Government's procurement policy to favour micro and small units

New Delhi: Central government ministries and PSUs would now be required to procure "at least" 20 per cent of their annual value of goods or services from micro and small enterprises (MSEs) with the government tweaking provisions of the procurement policy.

Government had introduced the Public Procurement Policy for Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs). Under the Policy, every Central Government Ministries, Departments and Public Sector Undertakings shall procure a minimum 20 per cent of their total annual value of goods or services from Micro and Small Enterprises.

The change has been made in the provision 6 of the Policy wherein the phrase "up to" has been substituted with "at least".

As per the revised norms, MSEs are now eligible to supply "at least" 20 per cent of the requirement at the lowest quoted price in a bidding.

The earlier provision was that MSEs were allowed to supply only "up to" 20 per cent at the lowest price.