Para 3.6 — GOODS_MANUAL

GOODS_MANUAL

a) Registration is to establish genuine identification of the firm (e.g., for e-procurement portals, preferential procurement, and so on). b) Empanelment is to establish prima-facie capability for restricted tendering (not open tendering, e.g., limited tendering panels). c) Pre-qualification & Approved List/ Multi-use List: i) Pre-qualification: Wherever the nature of the requirement dictates competition only among prequalified bidders (without vitiation of prices offered by unqualified bidders), prequalification may be done with open tendering in the prequalification bidding stage. ii) Approved List/ Multi-use List: If there are frequent requirements of such nature, prequalification may be done through an open process with an extended validity of the Shortlist of Qualified Bidders (called List of approved Sources, in some organisations, e.g., Ministry of Railways), for example, one year or longer. The use of a List of Qualified Bidders is also known as a Multi-use list in many countries, as distinct from empanelment (e.g., Limited Tender Panel - which does not undergo a formal open tender pre-qualification/ EoI process). In such long-term Multi-use lists or Approved Lists, if any competent bidder applies for inclusion at any time, it should be examined as per the criteria of the original multi-use list.
2. However, since in common parlance, registration is a word interchangeably used by most departments for all the above three concepts, this usage is being retained, though the distinction would be clear from the context of usage.
3. For goods and services not available on GeM, and for Works, the Head of Minis that Department or Office specifically requires. Ensuring an up-to-date and current list of registered, capable, and competent suppliers facilitates efficiency, economy, and promotion of competition in public procurement, especially while floating a limited tender/ local purchase/ direct contracting. For such tenders, it may be possible to skip bidder qualification to avoid unnecessary repetition/ duplication of efforts, thereby saving time, especially in the case of emergency procurement. Registration of the supplier should be done following a fair, transparent, and reasonable procedure and after giving due publicity. Such registered suppliers should be on-boarded on GeM as and when the item or service gets listed on GeM.51. The list of registered Firms should s for the subject matter of procurement be exhibited on websites of the Procuring Entity/ their e-Procurement portals.
3.6. Development of New Sources and Registration/ Empanelment/ Pre-qualification of Suppliers 1. Normally, in open tendering, there should be no restriction on prior registration. Entities may provide for registration after selection in unrestricted open tendering. Differences may be noted between registration, empanelment (maintaining a classified list of firms based on their experience usually required in case of limited tenders), and prequalification.
4. Ministries / Departments with a significant volume of procurements may follow their own policies and procedures for the registration of vendors if they already exist. The policies and procedures for registration described below are for the non-mandatory generic guidance of ministries/departments that do not have their own policies/ procedures for this. The Ministry/ Department shall notify the authorities competent to deal with the applications and grant registrations, along with their jurisdictions. The appellate authority shall be at least one level above the registering authority or as designated by the Ministry/ Department. 5. All Ministries/Departments may use such lists prepared by other Ministries / Departments as and when necessary. Registered suppliers are ordinarily exempted from furnishing earnest money deposit/ bid security with their tenders for items and Monetary Limits for which they are registered.
6. Categories for Registration: In case of procurement of goods, the Administrative Department shall register firms as suppliers of goods in different trade groups of goods in the following broad categories:
a) Manufacturers who supply indigenous items; b) Agents/distributors of such manufacturers who desire to market their production only through their agents; c) Foreign manufacturers with/ without their accredited agent in India; d) Stockists of imported spares or other specified items; e) Suppliers of imported goods having regular arrangements with foreign manufacturers.
7. Registration of Manufacturers: One of the main prerequisites for registration as a manufacturer is that the firm should possess its own in-house testing facilities. In the case of MSE units, the firm does not need its own testing facilities but regular arrangements with other reputed government or government-approved or private agencies in its area for product testing. Before the manufacturer is included in the list of registered suppliers, the Procuring Entity shall verify the bona fides and standing of the firm. The procuring Entity may also seek assistance from the inspection wing of other inspecting agencies. In the case of firms that have an established quality maintenance system with ISO 9001- 2000 certification (latest version) from authorised agencies, the Procuring Entity may consider the registration of such firms without carrying out a capacity assessment. Even in the case of firms that have an established quality maintenance system with ISO 9001- 2000 certification (latest version) from authorised agencies, it is necessary for the Procuring Entity to verify the quality processes put in place.
