Para 1.8.1 — GOODS_MANUAL

1.8.1 Transparency Principle: All procuring authorities are responsible and accountable for ensuring transparency, fairness, equality, competition, and appeal rights. This involves simultaneous, symmetric, and unrestricted dissemination of information to all likely bidders, sufficient for them to know and understand the availability of bidding opportunities and actual means, processes and time- limits prescribed for completion of registration of bidders, bidding, evaluation, grievance redressal, award, and management of contracts. It implies that such officers must ensure that there is consistency (absence of subjectivity), predictability (absence of arbitrariness), clarity, openness (absence of secretiveness), and equal opportunities (absence of discrimination) in processes. In essence, the Transparency Principle also enjoins upon the Procuring Authorities to do only that which they professed to do as pre-declared in the relevant published documents and not to do anything that had not been so declared.’ As part of this principle, all procuring entities should ensure that offers are invited following a fair and transparent procedure and ensure publication of all relevant information on the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) and GeM-Central Public Procurement Portal (CPPP).