 2009 dated 20 th March, 2009 and Quality of Service of Broadband Service Regulations, 2006 (11 of 2006) dated 6 th October, 2006 provide for benchmarks for the parameters on Quality of Service (QoS) to be achieved by service providers. The objective of the

Terms of Reference is to engage an independent audit agency to audit andassess the Quality of Service.

1.2 S.No.(i) to (xii) under sub-regulation (1) of regulation 3, pertaining to

Basic Telephone Service (wireline), and S.No. (i) to (x) under subregulation (1) of regulation 5, pertaining to Cellular Mobile TelephoneService, of the Standards of Quality of Service of Basic TelephoneService(Wireline) and Cellular Mobile Telephone Service Regulation, 2009(7 of 2009) dated the 20 th March, 2009, published in the Gazette of IndiaExtraordinary Part-III-Section 4 dated the 23 rd March, 2009 and Sl (i)to (viii) of regulation 3 of Quality of Service of Broadband ServiceRegulations, 2006 (11 of 2006) have laid down the benchmarks for theparameters on Quality of service to be achieved by the service providers.

1.3 The parameters for basic telephone service (wireline) consist of various Quality of Service (QoS) indicators, which can be audited andassessed objectively. The parameters include fault incidences, callcompletion rates/answer to Seizure Ratio, POI congestion and customerservice parameters viz. mean time to repair faults, metering and billingcredibility (post paid and pre paid), resolution of billing/chargingcomplaints, period of applying credit/waiver/adjustment to customersaccount, response time to the customer for assistance,termination/closure of service, time taken for refund of security depositafter closures provision of a telephone after registration of demand, shiftof Telephone connection.

1.4 The parameters of Quality of Service for cellular mobile telephoneservices are specified under the head (A) Network Service QualityParameters (B) Customer Service Quality Parameters. The NetworkService Quality Parameters include the parameters related to (i) NetworkAvailability (ii) Connection Establishment, (iii) Connection Maintenance(iv) POI Congestion. The Customer Service Quality Parameters includemetering and billing credibility (post paid and pre paid), resolution of billing/charging complaints, period of applying credit/waiver/adjustmentto customers account, response time to the customer for assistance,termination/closure of service and time taken for refund of security

deposit after closures. The parameter related to the service coverage is tobe audited and monitored during drive test.


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1.5 The parameters of Quality of Service for broadband services,specified in the regulation 3 of Quality of Service of Broadband ServicesRegulations, 2006, include service provisioning/activation time, faultrepair and restoration time, billing performance, response time tocustomer for assistance, bandwidth utilization / throughput, serviceavailability, packet loss and network latency.

1.6 The Authority may modify the above parameters and benchmarksand may also add new parameters during currency of contract. The auditagency shall be required to conduct the audit as per revised parameters /benchmarks without any additional payment/remunerations and on thesame terms and conditions.

2. Scope of work:

2.1 The main purpose of the tender is to audit and assess the Quality of Service rendered by the service providers providing basic telephoneservice (wireline), cellular mobile telephone service and broadband service.

2.2 The audit agency shall undertake audit and assessment of Qualityof Service provided by every service provider (licensee) in each of thetelecom circles/metro service areas under the respective Zone in thefollowing manner:-

(a) In respect of Cellular Mobile Telephone service, all the serviceareas/circles in the contracted Zone shall be audited in everyquarter of the year. i.e. a service area will be audited four times ina year.

(b) In respect of Basic Telephone Service (wireline) andBroadband service, a service area/circle in the contracted Zoneshall be audited only once in a year.

The Audit Agency shall undertake the audit work as follows: - .

(a) Verification of the data submitted by the service providers to TRAIas part of QoS monitoring reports i.e. quarterly Performance MonitoringReports (PMRs) and monthly Point of Interconnect (POI) CongestionReports with reference to the records maintained by the service provider

The PMR for any one of the previous quarter and POI Congestion Reportfor any one of the previous month, submitted by each service provider, for(i) all the service areas in the contracted Zone for Cellular Mobile

Telephone Service; and (ii) for the selected service areas in the contractedZone for Basic Telephone Service (wireline) and Broadband service, shallbe verified and audited every quarter as per time schedule indicated by

TRAI. The audit agency shall take the quarterly PMR submitted byservice providers for one quarter and POI Congestion Report for onemonth for every service area in the Zone from TRAI, before start of theaudit;

(b) verification of the performance of service providers against theQuality of Service benchmarks laid down by TRAI using live measurement


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for three days during the month in which the audit and assessment iscarried out;

(c) verification of the performance of service providers against theQuality of Service benchmarks laid down by TRAI using the data for theentire month during which the live measurement as per clause (b) aboveis carried out;

(d) drive tests of the mobile networks of service providers;

(e) audit of the performance of call centres with respect to theiraccessibility and percentage of calls answered by the operators. Theaudit shall also include verification of traffic data at the tandemswitch/transit switch/gateway switch of the network operator from wherethe circuits are terminated to Interactive Voice Response System (IVR) of call centre/customer care. Further, the Automatic Call Distribution(ACD) records are also to be verified for the calls answered by theoperators within 60 seconds.

