Para 4.5.2 — CONSULT_MANUAL

4.5.2 Mandatory Procurement of Goods and Services through Government eMarketplace (GeM) (Rule 149 of GFR 2017) 1. Government Electronic Marketplace is a type of e-commerce site where common use products or services are offered by several sellers, and all the buyers can select the product/ services offered by any one of the sellers based on his own criteria. In an online marketplace, Purchaser’s transactions are processed by the marketplace operator, and then products/ services are delivered and fulfilled directly by the participating retailers. Other capabilities included are auctioning (forward or reverse), catalogues, ordering, posting requirements by purchasers, payment gateways, etc. The procurement process on GeM is end to end, from the placement of supply orders to payment to suppliers. This is to ensure better transparency and higher efficiency.

Manual for Procurement of Consultancy Services, Second Edition, 2025 2. The Procurement of Goods and Services by Ministries or Departments is mandatory for Goods or Services available on GeM as per Rule 149 of GFR, 2017. The GeM portal shall be utilized by the Government buyers for direct online purchases (of Goods and Services) as follows:- a) Up to Rs.50,000/- through any of the available suppliers on the GeM, meeting the requisite quality, specification, and delivery period.

Note 1: In the case of automobiles, direct procurement under this sub-para is permitted without any ceiling limit.

Note 2: In case the item is available on GeM, it is not permitted to purchase the same under Rule 154 of the GFR, 2017 (Purchase without quotation). b) Above Rs.50,000/- and up to Rs.10,00,000/- through the GeM Seller having the lowest price amongst the available sellers, of at least three different manufacturers of goods or service providers (in case of services), on GeM, meeting the requisite quality, specification, and delivery period. The tools for online bidding and online reverse auction available on GeM can be used by the Buyer even for procurements less than Rs. 10,00,000/-.

Note 1: In case the item/ service is available on GeM, it is not permitted to purchase the same under Rule 155 of the GFR, 2017 (Purchase by Purchase Committee). c) Above Rs. 10,00,000/- through the supplier having the lowest price meeting the requisite quality, specification, and delivery period after mandatorily obtaining bids, using online bidding or reverse auction tool provided on GeM. d) The invitation for the online e-bidding/reverse auction will be available to all the existing Sellers or other Sellers registered on the portal and who have offered their goods/services under the particular product/service category, as per the terms and conditions of GeM. e) The above-mentioned monetary ceiling is applicable only for purchases made through GeM. For purchases, if any, outside GeM, relevant GFR Rules shall apply. f) The Ministries/Departments shall work out their procurement requirements of Goods and Services on either “OPEX” model or “CAPEX” model as per their requirement/suitability at the time of preparation of Budget Estimates (BE) and shall project their Annual Procurement Plan of goods and services on GeM portal within 30 (thirty) days of Budget approval. g) It may be noted that it is the responsibility of the Procuring Entity to do due diligence to ensure the reasonableness of rates. The government buyers may ascertain the reasonableness of prices before placing an order using the Business Analytics (BA) tools available on GeM, including the last purchase price on GeM, the department’s own last purchase price, etc. h) Demand shall not be divided into small quantities to make piecemeal purchases to avoid procurement through L-1 Buying / bidding / reverse auction on GeM or the necessity of obtaining the sanction of higher authorities required with reference to the estimated value of the total demand.”

3. Further details for procurement on GeM are detailed in Chapter 4 of the Manual for Procurement of Goods, 2024, which may be referred to. For the sake of brevity, these are not repeated here.

Chapter 4: Bidding Design for Consultancy Services