More than 5.2 lakh Common Service Centers [CSC] and approx. 1.5 lakh India Post offices across India are being trained to assist last-mile Government buyers, sellers and service providers with buyer/ seller registration, product catalogue upload and management, order acceptance, fulfilment and invoice generation functionality on the GeM portal, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Smt. Anupriya Patel said in reply to a Parliament Question today.

GeM has signed a Memorandum of Understanding [MoU] with Common Service Centre e-Governance Services India Ltd. [CSC-SPV], and Department of Post, Government of India, for the advocacy, outreach, mobilization, and capacity-building of last-mile Government buyers, sellers and service-providers in public procurement through the GeM portal.

The Government sponsored Sale- Purchase Service Portal-GeM through the Common Service Centre of the Department of Posts and India Post shall be beneficial for buyers, sellers and service providers as under:- 

(i) More than 5.2 lakh Common Service Centers [CSC] and approx. 1.5 lakh India Post offices across India are being trained to assist last-mile Government buyers, sellers and service providers with buyer/ seller registration, product catalogue upload and management, order acceptance, fulfilment and invoice generation functionality on the GeM portal.

(ii) Value-added services such as photography of product images, packaging, logistics and shipment of packages through Speed Post and Business Parcel will be provided through India Post website. Online, print and office communication channels will also be delivered to sellers and service providers at charges defined by CSC and Department of Post. GeM Services offered through CSCs will be made available to all Government buyers at no charge.

(iii) Rates for packaging materials and shipment of packages through Speed Post and Business Parcel through India Post website, online, print and office communication channels will be shared with CSCs.

(iv) Further, Department of Post will ensure the availability of India Post packaging material including boxes, BOPP tapes, bubble-wrap, flyers and air sacks in-store at nearest post offices, facilitate the pick-up, transmission and delivery of Speed Post and Business Parcel as per standards defined by Department of Post, and ensure priority processing of all GeM labelled packages.

(v) No charges will be levied on sellers/service providers for the following services;

1. Buyer Registration – For single-state and multi-state Cooperative Societies

2. Seller Registration and Account Updation (with all KYC details)

(vi) Charges to paid by sellers and service-providers for;

1. Product/ Service Catalogue Upload & Management, and

2. Value-added Services at Actuals (Packaging & logistics at CSC and India Post)

GeM has implemented various features and functionalities in an effort to increase transparency in public procurement. Some of these initiatives include-

1. Providing challenge rejection window to sellers who have been marked as disqualified in a bid by buyer,
2. Sellers are given feature to raise representation against any bid if seller finds bidding parameters restrictive in any manner
3. Results of technical and financial evaluation of bids floated on GeM are published in public domain.
4. To provide a contactless platform where contact details of buyer and sellers are masked till placement of contract,
5. Blocking of funds in GPA against a contract to ensure timely payment,
6. Display of data of all contracts in public domain.
7. Masking of details of buyers and sellers in incidents while decision making
8. Sending notifications of bids to all registered sellers under the relevant category by email/SMS
9. System based checks and balances at appropriate places to avoid deviation from GTC to possible extent.
10. Finalization of specifications through consultative committee meeting process through consultation with relevant stakeholders.
11. API based integrations for fetching the data at various stages from the source database of nodal department/ministry.

Public procurement facilitation expanded via trained CSCs and India Post to assist GeM onboarding, logistics, and transparency measures. GeM signed an MoU with CSC SPV and the Department of Post to train CSCs and India Post offices to assist government buyers, sellers and service providers with registration, KYC, catalogue upload, order fulfilment and invoice generation; India Post will supply packaging materials, facilitate pickup and priority processing, and provide logistics through Speed Post and Business Parcel. Certain onboarding services are provided without charge (buyer registration for cooperatives; seller registration and account updation with KYC), while charges apply for catalogue management and value added services at actuals. GeM also introduced transparency measures including publication of bid evaluations, masking contacts until contract, bid notifications, system checks and API integrations.