2.3 The Zones for the purpose of this tender comprise of the following Telecom Circle/Metro Service Areas:

North Zone : Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab,Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh-East and Uttar Pradesh-West(including Uttaranchal). For the cellular mobile telephone service theservice area of Delhi includes Gaziabad, Faridabad, Noida and Gurgaon.

South Zone : Chennai, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamilnadu (excluding

Chennai) and Kerala.West Zone : Mumbai, Maharashtra (including Goa and excludingMumbai), Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh (including Chattisgarh).

East Zone : Kolkata, West Bengal (including Andaman & Nicobar, Sikkimand excluding Kolkata), Bihar (including Jharkhand), Orissa, Assam andNorth East which includes Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizorum,Nagaland, Manipur and Tripura.

2.4 The details of the areas covered under each Telecom Circle/ MetroService Area, details of service providers (licensees) operating in each

Telecom Circle/ Metro Service Area and details of subscriber base inrespect of Basic Telephone Service (wireline) & Cellular Mobile TelephoneService Providers and Broadband Service Providers are given inAnnexure-2A and 2B, respectively.

2.5 The audit and assessment of Quality of Service shall be conductedfor cellular mobile telephone service, basic service (wireline) andBroadband service provided by BSNL, MTNL, private basic serviceproviders, unified access service providers, cellular mobile serviceproviders and ISPs (providing broadband service) in various service areasin the contracted Zones. The audit agency is required to conduct the auditand assessment of Quality of Service of Broadband Service only in respectof the service providers who are having a broadband subscriber base of


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more than 10,000 subscribers in their licensed service area. The updateddata in respect of licensees (service providers) who have commissionedservice and their subscriber base/Mobile Switching Centres(MSCs)/Exchanges/Internet Service Providers Central Nodes (ISP Nodes)shall be intimated by TRAI from time to time and the audit agency shallcarry out the audit and assessment of Quality of Service accordinglythereafter.

2.6 In a quarterly period, the audit and assessment of Quality of Servicein respect of cellular mobile telephone service shall be conducted for allthe service areas in the contracted Zone. Thus, in all the service areas inthe contracted Zone the audit and assessment of Quality of Service of Cellular Mobile Telephone Service shall be undertaken four times in a

year once in each quarter. In respect of basic telephone service (wireline)and Broadband service, the service areas/circles to be covered in eachquarter shall be decided by TRAI, in consultation with the audit agency sothat each service area in the contracted Zone is covered once in a year.

The audit and assessment of Quality of Service for all the serviceproviders in a Telecom Circle/ Metro Service Area / Licensed Service Areashall be completed in the same quarterly period.

Verification of performance against QOS benchmarks:

2.7 The detailed explanation and measurement methodology of eachparameter and benchmarks for basic telephone service (wireline), cellularmobile telephone service and broadband service are given in theExplanatory Memorandum of the Regulations mentioned in Clause 1.2and 1.5 above. The parameters whose data is to be verified and auditedare as follows:

(i) Cellular Mobile Telephone Service:

Serial

Number

Name of Parameter Benchmark Averagedover aperiod

A Network Service Quality Parameters:

(i) Network Availability

(a) BTSs Accumulateddowntime (notavailable for service)

2% One Month

(b) Worst affectedBTSs due to downtime

2% One Month

(ii) ConnectionEstablishment(Accessibility)

(a) Call Set-up SuccessRate (within licensee's

95% One Month


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own network)

(b) SDCCH/ PagingChannel Congestion

1% One Month

(c) TCH Congestion 2% One Month

(iii) ConnectionMaintenance(Retainability)

(a) Call Drop Rate 2% One Month

(b) Worst affected cellshaving more than 3%

TCH drop (call drop)rate

5% upto 31.03.2011

3% From 01.04.2011

One Month

(c) connections with

good voice quality 95% One Month

(iv) Point of Interconnection (POI)Congestion ( onindividual POI)

0.5% One Month

B Customer Service Quality Parameters:

(v) Metering and billingcredibility post paid

Not more than 0.1% of billsissued should be disputed overa billing cycle

One BillingCycle

(vi) Metering and billingcredibility - pre-paid

Not more than 1 complaint per1000 customers i.e. 0.1%complaints for metering,charging, credit, and validity

OneQuarter

(vii) (a) Resolution of billing/ chargingcomplaints

100% within 4 weeks OneQuarter

(b) Period of applyingcredit/ waiver/adjustment tocustomers accountfrom the date of resolution of complaints

within 1 week of resolution of complaint

OneQuarter

(viii) Response Time to thecustomer forassistance

(a) Accessibility of callcentre/ customer care

95% OneQuarter


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(b)Percentage of callsanswered by theoperators (voice tovoice) within 60seconds

90% OneQuarter

(ix) Termination/ closure

of service

7 days One

Quarter

(x) Time taken for refundof deposits afterclosures

100% within 60 days OneQuarter

(ii) Basic Service (wireline):

Serial

Number

Name of Parameter Benchmark Averaged

over aperiod

(i) Fault incidences(No. of faults/100subscribers /month)

5 OneQuarter

(ii) Fault repair by next working day

For urban areas:

By next working day: 90% and within 3 days: 100%.

