GeM creates separate page for medical equipments to help govt fight Covid-19

Public procurement portalGeM has created a dedicated page on its platform for medical and protective equipment like thermal scanners, biohazard bags and disinfectants to help the government fight Covid-19 pandemic, an official said.

It has created several categories for medical supplies such as COVID-19 sample collection kit, reusable vinyl/rubber gloves (cleaning), eye protection (visor/goggles), disposable thermometers, single use towels, thermal scanner, cardiac monitors, ICU beds, ambulance, stretcher, wheel chair, portable x-ray machines and surgical isolation face shield, among others.

"All original equipment manufacturers, re-sellers, and suppliers for these products are being identified for on boarding on GeM portal. So far, we have created 95 categories on the platform," GeM CEO Talleen Kumar told PTI.

He said shorter duration bids with shorter delivery period for specific categories have been fixed.

"Bid cycle for COVID-19 related categories has been reduced to 3 days from existing 10 days. Buyers would also be able to reduce the Delivery Period for such items to 2 days considering the critical nature of the items," he said.

He added that the new page for tracking COVID-19 categories and the number of sellers will be live from Saturday.

Kumar also said PFMS (public financial management system) buyers can now place orders without blocking the fund and this facility will remain available till March 31.

Further, the dedicated page has also provided features to shorten the procurement cycle for related items.

The Commerce Ministry launched Government e-Marketplace (GeM), an online platform for public procurement, in August 2016 with the objective of creating an open and transparent procurement platform for government, which runs in several lakh crore.

Currently, government departments, ministries, public sector units, state governments, and Central Armed Police Forces are allowed to carry out transactions through this portal.

The portal provides a wide range of products from office stationery to vehicles. Automobiles, computers and office furniture are currently the top product categories.

Services, including transportation, logistics, waste management, web casting and analytical, are listed on the portal.