GeM Bid Participation: Since its launch in August 2016, the government’s public procurement marketplace Government eMarketplace (GeM) has grown to Rs 4.1 lakh crore in gross merchandise value (GMV) with more than 1.5 crore orders processed so far. The buyer and seller count has also jumped to nearly 70,000 and 61 lakh respectively in over six years, indicating the growing digitisation of traditional public procurement to facilitate transparency in the government buying process which otherwise was difficult, particularly for micro and small enterprises in the offline world.
Also read: GeM: Amazon of public procurement surpasses 1 crore transactions
In order to win a government tender, it is essential for sellers to understand how the tender is aligned with the business goals and how it will help in their growth. They must go through the tender conditions carefully to understand how they fit into the requirements of the order along with what is the expected quality of products and the time period for delivery. Once you are clear on how you will fulfil the order as per the availability and capability of your employees and vendors, ensure that you have the required working capital to undertake the order. Once you are certain of the above points, you can apply for the tender.
Also read: Public procurement: Govt purchases from MSMEs cross Rs 4 lakh crore through GeM portal
Here are the steps to file and participate in a tender on GeM:
- Login to the GeM portal and click on ‘List of Bids’ from the dropdown under the ‘Bids’ tab
- The dashboard will come up from where you can filter bids category-wise you want to apply for
- To get access to most of the bids, select the BOQ category from the category type filer
- Keep the ‘Ongoing Bids/RA’ and ‘All Bid/RAs’ boxes checked in the filter types on the left side of the page
- Click on the BID NO. on top of every bid to download the bid document which includes details such as bid end and opening time, offer validity, buyer details, product and quantity required, and documents required from you based on which you will have to quote your price
- Check the ‘Technical Specifications’ required by clicking on the hyperlink ‘As per GeM Category Specification’ in the bid document
- The specification, for instance, for a restaurant chair required will include the type of seat needed, type of seat cushion required, backrest cushion etc., followed by dimensions, colour and finish, warranty etc.
- Return to the bid and click on ‘Participate’
- Uncheck ‘Select All Schedules’ if already checked and select the schedules for which you want to participate and then click on ‘Save Selected Schedules’
- Enter item details such as make, model and HSC code in respective catalogues and save it
- Click on ‘Continue’ to proceed to the ‘Offer Price’ page
- Enter per piece offer price including taxes you want to quote in all schedules. The end of the page will show you the ‘Total Offer Price’
- Click on ‘Encrypt and Save’ to proceed to the ‘Upload Documents’ page
- Upload document in ‘Experience Criteria’ for instance sales/purchase invoice of business done with private or public sector
- In ‘Past Performance’, upload details on business done with the product or similar product you are participating with. For example, invoices for the product sold in the past
- In ‘Bidder Turnover’, upload your balance sheet
- In ‘Certificate (Requested in ATC), upload the bid document PDF which carries ‘Terms and Conditions’ towards the end
- In ‘OEM Annual Turnover’, provide the turnover of the brand whose product you are offering in the bid
- In ‘Compliance of BoQ specification and Supporting Document’, provide detailed specifications of the product and other documents related to the product
- In ‘Please Upload Financial Document’, upload price details of any spare part of the product you are offering
- Select Yes if you are the product’s OEM and No if you are not the OEM of the product
- Select Yes/No if your offering is ‘Make in India’ compliant
- Select Class 1 Local Supplier if the local content in the product is 50 per cent or more and Class 2 Local Supplier if the local content in the product is between 20 per cent and 50 per cent
- Next, upload your Make in India certificate and click on ‘Save’
- Click on ‘Save’ on the EMD/ePBG page
- Agree to the terms and conditions on the next page
- Click on the ‘Bid Participation Draft Document’ to check the documents you have uploaded
- Verify the bid with either OTP, eSign or digital signature certificate to submit the bid
