A 'Pre-Bid Meeting' for the captioned tender was conducted as per schedule at 11:00 Hrs on July 9, 2024 through WebEx. The following staff members of RBI and intending bidders were present during the pre-bid meeting: | S. No. | Name and Designation of the RBI official
(Consumer Education and Protection Department, CO) | | 1. | Miss Peeyoosh Nag, General Manager | | 2. | Shri Nishank Gour, Manager | | 3. | Shri Prashant Gahalot, Manager |
| S. No. | Name of the intending bidder | | 1. | Academy of Management Studies | | 2. | Hansa Research Group Pvt. Ltd. | | 3. | Saptrishi Consultancy Services Ltd | 2. The following queries / proposals were raised by the above agencies during the pre-bid meeting. The clarifications given by the Bank are as under: | S. No. | Query/ Proposal of the intending bidder | Bank's response | | 1. | Date, time and venue of opening of e-tender
An online tender opening would allow all bidders, including those who may face challenges in attending an offline event, to participate in the process. This change would not only enhance transparency but also ensure that all interested parties can be present without logistical constraints.
We kindly request you to consider this suggestion and provide the details of the virtual platform to be used for the online tender opening at the earliest convenience. | The tender would be opened both offline at RBI office and online on WebEx through MSTC website. The intending bidder may join either way as per their convenience.
The link for the WebEx will be circulated in due course. | | 2. | The Agency should complete the survey work and submit the report within 45 days of execution of the contract.
We request an extension of this timeline to at least 10 weeks from the start of the ground survey.
The extension would allow us to ensure a thorough and accurate completion of the survey, considering the potential complexities and challenges that may arise during the ground survey phase. This additional time would enable us to provide a comprehensive and high-quality report that meets the standards expected.
Upon reviewing the tender documents, we note that the agency is required to complete the survey work and submit the report within 45 days of the execution of the contract. We respectfully request an extension of this timeline to at least 10 weeks from the start of the ground survey.
We request you to consider this request and adjust the timeline accordingly in the tender documents. | The revised timeline is as follows:
| Activities | Time Schedule | | Award* of the tender and sharing of information to the agency | Start Date | | Investigator's Training | Two days after the start date | | Pan- India Survey | 8 Weeks | | Final Data submission by the agency | | Field Verification (for an investigator) | Any day at the discretion of the Bank after the submission of final data with one-day prior intimation to the Agency by the Bank. |
*Award means the completion of signing of the contract. | | 3. | Audio Recording of the interview
To ensure that we meet this requirement to the best of our ability, we would like to request further clarification regarding the size specifications of the audio files.
Could you please provide detailed information on the following:
The preferred format for the audio recordings (e.g., MP3, WAV, etc.).
The maximum and minimum file size allowed for each audio recording.
Any specific technical specifications or quality standards that the audio recordings must meet (e.g., bit rate, sample rate).
Having this information will help us ensure that the audio recordings we provide are both complete and of the highest quality, fully meeting the tender requirements. | The audio recording is to be provided in compressed MP3 format. There is no file size constraint. Regarding quality of the audio recordings, it must be comprehensible and clear. | | 4. | Audio Recording of the interview
We request that a minimum of 48 hours be allowed after the quality check process before the audio recordings are uploaded online to ensure that the recordings meet the required standards.
We kindly ask you to consider this adjustment and update the tender requirements accordingly. | A maximum time of 48 hours is given to upload the audio recordings online after the interview has been conducted. | | 5. | Investigators Training/ Briefing
We respectfully request that the investigators' briefing/training be conducted on a virtual platform. Conducting the training online would offer several benefit, including increased flexibility, reduced travel costs, and improved accessibility for all participants.
We kindly ask you to consider this request and update the tender requirements to specify that the briefing/training will be conducted via an online meeting platform. | The investigators briefing/ training will be conducted online. | | 6. | Payment Terms
We would like to request clarification on the payment timeline. Specifically, after how many days following the completion of the survey work and approval by RBI will the payment be made to the agency? | While no fixed time can be indicated, the payment will be made immediately after the completion of verification process and approval by the agency. | | 7. | Complete and clear audio recording of all the interviews ensuring the quality of audio-recording.