For rural and hilly areas:By next working day: 90% and

within 5 days: 100%.

Rent Rebate

Faults pending for >3 days and 7 days: Rent rebate for 7 days.

Faults pending for >7 days and 15 days: Rent rebate for 15days.

Faults pending for >15 days:rent rebate for one month.

OneQuarter

(iii) Mean Time To Repair(MTTR)

8 Hrs OneQuarter

(a) Call Completion Rate within a local networkshall be better than

55% OneQuarter

or,

(iv)

(b) Answer to SeizureRatio (ASR)

75 % OneQuarter

(v) Point of Interconnection 0.5% One


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(POI) Congestion (onindividual POI)

month

(vi) Metering and billingcredibility post paid

Not more than 0.1% of billsissued should be disputed overa billing cycle

OneBillingCycle

(vii) Metering and billingcredibility - pre-paid

Not more than 1 complaint per1000 customers, i.e., 0.1%complaints for metering,charging, credit, and validity

OneQuarter

(viii) Resolution of billing/charging complaints

100% within 4 weeks OneQuarter

(ix) Period of applyingcredit/ waiver/ adjust-ment to customersaccount from the date of resolution of complaints

within 1 week of resolution of complaint

OneQuarter

Response Time to the customer forassistance

(a) Accessibility of callcentre/ customer care

95% OneQuarter

(x)

(b)Percentage of callsanswered by theoperators (voice to voice)

within 60 seconds

90% OneQuarter

(xi) Termination/ closure of service

7 days OneQuarter

(xii) Time taken for refund of deposits after closures

100% within 60 days. OneQuarter

(iii) Broadband Service:

S.N Parameters Benchmark

(i) Service Provisioning/Activation time

100% cases in = 90% and within 3


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Time working days: 99%

Rebate:(a) Faults Pending for > 3 working daysand < 7 working days: rebate equivalentto 7 days of minimum monthly charge orequivalent usage allowance

(b) Faults Pending for > 7 working daysand < 15 working days: rebate equivalentto 15 days of minimum monthly chargeor equivalent usage allowance

(c) Faults Pending for > 15 working days:rebate equivalent to one month of minimum monthly charge or equivalentusage allowance

(iii) Billing Performance Billing complaints per

100 bills issued %age of Billing

Complaints resolved Time taken for refund

of deposits afterclosure:

< 2%

100% within 4 weeks

100% within 60 days

(iv) Response time to thecustomers for assistance

% age of calls answered by operator(Voice to Voice)Within 60 seconds > 60%Within 90 seconds > 80%

(v) Bandwidth Utilization/ Throughput:

a) Bandwidth Utilization

i) POP to ISP GatewayNode [Intra-network]Link(s)

ii) ISP Gateway Node toIGSP / NIXI Node

upstream Link(s)for Internationalconnectivity

b) BroadbandConnection Speed(download)

80% from ISP Node toUser.

(vi) Service Availability /Uptime

> 90% quarter ending June 2007;> 98% with effect from quarter endingSeptember 2007 and onwards

(vii) Packet Loss


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(viii) Network Latency (for wired broadbandaccess)

User reference pointat POP / ISPGateway Node to

InternationalGateway(IGSP/NIXI)

User reference pointat ISP GatewayNode toInternationalnearest NAP portabroad (Terrestrial)

User reference pointat ISP Gateway

Node toInternationalnearest NAP portabroad (Satellite)


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The details of MSCs as per Annexure-2D shall be updated from time totime by TRAI and audit agency shall carry out the audit as per theupdated details of MSCs. The above table shall, accordingly, be updated.

Basic Telephone Service (wireline) (each service area to be auditedonce in a year):

Number of exchanges to be covered in the audit

2.9 The break up of the total number of exchanges of BSNL, MTNL andprivate basic service operators circle/service area-wise, including urban

and rural exchanges, and the number of exchanges, both urban andrural, that will be covered during the year ( ie four quarters) for audit andassessment of the Quality of Service is indicated at Annexure-2C . As perthe break-up of number of exchanges to be covered in a year , 585 urbanexchanges and 1474 rural exchanges, totaling 2058 exchanges, are to becovered. The zone-wise distribution of exchanges to be covered in a yearis as under:

ZoneNorthSouthWestEastTotal

2.10 The details of the exchanges to be audited in a Zone, serviceprovider wise is given in Annexure 2C. The details of the exchanges asper Annexure-2C shall be updated from time to time by TRAI and auditagency shall carry out the audit as per the updated details of theexchanges. The above table shall, accordingly, be updated.

