Orissa in pact with SBI to link e-procurement portal with payment gateway

The Orissa government has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the State Bank of India, the largest public sector lender, for integration of the payment gateway of the bank with the e-procurement portal of the state IT department.

C H Narasimha Rao, the Chief General Manager of SBI, Bhubaneswar circle and Subhendu Kumar Ray, secretary, works, of the Orissa government signed the MoU in the presence of the chief minister, Naveen Patnaik in the state secretariat. The e-procurement system has been introduced by the government in engineering departments like rural development, works, water resources, housing and urban development, agriculture and the directorate of port and inland water ways.

Besides, the state owned PSUs like Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Idco), Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC), Orissa Power Transmission Corporation Ltd (OPTCL), Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC), Orissa State Housing Board (OSHB) among others. A secretary level committee under the chairmanship of the secretary, water resources has been constituted to monitor the implementation of the e-procurement.

Speaking on the occasion, the Chief minister said, works valued more than Rs 20 lakh of six government departments and seven corporations are procured through e-procurement portal of the state government. Tenders valued at Rs 26,949 crore has been hoisted online till date.

With the integration of the payment gateway of SBI with the e-procurement portal, the bidders can now obtain tender papers from the website through online payments. The online payment of Earnest Money Deposit (EMD) would be introduced soon, he added.