8. Grades (Monetary Limits) for Registration: Registration should be done by grading the firms (Grade A, B, and so on) based on their capability to execute contracts/ orders of different monetary limits in the relevant category of requirements. The monetary limits should be carefully fixed while keeping in view the banker's reports, the capacity and capability of the firm, and other financial information indicated in the balance sheets, such as ‘profit and loss statements.’ An example (not mandatory) of gradation is as follows:
a) Grade-A: Rs. 25 (Rupees twenty-five) lakh and above; b) Grade B: Rupees five lakh to Rs.25(Rupees twenty-five) lakh; c) Grade C: Rupees One lakh and up to Rupees five lakh.
9. The firms that are registered for the supply of orders valued above Rupees five lakh should invariably be manufacturers or their authorised agents. Wherever practical, the procuring Entity shall register the manufacturers and not agents or intermediaries. A sole selling agent/ authorised agent could be considered for registration, subject to the condition that the Procuring Entity is satisfied that he is the sole selling agent of manufacturers and that the Procuring Entity ascertains the financial and technical capabilities of the manufacturers. The availability of a suitable arrangement with the sole selling agent for after-sales service shall also be ensured, and the Procuring Entity shall also satisfy itself that a valid legal agreement exists between the applicant unit and its sole selling agent during the period for which he is registered.
i) Any firm situated in India or abroad that is in the business of providing goods/ works/ services of specified categories of interest shall be eligible for registration; ii) Where registration is granted based on partly outsourced arrangements/ agreements, it shall always be the responsibility of the registered unit to keep such arrangements/agreements renewed/alive and to keep their registration valid for the period for which it has been granted. Any failure in this regard may make the registration null and void ineffective retrospectively from any such dates which the registering authority considers appropriate; iii) Suppliers should possess a valid Digital Signature Certificate (DSCs) Class III with the company name at the time of registration/ renewal to enable them to participate in e-procurements. iv) The Firm should also have good internal governance, such as whistleblower policy, commitment to ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) code of conduct, code of business ethics, etc.
10. Procedure for Registration: a) Registration of the suppliers should be done following a fair, transparent, and reasonable procedure and after giving due publicity. Details of the procedure for registration of new firms may be uploaded on the website and published in the form of a booklet for information of the suppliers. Timeframes and criteria for registration of new suppliers may be clearly indicated; b) Possible sources for any category/ group of requirements can be identified based on internal and external references. Data on new suppliers can be obtained from the response received from suppliers, open tender advertisements, pre-qualification bids, Expression of Interest (EoI), against various enquiries on the website, dedicated websites, exhibitions, buyer-seller meets, various publications of NSIC, Development Commissioner of the Small Industries Service Institute, BIS, trade journals, and so on. The e-procurement and GeM portals pre-register suppliers online. Such data can be a source of information on prospective suppliers; c) The list of registered contractors shall be updated on a regular basis (annually). New supplier
(s) may be considered for registration at any time, provided they fulfil all the required conditions. For any larger scale or critical registration or development of new suppliers, the Procuring Entity should call for EoI by publicising its need for the development of sources. The stages to be followed together with the applicable guidelines for EoI have been detailed in Chapter 5; d) While registering the firms, an undertaking may be obtained from them that they will abide by the CIPP enclosed with the application with a clear warning that, in case of transgression of the code of integrity, their names are likely to be deleted from the list of registered suppliers, besides any other penalty or more severe action as deemed fit; e) Along with the new/ renewal application for registration, the suppliers should also be asked to declare that, if awarded a contract in any LTE in which they participate, they bind themselves to abide by the Procuring Entity’s General Conditions of Contract (GCC). Such GCC should be part of the application. f) Registered vendors must participate in relevant limited tenders. In case they do not respond to at least three (3) tenders in a year on being invited to do so (if there were at least 6 invitations to them), they may be removed from the list of registered vendors. g) Eligibility:
