In a move aimed at expanding opportunities for startups and MSMEs in government procurement, TICE has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government e-Marketplace (GeM), the national public procurement portal under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
The partnership seeks to strengthen startup participation in public procurement by enhancing awareness, building procurement readiness, and facilitating greater engagement between emerging enterprises and government buyers.
GeM serves as India’s unified public procurement platform for government departments, ministries, public sector undertakings (PSUs) and autonomous bodies. Through this collaboration, TICE and GeM aim to create a more structured pathway for startups to understand, access and participate in government procurement opportunities.
Helping Startups Navigate Public Procurement
Under the agreement, TICE and GeM will collaborate on a range of initiatives designed to help startups, entrepreneurs and MSMEs better understand and navigate government procurement processes.
The collaboration will include awareness programmes, workshops, webinars, mentoring sessions and outreach activities focused on GeM onboarding, bid participation, compliance requirements and procurement opportunities. The two organisations will also explore the alignment of TICE’s GATE (Government Access and Transaction Enablement) programme with GeM’s procurement ecosystem to help startups bridge the gap between innovation and government market access.
In addition, GeM will provide institutional support and domain expertise related to public procurement processes, onboarding mechanisms and policy frameworks. Startups participating in the programme will gain access to educational resources and awareness initiatives designed to improve their understanding of procurement opportunities available through the platform.
Expanding Opportunities Beyond Metro Cities
As part of the partnership, both organisations will jointly conduct ecosystem engagement programmes, startup-focused workshops, roadshows, bootcamps and innovation events aimed at increasing awareness of government procurement opportunities.
The collaboration will leverage TICE’s extensive network of startups, founders, incubators, investors, mentors and ecosystem stakeholders to reach a broader audience, including entrepreneurs and MSMEs in Tier-II and Tier-III cities. The focus will be on improving procurement preparedness and encouraging greater participation of innovative startups in public procurement.
The partnership also includes knowledge-sharing initiatives involving GeM officials, industry experts and startup mentors. These programmes are expected to promote best practices, practical insights and success stories related to startup participation in government procurement.
Industry stakeholders believe that one of the key challenges faced by startups is understanding procurement procedures and navigating government buying systems. By combining GeM’s expertise in public procurement with TICE’s startup ecosystem reach, the collaboration seeks to make government markets more accessible to emerging enterprises.
The MoU has been signed for a period of five years and is non-financial and non-exclusive in nature. It establishes a framework for collaboration focused on awareness generation, capacity building and ecosystem development, with the broader objective of increasing startup participation in India’s public procurement landscape.
