eProcurement is one of the key mission mode projects initiated by Government of India  to channelize the government tendering process and to make it more transparent and business friendly. Uttar Pradesh adopted the system in June 2008 and since then more than 2600 tenders with a net worth of about 6555 crores have already been published on the portal.  eProcurement provides a robust & comprehensive platform to the business community to participate in the government tender process  irrespective of their location and size. It not only ensures more transparency at all levels but also increases efficiency of the system.
 
The procurement activity to be carried out by any Government department/PSU needs to be done through a tender/auction method which itself results into quite a sizeable amount. It incites involvement of criminal activities, corruption and last minute entry of bidders based on political or bureaucratic pressure. All this leads to large scale corruption and with connivance of mediators, suppliers and officials the entire tender process remains surrounded by controversy. It deprives the Government of billions of rupees and at some point of time, it also results in compromising the quality of work that is executed.

The eProcurement portal (http://etender.up.nic.in ) has made the government tendering process online. It helps the government institutions to create and publish the tenders, evaluate the bids and assign the contracts to bidders. The bidders too can post their bids online. The portal has been developed by NIC, Tamil Nadu as per the requirements and policies of the State Government. The hardware support is provided by Uttar Pradesh Electronics Corporation Limited, a Government of UP undertaking while Digital Signatures have been introduced to electronically verify the identity of the participant/bidder. The State Government has already issued a government notification to implement eProcurement in the major departments which are involved in the procurement of goods and works in the state.  As a result, approximately 500 department users have been trained and 8000 bidders have registered in this portal from departments like PWD (Public Work Department), Irrigation, Industry, IT & Electronic, UP Jal Nigam etc.

eProcurement has brought a revolution in the tendering process in the state and encouraged bidders to fill more tenders. The portal provides a one-stop solution for all tendering requirements of the government departments. It has seven separates modules to look after different activities of bidding such as registration, tender management, bid evaluation, award of contract etc. The merits of the system are manifold, to list a few

1. It offers equal opportunity to all potential suppliers to submit their offers.
2. It encourages maximum participation and competition, hence better terms.
3. It is free from favouritism and eliminates the scope of procurement officers to indulge in unfair practices.

In addition, the eProcurement system has helped the government and businesses to reduce the cycle time, unnecessary paper work, waiting in long queues and simultaneously maintains transparency in the entire process. Gradually more and more departments are getting on-board the eProcurement system in Uttar Pradesh.

Mr. Sunil Sharma, Technical Director, NIC is looking after the project in the state.