The audit agency has to choose the exchanges for audit for each servicearea in such a manner that selected exchange spread over minimum 10 %of SDCA as far as possible. A service area/circle in the contracted Zoneshall be audited only once in a year .

Broadband Service:

2.11 Audit agency shall first visit the ISPs Central Node in licensedservice area and identify the total number of Point of Presence (POPs) ineach service area. Thereafter the sample for audit and assessment of Point of Presence will be decided in such a way that minimum 5% (five per

cent) of the Points of Presence of ISP spread over in 10% (ten per cent)SDCAs in specified service area/telecom circle are covered. The POPs


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shall be evenly spread over in the licensed service area. A servicearea/circle in the contracted Zone shall be audited only once in a yea r .

2.12 The schedule for conducting the audit and assessment of Quality of Service shall be finalised by the audit agency, in consultation with TRAI,before the start of audit and assessment of the Quality of Service in eachquarter.

2.13 The Audit agency is required to submit sample design based on theabove criteria.

Mode of conducting Audit and Assessment of Quality of Service:

2.14 The verification of performance of service providers against QOSbenchmarks will involve measuring of specified reporting parameters,checking of complete records, analysis of procedure and method utilized

by various service providers in measuring the parameters and method of averaging for the purpose of reporting. The audit agency shall includecritical findings licensee-wise in each quarterly report. This will help toeducate the service provider to follow uniform methodologies and utilisingsame software preferably MS Word & MS Excel in windows environment.

TRAI will issue suitable instructions to service providers in this respectafter awarding the contract.

Audit Methods and Procedures:

2.15 To measure each quality of service parameter defined by TRAI thetwo main sources of data collection are:

Audit of the MIS reports at exchanges (OMC or MSCs) or ISP Node of the service provider.

Primary data collection and check back calls (live observations doneduring the visits)

The audit will have to be conducted in each centre of study to generatevarious types of data. Thus, for data collection, following activities will beundertaken during the appraisal exercise.

Collection of MIS data of OMC or MSC or ISP Node

2.16 The network operation centre (NOC) or Operation and Maintenancecentre (OMC) of service providers are generally on centralized basis eitherat service area as a whole or on regional basis. In some of the cases it ison national basis. Similarly, call centre and billing centres are alsocentralized on regional/national basis. Audit agency shall have to takelive measurements and collection of one month data for audit by actualvisit to such NOC, OMC, call centre and billing centre

2.17 TRAI has already suggested to the service providers to maintain theQoS source data in a proper format. The audit agency would be providedthe quarterly/monthly performance monitoring reports (PMR) received by


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TRAI from the service providers. Methodology adopted will be checkedagainst instructions and standards to see if the measurements adhere tospecifications. Reasons behind any discrepancies in the reported dataafter audit would also be reported to TRAI for each service provider(licensee).

Live Measurements and Live Data Collation:

2.18 During the audit and assessment, following activities would beundertaken for live measurements and live data collation.

a) Audit and Assessment of Call Centre/customer care promptnessand complaint redressal

2.19 Telephonic interviews shall be conducted amongst a sample of subscribers of telephone

- in basic service (wireline) particularly for those who reported a faultcomplaint, billing dispute;- in case of Mobile operators, who have had a recent billing dispute;- in case of Broadband service for those who requested for a new

connection, reported a fault complaint, billing dispute, closure,complaint of Broadband connection speed (download).

Data could be obtained on:

- Occurrence of fault complaints- Clearance of fault within stipulated time- Incidence of billing disputes- Clearance of billing complaints within stipulated time- Attendance to requests for closure/ termination of service

Sampling Procedure & quality control

2.20 In order to get a correct and meaningful result from a audit it isimportant to ensure that the right sampling procedure is followed. Equallyimportant is the process of ensuring that quality control parameters areput in place. The sampling procedure for various activities to be carried isgiven below:

Sample of billing complaint population

2.21 Care would be taken to distribute the sample to obtain a randomlist (100 subscribers per service provider for each service in a licensedservice area). The distribution of sample sizes should be evenlydistributed.

Audit checks for Termination/Closure of service for Basic Service(Wireline) and new connection for Broadband Service)

2.22 The sampling frame would be for Termination/Closure of service forBasic Service and Point of Presence/ ISP Node of Broadband ServiceProvider. Here, the total sample size (10% of the applicants in the


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visited, and the distribution among the active levels would be inproportion to the capacity of each level in that SDCA.

