Government e-Marketplace (GeM)

In News 

• Recently, the Cabinet decided to widen the mandate of the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) by allowing it to register cooperatives, including the private ones, as buyers on its platform.
  • Currently, the portal is primarily meant for purchases of goods and services by ministries/departments of the Central government, state governments and various firms and entities run by them. 

About 

• GeM will offer a dedicated onboarding process for cooperatives, technical infrastructure to support additional users on existing portals and other assistance to them. 
• The ministry of cooperation will issue advisories to encourage cooperative societies to make use of the GeM platform for the procurement of goods and services.
• The move will help over 854,000 registered cooperatives and their 270 million members, as they would get to purchase products from the GeM portal at competitive rates while ensuring greater transparency in their procurement system.

About Government e-Marketplace (GeM)

• It owes its genesis to the recommendations of two Groups of Secretaries made to the Prime Minister in January 2016.
• It is a 100 percent government owned Section 8 company set up under the aegis of Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry for procurement of goods and services by Central and state government organisations.
• It is a one-stop National Public Procurement Portal to facilitate online procurement of common use Goods & Services required by various Central and State Government Departments / Organisations /Public Sector Undertakings ( PSUs).
• It aims to enhance transparency, efficiency and speed in public procurement.
•  It provides the tools of e-bidding, reverse e-auction and demand aggregation to facilitate the government users, achieve the best value for their money.

Source:FE