E-procurement in India is widely used by various government organisations and their departments to purchase goods and services from vendors online. With new technology and security-related features, e-tendering in India has become more than just a system to purchase online. It helps connect companies and their business processes directly with suppliers and manages all the online activity between them. The e-tendering portal includes information on tenders, bids, tender-related documents, etc. An efficient portal helps in communication with potential suppliers during a business process. Through the Government of Assam e-procurement portal, the physical tendering activity is completed using the internet.
As per the Information Technology Act, 2000, digital signature certificates (DSC) are mandatory for individuals, companies and organisations who wish to participate in e-tendering, e-ticketing with IRCTC, e-procurement, e-filing of income tax returns, patent and trademark filing processes etc., in India.
Digital certificate is the digital equivalent of physical certificates in an electronic format. Just as documents such as driver’s license or a passport are used to verify the identity of the holder, digital signatures are used to confirm the identity of the bidder. Just like physical tender documents are signed manually, e-tender documents for the Assam Government e-tendering process have to be signed digitally using a signature certificate.
Class 2 digital signature certificates ensure secure and transparent online transactions. They are available in two categories – signing and encryption. Signing digital signature certificates are used to sign the documents electronically. The encryption digital signature certificates ensure that the information shared online, by the user, is stored in an encrypted format. Only authorised personnel can decrypt and view the information. The certificates are available with a validity of one year, two years and three years.
Capricorn CA is a Certifying Authority licensed by Controller of Certifying Authorities, under Government of India.Capricorn CA operates under the guidelines set by Information Technology Act. With more than one million certificates issued, Capricorn CA caters to all kinds of subscribers who use Digital Certificates for Income Tax, MCA (ROC), Tenders, Foreign Trade, Banking, Railways and many other needs.
A valid DSC purchased from a licensed certifying authority is mandatory to bid for Assam Government e-tendering. Capricorn CA, a reputed software giant in India, is licensed to sell Class 2 Digital Signature Certificates and Class 3 digital signature certificates to individuals, organisations and companies. Capricorn CA verifies the identity of the user before issuing DSCs to them.
In case a vendor loses his/ her DSC due to a virus attack on the computer, system failure or any other cause, he/ she would be unable to bid for Assam Government e-tenders, with the same certificate.
Vendors can export their digital certificate, after downloading it. They can follow these simple steps to download the certificate and save a copy:
- Open ‘Tools’ for ‘Internet explorer’ > Click ‘Internet option’ > Click on ‘Content’ > Click on ‘Certificate’ > Select export and click on it.
- Click on ‘Next’.
- Select ‘Yes’ for ‘Export the private key’ and click on ‘Next’.
- Check the box – ‘Include all certificate in the certification path if possible and enable strong protection’. Do not check ‘Delete the private key if the export is successful?’. Click ‘Next’.
- Enter the password and click ‘Next’.
- Click on ‘Browse’ and select the location where you want to save the certificate. Here the file can be named. Click on ‘Save’ and click on ‘Next’.
- Upon clicking on ‘Finish’ and ‘OK’ the message displayed will be ‘The export was successful’.