ISLAMABAD: The Finance Division contemplates on initiating fact finding inquiry into inefficiency of Pakistan Revenue Automation (Pvt.) Limited (PRAL) in producing desired results.
“The very option of appointment of new Chief Executive Officers of the company is also an option under consideration of the authorities concerned,” said a well placed source at Federal Board of Revenue here on Thursday.
The PRAL was established in 1994 as a small IT setup has diversity of solutions for its customers and has expertise in software development, business process re-engineering/improvement, technical advisory and consulting services, managing large data centres, data entry services, designing and executing wide area networks, operational and technical management services. This wide spectrum of services offered by PRAL facilitates valued customers looking for ‘one-stop shop’ solutions from conceptualization to post-implementation operations.
The source further confided that most probably the fact finding inquiry would cover the acts and decision made by the sitting Chief Executive regarding improvement of the efficiency and performance of the company. “Soon after taking additional charge, besides FBR Member Information Technology, as the CEO PRAL, the sitting CEO fired dozens of employees on numerous reasons which hampered improvement in efficiency and performance of the institutions,” the source observed.
“At the time of appointment, the Member IT was considered the best choice and selection for being Officer Domain and having know how about the issue, however, decisions and acts taken by her marooned the performance of the organisation,” the source further added. Such a state of affairs, the source said that had raised concerns among the authorities concerned, who were now contemplating on two options; either to withdraw charge from her at first or to initiate fact finding inquiry.
It is pertinent to mention here that since its incorporation in June 1994, PRAL has been involved in the development of wide array of tax and revenue related solutions pertaining to Income Tax, Wealth Tax, General Sales Tax, Federal Excise, Customs, Capital Value Tax, Provincial Cess, Property Tax etc. Some of the key applications developed and implemented during these years.
Moreover, PRAL is delegated with services of feasibility studies/ technical Advisory, Need Analysis/ Requirement Specifications / Requests for Proposals, Software Development and Customization, Portal Design and Development, Large Database Management, Administration and Integration, WAN / LAN Administration, Specialized Training Programs, Technical and Financial Evaluation of bids as per World Bank Standards, Data Entry of Voluminous Nature, Preparation of computer installation sites, Maintenance of hardware (PCs, printers, peripherals etc.), Operational support i.e., running computer installations on Build-Own-Operate-Transfer (BOOT) basis or any combination of this basis and Research and Development, i.e., evaluating new information technologies, monitoring latest trends and disseminating technical information etc.
Currently, PRAL is running projects including, e-FBR portal, e-Customs Systems, Trade Export Promotion and Industry Program.(TEPI) (Customs wide area networking), tax management system, Motorway Automated Toll Collection Project (National Highway Authority) , Biodiversity of Pakistan: Databases & Global Networking (BGN) Project (Pakistan Museum Natural History), UIP (Urban Immovable Property Tax & Survey) (Excise and Taxation Department, Govt. of NWFP), Consultancy Services for NTTFC, UNCTAD, Institutional Support for Trade Regime (Ministry of Commerce & Crown Agents), Human Resource Management System (Federal Board of Revenue and its allied Organizations) and Taxpayers Audit Monitoring System (Federal Board of Revenue).
Moreover, PRAL has been involved in Tax Registration System, Integrated Tax Management System, Self-service Tax Portal, e-Customs System, Revenue Accounting System, Provincial Cess Collection System and Urban Immovable Property Revenue Management System.
