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.