ONGC commits procurements of over INR 30,000 crore, eases business procedures to promote local venture support
‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ initiative
New Delhi, Energy Maharatna Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) is going all out in its efforts to realise the dream of Aatmanirbhar Bharat. At the heart of its endeavours are enhanced transparency and streamlined contracting practices, which will enable the promotion of a business friendly environment for ONGC’s Business Partners. The move also underlines the company’s increasing efforts towards promoting and supporting local businesses in every possible manner.To promote its renewed push to ease contracted business practices, ONGC organised a special online Business Partners’ Meet, titled ‘Building Bridges in ONGC’s Supply Chain: Aatmanirbhar Bharat: Prosperous India’, on 3 July 2021. Headlining the meet was ONGC CMD Subhash Kumar, along with ONGC’s Directors, who interacted with the company’s Business Partners – and took in their suggestions in order to further improve and simplify procedural steps involved in the company’s contractual operations.
ONGC estimates to spend INR 15,500 crore on major LSTK (lumpsum turnkey) projects, INR 13,600 crore on major services, and INR 2,250 crore on major material procurement, in FY 2021-22. Information about the company’s upcoming projects over the next five years have already been made available on its website www.ongcindia.com, which is one of the many steps that the company is taking in order to aid the Business Partners to plan and organise their businesses with ONGC.
Over 300 business partners were invited to pitch their suggestions, in order to make the collaborative ecosystem more efficient. ONGC shared details with its partners on various initiatives such as the introduction of a new development order policy, introduction of online Vendor Invoice Management System, encouragement towards startups, as well as promoting its efforts to encourage indigenous business partners.
During the meet, ONGC CMD Shri Subhash Kumar said, “ONGC values the contribution of its Business Partners. To further improve the collaboration and for a sustained stakeholder engagement, we need to have continuous dialogue, which would enable sharing of ideas that can truly improve business operations.” Commenting on how technological platforms have become increasingly vital for business collaborations, Kumar said, “ONGC is adopting technology-enabled processes that can improve transparency, and minimise human intervention – while keeping the human touch alive.” He further underlined ONGC’s commitment to the Indian government’s vision behind initiatives such as Aatmanirbhar Bharat, Make in India, e-procurement portal – GeM, and so on.
O P Singh, Director (Technology & Field Services) and Director In-charge of Materials Management, spoke to ONGC business partners about the Indian government’s focus on promoting localisation initiatives under the latter’s push for ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’. The move for promoting local ventures is a key driver in this reform exercise by ONGC, whose average annual purchases are in excess of INR 30,000 crore.
In a free-wheeling interactive session following presentations, ONGC business partners pitched their suggestions for relaxing certain bid evaluation criteria, such as the financial criteria of contracted partners, experience of group companies to be considered for qualification, certification criteria of vessels, realistic completion schedules for turnkey projects, and more. The ONGC hierarchy addressed specific issues raised by the Business Partners, and also assured them that more issues that have been raised will also be subsequently assessed and looked into, in order to increase competitive efficiency while prioritising safety, quality and timely completions. The latter is paramount in the company’s key Exploration & Production businesses.