Capturing GPS for interviews is feasible and is followed as a non-negotiable practice. However, for capturing the full audio, there are some concerns that we wish to highlight. It is important to seek permission from interviewees before capturing the audio. It is often observed that there are permission issues and high non-response if it is mandated. Even if they offer their consent, the fact that their voice is being recorded makes them more conscious and guarded in their response influencing the authenticity of the data.
We therefore request you to kindly consider that audio recordings be done only for a few of the critical sections in the questionnaire. This process may be randomized for different respondents.
We also request you to kindly consider fixing a lower percentage of interviews to be recorded. | Full audio recordings are to be taken of all the respondents. | | 8. | Survey Questionnaire: The survey questionnaire has 13 questions, including one question covering brief personal details of the respondent. Please see the questionnaire included at Annex IV for details.
Based on the discussion during the virtual meeting today, we understand that for an interview to be considered as completed and acceptable, 11 out 13 questions must be answered.
However, for a respondent to answer 11 questions, it is a must that they should respond a 'Yes' to Question No. 2, which asks "Have you ever made a complaint/ grievance against the product/ services offered by the bank?"
This is a bit confusing and we find it contradictory to the overarching objective of the study that is to assess the reasons for the low level of complaints from the rural/ semi-urban areas.
With the criteria of 11/13 questions required to be answered, we are basically focusing on interviewing the persons who filed a grievance and are attempting to find out the reasons for low-level of complaints.
Please help us understand the need of the criteria of 11/13 questions OR correct us if we are understanding the whole thing wrong. | The overarching objective of the study is to assess the reasons for the low level of complaints from the rural/ semi-urban areas received under the alternate grievance redressal mechanism, the RBI-OS.
Therefore, an interview would be considered successful only after at least 10 of the questions are answered by the respondent. | | 9. | Survey Questionnaire: The survey questionnaire has 13 questions, including one question covering brief personal details of the respondent. Please see the questionnaire included at Annex IV for details.
If we are only to consider those interviews as completed where the respondents have answered 11/13 questions, then we would need to interview a certain multiple of the minimum required sample of 16995 respondents to ensure that this minimum no. of completed interviews is achieved.
(i) For this, we request you to either increase the no. of interviews per investigator OR increase the duration of the study.
(ii) Also, please clarify the strategy for sample selection, that is, how will the respondents be identified and where will the interviews be conducted. | For increasing duration of the survey, please refer to response in Point 2 given above.
The interviews are to be conducted as below:
| Number of Branches | Minimum Investigators | | 1-9 | 1 | | 10-19 | 2 | | 20-29 | 3 | | 30-39 | 4 |
and so on.
Enough number of branch addresses would be provided to the selected bidder where respondents may be identified. Para 2 of the tender documents may be referred for further clarity. | | 10. | Estimated cost of the survey: Rs. 56,00,000/-
(i) Please advise if this is the final cost of the assignment or is this only and indicative cost and the agencies can submit their financials bids accordingly.
(ii) Also, if this cost inclusive OR exclusive of GST? | The mentioned amount is indicative and as estimated by the bank. The intending bidders have to upload Annex 1 containing the format for financial bid (amended as below) and fill the relevant fields in the MSTC website as per their assessment and requirements/ calculations. The intending bidders have to submit their bid break up per interview and total cost as below:
| Per Interview cost | Total Survey cost | | 1. | Base amount without GST | Base amount without GST | | 2. | GST | GST | | 3. | Total | Total | | | 11. | Clarification was sought whether a single investigator may be assigned for a sample size of below 10. | Please refer to our response to Point 9 given above. | Note: Above amendments / clarifications are issued for the information for all intending bidders. Minutes of the pre-bid meeting shall form part of tender. All other parts of the tender document continue to remain unaltered. Submission of tenders shall be construed to be in conformity to the bid document and amendments/clarifications. | |