Play whistleblower role to highlight issues on GeM portal: Goyal to industry

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday urged the industry to play the role of whistleblower in instances of wrong declaration in terms of indigenization of products registered at the public procurement portal GeM.

He said that it would help bring transparency to the procurement process, which encourages domestically made goods and services. The minister was addressing a conclave of the ministry on preference to 'Make In India' in public procurement here.

Goyal further suggested the industry to accept domestic quality standards and highlight their concerns if a government tender has any reference of foreign standards.

“Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) will engage with Indian Industry to ensure the use of Indian standards in various sectors of manufacturing,” the minister said.

The government, he said, is keen to use Artificial Intelligence in the GeM procurement process to make it more effective and sought industry cooperation to that end.

Urging the industry to continue engagement with the Government, he asked them to share if they are facing any issues of harassment. These would be openly addressed, he stressed.

The “Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order, 2017 (PPP-MII Order, 2017)” has been issued pursuant to Rule 153 (iii) of General Financial Rules, 2017 as an enabling provision to promote the local industry by providing them preference in public procurement.

The Order is applicable to the procurement of goods, services and works by Central Ministries/Departments, their attached/ subordinate offices, autonomous bodies controlled by the Government of India, Government companies, their joint ventures and Special Purpose Vehicles.

The Government e-Market (GeM) portal was launched on August 9, 2016, for online purchases of goods and services by all the central government ministries and departments.