Procurement - Circle recommendations implemented

Earlier this year, we had received the circle recommendations below on improving procurement processes of Railways. Pleased to share with you that starting November, contractors bidding for railway projects will be able to track the entire process online, as Railways aims to improve transparency and streamline access to information. Railways has implemented an all India accounting software which has been up and running for the last couple of months. This will now be integrated with the procurement part of it, so that right from the time of procurement of materials to the actual process of tendering and finalising the tender and then getting payments, everything is online.

Improving Railway Procurement

Procurement in Railways – Solutions
1. The entire procurement system should be made technology based
2. An online tender application system should be put in place by Indian railways
3. The tender should be opened and announced in front of all the applicants
4. The payments system should also be computerised so that the human interaction, and hence corruption could be decreased
5. Railways should have a code of ethics and every employee in procurement must go through a recommitment exercise every six months
6. People operating the purchase department should be given a refresher course on procurement standards and processes twice every year
7. The analytics should be made stronger to ascertain the quantity of goods that should be purchased, based on the study of past purchases
8. Thorough background checks should be done on vendors before enlisting them
9. The purchased material should be inspected by trained professionals
10. A third party inspection and consultant committee could be appointed for preparing estimates, inviting tenders, measuring and certifying works and making payments on behalf of the railways
11. Rotation policy should be applied to staff on sensitive posts
12. Railways should deal with a few selected vendors who have inbuilt quality systems
13. The terms and conditions of procurement should be re-written and strictly enforced
14. Reverse auction for better price negotiation should be considered.

Procurement in Railways - Root Causes for Issues

1. Lack of professionalism in the working of the Railway
2. There is a nexus between contractors, railway staff & politicians
3. Procurement systems are not computerised yet
4. The officials collude with vendors to their own financial benefits
5. Tenders are opened privately to give the known vendors advantage
6. Bogus companies are created to rake in big money
7. Lack of proper inspection while purchasing
8. Officials raise the purchase rate and the excess amount is dispersed as commission and bribes
9. In many cases contractors who come through political/senior bureaucrat contacts drive things such that junior officers are compelled to accept bribes
10. Most of the payments are still cleared manually through cheques
11. Suppliers provide low or very bad quality goods because they know there is nobody to care for it
12. Lack of set protocols for procurement in Railways
13. Lack of an online tender application system
14. Contractors/suppliers/vendors with political influence get the major contracts
15. Higher level officers manipulate the process, to further their OWN ends and NOT Railways
16. The employee is loyal to his appointing authority and NOT to Indian Railways.

Procurement in Railways - Key Issues

1. The tenders are manipulated
2. Tenders are not opened publicly
3. There is a high level of corruption in procurement
4. Payments are not released without getting a cut
5. There are cartels for some types of work, especially those related to earth work, track laying etc.
6. Orders are given to bogus contractors
7. Sometimes goods are purchased for more than twice-thrice the time of its original value
8. Goods of inferior quality are supplied compared to what is mentioned in the purchase order
9. People operating the purchase department do not have in-depth knowledge of procurement
10. In centralized procurement, the purchasing power is left in the hands of a few individuals
11. In de-centralized procurement, the cost of the purchases becomes high
12. Often, more than required quantity of goods are purchased. more  

