GeM-(Government e-Marketplace)
‘‘An online procurement system for commonly used items, developed
using e-market place design and processes, resulting in about 10% coast
saving.”
GeM (https://gem.gov.in/) was developed under the guidance of
Directorate of Supplies and Disposal, Department of Commerce,
Government of India, with technical collaboration of National e-Governance
Division, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government
of India.
Government e-Marketplace (GeM) is an end-to-end online procurement
system for commonly used items of the Directorate General of Supplies and
Disposal, (DGS & D), Government of India. Developed using private e-
marketplace design and processes, GeM offers buyers a huge list of products
for individual categories of Goods/Services to shop for. Search, Compare,
Select and Buy facility, a continuous Vendor-Rating system, and an easy
Return policy makes GeM a convenient platform for buyers.
GeM is revolutionizing Indian public procurement scenario by making it
paperless, cashless, and faceless. It is helping in cutting down administrative
and transaction costs significantly for buyers and bidders. The innovation,
built on modern e-commerce technologies, coupled with verifiable means of
authenticity of suppliers and purchasers, allows a fully reliable procurement
transaction to be done completely online. Within a few months of launch,
GeM has become popular with over 19,000 users registering on the platform.
It has integrated 1,036 Government department-buyers, 2,580 sellers, 81
service providers, 8,270 products / services, and delivered 1,074 orders worth
USD 16 million as of January 2017.
The Good Governance initiative of the Government had a stated objective
of Minimum Government and Maximum Governance. As part of this, two
Groups of Secretaries to the Government of India recommended that the
current Government procurement system be reviewed and redesigned. They
went on to state their preference for a market-based, open, and transparent
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framework in line with the Digital India Vision — Paperless, Cashless, and
Faceless.
Procurement operations in India are typically delegated to procurement
entities on a deconcentrated model based on the financial delegation levels
permitted. These are covered by the regulatory framework of General
Financial Rules (GFR). Directorate General of Supplies and Disposal,
established for procurement for the Union Government, has a facilitating role
in establishing rate contracts (similar to framework agreements). Over the
last 65 years, DGS & D has set up over 3,000 rate contracts covering over
20,000 products. In an economy with a $2.3 trillion GDP and an estimated
15% of that being public procurement, around 700,000 tenders are issued
every year by Government procuring entities. The aspiration was to leverage
the technologies that were available and transform the way Government
procured its daily use goods and services, leading to higher efficiency in cost,
time, and efforts.
Challenges:
The key challenges that are addressed by GeM include:
1.Crafting a solution that cut down significantly on administrative and
transaction costs on commonly and repeatedly procured items for both
Government buyers as well as suppliers, for example transportation (or taxi)
services.
2. Eliminating multiple levels of manual, sequential verification and
decision-making to bring down lead-time in procurement.
3.Instilling confidence amongst all stakeholders, including vendors, of an
open, inclusive, and competitive process.
4. Reducing the physical means of financial transactions of various types of
payments.
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Innovations in the Solution:
1. The ability of Government-buyers to interface and transact directly
with potential suppliers in a manner that was faceless, paperless, and
cashless conformed completely to the Digital India vision of
governance.
2. The end-to-end platform was able to get a strong buy in from multiple
stakeholders with varied objectives on the aspect of procurement. They
ranged from Finance, Audit, Accounts, and Vigilance functions within
the Government to market providers that included Industry, OEMs,
Retailers, and Banks, among others.
3. GeM introduced many new ways of efficient procurement, particularly
for services, which the Government had not done ever before e.g. the
provisioning of transportation (taxi) services with spot-hiring, leasing,
renting, among other options, in collaboration with global leaders Uber
and Ola.
4. GeM successfully addressed various entry barriers for vendors by
simplifying the onboarding process and reduced the time frame
dramatically. The traditional vendor rate contract cycle that lasted for
6 to 8 months was transformed to an online vendor registration that just
took 20 minutes! This was achieved by securing offers through eSign
that established an audit trail.
5. GeM leverages cross-platform authentication of seller credentials, with
individual identities verified through Aadhaar (the Unique
Identification program of the Government of India) and the financial
standings of individuals and supplier organizations through their
Permanent Account Number (PAN) issued by the Income Tax
Department.
6. The platform features include best-of-breed e-commerce
functionalities, such as Easy search, Price comparisons, Selection,
Order placement, e-Bidding, Reverse auction, Demand-aggregation,
Dynamic pricing by sellers/service providers amongst many more.
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Impact of GeM:
1.GeM has rationalized the procurement processes, brought in complete
transparency and traceability, reduced lead-time, enabled parallel
auditing, and increased the overall effectiveness of procedures.
