Buyers and Sellers in Government e-Marketplace (GeM)
Who can be Buyer in GeM?
The buyer stands for contract placing authority and
the contract may be for the procurement of goods or services. On GeM, the
Government Ministries, Government Departments, Public Sector Units (PSUs) and
Autonomous Bodies acting through authorized officer (s) on behalf of President
/ Governor / PSU, as the case may be.
èRegistration:
To understand Government e-Marketplace in simple
terms, firstly understand its types of buyers i.e. Primary and Secondary
buyers. The Primary buyer is registered firstly and for registration it is must
to have Aadhaar number and Mobile Number linked with Aadhaar; because
bio-metric enrolment of the Officer as Primary User will make him/her
directly responsible and accountable for the functions performed in GeM.
Thereafter, for security concerns, it is must either to have NIC e-mail i.e.
nic.in / gov.in or GeM buyer email id. For primary user registration, it is
must that there is a verifying authority whose details be entered such as name, mobile number, and NIC
registered email id.
After registration of Primary User, for registration
of Secondary Users, it is required to have Aadhaar Number and Mobile Number
linked with Aadhaar Number and NIC registered email id or gem-buyer id i.e.
gembuyer.in.
How many persons
are required to be Primary Users or Secondary Users?
Three persons are required at least to perform all
functions in GeM in Government Offices (as Buyer). 1st Person - The Primary User should be Head of Office,
however, the primary user can also be Secondary User as Consignee. The Primary
User cannot become Buyer or Payment Authority.
2nd a person is required to be
Secondary User as Buyer. The Buyer can also become Consignee but cannot become
Payment Authority.
3rd a person is required to be
Payment Authority.
What can be
procured through GeM?
The GeM portal is for procuring Goods and Services.
The Goods include both tangible (whatever is required in Government Offices for
use) and intangible products (such as technology transfer, licenses, patents, etc.). Each purchase of a product is like a contract between buyer and seller in
which the seller delivers the product and gets sales consideration from the buyer. The
services which are generally required in Government Offices such as Manpower
Services, Security Services, Transport Services, IT Professional Services, etc. For
procurement of services, it is must sign Service Level Agreement (SLA)
between Buyer and Service Provider, and as per the agreement, it is a contractual commitment
between the two. The SLA will include the following:
·
Type of service to
be provided
·
Deliverables
·
Desired
performance level
·
Reliability and responsiveness
·
Monitoring process
and service level reporting
·
Response and issue
resolution time-frame
·
Repercussions /
penalties/remedies for the service provider in case he is not meeting its
commitment.
Like tendering, it is required to decide
the specifications of the product and services to be procured through GeM. Both
buyer and seller shall have to comply with the rules and restrictions mentioned in
the specifications and no one can add or ask to add, no one can drop or ask to
drop anything pre-decided in the contract.
Who
can be Seller or Service Provider in GeM?
On GeM, any legal entity can become a seller
including sole proprietor, partnership firm, company, society, and also
statutory body registered on GeM as seller or service provider. However, it
will be either Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) or Seller or Service
Provider with Authorization to sell products manufactured by OEM or service
products manufactured by OEM.
*Copyright © 2021 Dr. Lalit Kumar. All rights reserved.
This article is written by Dr. Lalit Kumar Setia; a renowned author and trainer. The article was published on 20th August, 2021 and last updated on 4th September, 2021. The writer can be contacted on lalitkumarsetia@gmail.com
