Appointing agency to check govt tenders for procurement compliance: DPIIT

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) will rope in a consulting agency to scrutinise tenders of government procuring entities for compliance with public procurement regulations that aim at promoting 'Made in India' products.

The DPIIT has floated a notice inviting request for proposal (RFP) from interested agencies.

The government issued Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order, 2017 on June 15, 2017, to promote production of goods and services in India and enhance income and employment in the country.

The order aims at incentivizing production linked through local content requirements to encourage domestic manufacturer's participation in public procurement activities over entities merely importing to trade or assemble items.

It is applicable on procurement of goods services and works, including turnkey works, by a central ministry or department, their attached or subordinate offices, autonomous bodies controlled by the Government of India, government companies, their joint ventures and special purpose vehicles.

Under this order, in procurement of all goods, services or works in respect of which the estimated value of procurement is less than Rs 50 lakh, only local suppliers shall be eligible to bid, except in certain cases.

The DPIIT "intends to on-board an agency, for a period of one year for scrutinizing tenders of central government procuring agencies for its compliance with the order", the notice said.

"Interested applicants are requested to submit their responses to the RFP on the central public procurement portal (eprocure.gov.in) before September 8, 2020 at 12:00 PM," DPIIT said.

It said that the main objective of the assignment is to assist and support public procurement cell, DPIIT, for the implementation of PPP-MII Order by scrutinizing tenders of central government procuring entities, including CPSUs and autonomous bodies, published on CPP (central public procurement ) portal and submit a report to DPIIT for its compliance with the order.

"A consulting agency will be selected on (LCS) Least Cost Selection process," it added.

Earlier, the department had cancelled government tenders worth thousands of crores because of discriminatory practices being followed. Restrictive and discriminative tender practices prevent participation of domestic companies in government procurement.