Embassy reopens tender to run unified Indian Consular Application Centre at 14 locations
By Staff Reporter
Abu Dhabi: All passport and attestation centres for Indian expats in the UAE are set to change, as the Indian missions plan to launch a unified service centre with branches in 14 locations no sooner than the second quarter of this year, Gulf News can reveal.
The Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi has reopened a tender inviting bids from service providers to run Indian Consular Application Centre (ICAC) which will merge all the consular services under one facility.
The Embassy has proposed 14 branches of ICAC to serve more than four million Indians living in the UAE and foreigners seeking Indian visa services through the Indian missions here.
Currently, two different service providers offer outsourced services for the missions. BLS International processes the passport and visa applications while IVS Global handles the document attestation services and some services are handled at the Embassy and the Indian Consulate in Dubai.
Quick and transparent
The new unified facility is proposed to offer comprehensive, quick and transparent services in prime locations with strict requirements to streamline services, reduce waiting times and ensure enhanced efficiency and accessibility.
The embassy had previously issued a similar tender in 2023, with plans to launch the ICAC project in January 2024. However, that tender was revoked due to technical reasons and a new tender has been issued now.
The latest tender comes with revised requirements for bidders including a new website to book appointments, a dashboard to track applications in real time and strict deadlines to provide appointments and complete the application submission services, failing which service provider can be fined.
“The service provider (SP) shall facilitate the availability of appointment slots for submission of application within five working days. The SP shall maintain a turnaround time of 30 minutes for each application processed at the ICAC,” according to the Request for Proposal.
It said the missions handled approximately 1,584,174 services/ transactions during the three years from Jan-2022 to Dec-2024 (equivalent to 1760 transactions/services per working day, assuming 300 working days in a year.)
Proposed locations
The new SP is expected to process the applications for all the consular services at the following locations.
Al Khalidiya, Al Reem and Musaffah in Abu Dhabi, Al Ain, Ghayathi, Bur Dubai and JLT/ Marina in Dubai, Al Majaz in Sharjah, Al Jurf in Ajman, Fujairah, Umm Al Quwain, Corniche/ Subara in Khor Fakkan, Kalba, and Nakheel/ Khujan/ Mareed in Ras Al Khaimah.
