A GeM is a short form of one-stop Government e-Market Place.

The GeM is a dynamic, self-sustaining and user-friendly portal for making procurement by Government officers. It was launched by the Commerce Ministry in August 2016 with the objective of creating an open and transparent procurement platform for government departments.

Public procurement forms a very important part of Government activity and reform in Public Procurement is one of the top priorities of the present Government. Government e-Marketplace (GeM) is a very bold step of the Government with the aim to transform the way in which procurement of goods and services is done by the Government Ministries and Departments, Public Sector Undertakings and other apex autonomous bodies of the Central Government.

DGS&D (Directorate General of Supplies & Disposal) with technical support of National e-Governance Division (Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology) has developed GeM portal for procurement of both Products & Services.

Features of GeM

GeM eliminates human interface in vendor registration, order placement, and payment processing, to a great extent. Being an open platform, GeM offers no entry barriers to bonafide suppliers who wish to do business with the Government. At every step, SMS and e-Mail notifications are sent to both buyers, his/her head of organization, paying authorities as well as sellers. Online, cashless and time-bound payment on GeM is facilitated through integration with PFMS and State Bank Multi Option System (SBMOPS); web-services integration is being extended to payment systems of Railways, Defence, major PSUs, and State Governments. Seamless processes and online time-bound payment, which is also mandated by the Department of Expenditure, has given confidence to the vendors and reduced their 'administrative' costs involved in pursuing officers for timely payment.

Facilities by GeM Portal

· Listing of products for individual, prescribed categories of Goods/ Services of common use

· Look, estimate, compare and buying facility on a dynamic pricing basis.

· Market place buying of majority of common User Items.

· Buying Goods and Services online, as and when required.

· Single window system for aggregating demands and ordering

· Transparency and ease of buying· Useful for low-value buying and also for bulk buying at a competitive price using Reverse Auction/ e-bidding.

· Continuous vendor rating system.

· User-friendly dashboard for buying and monitoring supplies and payments

· Easy return policy

Benefits of GeM to Sellers

· Direct access to all Government departments.

· One stop shop for marketing with minimal efforts.

· One stop shop for bids / reverse auction on products / services

· New Product Suggestion facility available to Sellers

· Dynamic pricing: Price can be changed based on market conditions

· Seller friendly dashboard for selling and monitoring of supplies and payments

· Consistent and uniform purchase procedures

Benefits of GeM to Buyers

· Rich listing of products for individual categories of Goods/Services

· Search, Compare, Select and Buy facility

· Buying Goods and Services online, as and when required.

· Transparent and ease of buying

· Continuous vendor rating system

· User-friendly dash board for Buying and monitoring supplies and payments

· Easy Return policy