Kerala govt releases papers of deal with US-based IT company amid Opposition's allegations

The Kerala government on Wednesday brought all the documents of a deal inked with US-based company Sprinklr in the public domain after facing allegations of breach of citizens' privacy over the same from Congress-led Opposition in the state.

The decision comes after opposition leaders alleged foul play in the contract inked with the US-based firm alleging that crucial data of 1.75 people in the state, collected as part of COVID-19 surveillance with the help of field workers, will be compromised.

Congress also alleged that tenders were not invited for the deal, which was given to Sprinklr.

The government's IT department published the deal papers, including purchase order, master service agreement and affirmation letter from IT secretary, service level agreement, the non-disclosure agreement (NDA) regarding data privacy and Kerala government's right to the data.

"The documents are being published here for greater transparency and clarity. The purchase order with Sprinklr was signed on April 2, 2020, effective from March 25, 2020. This is a standard order form the company follows internationally," the state government said.

"The end date of the assignment is given as earlier of September 24, 2020, and/or the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, as mutually agreed upon by the parties. There is a provision for license term to be renewed by mutual written agreement of the parties," it added.

It said that the privacy policy and the NDA of Sprinklr has been shared and clarifications on the same were sought from Sprinklr.

Earlier, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had clarified that no fee was involved in the contract with US company and its CEO was an NRI from the state. He had said that the US-based firm is helping the state government by developing an application for health workers to store field data collected from the people under observation.

Vijayan had said that the data will be stored in a secure server in the country.

( With inputs from ANI )

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