Request for Proposal [RFP]
For Appointment of Tax Consultant for
India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF)
Date of Issue: 30th May, 2019
Deadline for Submission: 20th June, 2019
India Brand Equity Foundation,
20th Floor, STC Building,
Jawahar Vyapar Bhawan
Tolstoy Marg, Janpath,
New Delhi - 110001
[Total Number of Pages including this page of the RFP: 8]
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1.1 Introduction
1.1.1 The India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF) is a Trust established by Department of Commerce,
Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India. IBEF's primary objective is to promote and
create international awareness of the Made in India label in markets overseas and to facilitate
dissemination of knowledge of Indian products and services. Towards this objective, IBEF works
closely with stakeholders across government and industry to promote Brand India.
1.1.2. IBEF proposes to appoint a reputed "Tax Consultant firm " for the scope of work as defined in
`Annexure-1' of this RFP.
1.1.3. The firm must have prior experience of handling a similar work.
1.1.4. Initially the firm would be appointed for a period of one year, further renewable for a period of
one year subject to IBEF's management discretion.
1.1.5. Interested firms are invited to submit their proposals for the assignment, which must include
the following, as detailed subsequently in this document:
a. A Technical Proposal and
b. A Financial Proposal
1.1.6. It may be noted that
(i) The costs of preparing the proposal are not reimbursable and
(ii) IBEF is not bound to accept any of the proposals submitted.
1.1.7. The firms are required to provide professional, objective, and impartial services and at all
times hold the IBEF's interests paramount, without any consideration for future work, and strictly avoid
conflicts with other assignments or their own interests.
1.1.8. Firms have an obligation to disclose any situation of actual or potential conflict that impacts
their capacity to serve the best interest of IBEF, or that may be reasonably perceived as having this
effect. Failure to disclose such situations by the firm may lead to disqualification of the firm or
termination of the contract.
1.1.9. Firms must observe the highest standards of ethics during the selection and execution of the
contract. IBEF may reject a proposal at any stage if it is found that the firm recommended for award
has indulged in corrupt or fraudulent activities in competing for the contract in question, and may also
declare a firm ineligible or blacklist the firm, either indefinitely or for a stated period of time, if at any
time it is found that the firm has engaged in corrupt or fraudulent practices in competing for, or in
executing, the contract.
1.1.10. The family members/ blood relations of employees and/or full-time consultants (i.e.
consultants working exclusively with IBEF on retainer ship basis) of IBEF shall not be eligible to
participate in the RFP process. Any proposal submitted by them may be summarily rejected. In case,
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IBEF comes to know of the relationship subsequent of the award of contract, the contract shall be
liable to be cancelled. It is clarified that the term full time consultants of IBEF does not refer to
firms/people, which may have been shortlisted for an assignment/project of IBEF through an RFP
process.
1.2 Minimum Eligibility Criteria (relevant documents shall be attached)
1.2.1.
i. The firm should be a Chartered Accountant Firm.
ii. The firm should be able to provide services for compliance of both Direct and Indirect
tax.
iii. The firm should have completed at least 10 years of its establishment.
iv. The firm should have at least 5 qualified members (i.e., Chartered Accountants)
v. The registered office of the firm must be in Delhi-NCR.
vi. The firm should not have been disqualified for being appointed as tax consultant,
under any law for the time being in force.
vii. The firm or its partners/proprietor should not have faced/facing any proceeding for
disciplinary action/ breach of conduct under relevant law of The Institute of Chartered
Accountants of India.
1.2.2 The firm need to demonstrate experience in handling similar projects of comparable stature.
The details of at least one similar project, along with the work completion testimonial, are mandatory.
1.3 Scope of Work
The detailed scope of work is provided in Annexure 1.
1.4 Preparation of Proposals
Firms are required to submit a Technical proposal and a Financial Proposal, as specified
below.
