In July 2026 the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) put out a tender that got a lot of software founders excited: build and run “Chavaa”, a state-owned cab aggregator app for all 36 districts of Maharashtra — taxis, autos, bike taxis, EVs, women-driver services, rentals and intercity rides. The RFP reference is ST/IT/Chavaa/575, and it is published on mahatenders.gov.in.
I read the full 66-page RFP. This post explains what it asks for, who can realistically bid, and what a normal Indian or Maharashtra-based software company should do about it. The short version: this is not a tender a typical small software shop can bid on today, but its eligibility rules are a very clear map of what you need to build if you want to win government tenders of this size.
What MSRTC actually wants
MSRTC is not paying anyone to build this. The model is licence and revenue share:
- The selected company designs, builds, runs and maintains the Chavaa platform at its own cost, under MSRTC branding.
- MSRTC pays nothing for development, operations or maintenance (clause 5.3). Instead the company pays MSRTC a monthly revenue share, which is the number you quote in the financial bid (Form 12).
- Contract length: 6 years — 1 year of development plus 5 years of operations — extendable by 2 more.
- The company must obtain and maintain the Aggregator Licence under the Motor Vehicles Aggregator Guidelines 2025 from the Maharashtra transport authority (clause 6.10). MSRTC only “facilitates introductions”.
- You keep the software IP, you may sell advertising on the app, and the operational data is jointly owned with MSRTC.
In other words, you are not a vendor being paid to deliver software. You are a funded operator running a state-branded ride-hailing business, and MSRTC takes a cut.
The eligibility checklist (Section 2)
Bids are opened in stages. If you fail pre-qualification, your technical and financial bids are never opened. Every criterion below must be met, with documents, by the lead bidder itself.
| Criterion | What the RFP requires |
|---|---|
| Legal entity | Company (Companies Act 1956/2013), LLP, partnership firm or proprietorship registered in India, operating at least 3 years on the bid date. PAN, and a Maharashtra GST registration. |
| Labour registrations | EPF and ESIC registration, plus statutory compliance under the Contract Labour, Payment of Wages, Minimum Wages or Payment of Bonus laws (a labour licence or a Form 5 undertaking). |
| Authority | Power of attorney / board resolution for the person signing (Form 4). |
| Turnover | Average annual turnover of ₹20 crore across FY 2023-24, 2024-25 and 2025-26, from ICT / system integration. Hardware resale does not count. Software development for mobility solutions counts. Only the bidding entity’s turnover counts — not a parent, subsidiary or sister company. DPIIT-recognised startups are exempt. |
| Net worth | Positive net worth in each of the last 3 financial years, certified by the statutory auditor. |
| Mobility project experience | At least one mobile app in the mobility domain worth ₹2 crore or more, developed or operated in the last 3 financial years for a Central/State government body, PSU, autonomous body or listed private company. Needs the work order and a client completion certificate (or, if the client won’t issue one, a CA-certified proof of regular payments). No startup exemption applies here. |
| User scale | Experience with apps/websites (Android and iOS) with at least 1,00,000 registered users, backed by an auditor-certified declaration. |
| Quality certification | A valid ISO 9001 certificate on or before the RFP publication date (14 July 2026). |
| Team | At least 30 technically qualified staff (BE/B.Tech/MCA or graduate) on your rolls with relevant mobile experience, shown via an HR-head undertaking (Form 10) and an EPF challan for April 2026 or later. |
| Blacklisting | Not on any active blacklist of DGS&D, the Central Public Procurement Portal, or a ministry/PSU (Form 9 self-declaration). |
“Mobility solutions” is defined broadly: GPS fleet tracking and telematics, route optimisation, driver analytics, and the mobile and web apps around them — across transport, logistics and passenger mobility. So a fleet-tracking or logistics app can count, not only a cab app.
The money you need before you even win
- Tender document fee: ₹5,00,000 including GST, non-refundable, paid online.
- EMD: ₹50,00,000, paid online with the bid. Skipping it disqualifies you. It is returned without interest within 90 days of finalisation for unsuccessful bidders, and it can be forfeited if you withdraw during the validity period or fail to sign the contract.
- Security deposit: ₹50,00,000 for the winner, due within 15 days of the Letter of Intent, held until 6 months after the contract ends, and open to revision after year one.
- Stamp duty and registration for the agreement, plus the cost of a full year of development with no payment from MSRTC.
So roughly ₹55 lakh is committed just to submit a bid, and ₹50 lakh more is locked up if you win — before any engineering cost.
How bids are scored (Section 3)
There are three gates, in order: pre-qualification, then a technical score that must reach at least 60 out of 100, then the financial bid. The final ranking uses QCBS: 70% technical score + 30% financial score.
| Technical criterion | Max marks | How you score |
|---|---|---|
| Annual turnover | 20 | ₹20–30 cr = 10, ₹30–40 cr = 15, above ₹40 cr = 20. DPIIT startups get the full 20. |
| Relevant mobility projects (₹2 cr+ each) | 25 | 1 project = 5, 2 = 10, 3 = 15, 4 = 20, more than 4 = 25. |
| Registered-user scale | 20 | 1 lakh to under 3 lakh = 10, 3 lakh to under 6 lakh = 15, 6 lakh or more = 20. |
| ISO 9001 | 5 | 5 if you provide the certificate. |
| Presentation (approach and methodology) | 20 | Up to one hour: architecture, tech stack, UI/UX, testing, launch and operations, risks, scalability, and a requirement traceability matrix. |
| Prototype demonstration | 10 | Live demo of UI/UX and user journeys. |
The financial score is 100 × (your revenue share ÷ the highest revenue share quoted), so the bidder offering MSRTC the largest share scores 100 and everyone else is scaled against them. The composite is 0.7 × Technical + 0.3 × Financial.
