Launch of National mission on GEM
04, Aug 2018
Prelims level : Government e Marketplace (GeM)
Mains level : Benefits of centralised procurement in online mode
Why in News?
- The National Mission on Government e Marketplace (GeM) will be launched on September 5, 2018 to accelerate the adoption and use of GeM by major central ministries, state governments and their agencies.
Objective:
- The main aim of the mission is to promote inclusiveness, transparency and efficiency in public procurement and achieve cashless, contactless and paperless transaction.
Key Highlights:
- The mission will be launched at the respective state headquarters by the Chief Ministers during the 6 weeks’ special drive beginning from September 6 to October 15, 2018.
- It will cover important sectors and flagship programmes, the launch of IEC campaign along with training on usage of GeM for buyers and sellers, buyer registration drive to on board government agencies and vendor registration drive with a special focus on MSMEs.
- Its implementation will help increase overall efficiency and lead to cost saving on government expenditure in procurement.
Government e Marketplace:
- It is an online marketplace to facilitate procurement of goods and services by various Ministries and agencies of the Government.
- The platform offers online, end to end solution for procurement of commonly used goods and services for all central government departments and state governments, public sector units and affiliated bodies.
- It aims to enhance transparency, efficiency and speed in public procurement of goods and services and eliminate corruption.
- The e-marketplace completed two years in 2018 and on August 26, 2018, it crossed Rs 10,800 crore in terms of value and 6.96 lakh in terms of volume of transactions through the platform.
- The platform has more than 1.35 lakh sellers offering 4.43 lakh products and around 26,500 organisations as buyers.
- While all States and Union Territories are buying through the platform, 25 States and UTs have already signed an MoU to make procurement through GeM mandatory. It has led to an overall average saving in cost of procurement to the tune of about 25 per cent.