Private Sector to manage Government Email Services

In a significant development, the Indian government is expanding the involvement of the private sector in managing its internal communication systems. Following the collaboration with Jio Platforms Limited to enhance cloud capacity for the National Informatics Service (NIC), the government has now decided to allow private companies to operate and oversee email services for the central government employees of over 33 lakh employees.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has approved the bids of six companies in response to a Request for Proposal (RFP) issued in March. The RFP sought a Master System Integrator (MSI) to provide email cloud solutions for the government. The approved companies include Larsen & Toubro, Infosys, Softline, Zoho, Railtel, and Rediffmail. While the contract, spanning seven years, is set to be awarded soon, two pilot projects are already underway to assess the effectiveness of alternate email providers.

Microsoft Office 365 and Zoho, the cloud-based software company, are currently running the email pilot programs. Microsoft is conducting testing with 7,036 email users in the railways, while Zoho is conducting test runs with 6,825 email users in ministries such as MeitY, the Department of Technology, and NIC itself.

Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar confirmed that the migration of email services will take into account the sensitivity of certain departments and ministries. He emphasized the importance of collaboration with the private sector and reputed technology start-ups, stating that the government cannot handle all of the country's digitalization needs alone. This move reflects the government's new digital architecture.

The RFP, issued by the Digital India Corporation (DIC), a department of MeitY, outlined the requirement for a robust cloud-based email solution for approximately 20 lakh email users, with the capacity to scale up to 50 lakh. The contract aims to migrate nearly 3.3 million government employees registered on NIC to an email service hosted on a secure cloud, providing them with a range of office productivity tools, collaboration features, and services such as video conferencing and chat.

Security provisions outlined in the RFP include hosting the cloud-based email solution within India's boundaries, ensuring no data center or data processor is located outside the country. The contract also emphasizes data privacy, prohibiting data sharing without MeitY's permission, and incorporates the use of AI models to detect phishing and notify government cybersecurity agencies of any malicious cyber attacks.

The email cloud contract represents the second phase of the government's efforts to involve the private IT sector, following the initiative to enhance NIC's cloud capacity. Jio Platforms Limited (JPL) was awarded a seven-year contract worth Rs 350 crore earlier this year for this purpose, and the project is expected to be delivered by JPL by August, with October as the operational deadline.