Procuring Cloud Services from Government eMarketplace (GeM) Version 1.0 Ministry of Electronics & Information Tech., Government of India Handbook Handbook for procuring Cloud services from GeM Version 1.0 Table of Contents 1. Purpose .................................................................................................................................................................... 3 2. GFR guidelines for procurement through Government eMarketplace (GeM) platform .................................. 4 3. Cloud Services Bouquet .......................................................................................................................................... 5 4. Guidelines for procuring Cloud services from GeM ............................................................................................ 6 4.1. Direct Purchase of Cloud Services .................................................................................................................... 8 4.2. L1 Purchase of Cloud Services ......................................................................................................................... 12 4.3. Bid Process for Cloud Services ........................................................................................................................ 16 4.4. Reverse Auction for Cloud Services ................................................................................................................ 21 5. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).................................................................................................................... 26 5.1. FAQs - Direct Purchase ................................................................................................................................... 26 5.2. FAQs – L1 Purchase ......................................................................................................................................... 27 5.3. FAQs – Bid Process ......................................................................................................................................... 28 5.4. FAQs – Reverse Auction .................................................................................................................................. 33 5.5. FAQs – Other ................................................................................................................................................... 35 Cloud Management Office Page 2 of 36 Handbook for procuring Cloud services from GeM Version 1.0 1. Purpose This handbook has been prepared to assist government organizations in procuring Cloud services through the Government eMarketplace (GeM) platform. The GeM platform provides four different modes of procurement - Direct Purchase, L1 Purchase, Bid and Reverse Auction. This handbook provides step by step guide for procuring Cloud services using these four modes. This handbook also provides a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) related to the procurement of Cloud services through the GeM platform. Cloud Management Office Page 3 of 36 Handbook for procuring Cloud services from GeM Version 1.0 2. GFR guidelines for procurement through Government eMarketplace (GeM) platform Rule 149 of the General Financial Rules (GFRs) 2017 states that “the Procurement of Goods and Services by Ministries or Departments will be mandatory for Goods or Services available on GeM. The credentials of suppliers on GeM shall be certified by GeM SPV. The procuring authorities will certify the reasonability of rates. The GeM portal shall be utilized by the Government buyers for direct on-line purchases as under:- (i) Up to Rs.25,000 through any of the available suppliers on the GeM, meeting the requisite quality, specification and delivery period (ii) Above Rs.25,000 and up to Rs.5,00,000 through the GeM Seller having lowest price amongst the available sellers (excluding Automobiles where current limit of 30 lakh will continue), of at least three different manufacturers, on GeM, meeting the requisite quality, specification and delivery period. The tools for online bidding and online reverse auction available on GeM can be used by the Buyers even for procurements less than Rs 5,00,000. (iii) Above Rs.5,00,000 through the supplier having lowest price meeting the requisite quality, specification and delivery period after mandatorily obtaining bids, using online bidding or reverse auction tool provided on GeM (excluding Automobiles where current limit of 30 lakh will continue). (iv) The invitation for the online ebidding/reverse auction will be available to all the existing Sellers or other Sellers registered on the portal and who have offered their goods/services under the particular product/service category, as per terms and conditions of GeM. (v) The above mentioned monetary ceiling is applicable only for purchases made through GeM. For purchases, if any, outside GeM, relevant GFR Rules shall apply. (vi) The Ministries/Departments shall work out their procurement requirements of Goods and Services on either “OPEX” model or “CAPEX” model as per their requirement/ suitability at the time of preparation of Budget Estimates (BE) and shall project their Annual Procurement Plan of goods and services on GeM portal within 30 days of Budget approval. (vii) The Government Buyers may ascertain the reasonableness of prices before placement of order using the Business Analytics (BA) tools available on GeM including the Last Purchase Price on GeM, Department’s own Last Purchase Price etc. (viii) A demand for goods shall not be divided into small quantities to make piecemeal purchases to avoid procurement through L-1 Buying / bidding / reverse auction on GeM or the necessity of obtaining the sanction of higher authorities required with reference to the estimated value of the total demand. Cloud Management Office Page 4 of 36 Handbook for procuring Cloud services from GeM Version 1.0 3. Cloud Services Bouquet MeitY has prepared a bouquet of Cloud services that classifies services in two broad categories - “Basic Cloud Services” and “Advanced Cloud Services”. The Cloud services listed under the “Basic Cloud Services” are mandatory for all CSPs to offer to the government organizations under at least one of the empaneled Cloud Deployment Models. However, the Cloud services listed under the “Advanced Cloud Services” category are optional for the CSPs to offer. CSPs can list their individual Cloud services on the GeM platform once they have been successfully empaneled by the MeitY. If a CSP wants to list Cloud services, which are not covered under the Cloud Services Bouquet, the CSP needs to follow the due process specified by MeitY to get its services first empaneled with MeitY under the “Advanced Cloud Services”. While listing their Cloud services on the GeM platform, CSPs will be required to classify their Cloud services into one of the three service models – Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Software as a Service (SaaS) – based on the controls identified and defined by MeitY in its Cloud Services Empanelment RFP. The bouquet of Cloud services have been provided to the Government eMarketplace (GeM) which is onboarding MeitY authorized Cloud services on its platform. The “Basic Cloud Services” include Virtual Machines, Storage (Block, Object, File and Archival), Managed Databases, Load Balancers, VPN, Firewall, Public IP, Identify and Access Management, Web Application Firewall, etc. The “Advanced Cloud Services” include Containers, Managed Databased (not covered under “Basic Cloud Services”), Database Licenses, Content Delivery Network, MPLS Connectivity (Port Charges), Hardware Security Module, Distributed Denial of Services Protection, TLS / SSL Certificate Management, Dual / Multifactor Authentication, Log Analysis, Operational Metric Collection, Alarm Service, Notification Service, Office Productivity Suit, Streaming Service, Massive Data Processing Service, Data Warehousing Service, IoT Service, etc. The details of these services can be seen by visiting the Cloud Services Bouquet which is available at http://meity.gov.in/content/gi-cloud-meghraj. Cloud Management Office Page 5 of 36 Handbook for procuring Cloud services from GeM Version 1.0 4. Guidelines for procuring Cloud services from GeM Government organizations can procure Cloud services either through the GeM Marketplace or through the Bid Process / Reverse Auction (RA) functionality available on the GeM platform based on the total procurement value of the Cloud services. The following table lists various procurement modes available to government organizations based on the total procurement value of the Cloud services. Procurement Modes Procurement Value Procurement Condition Available on GeM The Cloud services can be procured from any of the MeitY empaneled Cloud Service Direct Purchase Providers who is available on L1 Purchase Up to Rs. 25 Thousand the GeM and meets the requisite quality, specification Bid Process and delivery period Reverse Auction requirements of the government organization. The Cloud services can be procured from a MeitY empaneled Cloud Service Provider which offers lowest price amongst at least three different MeitY empaneled Cloud Service Providers offering the same service on L1 Purchase Above Rs. 25 Thousand GeM and meets the requisite Bid Process and up to Rs. 5 Lakh quality, specification and delivery period requirements of Reverse Auction the government. The tools for online bidding and online reverse auction available on GeM can