Compendium of CVC Guidelines for Public Procurement
1. DEFINITION AND PRINCIPLES OF PUBLIC PROCUREMENT
1.1 Public Procurement can be defined as the procurement of goods, works and services by Govt. Ministries, Departments, Agencies, Statutory Corporations and Public Sector Undertakings in the Centre,States, Municipal Corporations and other local bodies and by Private Sector Undertakings providing public services.
1.2 Public procurement is like an extension of personal procurement characterised by two key words i.e. transparency and fairness. When we take up any construction work for ourselves or make personal purchases or hire any services, we always try to ensure that we get value for money, good quality and timely delivery. In case of public procurement we have to go a little further i.e. ensure that procurement is done in a transparent, fair, and equitable manner.
1.3 The canon of Public Procurement is to procure work, material, services of the specified quality within the specified time at the most competitive prices in a fair, just and transparent manner.
1.4 In brief, the watchwords in this context are
- Transparency
- Fairness
- Value for money
- Quality
- Time
1.5 Adhering to the canons of public procurement is in fact a tight rope walk involving balance between transparent and fair action on one side and achieving timely delivery of quality goods at competitive rates on the other side. It is indeed more demanding to perform with the implementation of the Right to Information Act 2005,by which all actions and decisions are open for scrutiny by public at large.
1.6 During Intensive Examinations of public procurements done by central public authorities, the CTEO, under CVO have observed a number of irregularities indicating that canons of public procurements have not been adhered to. Some of the irregularities are common in nature which can be easily avoided by being alert and vigilant through out the process. Towards Preventive Vigilance, the Central Vigilance Commission has been issuing guidelines/instructions from time to time.
1.7 CTEO, CVC has published various instructions, guidelines, circulars and booklets enumerating various irregularities observed during intensive technical examinations. All these circulars and publications are available on the CVC Web Site (http://www.cvc.gov.in).
These instructions / guidelines have been compiled in to some categories given below which can be downloaded.