v) The firm against whom punitive action has been taken shall not be eligible for reregistration during the currency of punitive action. Registration requests may not be entertained from firms (or their allied firms) who are deregistered/banned; h) Assessment of Capacity and Capability: The application form, complete in all respects and accompanied by the requisite processing fee and prescribed documents, shall be submitted by the firms to the registering authority. The registration application form, duly filled-in, when received from the firms, shall be scrutinised carefully to assess the capacity and capability of the firms, including credentials, manufacturing capability, quality control system, past performance, after-sales service facilities, financial background, and so on, of the applicant. References shall be made to other firms of the standing of whom the applicant firm claims to be a supplier/contractor. Likewise, the applicant firm’s bankers may also be requested to advise about the firm's financial standing. i) In cases where the firm is not considered capable and registration cannot be granted, the concerned authority shall communicate the deficiencies and shortcomings directly to the firms under intimation of the appellate authority. Where a request for reverification and review is made by the firm, along with any fee as prescribed and within the period prescribed by the Department, a review shall be undertaken. Requests for re-verification after the expiry of the said period would be treated as a fresh application, and a processing fee, if any is prescribed, charged accordingly; j) If considered to be capable after carefully assessing and verifying credentials, the firm may be granted registration with the approval of CA. k) Registration should be for specific trade groups of goods/works/services. For this purpose, all goods/ works/services should be divided into trade groups, and the information published on the relevant portals/ websites; l) It should be mentioned in the letter of registration that the registration is valid for a specified period (one to three years). At the end of this period, the registered supplier
(s) willing to continue with registration is to apply afresh for renewal of registration. However, the registration would be initially treated as provisional, and it would be treated as confirmed only after the firm has satisfactorily executed one order of the relevant category and value from the Procuring Entity. The extension of validity of registration is not a matter of right, and the Procuring Entity reserves the right not to extend such registration without assigning any reason. New supplier
(s) may also be considered for registration at any time, provided they fulfil all the required conditions; m) All registered suppliers should be allocated a unique registration number. The list of registered suppliers for the subject matter of procurement (indicating the names and addresses of the registered suppliers with details of the requirements and monetary value they will supply, as well as the validity period, and so on, for which they are registered), shall be exhibited on the websites of the Procuring Entity; n) Within the monetary limits so prescribed, as also for the category of registration, the registered firm may be exempted from depositing the Earnest Money Deposit (EMD). In other categories and higher monetary limits, the supplier would be treated as any unregistered supplier and not be entitled to the privileges of a registered supplier. The monetary limit or category, so laid down, does not, however, debar a firm from getting orders more than the monetary limit or for other categories, provided the Procuring Entity is satisfied with the capacity and capability of the firm but a requisite security deposit should be obtained, as is being done in the case of unregistered firms;
o) The performance and conduct of every registered supplier are to be monitored by the relevant department. Procuring Entity should also reserve the right to remove firms who do not perform satisfactorily, even during the validity of registration (after giving due opportunity to the supplier to make a representation), if they fail to abide by the terms and conditions of the registration or fail to execute contracts on time or supply substandard goods or make any false declaration to any Government agency or for on public interest considerations; p) The procuring entity shall retain its option to reassess firms already registered at any later date to satisfy itself with the current financial soundness/creditworthiness, facilities available, and so on. Thereafter, the Procuring Entity may decide to retain them as registered suppliers for the requirements and monetary limit that were earlier considered or with necessary changes as deemed fit. In case of adverse reports from the team of Procuring Entity officers who reassess the firm, Procuring Entity shall delete such firm from the registered suppliers' list;
(Rule 150 of GFR 2017) 3.7.1 GFR Provisions

GOODS_MANUAL

a) Registration is to establish genuine identification of the firm (e.g., for e-procurement portals, preferential procurement, and so on). b) Empanelment is to establish prima-facie capability for restricted tendering (not open tendering, e.g., limited tendering panels). c) Pre-qualification & Approved List/ Multi-use List: i) Pre-qualification: Wherever the nature of the requirement dictates competition only among prequalified bidders (without vitiation of prices offered by unqualified bidders), prequalification may be done with open tendering in the prequalification bidding stage. ii) Approved List/ Multi-use List: If there are frequent requirements of such nature, prequalification may be done through an open process with an extended validity of the Shortlist of Qualified Bidders (called List of approved Sources, in some organisations, e.g., Ministry of Railways), for example, one year or longer. The use of a List of Qualified Bidders is also known as a Multi-use list in many countries, as distinct from empanelment (e.g., Limited Tender Panel - which does not undergo a formal open tender pre-qualification/ EoI process). In such long-term Multi-use lists or Approved Lists, if any competent bidder applies for inclusion at any time, it should be examined as per the criteria of the original multi-use list.