Call Centre/Customer care accessibility and response time

Basic Telephone Service (wireline) & cellular mobile telephoneservice:

2.29 The audit agency shall measure the performance of both basic telephoneservice (wireline) & cellular mobile telephone service against the benchmarksof the following Quality of Service parameters: -

Response time to the customer for assistance: (a) Accessibility of call centre/customer care >= 95% (b) % age of calls answered by the operator (voice to voice) :

within 60 seconds = 90%

(i) The procedure for assessment of the performance in respect of aboveparameters shall be made using the traffic data at the point of termination to call centre from mobile/ basic telephone network. Traffic atthe tandem or trunk or gateway MSC outgoing circuits to IVR of callcentre shall be measured as per the traffic counter available in therespective switch to assess the accessibility of call centre.

(ii) In the case of parameter percentage of call answered by theoperator voice to voice, assessment of IVR traffic data and CRM trafficdata shall be analysed during the time consistent busy hour (TCBH) of call centre.

(iii) In addition, the audit agencies shall also make the test calls andcorrelate the results with the traffic data analysis.

(iv) The procedure (IVR menu and sub-menu) and ease of accessing theoperator within the benchmark laid down by TRAI, both for post paid andprepaid customers, shall be assessed and reported. In this regard, para3.11.4 of the Explanatory Memorandum to the Standards of Quality of Service of Basic Telephone Service (Wireline) and Cellular Mobile

Telephone Service Regulations, 2009 may be referred.

Broadband service:

2.30 The audit agency shall measure the performance of Broadband serviceagainst the benchmarks of the following Quality of Service parameters: -

Response time to the customer for assistance: percentage of callsanswered by operator (voice to voice) :

within 60 seconds = 60% within 90 seconds = 80%

Measurement:


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2.31 A sample of 2 X 50 calls per service provider shall be made at differentpoint of time to the call centre of each service provider from each licensedservice area (50 calls between 1000 to 1300 Hrs. and 50 calls between 1500 to1700 hrs.) for basic telephone service (wireline) and similarly, 2 X 50 calls tothe call centre of each service provider (50 calls between 1100 to 1400 hrs.and 50 calls between 1600 to 1900 hrs.) for cellular mobile telephone servicefrom each licensed service area to ensure statistical significance. The time toconnect to IVR shall be noted for all these calls. This is the wait time beforean automatic answer machine (IVR) message begins. The audit agency shallthen measure the gap between the time when the last digit of the number isdialled, and the time when the IVR message begins. Similarly, the wait timebefore a Call Centre agent responds to a test call shall be measured for allsuch test calls.

Audit and verification of records

Basic Service (wireline)

2.32 The audit agency shall verify and audit the following records

- Call Centre records for complaints- FRS details for fault complaints, fault repair and MTTR (Mean Time To

Repair)- Termination/closures- Commercial records for billing details, billing disputes and redressal

thereof - Past traffic reports at local and TAX (Trunk Automatic exchanges) for

Call Completion Rate/Answer to Seizure Ratio calculations- Checking of customer complaint handling through live test at the call

centre- Hundred numbers of service complaints/ requests and hundred

numbers of billing related complaints shall be taken up by the auditingaudit agency for verifying their redressal as per the record of theservice provider.

Cellular Mobile Telephone Service

2.33 The audit agency shall verify and audit the following records- Call Centre records for complaints- Network maintenance and planning department (OMC and Drive Test)

records for QOS parameters- System/ Network outage details, Call Set-up Success Rate, Blocked

Call Rate, Call Drop Rate, worst affected cells having more than 3 % TCH drop rate, Voice Quality, Service Coverage and POI congestion

- Commercial and customer care records for billing disputes, redressaland refunds of payment

- Checking of customer complaint handling through live test at the call

centre- Hundred numbers of service complaints/ requests and hundred

numbers of billing related complaints shall be taken up by the auditing


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ix)

x)

xi)

xii)

% of BillingComplaints resolved

Period of applyingcredit/waiver/adjustment to customersaccount from thedate of resolution

Termination/closure of service

Time taken forrefund of depositsafter closure

Audit of billing complaints resolved and thetotal complaints received should be carriedout to check the figures reported to TRAI.At the same time, the audit agency shouldalso conduct random live back checks of complaints.

The audit agency should check the billingcomplaints for which credit/waiver/adjustment to be made on resolution of thecomplaints within one week.

The data should be verified fortermination/closure of the services within

7 days from the date of request.

Audit agency should verify that 100 %deposits should be refunded within 60days. At the same time, the audit agencyshould also conduct random live backchecks of all such subscribers entitled fora refund.

Drive Tests:

2.35 In the case of Cellular Mobile Service, the exercise of QoSassessment should not be limited to verification and audit of data only of the existing records for the parameters but the audit agency shall alsoverify the parameters by conducting extensive drive test in all serviceareas, as per the details given below, to assess the network performance.

2.36 There would be two types of drive tests. One is operator assisteddrive test and the other is independent drive tests. The details of thesedrive tests are given below:

2.37 Operator Assisted Drive Tests : The primary aim of these drivetests would be to cross-check/validate the data on Quality of Servicebeing provided by the telecom service providers to TRAI. These drive tests

will be conducted in such a manner to enable identification of networkelement deficiency and initiation of improvements. The operatorassistance would be desired to ensure a greater audit transparency.

