The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the extension of the mandate of the Government e Marketplace-Special Purpose Vehicle (GeM-SPV) to allow procurement by cooperatives.
As of now, the platform is open for procurement by government buyers, central and state ministries, departments, public sector enterprises, autonomous institutions and local bodies.
Wednesday’s decision enables over 854,000 registered cooperatives to buy products and services on the platform, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said in a press briefing.
The Minister said that this decision will help in bringing transparency and help the cooperatives to get competitive price for the products.
According to the government, the move will benefit 270 million members associated with cooperatives. “… the procurement through GeM will not only benefit the common man financially, but will also enhance the credibility of the cooperatives,” it said.
GeM was launched in August 2016 by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry to create an open and transparent procurement platform for government buyers. GeM SPV was established in May 2017 as National Public Procurement Portal.
The list of cooperatives to be incorporated on GeM for a pilot and subsequent scale-up will be decided by the Ministry of Cooperation in consultation with GeM SPV.
“This will ensure that the technical capability and logistics requirement of the GeM system are kept in mind while deciding the speed of boarding of the cooperative as buyers on GeM,” it said.
GeM will provide a dedicated onboarding process for cooperatives, provide technical infrastructure to support additional users on the existing portal, and cooperatives for onboarding and transaction journey through available contact centres, field training and other support services. will provide assistance.
Ministry of Cooperation will issue advisory to encourage cooperatives to use GeM platform for procurement of goods and services to benefit from greater transparency, efficiency and competitive prices.
Further, in order to protect the interest of the wider vendor community on GeM and ensure timely payments, the modalities of the payment mechanism will be decided by GeM in consultation with the Ministry.
In another decision, the Union Cabinet approved relaxation in educational qualification for recruitment of native tribal youth to the post of constable in CRPF through recruitment rallies in interior areas of Bijapur, Dantewada and Sukma districts of Chhattisgarh.
The minimum educational qualification required to recruit 400 candidates as constable (general duty) in CRPF in three districts has been reduced from 10th pass to 8th standard. Appropriate relaxation in physical standards for recruitment will also be given by the Ministry of Home Affairs, a statement said.