INTRODUCTION

There are many Government Departments under various Ministries of Indian Government, who have been entrusted and granted Powers to make purchases & hire Services for/ through their departments, which is called Government Procurement/ Purchase. Earlier there were various platforms & procedures available with Government Departments to procure Government Stores/ Services. These methods/ platforms were very complicated and having varieties of procedures, thus, it was very difficult to monitor/ audit such purchases.

 

Why GeM?

To make Government Purchases & Hire Services to the Government Organizations user friendly and simpler, GoI in 2017 introduced one stop portal to facilitate online procurement of common use Goods & Services required by various Government Departments / Organizations / PSUs. GeM aims to enhance transparency, efficiency and speed in public procurement. It provides the tools of e-bidding, reverse e-auction and demand aggregation to facilitate the government users achieve the best value for their money. The purchases through GeM by Government users have been authorized and made mandatory by Ministry of Finance by adding a new Rule No. 149 in the General Financial Rules, 2017.

 

GeM Portal is not only useful and convenient for Government Organizations, but also for various Vendors/ Service Providers, who are providing different Products & Services in India. GeM is providing ample number of opportunities to the Buyer and Seller in a systematical & Time bound manner and making everything so convenient for all to purchase/sell/hire services. This has also brought too much transparency in Procurement in the Government Organizations, also provided proper check & balance on Government purchases, also made proper use of Government Exchequer.