Engagement of Software Personnel in e-Governance Project on Temporary Basis

Government of West Bengal
Finance Department
Audit Branch
Writers’ Buildings, Kolkata- 700 001

No. 5859-F(Y), Dated: 22.07.2013

MEMORANDUM

Sub: Engagement of Software Personnel in the e-Governance Project on temporary basis.

Most of the Departments/ Directorates/ Offices of the State Government are now implementing different types of e-Governance projects. For this purpose, it is required to engage different categories of Software Personnel, as per requirement of the job, on contractual basis for development and implementation of the Project. It has been noticed that different State Government offices are engaging different types of Software Personnel at different remuneration. The modes of their engagements are also different; some personnel are being engaged through some Agencies and some are being appointed directly by the Departments. The Agencies are sometimes charging higher rates whereas the Software Personnel are getting low rates of remuneration. For maintenance of uniformity and transparency in the matter the Governor is pleased to issue the following guidelines for direct engagement of Software Personnel:

1. The engagement shall be purely temporary on contractual basis and may be terminated at the completion of the job or at the end of the project whichever is earlier, or in the circumstances mentioned at para 12 below.
2. They will be paid ‘Professional Fee’ on monthly or daily basis under the “Detail Head-28-Payment of Professional & Special Services-02-Other Charges”.
3. They may be engaged as ‘Developer’ or ‘Software Support Personnel’ or ‘Data Entry Operator’ as per requirement of the job/ project.
4. Requirement of appropriate Software Personnel for a project shall be assessed by the concerned head of the Department/ Directorate in consultation with NIC or IT Department.
5. Contract for engagement of manpower can be done by the Department/ Directorate purely on “temporary basis” for a period of one year or less for development & implementation of e-Governance Projects which can be renewed on Monthly or Yearly basis by the Head of Department/Directorate as per requirement of the Project.
6. The Department/ Directorate shall disclose in their Project Report the requirement of Software Personnel, their number and period of engagement. The Administrative Approval to the Project shall be obtained by the Administrative Department from the Competent Authority as per existing norms.
7. Monthly remuneration in the form of Professional Fee shall be drawn by the concerned Department/ Directorate/ Office and disbursed directly to the Software Personnel based on his/her performance & attendance in that month duly certified by the project In-charge or by the NIC/ IT Department project leader, as the case may be. The Income Tax and other Taxes, as applicable as per rule, shall be deducted at source from the Professional Fee.
8. Selection of manpower shall be done by a “Selection Committee” comprising of at least three officers of whom one representative should be from NIC/IT Department and one representative from concerned Department/ Directorate.
9. Professional Fee of the Software Personnel shall be based on the minimum qualification & specified years of experience in Government project (supported by experience certificate from previous Government Authority) as mentioned above.
10. During selection of Software Personnel, merely having the qualification & specified numbers of years of experience in Government project does not entitle the Software Personnel to get the relevant Professional Fee slab. It will be decided by the “Selection Committee”.
11. While working in a project, merely attaining the specified years of experience does not entitle the Software Personnel to get Professional Fee of next higher slab or next higher designation. The Department/Directorate shall also consider the recommendation of the IT Department/ NIC project leader or the project In-charge based on performance of the Software Personnel in the project.
12. If performance of any Software Personnel in the project is found to be not satisfactory, the Department/Directorate may terminate service of the Software Personnel based on the recommendations of IT Department/ NIC project leader or the project In-charge.
13. Existing Software Personnel in any Government Project may be put in appropriate slab of Professional Fee according to their present designation and job requirement provided such engagement has been made with the approval of Finance Department against the approved project.
14. Professional Fee/ Remuneration of the Software Personnel:

This Order shall take effect from 01.04.2013. Past cases need not be reopened.

This Order issues with the concurrence of Group-P2 of this Department vide their U.O. No. 1971 dated 17.07.2013.

Sd/- H. K. Dwivedi
Principal Secretary to the
Government of West Bengal

No. 5859-F dated 22.07.2013, Source
Download: Bill Format for Professional Fee by Contractual Software Personnel