BHUBANESWAR: The state government has made procurement of goods and services through government e-Marketplace (GeM) mandatory for all its departments.
The decision was taken after several departments, government offices and Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) were found procuring goods and services through manual bidding process despite strict instruction from the Finance department.
Finance Secretary Ashok Kumar Meena has directed secretaries of all departments and heads of departments to ensure that procurement is made through GeM.
“Use of GeM will increase overall efficiency leading to significant cost saving on government expenditure on procurement with an average overall saving of 25 per cent than the prevailing market rates,” he said.
As per the fresh guideline issued by the Finance department, all government offices, PSUs, autonomous and local bodies will have to first place their orders on the GeM.
If goods and services of required specification are not available on the GeM, procuring authority will request for its addition in the platform.
After lapse of two weeks from the date of such request, if the item is not found available on GeM, the procuring authority can proceed for open market purchase keeping in view the urgency of the procurement.
In case of purchase through open bidding, the authorities will have to furnish certificates that the item procured either is not available on GeM or the price charged in the open market is less than the rate tagged in the e-marketplace, the guideline stated.
The administrative departments, heads of departments and subordinate offices have been asked to guide their local existing suppliers for getting registered on GeM which will help improve the ease of availability of products for buyers.
“It will also promote local coverage as well as help the government offices benchmark their current sellers to compete against the national sellers on GeM, besides providing them a larger market to increase their business,” Meena said.
Since some officers are reluctant to share their Aadhaar number and Aadhaar-linked mobile number while registering on GeM as primary or secondary users, the Finance department has made it clear that the credentials will not be used after their transfer or retirement.
Procuring officials have been advised to share their Aadhaar and mobile numbers for registration as these are required for verification of user credentials.