The Union Cabinet has given its approval for the setting up of a Special Purpose Vehicle to be called Government e-Marketplace (GeM SPV) as the National Public Procurement Portal as Section 8 Company registered under the Companies Act, 2013, for providing procurement of goods & services required by Central & State Government organizations.
GeM SPV shall provide an end-to-end online Marketplace for Central and State Government Ministries / Departments, Central & State Public Sector Undertakings (CPSUs & SPSUs), Autonomous institutions and Local bodies, for procurement of common use goods & services in a transparent and efficient manner.
DGS&D shall be wound up and cease its functions by 31st October, 2017. In case it is not possible to wind up DGS&D by 31st October, 2017, the Department may extend the date of closure with proper justification latest upto 31st March, 2018.
Other Information:
As per Rule 149 of the GFR-2017, procurement of Goods and Services by Ministries/ Departments of Central Government has been made mandatory for Goods or Services available on GeM.
GeM is an online end to end procurement portal. All the activities from registration of Buyers and Sellers to purchase and even payment to the Sellers through Public Financial Management Service are completely online. Three methods of procurement are followed as per Rule 149 of GFR-2017. The prices listed by any seller are visible to all the Registered Buyers and Sellers. Moreover, to promote transparency, the Bidding and Reverse Auction notices are sent to all the Sellers who are available for that product on GeM through email/SMS and notice on the homepage of GeM. All the contracts are available in public domain. The complete Audit trail is available for viewing at any time.
GeM is not mandatory for State Governments. It is left to their discretion to procure through GeM. However, some State Government organizations are making procurement through GeM viz Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Telangana, Odisha, Maharashtra, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Tripura, Haryana and Uttarakhand.
GeM, being a technology driven platform, has better functionality and capability to centrally drive and monitor compliance of various Government policies towards promotion of domestic manufacturers, in public procurement.