India - Case Study on e-Government Procurement Development
This case study has been prepared with the intent to provide a rich and holistic view on the development of e-GP in India. An attempt has been made to consolidate various details about the implementation of e-GP in India. All factual data presented in this document is backed up by publicly available information from reliable information sources. e-GP policy makers and government policy makers would find this document relevant.
Government procurement in India is decentralized. At the high-level, government organization is sub-divided into 28 State Governments, 7 Union Territories, 51 Central Government Ministries, and 247 Central Public Sector Enterprises. The Country Procurement Assessment Report of the World Bank estimates the value of public procurement at about 13% of the National budgets.
There is not a central legal framework governing public procurement in India. The State Governments of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have enacted State-specific Transparency in public procurement Act. Otherwise, public procurement is governed by a set of Executive Directives. The procedural framework in place to govern and administer public procurement is similar to that of the World Bank guidelines, UNICTRAL model Law or other goods practices in public procurement. The frameworks of rules, procedures, codes, manuals, and documents in place are designed to address the key basic guiding principles of public procurement: Transparency, economy, efficiency, effectiveness, fairness, and competition amongst prospective suppliers.
This case study aims to shed light on e-GP systems implemented in India and also explain overall readiness of the eco-system required to enable implementation of e-GP systems. A set of 5 established e-GP implementations are explained in detail to provide rich insights on various aspects of implementation.
Given the success stories after a decade long e-GP implementation experiences, the need for implementing e-GP systems is not questioned anymore. There is general agreement amongst all stakeholders that e-GP is a necessary innovation. Details of the key initiatives taken so far to build a framework for e-GP implementation across India are provided in this case study.