In an effort to boost transparency and streamline public sector procurement, the government has made it mandatory for all the departments and ministries to source goods and services from its online procurement site- the government e-Marketplace (GeM). This portal also provides the tools of e-bidding and reverse e-auction as well as demand aggregation to facilitate the government users to achieve the best value for the money.
The GeM was launched last year and to make use of this portal, the Finance Ministry has amended the General Financial Rules (GFRs) as per which it is now compulsory to procure items and services from it. Currently, it sells over 9,000 products from 250 categories including computers, stationery and several services.
The Directorate General of Supplies and Disposals (DGS&D) who has developed this portal is working on increasing the number of services ranging from cleaning and plumbing services to the digitisation of records. GeM has an opportunity to emerge as the single platform for India’s National Public Procurement Program and is also expected to result in huge savings for the government.