CVC withdraws all guidelines on public procurement as govt issues new manuals

After the Center released new manuals on public procurement procedures, the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) announced on July 6 that it had retracted all of its prior guidance on the subject.

Procurement executives had complained about issues with the existence of instructions by numerous organisations in this respect, they claimed to quote an official statement, therefore the action is intended to provide a single authoritative source of reference.

The CVC has been periodically releasing different public procurement guidelines; as of now, 72 circulars with issue-specific guidelines have been published, it claimed.

The Department of Expenditure (DoE), Government of India, has also been issuing guidelines on public procurement, including manuals on the procurement of goods, works, consulting, and other services, according to the notice released by the probity watchdog. These guidelines are in addition to those issued by CVC.

The Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade and other organisations, including NITI Aayog, have also released rules on public procurement on other occasions, it claimed.

According to the notice, "CVC has arrived at the logical conclusion that it would only be suitable if public procurement guidelines are released from D/o Expenditure after discussions with DoE and inside the organisations."

It said that because so many organisations were providing guidelines, procurement executives were having difficulty finding a single trustworthy source of information.

The "manual on procurement of products," "manual on procurement of works," and "manual on procurement of consultancy & other services" have now been amended by the DoE and CVC in conjunction with the merger of all CVC public procurement procedures, according to the announcement.

The anti-corruption watchdog's website now has these new DoE guides, and it claimed that "all previous CVC public procurement recommendations have been revoked."

"Many stakeholders have expressed concern with the existence of numerous guidelines by various organisations for purchasing products and services. The new guides will verify them and support the government's initiatives to ensure commercial ease, "A government official who asked to remain anonymous stated.

Every year, central government agencies spend thousands of crores on goods and services. To improve transparency and effectiveness in procurement, the Government e-marketplace, or GeM, has also been established.

On July 1, 2022, in the presence of the finance secretary and the commissioner of the Central Vigilance Commission, it was announced that Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba had released these three updated manuals.

The undated notification noted that there were also representatives from several Ministries and Departments, public sector banks, CVC, DoE, and heads of PSUs.

It continued that all organisations have been requested to update or align their procurement guidelines/guides with these DoE manuals and upload them as soon as possible to their websites for easy access by their officials and other stakeholders.