GeM, CSC And India Post Ink Pact For Engagement Of Last-Mile Govt Buyers, Sellers, Service Providers In Public Procurement

Government eMarketplace (GeM), CSC e-Governance Services India Ltd. (CSC-SPV), and Department of Posts on Wednesday (18 May) inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the advocacy, outreach, mobilisation and capacity-building of last-mile government buyers, sellers and service providers in public procurement.

The MoU was signed by GeM CEO P K Singh, CSC-SPV CEO Sanjay Kumar Rakesh, and Ajay Kumar Roy, Chief General Manager, Parcel Directorate, Department of Posts in New Delhi.

The MoU was conceived after the successful integration of GeM and India Post on 5 May.

"With this integration, it is now possible for all last-mile Govt buyers, sellers and service-providers to avail the logistics services and facilities over GeM through the India Post facilities located in the remotest parts of India," a Ministry of Commerce and Industry release said on Wednesday.

"Nearly 4.5 lakh+ Common Service Centers (CSC) and approximately 1.5 lakh+ India Post offices across India will be trained to assist last-mile Govt buyers, sellers and service providers with buyer/seller registration, product catalogue upload and management, order acceptance, fulfilment and invoice generation functionality on GeM portal," the ministry said.

Value-added services such as photography of product images, packaging, logistics and shipment of packages through Speed Post and Business Parcel, through India Post website, online, print and office communication channels will also be delivered at charges defined by CSC and Department of Posts, it added.

GeM Services offered through CSCs and India Post Offices will be made available to all govt buyers, sellers and service providers at no charge.

Training sessions will be conducted through in-person and virtual training modes at 6,000+ CSCs nominated by CSC-SPV and co-located at district and block-level, who in turn will train panchayat level Village-Level Entrepreneurs (VLE) to familiarise them on various buyer and seller functionalities on the GeM portal.

Rates for packaging materials and shipment of packages through Speed Post and Business Parcel through India Post website, online, print and office communication channels will be shared with CSCs.

Dept of Posts will conduct “Train-the-Trainer” training programs related to various postal products and services such as Speed Post and Business Parcel, namely, packaging of consignments using packaging material defined as per the Shipment Packaging Policy of Dept of Posts through the 6,000+ CSCs nominated by CSC-SPV in a phased manner.

Dept of Posts will ensure the availability of India Post packaging material including boxes, BOPP tapes, bubble-wrap, flyers and air sacks in-store at nearest post offices for CSCs, facilitate the pick-up, transmission and delivery of Speed Post and Business Parcel as per standards defined by Dept of Posts, and ensure priority processing of all GeM labelled packages.

Last-mile stakeholders such as Local Bodies, Panchayati Raj institutions, among others and under-served seller groups in rural areas; namely women, khadi and tribal entrepreneurs, micro, small enterprises (MSE), self-help groups (SHGs), farmer producer organisations (FPOs), Startups, artisans and weavers, divyangjan and Hunar-Haat craftsmen, bamboo producers, and stakeholders’ such as Corporates, Private Companies Colleges, Scientific and Technical Research Institutions, and Universities, among others in public procurement will benefit from this MoU, the ministry said.

The MoU will address the twin challenges of “access to markets” and “access to finance” faced by under-served seller groups and align the untapped entrepreneurial energy of last-mile producers and service-providers in rural India with local Govt buyers.

This will spur hyper-local procurement thereby integrating local value-chains through “Vocal for Local” and “Make in India” initiatives of the Government, thereby furthering the aim of ensuring a self-reliant “Atmanirbhar Bharat”, the ministry said.