At stake is 15 per cent of the Union Budget spent in procurements without any uniform guidelines.
Procurement of services will be part of the new policy for engaging experts on contracts instead of permanent employment involving salary, service benefits and pension to avoid a big drag on the government's economy.
The services are sought to be procured in the PPP (Public, Private Partnership) mode.
So far there are absolutely no rules for hiring experts and others for providing services.
There will be, however, no centralised procurement, clarifies M Raman, who prepared a concept paper on the draft public procurement policy before laying down office as the Director General of Supplies and Disposal last month.
A 1976 batch IAS officer of the Tamil Nadu cadre, Raman is now the Union chemicals secretary.
His 42-page document will come up for discussion in the Committee of Secretaries next week.
Raman points out that many countries have such a policy in practice for many years. This is the first time that India is drafting such a foolproof policy.
Senior secretaries, who are advancing the draft document, quip that there would have been the least corruption, if the Director General of Supplies and Disposal had been involved in the Commonwealth Games.
In fact, Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar wanted Director General of Supplies and Disposal involved at one stage, but Raman reportedly felt it was too late for his organisation to handle the massive purchases under a tight schedule.
Raman gives credit for the idea to Central Vigilance Commissioner Pratyush Sinha who wrote to
Sinha suggested that the Director General of Supplies and Disposal can be reconfigured to serve as a nodal agency.
Officers, who held a round of meetings on Sinha's suggestion, however, disagreed on the controls being vested with a single agency, but agreed that uniform guidelines could evolve that can be used as a tool for achieving national development goals.
Raman's draft paper suggests a Central Public Procurement Law to cover purchases by all government departments and organisations and lay down rules for different type of procurements.
He has recommended two laws: A substantive law enacted by Parliament to lay down the rights and obligations of public procurement entities and a procedural law that may be laid down by the government, without going to Parliament, to specify the sector-specific rules and procedures for procurement.
The ministries can tweak the second, but it should be 'in complete concordance with the public procurement law, both substantive and procedural.'
The substantive law will be a bare bone Act covering all issues related to government purchases like registration of supply sources, modes of tender, security, terms of contract, pricing elements, quality control, tender evaluation and settlement of disputes.
The draft document envisages creation of an independent national nodal authority for public procurement that may be called a authority, commission or board, comprising experts.
It will be a law making and regulatory body, with an advisory role, with the mandate to formulate and oversee procurement activities.
It can also be assigned the task of establishing an e-procurement portal or lay down guidelines for a national e-procurement programme.
