by Mehraj Dar
Digital procurement has transformed public spending, competition, transparency, and project execution in Jammu and Kashmir while strengthening institutional accountability.
Public procurement in Jammu & Kashmir has undergone a massive structural paradigm shift over the past decade. The transition from a fragmented, paper-intensive traditional tendering regime to a unified, digital-first ecosystem driven by the e-Tendering Portal and the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) has fundamentally altered how the Union Territory buys goods, services, and infrastructure. There were serious flaws with the conventional tendering system.
The bidders had to physically submit hard-copy tender documents at government offices, which sometimes led to physical intimidation, paper tampering, and cartelization at these local offices. The tendering cycles routinely stretched from 6 to 12 months due to manual evaluation of technical and financial bids, postal delays, and lengthy committee approvals, which have now been reduced to just a month or less before formal work allotment is issued to the contractor/vendor. This has sped up the execution of works manifold and subsequently enhanced the pace of developmental work.
At the national level, the reform gained major momentum with the General Financial Rules (GFR) 2017, which made e-Procurement mandatory and introduced Rule 149, establishing GeM as the primary portal for common-use goods and services. In Jammu & Kashmir, all government departments, public sector undertakings and corporations, urban local bodies (SMC/JMC), and engineering wings (PWD R&B, Jal Shakti, REW, Irrigation & Flood Control) strictly publish Notice Inviting Tenders (e-NITs) through the online portal. Even micro-level Panchayat (Capex/PRI) works are now processed digitally to prevent off-system nuances.
The transition in Jammu and Kashmir has led to unprecedented contractor participation across all 20 districts, that too at the lowest rates possible. By coupling e-Tendering with administrative measures like compulsory administrative approvals, technical sanctions, and budget encumbrance checks prior to tender publishing, the system has effectively curbed “unfunded works”, put an end to “work allotment extensions”, and ensured project completion timelines are maintained. The observations raised by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India in its reports from time to time are testimony to the fact that thousands of crores of rupees were thrown down the drain as “wasteful expenditure” and without intended benefits to the population.
When public procurement operated behind closed doors or within localized administrative control rooms, buyers paid a heavy premium for obscurity. The transition to GeM transformed procurement from an administrative chore into a competitive digital economy, yielding substantial price compression across the sectors. In traditional tendering, vendors submitted sealed bids without knowing what competitors charged elsewhere in the country. GeM changed this by making catalogue prices public across the entire nation. Vendors can see competitor pricing instantly.
Built-in tools compare listed rates against popular consumer e-commerce platforms (like Amazon or Flipkart) to ensure government rates remain competitive with the retail market. Earlier procurement models heavily relied on layers of local dealers, contractors, and intermediaries who added hefty mark-ups to cover distribution costs and administrative friction. GeM enables Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and direct producers to list their products straight to central and state buyers, passing middleman margins directly back to the public exchequer as savings. A 15–20% reduction in procurement costs effectively expands departmental budgets by the same margin without requiring additional tax revenue—allowing public funds to cover more infrastructure, health, or operational assets.
Small businesses no longer need local political or administrative leverage to win contracts. By removing regional entry barriers, MSMEs gain nationwide reach, further deepening price competition against large legacy vendors. A comparison of prices of various commodities on the GeM portal with those of company websites and online platforms such as Amazon, Flipkart, etc., has shown the prices to be competent, affordable, and up to the mark.
A study was done in 2021 in which a set of common items were identified. Effort was made to ensure that the products matched as closely as possible. The study found the prices to be in the same ballpark. On average, the variation between the prices on GeM and other online marketplaces is only around 3 per cent. Being an open platform, alert citizens can continue to monitor it in real time (Economic Survey 2020-21).
The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) and Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) are the two institutions that have always remained at the forefront in red-flagging operational and administrative lapses in project management and public procurement and thus play a pivotal role in safeguarding the interests of the state and the exchequer.
While e-procurement platforms eliminate physical entry barriers and bid-rigging at the execution level, the CVC and CAG operate at the institutional level to enforce a double lock on public spending. The ultimate measure of a nation’s public procurement system is not merely how quickly it spends its budget, but how effectively it delivers Value for Money (VfM). By combining real-time vigilance (CVC) with retrospective financial accountability (CAG), the state ensures that public funds are transformed into durable national assets—converting administrative expenditure into a direct catalyst for socio-economic development.
(The author is Assistant Accounts Officer, Finance Department. Ideas are personal.)