(a) Technical proposal
1.4.1 The Firms are expected to provide the Technical Proposal as specified in this RFP Document.
1.4.2 The Technical Proposal shall contain the following:
i. Letter of Technical Proposal Submission;
ii. Comprehensive details of present clientele and projects of comparable stature;
iii. The details of the team assigned for the project;
iv. Client testimonials supported by completion of works statements from clients;
v. An undertaking on the letterhead of the firm and signed by an authorised
signatory, that the Agency will undertake the assignment, in accordance with
the Scope of Work detailed in the RFP document and at the cost submitted by
the firm in the financial proposal (the cost is not to be indicated in the
undertaking). The above undertaking submitted by the firms would be binding
on the them;
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1.4.3 The Technical Proposal shall not include any financial information.
(b) Financial Proposal
1.4.4 In preparing the Financial Proposal, firms are expected to take into account the requirements
and conditions outlined in the RFP document.
1.4.5 Letter of Financial Proposal should include:
i Total cost of the project
ii Break-up of costs for each of the items of work listed in the Scope of work
iii. Cost for any other element, which is not specified in the Scope of work and
is considered relevant by the RFP participant must be highlighted
separately.
1.4.6 Taxes as applicable in India will be paid as per actuals and the same are not required to
be indicated in the financial bid.
1.4.7 The cost quoted will be firm and fixed for the duration of performance of the contract. At no
point of time will any deviation from the quoted rate be entertained by IBEF.
1.4.8 The Financial Bid shall not include any conditions attached to it and any such conditional
financial proposal shall be rejected summarily.
1.5 Submission of Proposals
1.5.1 The original proposals (Technical Proposal and Financial Proposal) shall be prepared
separately. It shall contain no interlineations or overwriting, except as necessary to correct errors
made by the firm itself. Any such corrections must be authenticated by the persons or person who
sign(s) the proposals.
1.5.2. The Technical Proposal should be placed in a sealed envelope and superscribed
"Technical Proposal for rendering Direct & Indirect Tax Services to IBEF". The Financial
Proposal shall be placed in a sealed envelope and superscribed "Financial Proposal for
rendering Direct & Indirect Tax Services to IBEF".
1.5.3. If the Financial Bid is not submitted in a separate sealed envelope duly superscribed as
indicated above, this will constitute grounds for declaring the Bid non-responsive.
Both the sealed envelopes should be put into an outer envelope and sealed. The outer envelope shall
be superscribed "Proposal for rendering Direct & Indirect Tax Services to IBEF" with the date of
submission. The Bottom Left corner of the outer cover should carry the full name, address,
telephone numbers, e-mail ID etc. of the agency submitting the Proposal.
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1.5.4 The outer envelope containing the sealed Technical and Financial Proposals should be
addressed and delivered to:
INDIA BRAND EQUITY FOUNDATION
20th Floor, STC Building, Jawahar Vyapar Bhawan
Tolstoy Marg, New Delhi 110001
Enquires, and requests for further information about this RFP, should be directed to the Contact
Officer as follows:
Contact Officer: Mr Ashwani Kumar
Sr. Manager Finance & Accounts
Email: ashwani.srivastav@ibef.org
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1.5.5. The Proposal should be submitted on or before 20 June, 2019
1.5.6 No Proposal will be accepted after the deadline for submission and in the event of any
proposal being received after the closing time for submission of proposals, the same shall be
discarded.
1.6 Opening of Proposals and Selection Process
1.6.1 The two bid system will be followed; the technical bids will be opened at first instance. It is
clarified that prospective bidders scoring 70% and more in the Technical Proposal (please
refer to Annexure 2) will be deemed to qualify for the second stage of the bid. At the second
stage, the financial bids of only technically qualifying biding firms will be opened and the lower
-1 (L1) bid from among the technically qualifying bidder will be accepted.
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Disclaimer
1. This RFP document is neither an agreement nor an offer by India Brand Equity Foundation
(hereinafter referred to as IBEF) to the prospective Applicants or any other person. The
purpose of this RFP is to provide information to the interested parties that may be useful to
them in the formulation of their proposal pursuant to this RFP.