2.38 In each licensed service area three numbers of drive test shall beconducted covering a minimum distance of 100 kilometers in city areaand adjoining areas including important indoor sites in each half yearlyperiod for each service provider. The process of selection will be asfollows:


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Quarter City CoverageQ1 High Population

City 1Medium PopulationCity 1

Low PopulationCity 1

Q2 High PopulationCity 2

Medium PopulationCity 2








Herein, cities within a telecom service area would be divided into 3clusters based on the population residing in those cities. One city fromeach of these clusters would be selected for conducting drive tests everyquarter. These cities would be proposed by the audit Agency and finalisedby TRAI. However, in the case of Metro service areas, 2 (two) no. of drivetests for each quarter shall be done.

2.39 Independent Drive Tests : TRAI has been receiving complaintsfrom subscribers relating to the poor network coverage in certain areas of the cities. Such complaints may need to be checked and verified by way of a drive test to be conducted independently by audit agency with ownpersonnel/equipment or leased or hired from supplier of such equipment/manpower. Thus, the audit agency could be asked to do a maximum of 25 drive tests in each Zone every quarter. The location for these drivetests would be selected based on the subscriber complaints being receivedby TRAI or as advised by TRAI. Independent drive test shall cover a cityand adjoining areas covering a minimum distance of 100 kilometersincluding congested areas and important indoor sites.

Drive Test Methodology

2.40 For drive test following procedure will be adopted:

i. The audit agency shall obtain a coverage map from theservice provider before starting the drive test and study thecoverage detail in terms of the signal strength. Based on the signalstrength as depicted in the coverage map, the drive test should bedone to check the following parameters:

a. Coverage-Signal strengthb. Voice qualityc. Call setup success rated. Blocked callse. Call drop rate

ii. The drive test shall cover selected cities and adjoining towns/rural areas where the service provider has commenced service,

including congested areas and indoor sites.

iii. The drive test shall cover the routes including expressways,major and secondary roads / streets, Commercial, residential


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areas/Commercials estates to check the in-building networkperformance.

iv. The drive tests of each mobile network shall be conductedbetween 10 am and 8 pm on weekdays.

v. The Vehicle to be used in the drive tests shall be equipped with the test tool that automatically generates calls on the mobiletelephone networks.

vi. The speed of the vehicle should be kept at around 30-50km/hour (around 30 km/hr in case of geographically small cities)

vii. The holding period of each test call will be 120 seconds.

viii. A test call will be generated 10 seconds after the previous testcall is completed.

ix. Measurement using engineering handsets would not beacceptable

x. The dedicated originating and terminating mobile unitsantenna shall be placed at the same height and in the same vehicle.Moreover, the height of the antenna should be uniform in case of allservice providers.

Broadband Service

2.41 The audit agency shall verify and audit the records maintained byBroadband service providers relating to

- Call Centre records for complaints- FRS details for fault complaints, fault repair- Records for requests for new connection, closures and supplementary

services- Commercial records for billing details, billing disputes and redressal

thereof - Checking of customer complaint handling through live test at the call

centre- 50 Nos. of service complaints/ requests and 50 Nos. of billing related

complaints shall be taken up by the auditing audit agency for verifyingtheir redressal as per the record of the service provider.

- Bandwidth Utilization/ Throughput - Broadband connection speed - Service Availability/Uptime - Packet Loss and Latency measurements.

2.42 Network performance parameters like Bandwidth

Utilisation/Throughput including Broadband Connection Speed, PacketLoss and Latency shall be measured on sample basis by the audit agency.


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2.43 The detailed methodology for each Quality of Service parameter isgiven in the Explanatory Memorandum to the Quality of Service of Broadband Service Regulations, 2006 dated 6 th October, 2006 (11 of 2006).

2.44 The signature of the Nodal Officer nominated by the service providerfor coordination with the audit agency shall be taken on all the formatscontaining the verified data for all the parameters. The audit agencyshall also produce these formats or records to TRAI, as and when calledfor by TRAI. The audit agency shall preserve all the data formatscontaining the observations made by the agency for a period of six monthsafter the expiry of the contract and shall produce the same to TRAI as and

when required to do so.

3. Miscellaneous:

3.1 Expenses towards boarding, lodging and traveling for conducting

this audit and assessment of Quality of Service shall be borne by theaudit agency itself. This work is required to be conducted at the premisesof the service providers such as exchanges, MDFs, MSCs/GMSCs, callcentres, FRS, help desk, Customer Relations Management system andbilling centres where it is possible to measure the parameters. Theservice provider will extend all facilities including instruments/testingtelephones /mobile phones/sim cards, technical support, equipments andother material for conducting audit and assessment of Quality of Service.

