Context: Recently,Ministry of Commerce and Industry launched Government e-Marketplace (GeM), a Special Purpose Vehicle which has  taken a number of initiatives in the fight against COVID-19 Pandemic.

About Government e-Marketplace (GeM)

• It is a state-of-the-art national public procurement platform of Ministry of Commerce and Industries, that has used technology to remove entry barriers for bonafide sellers and has created a vibrant e-marketplace with a wide range of goods and services.
• The portal has introduced many steps to enable quick, efficient, transparent and cost-effective purchases during the coronavirus lockdown.

Following categories have been created for medical supplies in addition to the 32 existing ones and are live on GeM:

• Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Sample Collection Kit
• Reusable vinyl/rubber gloves (cleaning)
• Eye protection (visor/goggles)
• Disposable thermometers.
• Single-use towels
• UV tube light for sterilization.
• Surgical Isolation Face Shield
• Medical waste incinerator

Following categories have been created for auxiliary supplies in addition to 52 categories and 7 services that existed:

• General purpose tool kit
• Wrought aluminum utensils
• With this, all categories recommended by NITI Ayog in medical and auxiliary supplies are now on GeM. 
• All OEMs, resellers and suppliers for the above newly created categories are being identified for onboarding on GeM.
• A total of 173, out of which 120 are Medical Related and 53 are Auxiliary, COVID-19 related categories are available on GeM.

The World Bank increased procurement threshold at GeM for COVID 19 Response Project, from $ 1 Lakh to $ 1 Million.

GeM facilitates

• Listing of products for individual, prescribed categories of Goods/ Services of common use.
• Look, estimate, compare and buying facility on dynamic pricing basis.
• Market place buying of majority of common User Items.
• Buying Goods and Services online, as and when required.
• Transparency and ease of buying.
• Useful for low value buying and also for bulk buying at competitive price using Reverse Auction/ e-bidding.
• Continuous vendor rating system.
• Return policy.