2. However, since in common parlance, registration is a word interchangeably used by most departments for all the above three concepts, this usage is being retained, though the distinction would be clear from the context of usage.
3. For goods and services not available on GeM, and for Works, the Head of Minis that Department or Office specifically requires. Ensuring an up-to-date and current list of registered, capable, and competent suppliers facilitates efficiency, economy, and promotion of competition in public procurement, especially while floating a limited tender/ local purchase/ direct contracting. For such tenders, it may be possible to skip bidder qualification to avoid unnecessary repetition/ duplication of efforts, thereby saving time, especially in the case of emergency procurement. Registration of the supplier should be done following a fair, transparent, and reasonable procedure and after giving due publicity. Such registered suppliers should be on-boarded on GeM as and when the item or service gets listed on GeM.51. The list of registered Firms should s for the subject matter of procurement be exhibited on websites of the Procuring Entity/ their e-Procurement portals.
3.6. Development of New Sources and Registration/ Empanelment/ Pre-qualification of Suppliers 1. Normally, in open tendering, there should be no restriction on prior registration. Entities may provide for registration after selection in unrestricted open tendering. Differences may be noted between registration, empanelment (maintaining a classified list of firms based on their experience usually required in case of limited tenders), and prequalification.
4. Ministries / Departments with a significant volume of procurements may follow their own policies and procedures for the registration of vendors if they already exist. The policies and procedures for registration described below are for the non-mandatory generic guidance of ministries/departments that do not have their own policies/ procedures for this. The Ministry/ Department shall notify the authorities competent to deal with the applications and grant registrations, along with their jurisdictions. The appellate authority shall be at least one level above the registering authority or as designated by the Ministry/ Department. 5. All Ministries/Departments may use such lists prepared by other Ministries / Departments as and when necessary. Registered suppliers are ordinarily exempted from furnishing earnest money deposit/ bid security with their tenders for items and Monetary Limits for which they are registered.
6. Categories for Registration: In case of procurement of goods, the Administrative Department shall register firms as suppliers of goods in different trade groups of goods in the following broad categories:
a) Manufacturers who supply indigenous items; b) Agents/distributors of such manufacturers who desire to market their production only through their agents; c) Foreign manufacturers with/ without their accredited agent in India; d) Stockists of imported spares or other specified items; e) Suppliers of imported goods having regular arrangements with foreign manufacturers.
7. Registration of Manufacturers: One of the main prerequisites for registration as a manufacturer is that the firm should possess its own in-house testing facilities. In the case of MSE units, the firm does not need its own testing facilities but regular arrangements with other reputed government or government-approved or private agencies in its area for product testing. Before the manufacturer is included in the list of registered suppliers, the Procuring Entity shall verify the bona fides and standing of the firm. The procuring Entity may also seek assistance from the inspection wing of other inspecting agencies. In the case of firms that have an established quality maintenance system with ISO 9001- 2000 certification (latest version) from authorised agencies, the Procuring Entity may consider the registration of such firms without carrying out a capacity assessment. Even in the case of firms that have an established quality maintenance system with ISO 9001- 2000 certification (latest version) from authorised agencies, it is necessary for the Procuring Entity to verify the quality processes put in place.