3.2 TRAI at any point of time can ask for authenticity of anyobservation furnished for service providers. TRAI has the right to verifyauthenticity of each of the observations. This may also involve contactingany service provider again for this purpose. Expenses towards boarding,lodging and traveling for the staff of the audit agency for this purposeshall also be borne by the audit agency itself.

4. Reporting Formats:

4.1 The audit agency is required to develop data formats includingexecutive summary, critical findings and detailed data analysis thereof forreporting the results of such audit and assessment. The audit agency

may utilise software for reporting, preferably MS Word & MS Excel inWindow environment.

4.2 The audit agency shall submit to TRAI sample design and samplereporting formats within three weeks of awarding the contract. TRAI maysuggest modifications to the sample design and sample reporting formatsand the audit agency shall modify the sample design and samplereporting formats, as suggested by TRAI, and final approval shall be takenbefore taking up the job in hand. The final approved design and reportingformat shall be submitted by the audit agency within six weeks of awardof the contract after incorporating modifications/corrections suggested by

TRAI. TRAIs decision in this matter will be final.


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4.3 If representative(s) of TRAI is/are deputed for verification, the auditagency shall extend all cooperation with such representative/s of TRAI inthe verification/ audit process and he/they shall be supplied with all theinformation needed for such verification.

4.4 TRAI may also suggest changes to the reporting format at any pointof time, in case it feels that such a change is necessary and the auditagency shall carry out such changes in the reporting format.

4.5 Reports shall be submitted for approval within one month of thecompletion of each quarter audit and assessment of QoS parameters forbasic service, cellular mobile service and broadband service. The reportshall contain the findings on audit and assessment of QOS provided byservice providers carried out in accordance with Clause 2 above.Thereport shall contain performance of each service provider for each licensedservice area against the Quality of Service parameters. The report shallalso contain a comparative analysis of performance of all the service

providers in a licensed service area. The report shall also contain anExecutive Summary and critical finding along with detailed analysis.

4.6 A separate report is also required to be submitted for eachcompany/group of companies covering each circle/service area at the endof the year. The report shall also contain an Executive Summary andcritical finding along with detailed analysis to share with the serviceprovider and take further follow-up action.

5. Deliverables

5.1 Progress Report: The audit agency shall, at its own cost, compile,prepare and submit, progresses reports and at such periodic intervals asmay be specified by TRAI on the physical progress of audit work.

5.2 Quarterly Reports: The audit agency shall submit quarterly reportsin the formats approved by TRAI for the purpose. Five copies of suchreport covering all service areas/ circles which are audited during thequarterly period shall be submitted to TRAI within the time period givenin the delivery schedule at clause 7 below. The soft copies of each reportshall also be submitted by the audit agency along with the hard copies.

The report shall contain the audit results of service areas includingexecutive summary, critical findings and comparison of performance of the service providers on various quality of service parameters for whichaudit work was undertaken during the quarter.

6. TRAIs Inputs:

TRAI will make available the relevant Quality of Service Regulations of Basic (wireline), Cellular services and Broadband Service including

Telecom Consumers Protection and Redressal of Grievances Regulations,2007. TRAI will also make available quarterly Performance Monitoring

Reports and monthly POI Congestion Reports of the service providers,details of contact persons of service providers and such other information


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requested by the audit agency which is available in TRAI and which isnecessary for carrying out the audit and assessment work.

7. Delivery Schedule

S.No. Deliverable Period 1. Date of award of work as per the contract D2. Submission of sample design and sample

reporting formatsD + 3 weeks

3. Submission of final design and reportingformats by the audit agency incorporatingmodifications and corrections suggested by

TRAI

D + 6weeks

4. Commencement of audit and assessment of Quality of Service

Beginning of -the quarterfollowing date of award of work

(D) or anysubsequentquarter, asdecided by TRAI

5. Submission of first quarterly report One month fromthe end of thefirst quarter

6. Submission of second quarterly report One month fromthe end of thesecond quarter

7. Submission of third quarterly report One month fromthe end of thethird quarter

8. Submission of fourth quarterly report One month fromthe end of thefourth quarter

9 Commencement of audit and assessment of Quality of Service for the first quarter for theextended period

From the end of the fourthquarter or anylater period asdecided by TRAI

10. Submission of first quarterly report for theextended period , if any

One month fromthe end of thefirst quarter of extended period

11. Submission of second quarterly report for theextended period , if any

One month fromthe end of thesecond quarter of extended period

12. Submission of third quarterly report for theextended period , if any

One month fromthe end of thethird quarter of extended period

13. Submission of fourth quarterly report for theextended period , if any

One month fromthe end of the


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fourth quarter of extended period

Note: D means date of award of work.


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(iv) Punjab

(v) Haryana

(vi) Rajasthan

(vii) Uttar Pradesh-East

(viii) Uttar Pradesh-West(includingUttarakhand)

Total (2)

3. Broadband Service

(Note : I n respect of Broadband Service, a service area/circle in the contracted Zone shall be audited only once in a year.)

