New Delhi, March 28,2023:  A total of 12 prospective bidders purchased the RFP, but only one bidder participated in the bidding process for the selection of implementation agency for the development and maintenance of CBICs indirect tax application (GST and ACES) and provision of training and helpdesk Services, according to a CAG audit report.

The CAG report said that in future, the department should ensure adequate competition and minimise vendor lock-in by ensuring that more bidders participate in the bidding for tendering for the next contract.

“This may be done by devising appropriate procedures to ensure a more level-playing field between the prospective bidders and the existing system integrator (SI). Also, this tender may be initiated well in time so that in the event of receipt of only one bid, the department has sufficient time to retender, if felt necessary,” said the audit report.

The report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on IT Audit of CBIC ACES-GST Application’ on Goods and Services Tax, Central Excise and Service Tax was presented in the Parliament on Tuesday.

The report said that instances of deemed approval of registrations without mandatory physical verification (PV) of business premises where taxpayers did not authenticate their Aadhaar were observed in the audit.

The department should conduct post-physical verification of the premises for the cases where Aadhaar has not been authenticated. The CBIC ACES-GST system should have provision to not allow grant of registration without mandatory physical verification of taxpayers with unverified Aadhaar status.

The department should make provision for generating exception reports for cases where Aadhaar verification and mandatory physical verification status of a taxpayer is flagged as N’ for monitoring and taking appropriate action, the report said.

The CAG report noted that registrations were approved even in cases where the PV reports sought rejections of the registration applications. The department should develop an alert by which the CPC officer can identify the adverse/negative remarks. It should also consider developing an MIS report of such cases, it said.

As per the CAG report, suspension functionality in cases of application for cancellation of registration or suo-moto cancellation by the tax officer was not implemented. The department should ensure that the suspension functionality is implemented in the CBIC ACES-GST application in line with the CGST rules, it said.