Thomas K Thomas
New Delhi, March 9 IT major HCL Technologies has emerged as the lowest bidder with a quote of Rs 230 crore for the enterprise resource planning (ERP) project of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd.
Other IT services companies including Infosys, Satyam and TCS had also expressed interest for the contract.
Infosys emerged as the second lowest bidder with a quote of over Rs 300 crore.
The entire project is likely to be awarded to HCL Technologies after BSNL validates the bid. BSNL had invited the bids in September 2008. HCL Technologies has partnered global major SAP for the project. SAP could not directly bid for the contract because BSNL had made it mandatory that only Indian companies are allowed to participate in the bidding process.
“Other telecom players have already deployed ERP solutions. Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular are using Oracle’s platform for ERP. The scope of the contract is for the design, planning, supply, installation, customisation, commissioning, training, operation and maintenance of Enterprise Resource Planning System on a turnkey basis. The project is likely to be implemented in 18 months after the selection of the IT firm.