Fin Min amends GFRs 2017; delegates power to Ministries & Dept for procurement of goods not available on GeM

New Delhi, Apr 17 (KNN) The Ministries and Department have been delegated full powers to make their own procurement of goods and services that are not available on Government e-marketplace (GeM), according to amendments made in General Financial Rules (GFRs) 2017.

The Ministry of Finance has made significant amendments in GFRs 2017 which immediately come into effect. As per the orders, the Ministry has amended Rule 147 and Rule 149 of the GFRs 2017.

After the amendments, Rule 147 states “The Ministries and Department have been delegated full powers to make their own procurement of goods and services that are not available on Government e-marketplace (GeM).”

Common use goods and services available on GeM are required to be procured mandatorily through GeM as per rule 149, it added.

The GeM portal shall be utilized by the Government Buyers for direct on-line purchases as under:

(i) Up to Rs. 25,000 through any of the available suppliers on the GeM, meeting the requisite quality, specification and delivery period.

(ii) Above Rs 25,000 and up to Rs 5,00,000 through the GeM Seller having lowest price amongst the available sellers (excluding Automobiles where current limit of 30 lakh will continue), of at least three different manufacturers, 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 Buyers even for procurements less than Rs 5,00,000.

The notification said “We are in the process of enabling the GeM portal to automate these changes, however buyers should ensure immediate compliance to the above mentioned amendment while doing procurement on GeM.”