The mammoth Rs 2,162 cr NREGA biometric project that will enable real time data capture of crucial processes such as attendance and measurement for muster roll preparation has finally kicked off with rural development ministry inviting expression of interest from the private sector companies.

“The ministry of rural development envisages that the existing processes under NREGA can be digitized through a biometric based ICT solution that can be implemented at the gram panchayat level. The project will be implemented across India covering approximately 5.28 crore rural household,” said the concept note of the project.

The main project activities expected out of the service provider among others includes - enrolment as per UIDAI standardized process with NREGA specific customization; procurement of hardware for enrolment; providing trained manpower for enrolment; training the gram panchayat staff on biometric enabled ICT devices' use and the use of the software; ensure attendance at worksite and the work management recording through biometric and GPS based ICT devices.

The project once implemented will be of huge benefit to both the government and the NREGA workers.

It will provide the government with a strong mechanism to monitor funds for NREGA and ensure targeted spending and bring transparency and accountability in the government machinery.

For NREGA workers it will mean financial inclusion, enhanced security of payment, and improved on-time payment of wages.

The service provider will be granted a service contract for a pre-determined period (approx 6.5/13 yrs) for each state to implement the project.

The service provider will be selected for each state through a single bid process. A tripartite service agreement will be entered between the ministry of rural development, state government and the service provider selected for the state.

The ministry will appoint a third party agency to monitor the project in each state during implementation, commissioning and operations.

The enrolment, which is expected to be over by 2012, will start latest by three months from the award of the contract. The operation is for a period of six years.