The Government e-Marketplace (GeM) portal is a one-stop portal to facilitate online procurement of everyday use services and goods required by various government organisations, departments or PSUs (Public Sector Units).
The department of commerce has developed the GeM portal to bring transparency to the old public procurement tender process by government departments. Public procurement is how state-owned enterprises and government departments purchase services and goods for their operational needs from the private sector.
The GeM portal aims to enhance efficiency, transparency, and speed in public procurement along with inclusion. It provides the tools of reverse e-auction, e-bidding, and demand aggregation to help the government users/buyers get the best value for their money.
The GeM portal’s main objective is to facilitate government departments to procure services or products with the right quality, quality, volume, and sources in defined timelines. Government users and sellers need to register themselves as buyers and sellers respectively to avail the online GeM portal benefits.
The following organisations can register on the GeM portal as buyers and are authorised to make procurement through the portal:
The following government officers/head of offices can register their organisation as primary users on the GeM portal:
The primary users are responsible for registering their organisations on the GeM portal, but they cannot participate in the procurement. They need to create user accounts for the secondary users, assign them roles and responsibilities and supervise all secondary users transactions on the portal.
The secondary users are the buyers for the procurement of the organisation. However, a primary user can be a consignee to receive a service/product. The secondary users are officials responsible for procurement on the GeM portal, including receipt of stores, placement of contracts, payment to the sellers, etc.
The primary user can give the secondary users the role of a buyer, consignee, Drawing and Disbursing Officer (DDO), paying authority, etc. The buyer is the official responsible for processing procurement transactions till the order placement stage. The consignee will be the secondary user responsible for accepting the goods procured and certifying receipt in the buyer organisation.
The secondary users should utilise the GeM portal for the purchases as follows:
The prerequisites for primary user registration are:
The process of registration of buyers on the GeM Portal is as follows:
The secondary users can log in to the GeM Portal through the user ID and password shared by the primary users and procure goods and services from the portal. The primary users can change the roles and profile of the secondary users.
The secondary users who have been assigned the role of buyers by the primary users can log in to the portal, select the product and add it to the cart. They need to create demand, generate sanction orders and generate contracts. Once an order is placed, the seller will deliver the goods or services to the consignee within the stipulated delivery date and generate an online invoice on the GeM portal.
The consignee should log in to the portal after receipt of goods or services and generate a Provisional Receipt Certificate (PRC) and a Consignee Receipt and Acceptance Certificate (CRAC). After the generation of the CRAC, the buyer will process the bill and forward it to the paying authority. The payment will be made within ten days of the generation of CRAC.
The seller or service provider means any legal entity that sells its goods or renders services to the buyers registered on the GeM portal. The following legal entities can register as sellers on the GeM portal:
The seller can be an OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) or an entity having the authorisation to sell products manufactured by the OEM in the open market. OEM means the owner of the branded or trademarked products offered to sale on the portal or the product’s actual manufacturer when they do not have a brand or trademark.
The following persons are considered as OEM and can sell products on the GeM portal:
Once the sellers register on the GeM portal, they should list their products or services under the specified categories. They need to deliver the product to the consignee when an order is received by entering its details on the portal.
After the order is delivered, the consignee will inspect the product and issue acceptance or rejection online. When the consignee accepts the order, he/she will generate the Consignee Receipt and Acceptance Certificate (CRAC). After issuing the CRAC, the buyer will process the bill and forward it to the paying authority. The payment will be made within ten days of the generation of CRAC.
The prerequisites for seller registration are:
The process of registration of sellers on the GeM Portal is as follows:
There are no charges for registering as a buyer or seller on the GeM portal. But, the sellers need to deposit the caution money on the GeM portal.
The sellers on the GeM portal can be proprietor firms, startups or even companies. They can easily list their goods on the portal for procurement by government organisations and participate in government bids and auctions. The GeM portal thus facilitates transparency in the government public procurement process.
The Government e-Marketplace (GeM) portal facilitates online procurement for government organizations with transparency and efficiency. It allows buyers and sellers to register with specific criteria for procurement procedures, utilizing tools like reverse e-auction. The portal eases the registration process, product listing, order placement, and payment procedures for both buyers and sellers. It aims to bring transparency to public procurement and enhance efficiency in the process.