2. Successful roll out of GeM has impacted many facets of procurement
policy and management, and demonstrated high value. At a policy level,
a new service level of “Payment within 10 days of delivery and its
acceptance” was introduced as a new Rule in the GFR to enable
procurement through GeM. In a very short time, GeM has gained the
confidence of multiple stakeholders, as seen from the high number of
vendor and product registrations.
3. Within 120 days of launch, GeM has integrated 1,036 Government
department-buyers, 2,580 sellers, 81 service providers, 8,270 products /
services, and delivered 1,074 orders worth USD 16 million as of January
2017. GeM’s acceptance by various Government departmental buyers is
a testimony of its success. Trends indicate that there will be bigger growth
in procurement transactions with more Government-buyers, national and
state, queuing up to be onboarded on GeM. The World Bank has permitted
purchasing of up to USD 30,000 on GeM portal for bank-funded projects.
GeM facilities:
1. Listing of products for individual, prescribed categories of Goods/
Services of common use.
2. Look, estimate, compare and buying facility on dynamic pricing
basis.
3. Market place buying of majority of common User Items.
4. Buying Goods and Services online, as and when required.
5. Transparency and ease of buying.
6. Useful for low value buying and also for bulk buying at competitive
price using Reverse Auction/ e-bidding.
7. Continuous vendor rating system.
8. Return policy.
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Benefits of GeM:
1. Enhances transparency.
2. Increased efficiency.
3. Secure and safe.
4. Savings to the government.
Key features:
1. End to End systems: from vendor buyer registration to payment.
2. Registration authentication: Through Adhar, Pan.
3. Highly secure: contract document generated online and e-signed.
4. Multiple procurement option: Direct purchase, bidding, reverse
auction.
5. Complete audit trail: From supply order to bill generation &
payment in one place.
6. Multiple payment option like Banking, PFMS etc.
7. Quick payment within 10 days.
8. Market page: View, search, filter, compare, and add to cart.
9. Price comparison: With major ecommerce sites.
10. Notification: Through e-mail and SMS.
11. Training and call centre support.
Government e-market place has attained the annual procurement of one
lack crore in the current financial year. And it is estimated to 1.5 lakh
crore in 2022-2023
Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) of the GeM reached Rs 1 Lakh crore over
4 and half years from inception till 23rd March 2021, whereas the GMV of
GeM in the current Financial Year surpassed Rs 1 lakh crore in less than a
year. This represents a 160 per cent growth compared to the last financial
year.
The challenge:
1. Limitations & inefficiencies in procurement system
a) Geographic coverage of standardized procurement limited to localized
vendor base
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b) Non-availability of granular data/ MIS on public procurement
c) Limited range of product categories under standardized rate contracts
d) Lack of price reasonability (either individually selected vendors OR
prices locked for 1 year under rate contracts)
e) Limited demand aggregation/ benchmarking across organizations to
optimize for bulk purchases
2. Time consuming, heavily manual processes
a) Time consuming, cumbersome registration & verification processes for
sellers
b) Manual process inefficiencies such as offline payments processes
c) Manual rate negotiations resulting in opacity and possible cartel
formation
d) Admin overhead for buying organizations in terms of manpower &
effort required
3. Complex policy landscape with potential for conflicts - Many purchase
preference policies exist in India today at both Central & State level
resulting in complicated decision making for buyers.
Government e-Marketplace ( Gem ) Advantages For Buyers :
• Offers rich listing of products for individual categories of
Goods/Services.
• Makes available search, compare, select and buy facility.
• Enables buying Goods and Services online, as and when required.
• Provides transparency and ease of buying.
• Ensures continuous vendor rating system.
• Up-to-date user-friendly dashboard for buying, monitoring supplies
and payments.
• Provision of easy return policy
Government e-Marketplace ( Gem ) Advantages For Sellers :
• Direct access to all Government departments.
• One-stop shop for marketing with minimal efforts.
• One-stop shop for bids / reverse auction on products / services.
• New Product Suggestion facility available to Sellers.
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• Dynamic pricing: Price can be changed based on market conditions.
• Seller friendly dashboard for selling, and monitoring of supplies and
payments.
• Consistent and uniform purchase procedures
GeM Services :
• Vendor Registration
• Gem Profile Activation
• Product Publish On Gem
• Vendor Assessment
• Reseller Panel Support
• OEM Panel Support
• Service/Product Catalogue Management
• Service/Product Category Management
• Category Brand Management
• Product Specification Management
• Catalogue Rejection Error Support
• Service Tender Bidding Support
• Product Tender Bidding Support
• Invoice Generation / Order Management
Documents Required For GeM Registration:
• Business Owner Details. Aadhar Card. PAN Card.
• Registration Proof of Business. Certificate of Incorporation or. GST
Certificate or. MSME Certificate.
• Last 1 year Financial Information such as Income Tax Return Copy.
• Cancel Cheque
• Description of business.