2. IBEF does not make any representation or warranty as to the accuracy, reliability or
completeness of the information in this RFP document and it is not possible for IBEF to
consider particular needs of each party who reads or uses this RFP document. This RFP
includes statements which reflect various assumptions and assessments arrived at by IBEF in
relation to the statement of work. Such assumptions, assessments and statements do not
purport to contain all the information that each Applicant may require. Each prospective
Applicant should conduct its own investigations and analyses and check the accuracy,
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reliability and completeness of the information provided in this RFP document and obtains
independent advice from appropriate sources.
3. IBEF will not have any liability to any prospective Applicant/ Firm/ or any other person under
any laws (including without limitation the law of contract, tort), the principles of equity,
restitution or unjust enrichment or otherwise for any loss, expense or damage which may
arise from or be incurred or suffered in connection with anything contained in this RFP
document, any matter deemed to form part of this RFP document, the award of the
Assignment, the information and any other information supplied by or on behalf of IBEF or
their employees, any firm or otherwise arising in any way from the selection process for the
Assignment. IBEF will also not be liable in any manner whether resulting from negligence or
otherwise however caused arising from reliance of any Applicant upon any statements
contained in this RFP.
4. IBEF will not be responsible for any delay in receiving the proposals. The issue of this RFP
does not imply that IBEF is bound to select an Applicant or to appoint the Selected Applicant,
as the case may be, for the services and IBEF reserves the right to accept/reject any or all of
proposals submitted in response to this RFP document at any stage without assigning any
reasons whatsoever. IBEF also reserves the right to withhold or withdraw the process at any
stage without intimation to all who submitted the RFP Application.
5. The information given is not exhaustive on account of statutory requirements and should not
be regarded as a complete or authoritative statement of law. IBEF accepts no responsibility
for the accuracy or otherwise for any interpretation or opinion on the law expressed herein.
6. IBEF reserves the right to change/ modify/ amend any or all provisions of this RFP document.
Such revisions to the RFP/amended RFP will be made available on the website of IBEF.
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Annexure 1
Scope of work
1. Assist in applying and obtaining No/ Lower deduction of TDS certificate from Income Tax
authorities (Please specify the cost for the entire year).
2. Issue and granting foreign remittance certificate whenever required, in case of remittance outside
India (Please specify the cost for issuing each certificate).
3. Make computation of taxes and filing of IBEF annual Income Tax return (including revised returns if
any) as per the provisions of Income tax act, 1961 (Please specify the cost for the entire year).
4. Help & suggest the best ways to IBEF for the better Tax planning (Please specify the cost for the
entire year).
5. Responsible to handle Income tax assessment cases/matters and represent before tax authorities
(Please specify the cost to complete the entire assessment).
6. Appear on behalf of IBEF before Tax Authorities, for any tax related matters (Direct as well as
Indirect) (Please specify the cost for the entire year).
7. Assist IBEF to comply with new amendments in tax laws and also guide in case of day to day tax
related matters (Direct as well as Indirect) (Please specify the cost for the entire year).
8. Appear in IBEF meetings like Board meeting or Finance Committee meeting etc. on the advice of
IBEF (Please specify the cost for attending each meeting).
9. Provide guidance on specific tax related matters, which may arise, on account of change in law,
inaccurate compliance etc. (Please specify the cost for the entire year).
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Annexure 2
Technical Proposal Evaluation
1. Year of Establishment of Firm - 10%
2 Qualification of members & staff of firm - 20%
3. Projects handled 30%
4. Agency Credentials - 10%
- Profile
- Client testimonials
5. Team assigned for the project - 20%
6. Client testimonials supported by completion of works statements from clients 10%
It is clarified that prospective bidders scoring 70% and more in the Technical Proposal will deem to
qualify for the second stage of the bid.
At the second stage, the financial bids of only technically qualifying bidding parties will be opened.
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