1. What is a Digital Signature Certificate?

Digital Signature Certificates (DSC) are the digital equivalent (that is electronic format) of physical or paper certificates. Examples of physical certificates are drivers’ licenses, passports or membership cards. Certificates serve as a proof of identity of an individual for a certain purpose; for example, a driver’s license identifies someone who can legally drive in a particular country. Likewise, a digital certificate can be presented electronically to prove your identity, to access information or services on the Internet or to sign certain documents digitally.

2. Why is Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) required?

Like physical documents are signed manually, electronic documents, for example e-forms are required to be signed digitally using a Digital Signature Certificate. Transactions that are done using Internet if signed using a Digital Signature certicate becomes legally valid.

3. Who issues the Digital Signature Certificate?

A licensed Certifying Authority (CA) issues the digital signature. Certifying Authority (CA) means a person who has been granted a license to issue a digital signature certificate under Section 24 of the Indian IT-Act 2000.

4. What are the different types of Digital Signature Certificates valid for eTendering programmme ?

The different types of Digital Signature Certificates are:
Class 2: Here, the identity of a person is verified against a trusted, pre-verified database.
Class 3: This is the highest level where the person needs to present himself or herself in front of a Registration Authority (RA) and prove his/ her identity.

5. What type of Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) is to be obtained for eFiling on the eTendering Portal?

DSC of Class 2 and Class 3 category issued by a licensed Certifying Authority (CA) needs to be obtained for efiling on the eTendering Portal.

6. What is the cost of obtaining a Digital Signature Certificate?

The cost of obtaining a digital signature certificate may vary as there are many entities issuing DSCs and their charges may differ. The approximate cost could vary between Rs. 2000 to Rs. 3000 depending on the number of years for which it is issued.

9. How much time do CAs take to issue a DSC?

The time taken by Certifying Authorities to issue a DSC may vary from three to seven days.

10. What is the validity period of a Digital Signature Certificate?

The Certifying Authorities are authorized to issue a Digital Signature Certificate with a validity of one or two years. The maximum period for which the DSC is issued is only two years. On the expiry of the term, the Digital Signature Certificate can be revalidated by paying the fees again.

11. What is the legal status of a Digital Signature?

Digital Signatures are legally admissible in a Court of Law, as provided under the provisions of IT.

12. Is a company required to obtain a Digital Signature Certificate in its own name for eTendering

Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) is not required by Companies but by individuals. For example the Director or the Authorized signatory signing on behalf of the Company requires a DSC.

13. Can I do e-filing of documents if I do not possess a DSC? 

No. It is mandatory to have a valid digital signature certificate for e-filing the forms on eTendering portal.

1. Bidder should do the registration in the tender site http://etenders.kerala.gov.in using the option available.Then the Digital Signature registration has to be done with the e-token, after logging into the site. The e-token may be obtained from one of the authorized Certifying Authorities such as SIFY/TCS / nCode.
2. Bidder then login to the site thro’ giving user id / password chosen during registration.
3. The e-token that is registered should be used by the bidder and should not be misused by others.
4. The Bidders can update well in advance, the documents such as certificates, purchase order details etc., under My Documents option and these can be selected as per tender requirements and then send along with bid documents during bid submission.
5. After downloading / getting the tender schedules, the Bidder should go thro’ them carefully and then submit the documents as asked, otherwise, the bid will be rejected.
6. If there are any clarifications, this may be obtained online thro’ the tender site, or thro’ the contact details. Bidder should take into account of the corrigendum published before submitting the bids online.
7. Bidder, in advance, should get ready the bid documents to be submitted as indicated in the tender schedule and they should be in PDF/xls/rar/dwf formats. If there is more than one document, they can be clubbed together.
8. Bidder should get ready the EMD as specified in the tender. The original should be posted/couriered/given in person to the Tender Inviting Authority, within the bid submission date & time for the offline Payment tender.In case of Online Payment, the same should be paid only online.
9. The bidder reads the terms & conditions and accepts the same to proceed further to submit the bids
10. The bidder has to submit the tender document online well in advance before the prescribed time to avoid any delay or problem during the submission process.
11. After the bid submission, the acknowledgement number, given by the e-tendering system should be printed by the bidder and kept as a record of evidence for online submission of bid for the particular tender.
12. In case of offline payment, the details of the Earnest Money Deposit document submitted physically to the Dept and the scanned copies furnished at the time of bid submission online should be the same otherwise the Tender will be summarily rejected
13. The Tender Inviting Authority (TIA) will not be held responsible for any sort of delay or the difficulties faced during the submission of bids online by the bidders.
14. The bidder may submit the bid documents by online mode through the site (http://etenders.kerala.gov.in).
15. The tendering system will give a successful bid updation message after uploading all the bid documents submitted & then a bid summary will be shown with the bid no, date & time of submission of the bid with all other relevant details. The documents submitted by the bidders will be digitally signed using the e-token of the bidder and then submitted.
16. The bid summary has to be printed and kept as an acknowledgement as a token of the submission of the bid. The bid summary will act as a proof of bid submission for a tender floated and will also act as an entry point to participate in the bid opening date.
17. Bidder should log into the site well in advance for bid submission so that he submits the bid in time i.e on or before the bid submission end time. If there is any delay, due to other issues, bidder only is responsible.
18. The bidder should see that the bid documents submitted should be free from virus and if the documents could not be opened, due to virus, during tender opening, the bid is liable to be rejected
19. The time settings fixed in the server side & displayed at the top of the tender site, will be valid for all actions of requesting, bid submission, bid opening etc., in the e-tender system. The bidders should follow this time during bid submission.
20. All the data being entered by the bidders would be encrypted using PKI encryption techniques to ensure the secrecy of the data. The data entered will not viewable by unauthorized persons during bid submission & not be viewable by any one until the time of bid opening. Overall, the submitted tender documents become readable only after the tender opening by the authorized individual.
21. The confidentiality of the bids is maintained since the secured Socket Layer 128 bit encryption technology is used. Data storage encryption of sensitive fields is done.
22. The bidders are requested to submit the bids through online e�tendering system to the TIA well before the bid submission end date & time (as per Server System Clock).
23. The bidder should logout of the tendering system using the normal logout option available at the top right hand corner and not by selecting the (X) option in the browser.