CAG Report No. 11 of 2025 — Implementation of Smart City Mission, Government of Karnataka

Implementation of Projects and Monitoring
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Audit observed that the GIS platform with advance analytics (Arc GIS version
10.8.1) worth ₹3.93 crore was installed in March 2021. However, third-party
verification of supply and installation of GIS software was completed (June
2022) by the Karnataka State Remote Sensing Application Centre (KSRSAC)
with a delay of 15 months after installation. The reason for the delay was non-
availability of technical expertise with the PMC appointed for this project.
Failure on the part of the MSI to provide a common GIS platform for all the
smart cities resulted in SPVs either using free version of GIS or Google earth
platform for implementation of various ICT-enabled services undermining the
security of the ICT infrastructure.
Further, the end of support for Arc GIS version 10.8.1 was mentioned as
February 2026. As the data centre was yet to be made ‘Go-live’, end of support
by the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) before five years of ‘Go-live’
contravened the RFP requirements i.e., to create a single citizen interface where
all data and applications are available on a GIS platform.
• Usage of software product nearing end of life and support
The ICOP platform provided by the MSI was a combination of CISCO Kinetic
for Cities (CKC) and Quantela in contravention of the conditions of the RFP
which stated that the ICCC platform should either be from a single OEM or
should be pre-integrated and had been operational for more than a year in any
city globally.
CISCO had announced the end of life and sale for CKC platform with effect
from December 2024. This also contravened the provision of the RFP which
stated that the OEM for all active components should give a declaration that
products or technology proposed should not reach end of sale/life for a
minimum of five years from the date of bidding and end of support for minimum
of five years from the date of ‘Go-Live’.
Further, during the Smart City review meeting held on 13 July 2023, the agency
proposed a change request for the CKC ICOP platform due to declaration of
End of Life (EoL) & End of Support (EoS) by OEM. KMDS informed
(September 2023) to MSI to submit formal proposal for initiating change
request for the ICOP solution by adhering to nine points which were included
with Preliminary Qualification (PQ), Technical Qualification (TQ), RFP
technical and functional compliance. In turn KMDS received a proposal letter
from the MSI and same proposal was rejected (April 2024) due to non-matching
of proposed ICOP solutions with PQ/TQ and tender norms.
Audit also observed that MSI handed over the virtual machines to LSI of five
smart cities pending submission of approach and methodology of ICOP,
demonstration of compliance to the technical specifications in RFP and
functional requirement and conducting of security audit of the ICOP.
The State Government replied (April 2025) that considering the end of life of
product, MSI submitted fresh change request proposal for the ICOP by
replacing CISCO product with AVEVA platform by Schneider Electric, which
was approved by Change Control Note (CCN) Committee (December 2024).
MSI informed the committee that the extension of OEM support is confirmed
till December 2026, and discussions are in progress with the OEM to extend the