GeM Portal to Include Work Contracts: CEO P K Singh

New Delhi, July 11 (PTI) Public procurement portal GeM is working on a proposal to bring work contracts on the platform to further widen its scope, a senior official said on Thursday.

Currently, only goods and services providers are registered on the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) portal, which was launched in 2016 for online purchase of goods and services by all central government ministries and departments. It is mandatory for them to procure goods and services from the portal.

Works include road and building construction, and setting up of big plants and other facilities. Currently, the facility for procuring these works is not available on the GeM platform.

"We are doing stakeholder consultations on this. The last round is next week and then we will send the proposal to the commerce ministry for further movement," GeM CEO P K Singh told reporters here.

He said that now the portal is in a position to handle this subject and it will also help in boosting procurement.

The platform is likely to suggest implementation of this new feature in a gradual manner and not on a compulsory basis.

Out of the total public procurement figures globally, about 90 per cent are work contracts.

At present, big contractors which provide these works are not there on the GeM portal. Allowing procurement of these works would make the platform a national procurement portal for all kinds of purchases by states, centre and government agencies.

After seeking views of all stakeholders, including states and central governments, GeM would approach the centre for further action.

Earlier, GeM issued an approach paper for stakeholder consultations on exploring an enabling approach to procurement of works on GeM in accordance with the mandate of the Unified Procurement System.

GeM carried out a detailed analysis of the bid documents that are being used by public works departments of some states, central ministries and agencies.

With the procurement of goods and services through the GeM crossing Rs 1.24 lakh crore in the first quarter of 2024-25, the platform will become the world's largest by the end of this fiscal, Singh said.

He said that going at this pace, it will become the world's largest platform.

South Korea's KONEPS is the largest such platform in the world. GeM stands at the second position. It is followed by Singapore's GeBIZ.

GeM has over 1.5 lakh government buyers and over 62 lakh sellers and service providers offering a wide range of products and services.

Currently, government departments, ministries, public sector units, state governments, and central armed police forces are allowed to carry out transactions through this portal.

The portal provides a wide range of products from office stationery to vehicles. Automobiles, computers and office furniture are some of the major product categories.

Services, including transportation, hiring of helicopter services, logistics, waste management, webcasting and analytical, are listed on the portal.