GeM Vendor Assessment - A Simple Step-by-Step Guide for Sellers by Tenders Plus

Vendor Assessment on GeM Portal is an important step for seller validation, ensuring product quality and authenticity. It also evaluates a vendor's manufacturing, material, and environmental practices for quality purposes. It establishes the overall reliability of a supplier on the GeM portal, ensuring an efficient and trustworthy procurement ecosystem.

Vendor assessment is done after completing gem registration and product listing. The Vendor Assessment process was earlier done by the Quality Council of India (QCI) and was moved to M/s Rail India Technical and Economic Service (RITES) in 2024. Vendor Assessment GeM is a critical step for sellers participating in tenders for Q1 & Q2 category products on the GeM portal.

This guide by Tenders Plus shares a detailed roadmap with the sellers and ensures easy understanding of the RITES vendor assessment stages. The sellers can adhere to the requirements and share their manufacturing and quality processes to complete the VA process. This helps in increasing chances of success and building credibility on the GeM portal.

GeM Vendor Assessment Process - OEM & Seller Categories:

• OEMs: Involve in Manufacturing, Assembling, or 3rd Party Manufacturing (Branded or Unbranded).
• Brand Owners (Outsourced Manufacturing): The vendors can apply by providing agreement and manufacturing details for the Outsourced partner to RITES.
• Deemed OEMs: This is valid for products manufactured outside India and sold by an Indian entity, involving assembly and marketing using components from various suppliers.

Benefits of Vendor Assessment on GeM

• Buyer Confidence: The assessed vendors are tagged as VA on GeM.
• Seller Rating: VA contributes majorly to the improved seller rating.
• Q1 Product Category: Exclusive participation for OEM’s.
• Q2 Product Category: Participation for OEM or preapproved Reseller who are technically qualified enough to provide support.
• OEM Dashboard: The OEM gets dashboard access to manage resellers and Product catalogues.

GeM Vendor Assessment Policy

The policy validates three major aspects for the vendors basis the following:

• Vendor Profile: Personal identity, nature of business entity, financial and professional status.
• Vendor Functional Profile: About manufacturing, supply capacity, and past experiences, applicable primarily for OEMs .
• Performance in GeM Portal: The registered OEM and authorized reseller credentials are dynamically validated based on their performance and rating on the platform.

There are some categories of vendors exempted from the vendor assessment processes. The details of the same can be checked in the VA Exemption Process.

Vendor Assessment Stages by RITES

The RITES vendor login and assessment is done at two stages. The first stage is common for all vendors (OEM and reseller) whereas the second stage is only for OEMs.

1. Desktop Assessment: Sellers submit information and documents on the Vendor Assessment Checklist, validated by the RITES team (done by Quality Council of India QCI earlier). The assessment for OEMs centers around Vendor Profile, Financial Profile, and Production Capability. Information required includes Basic Information, Ownership details, Product details, and Details of the Firm. Any discrepancies trigger a non-compliance (NC) notice, requiring clarification and the application moves to the next stage after closing all the Non-compliance points.
2. Video Assessment: It is conducted remotely by a RITES portal expert using the GeM Video Assessment App. This geo-tagged process involves validating submitted information from the Desktop Assessment. Sellers must explain the raw material process, manufacturing processes, manufacturing capacity, and quality assurance details during the video assessment.

RITES Vendor login and Assessment Process

The vendor Assessment GeM Process involves raising a request on GeM Portal and then creating Rites Vendor login to complete the Desktop Assessment and Video Assessment.

RITES Vendor Login and Assessment Process

Key Points of Vendor Assessment Process

• GeM Vendor Assessment Fee: OEM and Resellers initiate the Vendor Assessment by completing an online application and paying the Vendor Assessment fee directly to RITES, basis their category . It is a non-refundable fee and must be paid online.

OEM Category
Turnover Slabs	GeM Vendor Assessment Fees
Turnover upto Rs. 20 Lacs	Rs. 871.61 + GST
Turnover from Rs. 20 Lacs to 1 Crores	Rs.1743.22 + GST
Turnover above Rs. 1 Crores	Rs. 3486.44 + GST

Re-Seller Category
Turnover Slabs	GeM Vendor Assessment Fees
Turnover upto Rs. 20 Lacs	Rs. 217.90 + GST
Turnover from Rs. 20 Lacs to 1 Crores	Rs. 435.81 + GST
Turnover above Rs. 1 Crores	Rs. 871.61 + GST

• RITES Contact and Timelines: Post-application and payment on the GeM Portal, the team contacts the seller for further steps. RITES Vendor login and Assessment is committed to completion within 15 days from the payment date.
• Validity and Reassessment: The resulting draft Vendor Assessment Report is made available to the seller before final submission to GeM Portal. If the Seller has any disagreement, it can be addressed to verifying agency RITES within 5 days of the draft report. Vendor Assessment GeM shall be completed by verifying agency within 15 days of payment done for the VA. The validity of the vendor assessment is three years, necessitating sellers to undergo reassessment on the GeM and RITES portal after this period.