The arithmetic that matters
Take a company that scrapes through pre-qualification with the bare minimum: ₹20–30 cr turnover, one qualifying project, 1 lakh users, and ISO 9001. It scores 10 + 5 + 10 + 5 = 30 marks before the presentation and demo. To reach the 60-mark cut-off it needs 30 out of 30 from the presentation and prototype — a perfect score, which is not a realistic plan.
A DPIIT startup that meets the same minimums gets 20 + 5 + 10 + 5 = 40 marks and needs 20 out of 30 from the presentation and demo — achievable. The exemption is worth 10 marks over the minimum non-startup bidder and keeps the turnover gate from being a wall.
The lesson: meeting the pre-qualification minimum is not enough. You need depth in past projects and user numbers to build a technical buffer.
Rules that quietly rule out common strategies
- No consortium or joint venture (clause 1.10). You cannot team up with a bigger firm to reach the turnover.
- No subcontracting (clause 1.11), and experience or turnover of a parent, subsidiary or sister company is not counted. You cannot borrow credentials.
- An SPV is allowed after you win (clause 6.16), but it must be your direct subsidiary and it does not help you qualify.
- Every page of the bid must be signed and stamped by your authorised signatory. Submission is online only, in English, and bids must be unconditional — conditional bids can be rejected.
- You need a Class II digital signature certificate and an enrolled account on the Maharashtra e-tendering portal before you can download the tender or pay the fee. Get both weeks ahead.
What you must deliver if you win
| Milestone | Deadline from work order |
|---|---|
| Blueprint and detailed SRS | 30 days |
| Application developed | 90 days |
| UAT by a third party (VJTI, IIT Powai or CoEP) | 150 days |
| Security audit with VA&PT by an STQC or CERT-In empanelled agency | 210 days |
| Pilot rollout signed off | 240 days |
| Go-live across Maharashtra | 365 days |
Delays cost ₹5,000 per day (capped at 20% of the security deposit before go-live). After go-live, app downtime beyond 24 hours costs 1% of monthly platform revenue, and unresolved passenger or driver grievances cost ₹500 per complaint per day. The scope also covers driver and vehicle onboarding, induction training, customer support, safety and regulatory compliance, and government-system integration — all inside a twelve-month build.
So can a normal software business bid?
Be honest with yourself against the checklist. My assessment:
- A typical 5–30 person software company with ₹1–8 crore turnover: no. The turnover, the ₹2 crore mobility project, the 30-person payroll and the ₹55 lakh of upfront cash are each individually out of reach, and the no-consortium rule stops you from patching the gaps.
- A DPIIT-recognised startup that already ships a large consumer app: possibly. The turnover requirement falls away, but you still need a ₹2 crore mobility project with a government or listed client, 1 lakh registered users on Android and iOS, ISO 9001, 30 staff on EPF, and the cash. Few young startups have all of that.
- An established firm with ₹20 crore+ turnover and a fleet-tech, logistics or mobility portfolio: yes, this is the intended bidder.
And even for the right bidder, think hard about the model. You fund a year of build, take on licensing and safety obligations, and pay MSRTC a share of revenue from a ride-hailing business you have to grow from zero against Ola, Uber and Rapido.
What to do if you want to win a tender like this next time
- Get the paperwork clean now. A company or LLP that is at least 3 years old, PAN, a Maharashtra GST registration, EPF and ESIC registration, and audited financials with a valid UDIN for every year. These are pass/fail items, and they take months, not days.
- Check DPIIT recognition. If you qualify under Startup India, apply. It is free and it is the only lever this RFP gives to small bidders. Check the current age and turnover conditions on the DPIIT site.
- Get ISO 9001 early. The certificate must exist on or before the RFP publication date, so you cannot start after the tender is announced. Use an accredited certification body.
- Build the track record deliberately. Chase ₹2 crore+ mobility projects for government departments, PSUs or listed companies. Insist on a work order that describes the scope and a completion certificate on the client’s letterhead. Fleet tracking, logistics and driver apps all count.
- Grow verified users. The auditor-certified user count needs Android and iOS apps with real registered users, and 6 lakh users earns the full 20 marks.
- Put your engineers on payroll. The RFP asks for 30 qualified staff “on its rolls” proven by an EPF challan, so contractors and freelancers are unlikely to count.
- Start with smaller government work. Bid on smaller tenders on GeM and state e-tendering portals to learn the process: DSC, portal enrolment, signed and stamped documents, presentations and prototype demos. Each completed project becomes a reference for the big one.
- Read every RFP for contradictions and ask about them. This one has several. It states MSRTC’s fleet as both 16,000 and 18,000 buses. It gives the pre-qualification bid opening as 12:00 in one place and 15:00 in another. Bid validity is stated as 180 days in some clauses and 365 in others. It also says the amount in words governs in one clause and the lower amount governs in another. Pre-bid queries cost nothing and the answers become part of the RFP, so ask about these, and about anything unclear such as how the “valid exemption certificates” for EMD mentioned in the submission instructions apply.
The takeaway
Chavaa is a genuinely interesting tender: a state government putting its brand behind a homegrown ride-hailing platform. But the qualification bar — ₹20 crore turnover, a ₹2 crore mobility reference, 30 engineers, ISO 9001, and about ₹55 lakh of upfront cash — is set for established system integrators, with one narrow door for DPIIT startups. For everyone else, the right move is to use it as a target: build the registrations, references, certifications and payroll it asks for, and start winning smaller government work now.
Many of those registrations — GST, EPF, ESIC, labour licences — are exactly the paperwork tenders check first. Browse the licenses directory to find the right filing and agent for each, and keep every renewal date in one place so an expired registration never costs you a bid.