Finance Ministry eases procurement rules for scientific research equipment

Finance Ministry eases procurement rules for scientific research equipment

Subject: Economy

Sec: Fiscal policy  

Context:

• Ahead of the presentation of the Union Budget, the Finance Ministry has announced changes that will provide greater flexibility to scientific Ministries to import and buy equipment necessary for research.

 More about News:

• In the General Finance Rules (GFR), follow demands made for years by scientists, who have often said that restrictive rules on the purchase of research equipment had slackened the pace of research productivity.
• The GFR, which are prescribed by the Finance Ministry, define the conditions under which public procurement is conducted, and they are periodically updated.
• New exemptions are specific to the “scientific Ministries”
  • Department of Science and Technology
  • Department of Biotechnology
  • Department of Scientific and Industrial Research
  • Department of Atomic Energy
  • Department of Space
  • Ministry of Earth Sciences
  • Defence Research and Development Organisation
  • Indian Council of Agricultural Research
  • Department of Health Research including Indian Council of Medical Research, and institutions conducting post-graduate research affiliated to Ministries.

Changes in Threshold Price of goods:

• The first of the changes are in raising the threshold price of goods that may be bought without going through a tendering process. The relaxations came into effect, the threshold was ₹25,000. It has now been raised to ₹1,00,000.
• The second is that for goods priced between ₹25,000 to ₹250,000, a purchase committee consisting of three members nominated by the Head of Department must survey the market to establish that it offers the most value for money and quality. That limit has now been raised from ₹100,000 to ₹10,00,000.

However, and this is the catch most scientists are not quite happy with, these relaxations are only applicable once it is established that the required goods are unavailable on the Government e-Marketplace (GeM).

The GeM is a government mandated website, such as the Amazon online marketplace, which lists sellers of India-made or assembled goods, and is administered by the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises

General Finance Rules (GFR):

• Government has amended the General Financial Rules, 2017.
• General Financial Rules (GFRs) are a compilation of rules and orders of Government of India to be followed by all while dealing with matters involving public finances.
• These rules and orders are treated as executive instructions to be observed by all Departments and Organisations under the Government and specified Bodies
• General Financial Rules were issued for the first time in 1947bringing together in one place all existing orders and instructions pertaining to financial matters.
• These have subsequently been modified and issued as GFRs 1963 and GFRs 2005.

Government e-Marketplace:

• GeM facilitates online procurement of common use Goods & Services required by various Government Departments / Organisations / PSUs.
  • The initiative was launched in August 2016, by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India.
  • The current version of GeM, i.e., GeM 3.0 was launched on January 26, 2018.
• It provides the tools of e-bidding, reverse e-auction and demand aggregation to facilitate the government users, achieve the best value for their money and aims to enhance transparency, efficiency and speed in public procurement.