To the bystander it would be of interest to know that by Sep 2016 GeM (Government e-Marketplace) started becoming visible. The e-procurement was in full swing and there was no restriction to procure only from GeM (Government e-Marketplace).
The Chain of Procurement was fairly confident that GeM would fail. The FY 2016-17 saw the introduction of GeM (Government e-Marketplace). The training right down to procurement clearly, industry being made aware, internal software issues and plethora of problems gave GeM a very sluggish start.
FY 2017-18 was full of training activities and the orders started flowing in to procure only through GeM. Few e-proc tenders still were published.
In Dec 2017 Central Government banned procurement from any other source but GeM (Government e-Marketplace). They extended the orders to even the states but limited to the funds provided by the Centre.
There was a general panic with fear of surrendering complete funds since only three months of the FY remained. There was panic filled activity all around for training on GeM (Government e-Marketplace). More than 90% funds were surrendered. GeM (Government e-Marketplace) was declared as the only portal from which procurement could be done. GeM (Government e-Marketplace) was authorized to permit e-procurement if any organization asked in writing.
It has already taken three complete years with the fourth year starting with CoronaVirus lockdown. GeM is functioning and has got a much-needed break to sort things out. It can fairly be assumed that in FY 2020-21 we will have a completely functioning GeM (Government e-Marketplace).
Author:
Col.(Retd) Sanjay Pande(Managing Director, Kshemin Global)
Combat veteran, spent 25 years in the Indian Army. Post retirement, founded Kshemin in 2012. Kshemin Technologies develops products for ‘Frontline Combat Casualty Management’ and Kshemin Global helps clients sell their products and services to the Government.
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