Now, it's mandatory for govt depts to source from GeM

The government has made it mandatory for all the departments and ministries to source goods and services from its e-market place. The move is aimed at bringing in more transparency and streamlining the government procurement, estimated at Rs 10,000 crore a year. The Commerce Ministry last year launched the government e-marketplace (GeM) for online purchase of goods and services by various central government ministries and departments.

The Finance Ministry has amended the General Financial Rules (GFRs) as per which it is now compulsory to procure items and services from this portal, an official said. Currently over 9,000 products from 250 categories including computers, stationery and several services are registered by different vendors on the portal.

The Directorate General of Supplies and Disposals (DGS&D) is working on increasing the number of services by including areas like cleaning, plumbing and digitisation of records. "In one months time, we will do this. The work is going in full swing," an official said. The DGS&D, which is under the Commerce Ministry, has developed the portal.