The finance ministry is urging Indian ministries to relax restrictive criteria in consultancy tenders on the Government e-Marketplace to promote fair competition and greater participation from local firms, shifting focus from size to expertise.
The finance ministry is pressing Indian ministries and departments to widen the field for consultancy contracts, after a review found that some tender conditions on the Government e-Marketplace were shutting out capable domestic firms. According to the Department of Expenditure, a sample study of central government consultancy tenders over the past three financial years found repeated use of high turnover thresholds, heavy weighting for a firm’s own track record over the credentials of the proposed team, and staffing requirements that went well beyond what the work actually needed. The department said those rules may unduly restrict competition.
The intervention is aimed at making procurement fairer and more closely tied to the job being commissioned, rather than to the size of the bidder. A July 22 office memorandum reported by government employee and policy tracking sites directed central ministries to cut back on restrictive eligibility conditions in consultancy tenders on GeM, including inflated payroll demands and excessive emphasis on corporate brand experience. The ministry’s own procurement manual says participation should be open to all bidders, with eligibility criteria linked to the needs of the assignment, while evaluation should focus separately on how bidders will perform the work.
That distinction matters because the government’s rules already treat eligibility and qualification as separate tests, and procurement guidance says larger-value consultancy work should be advertised more widely through GeM and the Central Public Procurement Portal. Analysts say the new push should help bring in specialised firms that may not have the scale of global consultancies but do have relevant sector expertise, stronger local context and more flexible delivery teams.
Industry voices have welcomed the shift. Kiran Kothekar of Vector Consulting Group said it would give domestic firms access to one of the country’s biggest consulting markets and help companies compete on delivery rather than size alone. Suraj Nangia of Nangia Global said government tenders had long favoured the largest players through rigid turnover and staffing tests, even when those measures had little bearing on the work itself. He said the new advisory should allow specialist Indian firms to compete on merit, with the quality of the proposed team and the relevance of their experience carrying more weight than corporate scale.
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