New Delhi: The Central Vigilance Commission
has asked government departments to ensure security of e-procurement system to ensure transparency and plug-in loopholes to check corruption.
The anti-corruption watchdog has also asked all central
government departments and public sector enterprises among
others to get a safety certificate from the Department of
Information Technology (DIT) in this regard.
"Commission has been advocating leveraging of technology
for activities prone to corruption since 2006 and one of the
prominent initiatives was adoption of e-procurement for goods,
works and services for all ministries/departments/
organisations.
"Commission advised all organisations to ensure security
for the e-procurement system and to get their system certified
by the DIT," the CVC said in a recent directive.
It has advised all departments to comply with the quality
guidelines for certification of e-procurement system.
Taking note of the instances of alleged corruption in
public procurement, the CVC has stressed for adoption of
computerised process to avoid human intervention.
A website -- www.egovstandards.gov.in -- has been put by
the Central government outlining the details of the
initiative.
The public sector is one of the biggest purchasers of
goods and services in the economy. The government acknowledges
that automating procurement process using electronic tools/
techniques and enabling opportunities to suppliers fully
supports the objective of non-discrimination, fair and open
competition, it said.
E-procurement is identified as a mission mode project
under national e-governance plan. The objective is to
transform public sector purchase activity from labour
intensive paper based to efficient e-procurement process.
The DIT has requested its attached office STQC
(Standardisation, Testing and Quality Certificate) Directorate
to establish necessary processes and systems to enable
certification of e-procurement systems.
PTI
