Page 108 - Procurement guidelines for smart sustainable cities - A U4SSC deliverable

The problem

For a geographically large and politically diverse nation such as India, standardizing public
procurement is a challenging task. The public procurement regime in India was characterized
by fragmented processes and policies that operate in silos and required high levels of manual
intervention. The increasing volume of public procurement opportunities in India, approximately
22 per cent of India’s total GDP, coupled with the scale and magnitude of government projects,
the existing malpractices in the system due to buyer-supplier interaction lead to the genesis of the
Government e-Marketplace (GeM) initiative, which is driven by the need to deliver a step change in
the public procurement process in the country and usher in an era of e-governance by leveraging
the power of digital.

The public procurement regime in India comprises a framework of overlapping administrative rules
and guidelines, sector-specific manuals and state-specific legislation, no comprehensive central
legislation. At the core of the procurement framework lies the General Financial Rules (“GFR”),
initially implemented in 1947, which comprises comprehensive administrative rules and directives
on financial management and procedures for all government procurement.

The approach

As public procurement forms a very important part of government activity in India. The Directorate
General of Supplies & Goods (DGS&D), with the technical support of the National eGovernance
Division (Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology), India has developed Government
e-Marketplace (GeM) for the procurement of Products & Services by the Government Ministries
and Departments, Public Sector Undertakings and other apex autonomous bodies of the Central
Government in 2016.

The Government eMarketplace (GeM) platform was launched on 9 August 2016 as an online, end-
to-end solution for procurement of commonly used goods and services for all Central Government
and State Government Ministries, Departments, Public Sector Units (PSUs) and affiliated bodies.
Procurement on GeM has been authorized by GFR by making necessary changes in government
rules, last modified in 2017.

GeM is a dynamic, self-sustaining and user-friendly portal by which government officers can make
procurements. It is a completely paperless, cashless and system-driven e-market place that enables
procurement of common use goods and services with minimal human interface. It increased access
for procurement – broader outreach, wider variety of goods and services, increase transparency and
efficiency (time & cost) of procurement, encouraged small business units/individuals to do business
with the government and make procurement data easily available for auditors, administrators,
vigilance, and so on.

For the sellers, it provides direct access to all government departments, one-stop shops for
marketing, bids/reverse auction on products/services. It allowed new product suggestion facility,

94 Procurement guidelines for smart sustainable cities | May 2023