Government to introduce Public Procurement Bill in Parliament

Government has decided to introduce a bill in Parliament to bring uniformity and transparency in procurement process, the Lok Sabha was informed today.

"The Central Government has decided to introduce a Public Procurement Bill in Parliament. A draft of the proposed Bill has been placed on the website of Department of Expenditure for eliciting comments from the public," Minister of State for Personnel and Public Grievances told the lower house in a written reply.

Besides, he said, a high-level Empowered Committee was constituted under the chairmanship of Vinod Dhall, former Secretary, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, on public procurement.

The terms of reference of the Committee includes suggesting measures necessary to ensure full transparency in public procurement and systematic measures to strengthen it.

Narayanasamy said nine references from Members of Parliament were received by the Department of Expenditure and Department of Personnel and Training regarding the stated purchase of stationery and other general items by inviting tenders and quotations at higher rates and even higher than Maximum Retail Price (MRP) causing avoidable loss to the Government.