Friday, September 30, 2011

Setting up of a new Central Procurement Agency

The Union Cabinet has approved the proposal for setting up of Central Procurement Agency (CPA) for Department of Health & Family Welfare ( DoHFW), Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW).

The Cabinet has also approved the following :

a) Creation of a fully autonomous CPA in DoHFW as a Society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 for efficient procurement and distribution of health sector goods.

b) One-time budgetary support of Rs. 50 crore to enable establishment of CPA. Thereafter, CPA will charge service fee, which will be well within the overall ceiling of 5% of the value of procurement, to meet its subsequent operational expenses.

c) Creation of one post of the Chief Executive Officer for CPA of the rank of the Joint Secretary to Govt. of India.

The Cabinet`s approval would enable MoHFW to efficiently procure and properly distribute quality medicines, vaccines, contraceptives and medical equipment. to the State/Union Territory Governments and also eliminate shortages and wastages resulting in considerable savings to the Government.

Background:

DoHFW is procuring drugs, vaccines, contraceptives and medical equipment for its various disease control programmes departmentally and through Procurement Agents. However, certain deficiencies, such as, inadequate professional procurement expertise, absence of supply chain management system, manual collection of data and absence of any credible Management Information System (MIS) have been adversely affecting the procurement. Therefore, a professional, autonomous and efficient organization is being established to eliminate these deficiencies and streamline the procurement system.

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