No. 1:10/2017-PCC. Dated 10th October 2022.
Subject: - Human Resource (HR) Policy for Outsourcing ‘of work/services in Department of Posts- reg.

In order to improve the quality of ‘services being provided by the Department and to enhance the customer satisfaction, this Department in the past has been extending value added services like free pick up, flexible delivery hours, delivery of mails on holidays, faster processing of. mails at each handling point.

However, non availability of adequate manpower in post offices / BPC / BNPL centers / Parcel Hubs / Sorting Hubs / Mail Offices and MMS units is a major challenge ta achieve the desired results. Occasional surge in volume of mails due to festivals or other unforeseen reasons also makes the situation at times difficult to manage.

2. Therefore, the competent authority has approved HR Policy for Outsourcing of Work/Services in continuation of the earlier guidelines issued vide this Department’s OM No. 1-10/2009-PCC dated 09.09.2009 and OM No. 2-1/2002-PE-I dated 13.05.2020. The Policy document is attached as Annexure to this OM.

3. The terms and conditions as laid down in the Policy are not exhaustive and any additional condition specific to the area of services proposed to be outsourced may be incorporated by the concerned authority subject to observance of the provisions of General Financial Rules, 2017 as well as principles of efficiency and economy.

4. It is therefore, requested to bring this policy in-to the notice of all concerned immediately for ensuring its strict adherence in true letter and spirit.

5. This issues with the concurrence of the Internal Finance wing and approval of the competent authority.

Annexure to OM No.1-10/2017-PCC dated 10.10.2022
Human Resource Policy for Outsourcing of work

1. Department of Posts provides a number of services in the areas of transmission of mail, banking, Insurance and retail atc. Presence of other private service providers in these areas Including that of mall transmission is a source of competition to the Department of Posts. This competition provides the Department of Posts an opportunity as well as impetus to improve its quality of service in its various areas of operations so as to meet the expectations of the customers and increase its volume of business.

2. Considering the need to faster processing of mail and parcels, the operational network of mail was rationalized and restructured under Mail Network Optimization Project (MNOP) and Parcel Network Optimization Project (PNOP) wherein the Department has set up following processing centres for faster processing for different categories of mail:

3. All categories of Mail items and Parcels booked/received in all the 1.55 lakh post offices and different BPC/BNPL/PBCs offices are processed in these processing hubs.

4. At present, broadly mail operations is segmented into following processes:

i. Collection of mail — counters, bulk mail centres and pick up services.

ii. Outward sorting of mail — Mail offices viz NSH/ICH/ Registered L-1/L-1, Un-registered L-1/L-2 and Parcel Hubs performing outward sorting of mail for various destinations.

iii. Consolidation of mail — Transit Mail Offices where mail bags are consolidated and prepared for dispatches through various modes.

iv. Transmission— Multi modal transport involving surface and air.

v. Inward sorting of mail — Mail processing offices viz. NSH/ICH/ Registered L 1/L-1, Un-registered L-1/L-2 and Parcel Hubs receive mail and prepare dispatches for delivery post offices and other NSH/ICH/L-1/L-2 offices.

vi. Delivery of mail - Delivery of mail is made through the delivery Post Offices or a Nodal Delivery Centres (NDCs), which serves many delivery zones.

5. In order to improve the quality of service and retain the business by increasing the customer satisfaction, it is required to Improve the performance 0f each of the above mentioned segment by extending free pick up to those customers who are not being served by the Department at resent, faster processing of mail at each handling point from book delivery flexible delivery hours and delivery on holidays.

Existing provisions

1. None. availability of sufficient manpower in Post Offices/BPCs/BNPL Booking. Centres/Parcel Hubs/Sorting Hubs/Mail Offices/MMS units and NDCs to handle the mail resulting delay in booking, processing and delivery of mail. In case of the occasional/seasonal surge In volume of malls the situation becomes more difficult to manage. As per the guldelines in foroe for outsourcing issued vide Postal Directorate OM No. 1-10/2008-PCG dated 9" September, 2009 It Is work which should be outsourced rather than manpower and principles of efficiency and economy should be the top guiding principles while outsourcing or awarding work on contractual basis. Work can be outsourced if the burden of cost is reduced and the work can be done with more expertise and lesser investment of resources subject to Department having complete control over the operations, data, assets and security. The work should be outsourced in accordance with the relevant rules of GFR amended from time to time.

2. In addition, Department of Posts has also introduced schemes for carrying various activities on outsource basis from pick-up to delivery viz. Speed Post OSA scheme for extending pick-up of Speed Post articles and Outsourced Postal Agent (OPA) scheme: for pick-up, booking and delivery of various types of items.

Franchise Scheme is also in vogue for extending access of Post Offices counter services in the close vicinity of customers.

Need for Revision of existing guidelines

1. It has been.observed that units hire manpower for outsourcing of work keeping in view of the sanction strength of the unit. In such cases the quantum of work on account of unforeseen/occasional/seasonal volume of. mails becomes difficult to handle which defeats the principle of efficiency and economy in outsourcing of work.

2. Further, the existing schemes of outsourcing viz, OSA/OPA/Franchise scheme of various activities have lot of limitations as these schemes do not cover all the segments of mail operations.

3. In view of the above, a need is felt to put in a place a policy to outsource specific work and activities in different type of office which will be delinked from sanctioned strength of the units.

Revised guidelines

1. In view of the perennial difficultles faced in the field units in effective handling of mail related work, a need is felt to put in place an enabling framework to approach outsourcing of work/activities in the interest of economy and efficiency, wherever required under the following guiding principles:

1. Authority empowered to outsource work

Head of Circle or any officer authorized by the Head of Circle not below the rank of Divisional Head.

2. Scope of Work
The following work/activities in different type of offices can only be outsourced: