The National Information Technology Board (NITB) is moving to integrate Raast and other digital payment services into various government systems, a step that will allow citizens to pay utility bills, taxes, and service fees electronically. The unified mechanism is also meant to cover payments for licensing, certificates, and applications.
NITB has issued a request for proposals (RFP) for the integration, and according to the document, the proposed system will support multiple electronic channels. Citizens will be able to pay through debit and credit cards, QR-based payments, and interbank funds transfers (IBFT), alongside branchless banking agents, the Request to Pay (RTP) facility, and the Raast payment system. NITB has also set out strict technical requirements for the arrangement. The system must provide real-time payment confirmation, automated transaction reconciliation, and secure processing, and payments must settle directly into accounts identified by NITB, with service providers barred from holding any funds in their own settlement accounts. Beyond the payment flow itself, the platform is expected to include reporting dashboards, refund facilities, and mechanisms to handle payment disputes and chargebacks. Service providers will have to keep the system available around the clock, offer ongoing technical support, and train NITB staff to operate it once it is in place.
Security and data handling form a significant part of the requirements. NITB expects multi-factor authentication, strong data encryption, and active fraud detection, and the system must monitor transactions for compliance with anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing rules. All transaction data must be hosted within Pakistan, and service providers will be required to conduct periodic vulnerability assessments and penetration testing. These conditions reflect how much sensitive financial information a unified government payment layer would handle, since it would sit between citizens and a wide range of public services. At the same time, the tender document does not specify an implementation timeline, a target number of users, or projected transaction volumes, so it remains unclear how quickly the integration will reach citizens or at what scale.
On the vendor side, NITB has invited bids exclusively from scheduled banks and fintech companies. Interested firms must be registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) and hold licenses from the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). They must also have at least five years of experience in online payment integration or digital banking solutions, along with existing integrations with a minimum of five major clients. NITB further requires valid Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) certification, ISO 27001 or equivalent certification, and an active or committed integration with Raast. The procurement will follow a single-stage, two-envelope process, under which financial proposals will be considered only after a firm achieves technical qualification. In the financial evaluation, NITB will give priority to lower transaction charges for citizens alongside a higher revenue share for the board, which means the winning bidder will be judged both on what citizens pay to use the system and on what the board earns from it.
Follow the SPIN IDG WhatsApp Channel for updates across the Smart Pakistan Insights Network covering all of Pakistan’s technology ecosystem.
