TCS, Intellect in race for development of advanced version of portal GeM

IT major TCS and Intellect Design Arena are in the race for a contract for the development of an advanced version of public procurement portal GeM, sources said.

The government invited tenders for new GeM (Government e-marketplace) portal development work in February-March this year and after scrutiny of the bids, TCS and Intellect Design Arena qualified in the technical stage.

Fintech Company Infibeam Avenues Ltd is out of the race as it was disqualified during the tender evaluation as the company was not able to submit the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) certificate which is mandatory for IT projects, they said.

The government had set a pre-condition for the bidders to have a special certificate to qualify for the GeM portal tender.

At present, a private consortium, including Intellect Design Arena and Infibeam, is running the portal. GeM was launched by the commerce ministry in August 2016 for online purchases of goods and services by all the central government ministries and departments.

The task of development and maintenance of the GeM portal was awarded to Intellect Design Arena and Infibeam in July 2017. The duration of the contract was for five years, which is ending this year.

Intellect Design Arena and Infibeam filed separate applications for managing the portal this time.

Infibeam Avenues Ltd is a listed company engaged in digital payment and eCommerce services in India and was established in 2007.

In an exchange filing, Infibeam said, "We are in receipt of an email from GeM, Ministry of Commerce and Industry in relation to our bid for Selection of Managed Service Provider (MSP) for design, development, implementation, operation and maintenance of Government of e-Marketplace in response to GeM's Request for Proposal dated 27 September 2022. Under the said email, GeM has rejected our bid due to alleged non-fulfilment of pre-qualification criteria set out under the RFP."

The company said that it is evaluating all options in relation to the email received from GeM.

The technical presentations of TCS and Intellect have been scheduled for the next week and the contract is expected to be awarded in June 2023.

An email query to the two companies did not elicit any immediate reply.

Procurement of goods and services from the government portal GeM crossed Rs 2 lakh crore in 2022-23 because of increased buying activities by different ministries and departments.

The top states that are buying from the portal include Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Madhya Pradesh.

GeM has over 63,000 government buyer organisations, over 6 crore sellers and service providers offering a wide range of products and services.

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 some of the major product categories.

Services, including transportation, logistics, waste management, webcasting and analytical, are listed on the portal. South Korea's KONEPS is the largest such platform in the world.

Currently, GeM stands at the third position after Singapore's GeBIZ.