How to register a DSC on IREPS for railway tenders

Indian Railways buys an enormous range of goods and works through tenders, and every one of those tenders runs through IREPS, the Indian Railways e-procurement portal. Vendors and contractors who want a share of that work register on IREPS, submit tenders there and take part in e-auctions. None of that happens without a Digital Signature Certificate. This post explains which certificate IREPS asks for, how registration works, and how to get the certificate from us.

What IREPS asks for

IREPS uses the DSC at three points: bidder registration, tender submission and e-auction participation. The certificate has to be a Class 3 combo, with signing and encryption, because IREPS encrypts your bid with it when you submit. It also has to carry the firm’s name. That last point trips up first time applicants. An individual DSC in your personal name will not do for bidder registration, even if you are the only person in the firm. The portal wants an organisation certificate, issued in the firm’s name with an authorised signatory. Our DSC for IREPS page carries the full requirements, including the document list for firms.

Which DSC fits

The fit here is narrow, which makes choosing simple. Class 3 signing, organisation type, in the firm’s name. The authorised signatory is the person who will actually click through the registration and the bids, so nominate someone who will be around for the life of the certificate. Current prices are on the Class 3 DSC product page, where you also place the order.

One thing to settle before you apply is the name on the firm. The name on the certificate has to match the firm’s records on IREPS, because the portal checks the certificate against the registration. If the firm was renamed or the signatory changed, sort that out first rather than after the certificate is issued.

How to get it from us

We are a Registration Authority (RA) for VSign, Capricorn, eMudhra, Sify, nCODE and PantaSign. These CCA-licensed Certifying Authorities issue the certificates. Application support is included in the price.

You order and pay on the site, and then we contact you. Send your documents on WhatsApp or by email, or bring them to our office, and we fill and submit the application for you. You do the Aadhaar OTP and the video KYC with the Certifying Authority, and we assist you at every step. The certificate arrives on a USB token, delivered or picked up from the office.

How to register it on the portal

Once the certificate is on your token, you register it on IREPS yourself. Open the portal, click New Vendors or Contractors, select your DSC from the token and fill the registration form with the firm’s details. Keep the token drivers and the IREPS Signer utility ready before you begin, since the portal reads the certificate from the token during registration. If the portal does not detect the token, the cause is usually the driver or the browser setup on that computer, not the certificate. We do not register certificates on portals for customers, but we assist you at every step.

Renewal before it expires

A DSC carries a validity of one to three years. An expired certificate cannot sign a bid, and IREPS will not let a registration ride on one. Get the reissue before the expiry date, especially if a tender you want is coming up, and register the new certificate on the portal the same way as the first one. A certificate reissued in the same firm name keeps your registration history intact, so renew in the same name rather than starting over with a fresh application under a different signatory.