Reference is invited to Ministry’s Circular No.29/2001-Cus. dated 16th May, 2001 issued from F.No.D-21019/52/AMC/99/CC/CBEC delegating financial powers in the matter of award of AMC for computer hardware etc. The matter has been further considered by the Ministry and the following delegation of powers to Heads of Department under the Central Board of Excise and Customs is hereby ordered superceding the aforementioned order:-

(1) Site preparation for installation of computers: It has been decided that the Heads of Departments can incur expenditure upto Rs.2 lakhs in a financial year for site preparation for installation of computers. This may include creation of partitions, electrical cabling, procurement of UPS, installation of air conditioners and other related items of civil and electrical work required to be completed for installation of computers.

(2) Maintenance of site for computers: In the instructions dated 16th May, 2001as referred to above, it was clarified that maintenance of computer site would refer to maintenance of DG sets, air conditioners, electrical installations, UPS etc. for the computers. It was also indicated therein that Ministry’s prior sanction was required to be obtained for award of maintenance contracts for computer sites. It has now been decided to empower the Heads of Departments to incur expenditure up to Rs.2 lakhs in a financial year on maintenance of computer sites.

(3) Training in computers: Presently all proposals for imparting training in computers to officers and staff of the field formations are forwarded to the Ministry for administrative approval and financial sanction. It has been decided that the Heads of Departments can incur expenditure up to Rs.1 lakh in a financial year for training their employees in computer operations as per the courses that have been prescribed by the Directorate of Systems. This delegation has been agreed only upto 31st March, 2004, by which time it is expected that all the officers would have acquired the necessary computer skills. It is also been advised that by then in- house training facilities should be organized.

(4) Purchase/Procurement of Personal Computers/ hardware:- As per the existing delegation of financial powers under item no. 26 (a) (ii) of Schedule V of DFPRs, Heads of Department can purchase computers upto a total of Rs.1 Lakh only in a financial year. It has been decided to empower the Heads of Department to incur expenditure upto Rs.5 lakhs in a financial year for procurement of personal computers and other related items without seeking approval of the Ministry.

In order to ensure that the computers procured by the field formations are put to meaningful use, it is desirable that certain minimum performance criteria is achieved by the field formations. In this context, it has been decided that:-

(a) all the personal computers in the Custom Houses / Commissionerates/ Directorates Hqrs. or Divisional Hqrs. should be connected in a Local Area Network (LAN) so that the information is shared amongst the various offices / sections. The PCs on the LAN are, however, not to be connected to the internet for security reasons.

(b) Officers should make increased use of E-mail facility for inter and intra office communication.

(c) automation of various activities / departments such as accounts, establishment, technical section, legal section, adjudications, appeals, audit, statistics, review, vigilance, preventive etc. should be carried out in a time bound manner. The Directorate of Inspection would be specifically reviewing the progress made in automating activities in the different section as a part of the routine inspection of Custom House / Commissionerates/ Directorates and divisional offices. Integrated Finance Unit (IFU) of the Ministry has desired that

(d) the observations on this aspect of the inspection shall be forwarded to IFU for information.

(5) Annual Maintenance Contract of Computer( Hardware)excluding sites : computers generally includes maintenance of computer hardware (processors, memory etc.) and peripherals (printers, plotters, scanners, modems, secondary storage devices etc.). As per item No. 26 (b) of Schedule V of the Delegation of Financial Power Rules, Heads of Departments have full powers for maintenance of computers when the work is entrusted to public sector undertakings. The provisions of the General Financial Rules will have to be observed in all cases of award of AMC for computer hardware. In case the lowest bidder happens to be a public sector undertakings, the Head of the Department will have powers to award AMC to such PSU at his level itself. However, if the lowest bidder is a non-PSU, the Head of the Department has been delegated powers to the extent of Rs. 2 lakhs per annum for award of AMC to private parties vide Ministry’s aforesaid instructions dated 16.5.2001

(6) Software Development: It has also been decided by the Ministry to empower the Heads of Departments to incur expenditure upto Rs.50,000/- in a financial year for development of software. This is intended to fulfill the local needs of the Commissionerate/ Directorate / Custom houses for automating the activities in the various sections / branches of the Commissionerates / Directorates/ Custom Houses. However, the Directorate of Systems should be informed of the proposed development so that the resources are shared across all field formations and the extra expenditure is avoided for activities for which software is already available in some other field formation.

The powers delegated above will be exercised by Head of Departments under Central Board of Excise and Customs subject to availability of sanctioned budget and subject to following conditions and procedures as laid down by Delegation of Financial Rules, 1978 and General Finance Rules.

All proposals in excess of the above powers shall continue to be sent to the Ministry through Commissioner (Systems). All Heads of Departments are advised to send consolidated proposal for their Commissionerate/ Directorate. The proposal shall indicate clearly that Head of Department has exercised his delegated power to incur expenditure in respect of the items of expenditure mentioned above . This issues with the approval of IFU vide their Dy NO . F 3359/FA(F)/2002 Dt 12.8.2002

Kindly acknowledge the receipt of this letter.

Yours faithfully,

Dhirendra SinghGarbyal
UNDER SECRETARY TO THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA.
 

F.No.I(6)/6/2002- Systems

Copy to

1. PS to Chairman ( E&C)/ All Members of CBEC
2. All Chief Commissioners
3. All attached and subirdinate offices under CBEC
4. FA(F)
5. IFU_II(B&A)
6. US(S.II(A)), Deptt. Of Expenditure
7. Guard File
8. Spare copies