The Central Vigilance Commission, CVC, has asked government departments to strengthen 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.

The CVC in a recent directive 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.

AIR correspondent reports that 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 Standardisation, Testing and Quality Certificate Directorate to establish necessary processes and systems to enable certification of e-procurement systems.