Sl. Name of the Service Area Quotation forthe year

(Rupees infigures)

Quotation forthe year

(Rupees inwords)

(i) Delhi

(ii) Jammu & Kashmir

(iii) Himachal Pradesh

(iv) Punjab

(v) Haryana

(vi) Rajasthan

(vii) Uttar Pradesh-East

(viii) Uttar Pradesh-West(includingUttarakhand)

Total (3)

Grand Total of all the three services:-

Grand Total (1+2+3)

Note1: For each Zone separate EMD of Rs.1,00,000/- is to befurnished.

Note2: The Financial Bid shall be inclusive of all taxes, levies andduties including service tax.


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B. Schedule for Financial Bid for Audit and Assessment

of Quality of Service for South Zone

The Audit agency shall submit the Financial Bid in the format givenbelow:1. Cellular Mobile Telephone Services

(Note: In respect of Cellular Mobile Telephone service, all the service areas/circles in each Zone shall be audited in every quarter of the year. i.e. a service area will be audited four times in a year. )


(Rupees infigures)


(Rupees inwords)

(i) Chennai

(ii) Andhra Pradesh,

(iii) Tamilnadu(excluding Chennai)

(iv) Kerala

(v) Karnataka

Total (1)

2. Basic Telephone Service (Wireline)

(Note : I n respect of Basic service (wireline), a service area/circle in the contracted Zone shall be audited only once in a year.)


(Rupees infigures)


(Rupees inwords)

(i) Chennai

(ii) Andhra Pradesh,

(iii) Tamilnadu(excluding Chennai)

(iv) Kerala

(v) Karnataka

Total (2)


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(Note : In respect of Broadband Service, a service area/circle in the contracted Zone shall be audited only once in a year.)

Sl. Name of theService Area


(Rupees infigures)


(Rupees inwords)

(i) Mumbai

(ii) Maharashtra (includingGoa and excludingMumbai)

(iii) Gujarat

(iv) Madhya Pradesh

(including Chattisgarh)Total (3)


Note1: For each Zone separate EMD of Rs.1,00,000/- is to befurnished.Note2: The Financial Bid shall be inclusive of all taxes, levies andduties including service tax.

Grand Total (1+2+3)


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D. Schedule for Financial Bid for Audit and Assessmentof Quality of Service for East Zone

The Audit agency shall submit the Financial Bid in the format givenbelow:

1. Cellular Mobile Telephone Services

(Note: In respect of Cellular Mobile Telephone service, all the service areas/circles in each Zone shall be audited in every quarter of the year. i.e. a service area will be audited four times in a year. )


(Rupees infigures)


(Rupees inwords)

(i) Kolkata

(ii) West Bengal (includingAndaman & Nicobar, Sikkimand excluding Kolkata)

(iii) Bihar (including Jharkhand),

(iv) Orissa

(v) Assam

(vi) North East which includesArunachal Pradesh,Meghalaya, Mizorum,Nagaland, Manipur and

Tripura.Total (1)

2. Basic Telephone Service (Wireline)

(Note : In respect of Basic service (wireline), a service area/circle in the contracted Zone shall be audited only once in a year.)


(Rupees infigures)


(Rupees inwords)

(i) Kolkata

(ii) West Bengal (includingAndaman & Nicobar, Sikkim

and excluding Kolkata) (iii) Bihar (including Jharkhand),


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(iv) Orissa

(v) Assam


Tripura.Total (2)


(Note : In respect of Broadband Service, a service area/circle in the contracted Zone shall be audited only once in a year.)


(Rupees infigures)


(Rupees inwords)

(i) Kolkata

(ii) West Bengal (includingAndaman & Nicobar, Sikkimand excluding Kolkata)

(iii) Bihar (including Jharkhand),

(iv) Orissa

(v) Assam


Tripura.Total (3)


Note1: For each Zone separate EMD of Rs.1,00,000/- is to befurnished.

Note2: The Financial Bid shall be inclusive of all taxes, levies andduties including service tax.

Grand Total (1+2+3)


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Form-1

PROPOSAL SUBMISSION FORM

(To be submitted on Audit agencys letter head)

From(Name and address of the audit agency)

__________________ __________________

To:Deputy Advisor (QOS)Telecom Regulatory Authority of India ,Mahanagar Door Sanchar Bhawan

Jawahar Lal Nehru Marg,New Delhi-110002

Subject: Invitation of bids for undertaking Audit and Assessment of Quality of Service for basic telephone service (wireline); cellular mobile telephone service; and Broadband service onzonal basis ( specify the Zone --------------------------------------)

Sir,

We, the undersigned offer to provide our services for the work of audit and assessment of Quality of Service for the above subject inaccordance with your tender document. We are hereby submitting ourProposal which includes both technical &

tender audit ii

Documents