NIIT Tech announces strategic tie up

Strategic partnership to develop and market e-Government procurement solution to support eGovernance initiatives

NIIT Technologies has penned a contract with Singapore 's Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA), to cement the partnership between the two organisations. This move is expected to support eGovernance initiatives.

NIIT Technologies CEO, Arvind Thakur (centre) is joined by Carol Lo, Assistant Director, EBIZ (right) and Kailash Agarwal, Regional Head- eGovernance Practice, NIIT Tech (left) to announce a strategic tie up at a press conference in New Delhi.

LtoR: Kailash Agarwal, Arvind Thakur and Carol Lo at the ceremonious exchange of MoU at the press conference.

As part of the contract, DSTA will be outsourcing the development and maintenance support of their Government Electronic Business portal ( GeBIZ ) to NIIT Technologies. The company will also productise the application and market the solution to other Governments in South Asia, Middle East and Central Europe .

"The marketing tie-up with DSTA marks a new phase in NIIT Technologies' decade old presence in Singapore . This tie-up will help us address the fast-growing eGovernance market in India and other countries as well," stated Mr. Arvind Thakur , Chief Executive Officer, NIIT Technologies.

GeBIZ , developed by DSTA, was successfully implemented for Singapore's government agencies in 2000. The GeBIZ portal ( www.gebiz.gov.sg ), is a one-stop eBusiness site which facilitates trading between government organisations and its local and overseas suppliers, on an "anytime, anywhere" basis.

Currently, around 150 government agencies, representing approximately 15,000 users, upload their quotation requests and tenders on GeBIZ . Around 20,000 suppliers use GeBIZ to submit their bids online and undertake transactions with various Government entities. The fully electronic process has resulted in significant time and cost savings for its users.

The Indian Government initiated a National eGovernance Action Plan in 2004, involving an allocation of Rs . 23,000 crores for eGovernance projects. In addition, several Indian states have devoted large resources for eGovernance rollouts. IT spending by the Government increased 30 per cent, to reach Rs . 6934 crores (USD 1.5 billion) in 2005-06.

NIIT Technologies' solutions for Government
NIIT Technologies has been providing several cutting-edge solutions in the enterprise space for demanding customers like the CRPF. The company has also created GIS solutions for several departments in the Ministry of Environment and Forests and the Government of Andhra Pradesh.

NIIT Technologies has grown consistently, building several deep and growing partnerships with customers. The organisation has been offering innovative, best-in-class IT solutions through its Software Development Centre in Singapore , which is emerging as a R esourcing and Technology hub for the Asia Pacific region.

NIIT Technologies' International Headquarters will provide regional support for finance, human resources, recruitment, technology and software delivery to its subsidiaries in Thailand , Hong Kong , Malaysia and Australia . The company's software facility in Singapore is ISO 9002-2000 certified.

About NIIT Technologies
NIIT Technologies is a leading IT solutions organisation, servicing customers in North America, Europe, Japan , Asia and Australia . It offers services in Application Development and Maintenance, Enterprise Solutions including managed services (e.g. service desks or operations management) and Business Process Management to organisations in the Financial Services, Transportation, Government, Retail, Manufacturing and Government sectors.

NIIT Technologies follows global standards of development, including an ISO 9001:2000 certification, assessment at Level 5 of both SEI- CMMi and People-CMM frameworks and BS 7799 information security management certification. NIIT Technologies' Thailand operations are assessed at the international BS15000 IT management standards.

NIIT Technologies' subsidiaries, NIIT SmartServe Limited and NIIT GIS Limited, offer Business Process Management and GIS Solutions, respectively.