The Punjab government has launched tendering process in local bodies department through online system.

Punjab Industry and Local Bodies Minister Manoranjan Kalia said that e-tendering will bring transparency in the system without compromising on required procedures.

Department of Local Government Punjab has implemented e-tendering system for various types of procurements of goods and services in urban local bodies.

 The implementation comes with added advantages of reduction of tender cycle time, fast and accurate evaluation, reduction of paper trail, reduction of cost for departments and shortening of procurement cycle...most important aspect is that contractors are no more required to come to office for tendering process,  he said.

Consequent to this all tenders amounting to Rs 10 lakh and above would be available online on the portal. The tender documents would be issued and received online at www.etender.punjabgovt.gov.in.

Kalia said that e-tendering has been made effective in Municipal Corporations Ludhiana, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Bathinda, Patiala and PMIDC (Punjab Municipal Infrastructure Development Company) immediately. All 143 urban local bodies and 28 improvement trusts would start publishing tenders online by the end of December.

For online payments e Payment gateway is of HDFC Bank and Sify Technologies Ltd has been authorized to issue and manage Digital Signatures Certificates (DSCs). Both have been selected through a competitive bidding process.