8. Grades (Monetary Limits) for Registration: Registration should be done by grading the firms (Grade A, B, and so on) based on their capability to execute contracts/ orders of different monetary limits in the relevant category of requirements. The monetary limits should be carefully fixed while keeping in view the banker's reports, the capacity and capability of the firm, and other financial information indicated in the balance sheets, such as ‘profit and loss statements.’ An example (not mandatory) of gradation is as follows:
a) Grade-A: Rs. 25 (Rupees twenty-five) lakh and above; b) Grade B: Rupees five lakh to Rs.25(Rupees twenty-five) lakh; c) Grade C: Rupees One lakh and up to Rupees five lakh.
9. The firms that are registered for the supply of orders valued above Rupees five lakh should invariably be manufacturers or their authorised agents. Wherever practical, the procuring Entity shall register the manufacturers and not agents or intermediaries. A sole selling agent/ authorised agent could be considered for registration, subject to the condition that the Procuring Entity is satisfied that he is the sole selling agent of manufacturers and that the Procuring Entity ascertains the financial and technical capabilities of the manufacturers. The availability of a suitable arrangement with the sole selling agent for after-sales service shall also be ensured, and the Procuring Entity shall also satisfy itself that a valid legal agreement exists between the applicant unit and its sole selling agent during the period for which he is registered.
i) Any firm situated in India or abroad that is in the business of providing goods/ works/ services of specified categories of interest shall be eligible for registration; ii) Where registration is granted based on partly outsourced arrangements/ agreements, it shall always be the responsibility of the registered unit to keep such arrangements/agreements renewed/alive and to keep their registration valid for the period for which it has been granted. Any failure in this regard may make the registration null and void ineffective retrospectively from any such dates which the registering authority considers appropriate; iii) Suppliers should possess a valid Digital Signature Certificate (DSCs) Class III with the company name at the time of registration/ renewal to enable them to participate in e-procurements. iv) The Firm should also have good internal governance, such as whistleblower policy, commitment to ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) code of conduct, code of business ethics, etc.
10. Procedure for Registration: a) Registration of the suppliers should be done following a fair, transparent, and reasonable procedure and after giving due publicity. Details of the procedure for registration of new firms may be uploaded on the website and published in the form of a booklet for information of the suppliers. Timeframes and criteria for registration of new suppliers may be clearly indicated; b) Possible sources for any category/ group of requirements can be identified based on internal and external references. Data on new suppliers can be obtained from the response received from suppliers, open tender advertisements, pre-qualification bids, Expression of Interest (EoI), against various enquiries on the website, dedicated websites, exhibitions, buyer-seller meets, various publications of NSIC, Development Commissioner of the Small Industries Service Institute, BIS, trade journals, and so on. The e-procurement and GeM portals pre-register suppliers online. Such data can be a source of information on prospective suppliers; c) The list of registered contractors shall be updated on a regular basis (annually). New supplier
(s) may be considered for registration at any time, provided they fulfil all the required conditions. For any larger scale or critical registration or development of new suppliers, the Procuring Entity should call for EoI by publicising its need for the development of sources. The stages to be followed together with the applicable guidelines for EoI have been detailed in Chapter 5; d) While registering the firms, an undertaking may be obtained from them that they will abide by the CIPP enclosed with the application with a clear warning that, in case of transgression of the code of integrity, their names are likely to be deleted from the list of registered suppliers, besides any other penalty or more severe action as deemed fit; e) Along with the new/ renewal application for registration, the suppliers should also be asked to declare that, if awarded a contract in any LTE in which they participate, they bind themselves to abide by the Procuring Entity’s General Conditions of Contract (GCC). Such GCC should be part of the application. f) Registered vendors must participate in relevant limited tenders. In case they do not respond to at least three (3) tenders in a year on being invited to do so (if there were at least 6 invitations to them), they may be removed from the list of registered vendors. g) Eligibility:
v) The firm against whom punitive action has been taken shall not be eligible for reregistration during the currency of punitive action. Registration requests may not be entertained from firms (or their allied firms) who are deregistered/banned; h) Assessment of Capacity and Capability: The application form, complete in all respects and accompanied by the requisite processing fee and prescribed documents, shall be submitted by the firms to the registering authority. The registration application form, duly filled-in, when received from the firms, shall be scrutinised carefully to assess the capacity and capability of the firms, including credentials, manufacturing capability, quality control system, past performance, after-sales service facilities, financial background, and so on, of the applicant. References shall be made to other firms of the standing of whom the applicant firm claims to be a supplier/contractor. Likewise, the applicant firm’s bankers may also be requested to advise about the firm's financial standing. i) In cases where the firm is not considered capable and registration cannot be granted, the concerned authority shall communicate the deficiencies and shortcomings directly to the firms under intimation of the appellate authority. Where a request for reverification and review is made by the firm, along with any fee as prescribed and within the period prescribed by the Department, a review shall be undertaken. Requests for re-verification after the expiry of the said period would be treated as a fresh application, and a processing fee, if any is prescribed, charged accordingly; j) If considered to be capable after carefully assessing and verifying credentials, the firm may be granted registration with the approval of CA. k) Registration should be for specific trade groups of goods/works/services. For this purpose, all goods/ works/services should be divided into trade groups, and the information published on the relevant portals/ websites; l) It should be mentioned in the letter of registration that the registration is valid for a specified period (one to three years). At the end of this period, the registered supplier
(s) willing to continue with registration is to apply afresh for renewal of registration. However, the registration would be initially treated as provisional, and it would be treated as confirmed only after the firm has satisfactorily executed one order of the relevant category and value from the Procuring Entity. The extension of validity of registration is not a matter of right, and the Procuring Entity reserves the right not to extend such registration without assigning any reason. New supplier
(s) may also be considered for registration at any time, provided they fulfil all the required conditions; m) All registered suppliers should be allocated a unique registration number. The list of registered suppliers for the subject matter of procurement (indicating the names and addresses of the registered suppliers with details of the requirements and monetary value they will supply, as well as the validity period, and so on, for which they are registered), shall be exhibited on the websites of the Procuring Entity; n) Within the monetary limits so prescribed, as also for the category of registration, the registered firm may be exempted from depositing the Earnest Money Deposit (EMD). In other categories and higher monetary limits, the supplier would be treated as any unregistered supplier and not be entitled to the privileges of a registered supplier. The monetary limit or category, so laid down, does not, however, debar a firm from getting orders more than the monetary limit or for other categories, provided the Procuring Entity is satisfied with the capacity and capability of the firm but a requisite security deposit should be obtained, as is being done in the case of unregistered firms;
o) The performance and conduct of every registered supplier are to be monitored by the relevant department. Procuring Entity should also reserve the right to remove firms who do not perform satisfactorily, even during the validity of registration (after giving due opportunity to the supplier to make a representation), if they fail to abide by the terms and conditions of the registration or fail to execute contracts on time or supply substandard goods or make any false declaration to any Government agency or for on public interest considerations; p) The procuring entity shall retain its option to reassess firms already registered at any later date to satisfy itself with the current financial soundness/creditworthiness, facilities available, and so on. Thereafter, the Procuring Entity may decide to retain them as registered suppliers for the requirements and monetary limit that were earlier considered or with necessary changes as deemed fit. In case of adverse reports from the team of Procuring Entity officers who reassess the firm, Procuring Entity shall delete such firm from the registered suppliers' list;
(Rule 150 of GFR 2017) 3.7.1 GFR Provisions

Para 3.6 — GOODS_MANUAL

Original Rule Text

Para 3.6 — GOODS_MANUAL

Original Rule Text