New Delhi, Jun 28: Homegrown IT giant Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has reportedly been awarded the contract for operating and maintaining the government procurement portal, GeM. Launched in August 2016 and operating under the aegis of the Ministry of Commerce, the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) is a one-stop-shop platform for government ministries and agencies looking to procure goods and services.
The platform lists goods and products ranging from office stationery to automobiles and from office furniture to computers. It also offers services such as logistics, transportation, and waste management on the portal. “… Now we have also gone in for a new contract… TCS has won the contract (for that),” said Union Minister Piyush Goyal during a public event on Monday (June 26).
In his address, Goyal also said that it will roll out a host of new ‘contemporary and modern’ features on the platform by the end of the current year or early next year. He added that TCS has been onboarded to bring in more elements for ease of operations on the portal. While noting that the government was continuously working to improve the system, he added that services such as data analytics will also be unveiled on the platform to help buyers and sellers in their procurement decision-making.
As per the government, the platform crossed the INR 2 Lakh Cr procurement mark in the financial year 2022-23 (FY23). Goyal expressed hope that the marketplace would achieve the INR 3 Lakh Cr target in the current fiscal year. The marketplace currently claims to host more than 63,000 government buyer organizations and 62 Lakh sellers on the platform.