Radha Chauhan appointed CEO of govt's online procurement wing

Senior bureaucrat Radha Chauhan was today appointed Chief Executive Officer of Government e- Marketplace (GeM), an online platform for central and state government departments for purchase of goods and services.
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved Chauhan's appointment to the post till May 31 next year, an order issued by Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT).
Chauhan, a 1988 batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre, is at present President and CEO of National e-Governance Division under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
The Union Cabinet had in April 2017 approved creation of the GeM Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), which will replace Directorate General of Supplies and Disposal (DGS&D), nodal purchase organisation of the central government.

The GeM SPV has been established as the National Public Procurement Portal to provide an end-to-end online marketplace for central and state government departments, their public sector undertakings, autonomous institutions and local bodies, for procurement of common use goods and services in a transparent and efficient manner.
It has been registered as a not-for-profit company.
The DGS&D shall be wound up and cease its functions by October this year. "In case it is not possible to wind up DGS&D by October 31, 2017, the department may extend the date of closure with proper justification latest upto March 31, 2018," the Cabinet had decided.

The central and state government departments procure goods and services worth several thousand crores annually. The procurement of the goods and services has always been an area of concern for the Central Vigilance Commission as it has been prone to large-scale corruption.