21 Important Things Suppliers Need to Know About GEM Tender Process Other Services

Government e Marketplace (GeM) is a brainchild of Hon'ble Prime Minister; is basically a new online avatar of DGS&D. It is a centralised online system for procurement of goods and services by various central & state government agencies, departments, ministries, PSUs, Banks, Corporation and Boards etc. The whole objective of putting the procurement process online was to bring transparency and efficiency in Indian Public Procurement System.

Below are some of the important points which one should know about Government e Marketplace (GeM). Below information is taken from GeM portal and all copyright rests with GeM only. We are just putting the information here for easy access to the supplier community.

Smarter, better and more inclusive. The features of GeM 4.0 will create a marketplace well in step with the times. 100+ new features have already been made live in the last 6 months, including features for faster brand approval, increased transparency, localized procurement and thorough vendor assessment. And the developments don’t end there - over 150 new enhancements identified by the GeM team will be implemented by September 2020.

From transparency to efficiency, the roadmap features sweeping changes that will go a long way in improving the buying and selling process. Simply put, it’s a world of cutting-edge technology in the service of business.

1. Demand Aggregation

Buyers would be able to collate multiple orders of same product for various consignees across multiple organizations in the same Ministry in a single bid for added cost effectiveness, efficiency and effort saving.

2. Staggered Delivery

This will allow buyers to place a single order for quantities to be delivered over a period of time with a defined schedule. It will ease the process of buying with a single bid or order being fulfilled over a period. It provides the benefit of bulk procurement with the flexibility of deliveries.

3. Re-designed Bidding Module

Item wise, consignee wise bidding makes for a seamless procurement, ease of access and cost effectiveness for buyers since he gets the benefit of best rates for individual items or individual locations. Sellers can get more business since they will

be able to get orders if they quote lowest for individual items or specific location.

4. NLP based Search Engine

GeM will introduce the latest Natural Language Processing (NLP) based Search Engine which would ensure that buyers are shown

the most relevant product for their searched requirement.

5. Crowd Sourcing of Sellers

GeM would crowd source and onboard various organisations like SHG’s, TRIFED, Hoonar Haat and other MSME’s along with their products which would result in multi fold increase in number of sellers and products and at the same time ensuring inclusivity of the portal.

6. Efficient Helpdesk

GeM is re-designing the architecture of grievance addressal mechanism and introducing 3rd party CRM for efficient and

convenient issue resolution which would result in transparency and reduction of TAT to customers.

7. Blockchain

Blockchain based solution is being introduced in GeM for Bulk Procurement of Pharma, auto PRC, increased comfort and enabling smart contracts. The functionality would be secure, robust, transparent and efficient for both buyers and sellers.

8. Advanced Analytics

GeM is integrating advanced analytics, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, deep learning and more to the portal – transforming the public sector with cutting-edge technology.

9. Revamped UI / UX

GeM’s user interface and functioning will be revamped to become more efficient and hassle-free for buyers and sellers which would lead to effort and time savings for carrying various tasks on GeM.

10. Price Sanity on marketplace

Improving the overall catalogue health on GeM including parameters and price variance on GeM platform. This will make cataloguing easy on GeM for sellers and simultaneously ensure competitiveness as well as product quality of products listed on

11. Ease of Payment

GeM is integrating with multiple banks and ERP’s, which along with new mandates on GeM will ensure timely payments and

delivery acceptance for all sellers. GeM integration with TReDS will also allow bill discounting and easy access to working capital for MSMEs.

12. New Services and Categories

GeM’s catalogue will include a host of new services and products for buyers, including maintenance services, insurance services and more. 500 new categories are being added on to GeM every month.

13. Unified Procurement System (UPS)

UPS will consolidate entire government procurement onto a single platform leading to better costs for buyers and increased business for sellers. Integration will be done with major platforms like CPPP for implementation.

14. Introducing New Seller Rating

Buyers, consignees and end users of services and products will soon be able to rate sellers and filter products/services according to ratings at the time of purchase. Both buyers and sellers would also be able to rate various processes on GeM and give feedback for further improvements.

15. Incident Management Policy Overhaul

GeM is revamping its IM policy! All buyer and seller related incidents – from delayed payments, to unfulfilled orders and more - will be dealt with appropriate action for offenders. New Customer support systems and our re-designed AI chatbot Gemmy will address all customer concerns in a timely manner.

16. LDAP Integration

NIC authorization will allow government buyers to log into GeM with their existing government registered IDs, removing the need for secondary login information.

17. Buyer and Seller Ideation & Collaboration Platform

Vendors and buyers would be able to interact with each other so that suitable requirements can be designed with market research. This will save effort and time taken in procurement and leads to competitive and guaranteed participation.

18. Dedicated Page for CPSE’s

GeM will soon have dedicated buyer pages for Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs), which will display relevant information, provide integration kits and protocols, allow streamlined sales and easy ordering.

19. Buyer and Sellers Incentives

Buyer and sellers would be incentivised on portal in form of non-monetary credits by completing key tasks like Timely payments,

seller referral, catalogue correction etc. and they would be able to redeem these credits for availing various benefits on portal like faster approvals, priority helpdesk etc. There would be various non platform incentives introduced as well.

20. Implementation of Public Procurement (Preference to make in India) Order

The sellers can upload their MII content and get the benefit of the PPP-MII Order. The MII content will be shown for such products in the marketplace.

21. Onboarding of MSMEs, Self Help Groups (SHGs), weavers, artisans including those registered in Hoonar Haat, craftsmen and TRIFED onto GeM

GeM is working with the Ministry of MSME, Ministry of Rural Development, Ministry of Textiles, Department of Minority Affairs and TRIFED to onboard MSMEs, Self Help Groups (SHGs), weavers, artisans including those registered in Hoonar Haat, craftsmen and TRIFED onto GeM.

Courtsey: GeM Portal