Karnataka - Bangalore   

Governor launches e-procurement

BANGALORE: In a bid to ensure transparency in procurement, the State Government on Monday launched a unified end-to-end e-procurement platform for all government departments. The new system is expected to reduce the cost of procurement, enhance efficiency and healthy competition.

Governor Rameshwar Thakur launched the e-procurement platform, which would help the Government to handle online tenders, online bidding, empanelment of suppliers and contractors, contract management, and other rules and regulations. The electronic system would help the entire process of procurement from estimate preparation to bill processing, he said.

The system was developed by e-Governance Department with technical support from Hewlett Packard India Sales Private Limited.

It would be utilised by all government agencies in the State.

Of the 11 departments that have been notified to “go live” in the e-procurement system, six departments have started using the system, Principal Secretary, Public Works, Sudhir Krishna said.

The six government agencies which are implementing e-procurement are Public Works Department; Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan; Krishna Bhagya Jala Nigam Ltd.; Karnataka Drugs Logistics and Warehousing Society (KDLWS); Karnataka Road Development Corporation Limited; and Centre for e-Governance.

All Government departments were targeted to be online with e-procurement in the next few months, he said.

Some of the key benefits of the project included cost saving to the government to the tune of 20 per cent to 30 per cent of the estimated contract value of the tenders; preventing cartelisation and increasing competition among bidders; and drastic reduction in tender processing time.

The Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurement (KTPP) Act, 1999 has been amended to enable implementation of the e-procurement platform. e-procurement would reduce the cost of procurement as there was no cost on advertisement in newspapers.

“It is a win-win situation for all” and the identity of the bidder would remain confidential, an official of the Public Works Department said.

Mr. Sudhir Krishna said the system would be introduced for taking up road works under the Karnataka State Highway Improvement Project – II (KSHIP) which would be implemented with World Bank ($ 300 million) and Asian Development Bank ($ 320 million) loans. As many as 3,154 km of road would be developed under KSHIP –II. The cost of one kilometre upgraded road would be Rs. 2 crore (10 metres wide) and other is Rs. 60 lakh a km (5.5 metres wide).

The contractors, who execute KSHIP roads, would be instructed take up maintenance of highways up to seven years and district roads up to one year.

Krishna Kumar and P.K.H. Tharakan, advisors to the Governor, Sudhakar Rao, Chief Secretary, Vatsala Vatsa, Additional Chief Secretary, Ajay Seth, Secretary, e-governance, and T. Sukmar, Secretary, Public Works, attended the programme.

For details on e-procurement contact Helpdesk services Ph: 080-22485867.

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