View all 222 comments Below 222 comments
Best Rated Business Networking App Hey, I (Alpha& Omega ) would like to connect with you on Letzgain. LetzGain is unique Business Network of SMBs who always refer each other to grow business together! I am using Letzgain Android and Web App and found that 17,000+ genuine Business Leads have been shared Free of Cost. Check if you can find some good business opportunities for yourself! How it works: Letzgain users share their or friend's requirements to buy products or hire services / employees or search potential partners. Letzgain automatically notifies the providers of relevant services or products. When members get business Letzgain does not charge any Commissions or Fees! 46000+ members like you and me are already helping each other get more business in this simple way! Best Regards,Ojasya Join Now Don't have the app yet? Download now for real-time notifications and more. Sent by LetzGain. If you wish to stop receiving email alerts, click on Unsubscribe. more  
Best Rated Business Networking App Hey , I have started using Letzgain Android and Web App and found that 21300+ genuine Business Leads have been shared Free of Cost. LetzGain is unique Business Network of SMBs who always refer each other to grow business together! Check if you can find some good business opportunities for yourself! How it works: Letzgain users share their or friend's requirements to buy products or hire services / employees or search potential partners. Letzgain automatically notifies the providers of relevant services or products. When members get business Letzgain does not charge any Commissions or Fees! 45900+ members like you and me are already helping each other get more business in this simple way! Best Regards,Ojasya Join Now Don't have the app yet? Download now for real-time notifications and more. Sent by LetzGain. If you wish to stop receiving email alerts, click on Unsubscribe. more  
Implementing SAP will be helpful. more  
It is seen that senior official IRS cadre are sitting inside the chambers enjoying air conditioners where as any person /citizen visiting his office if wants to bring to his notice any sugessions or improvement for railways is not heard and often it is seen that upon sending a chit ,refuses to meet and informs through peon that sahab is busy ,refused to meet ,kindly narrate your woes to any sub ordinate.A person travelled to such a distance ,only to hear this? This happens at zonal level as well as top level. Why?The visitor has not gone with personnel work but in sake of railway, but this is due to the superiority complex of the IRS officials. This has happened with citizens of our own country. The solution was found by our Hon : PM Mr Modi who had insisted to post IAS officers in board and zonal level which was strongly opposed by these IRS officers. To make railways better we need to take strong stems. It is baseless claim that railways make only 57% recovery towards passenger fares. The white elephants fed should be monitored and those officers failing to give even the amount spent on their salary should be put out of Job. In railways it is seen that three decades are enjoying jobs ,like grandfather to grandson. Why such grazing field developed? That too at public cost? IRS officers 80% have got the superiority complex .60% enjoy currupt income.  IRS officials are those saved from vigilance and investigation provide clean chit. Why this is at public cost?  Why not the posts be outsourced to IT sector or made result oriented. Why a team of five draft a single letter a day. What is cost of such letter?  every branch expenditure should be monitered?Buttering supervisors and SSE level staff is busy buttering their superiors.  Why? Shivaraman On Tuesday, 2 August 2016 9:31 PM, Ministry Of Railways wrote: more  
Railways present system of contracting out is well proven and established method and it needs to be accessed now with soft ware considering increased volume of work. On 2 Aug 2016 21:43, "Ministry Of Railways" wrote: > more  
Post a Comment

Related Posts

    • Slowing down speed of superfast trains

      To make Vande Bharat trains seem fast, other superfast trains are being slowed down. This is the most ridiculous railways move. Read attached and oppose this non sense friends

      By Reeta Kumar
      /
    • How Railways does Swachh bharat mission

      It is attached video. Regular scene in almost 99% of the trains running in IR, Not sure about protocols but this is failure of system, Thousands of tonnes of waste dumped daily on tracks, Who ...

      By Swati M
      /
    • Put an end to eunuchs & unauthorized passengers in reserved compartments.

      I agree with Nimish Mehtaji. There is no control over unreserved passengers barging into sleeper class compartments and pushing the reserved category of passengers towards the corner thereby allowi...

      By VENKATA RAVIKUMAR
      /
    • Sleeper Class to be converted to General Class

      Some time back Indian Railways has announced that low occupancy Sleeper Class will be converted to General Class during daytime. In my opinion who ever has suggested this is totally unaware of the ...

      By Nimish Mehta
      /
    • चालाक रेलवे

      ट्रेन के AC-3 ईकोनॉमी कोच में अब 72 की जगह 80 बर्थ होंगी। यात्री को ये शानदार सुविधा देने के लिए रेलवे ने जानते हैं क्या किया? • सीट की चौड़ाई घटा दी • लेग स्पे...

      By Amit Mishra
      /
    • Bad state of shatabids

      Bengaluru-Shimoga Jan Shatabdi train AC CC coaches are so old and fit to be condemned. It is dangerous and maintenance is poor. Unhealthy. Can others share their inputs on shatabdi train...

      By Shirisha Kumar
      /
    • Railways has got demand sizing all wrong

      And the attached images tell you the story. Reserved sleeper class people on top of each other and vande bharat others running empty. You know why? Because people instead of paying 3300 for Exec cl...

      By Bharat Lal
      /
    • Bad state of Railways passenger traffic hits 14 yr low

      BRILLIANT Chart is attached and shows us that Railway Passengers are at a 14yr LOW Annual Passengers Travelling by Railways FY04-14: 510cr => 840Cr (+65% in 10yrs)

      By Amit Mishra
      /
    • Vande Bharat not enough ROI

      By travelling on a #mVande Bharat train, you save 14% of your time on average compared to the next best train. But it comes at a high premium: Vande Bharat fares are higher by an averag...

      By Bharat Lal
      /
    • Block some lower berths for senior citizens and release if any left on journey date

      Senior citizens find it difficult to climb to middle and upper berths. If certain berths – say 5/bogie are blocked for seniors, it will be great relief! Any un-booked berths can be released o...

      By MV Rao
      /
    • IRCTC website is down and has logical issues

      One cannot book tickets on irctc website as its down. I though have a bigger problem with it. Many times for seniors we book berths where we check boxes 1) only book if lower berth is av...

      By Vijaya Nair
      /
Share
Enter your email and mobile number and we will send you the instructions

Note - The email can sometime gets delivered to the spam folder, so the instruction will be send to your mobile as well

All My Circles
Invite to
(Maximum 500 email ids allowed.)