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The turn of century saw ICT technologies making inroads into our lives. The governments world over are trying to use this medium for reaching out to their citizenry. This migration has been partly driven by transparency, efficiency and wider-access related benefits accrued by automation of government functions. E-Government Procurement (E-GP) is one such area which has drawn attention of politicians and researchers equally. However, studies bring out that E-GP project like any other e-Governance project has 70% chances of failure. Studies also underline that success of any E-GP system among other things, is affected by national culture, project environment (E-Readiness, IT literacy level and technological evolution) and regulatory framework which govern public procurement in a country. Indian government having realized the transparency and efficiency related benefits of E-GP system initiated an aggressive campaign to ensure its speedier implementation through National E-Governance Programme (NeGP) which was launched in 2006. However, recent review by Government of India (GoI) brought out that E-GP usage in the country has been less than satisfactory. In above perspective, this paper aims to undertake Template Analysis of stage-wise importance of 11 Critical Success Factors (CSF) (reported in literature) in E-GP project outcome in Indian context. For covering large landscape of E-GP implementation in India, two representative systems i.e. those implemented by Government of Andhra Pradesh and National Informatics Corporation were selected. The study concludes that out of 11 CSFs, five CSFs are not important at stage 2 of E-GP project evolution, while all 11 CSFs contribute to E-GP project success at Stage 3 and 4.

Studies highlight that public procurement in any country acts as a barometer of public confidence in fairness and transparency of public institutions. A number of cases related to corruption in public procurement in the country have been highlighted by media on regular basis. These incidents raise questions regarding robustness of the procurement framework in vogue in the country. Though no special legislative framework dealing with public procurement exists in the country, the administrative guidelines on the subject are quite exhaustive. Procurement is not a state subject; hence law can be made by the Centre for entire country. However, no separate law governing public procurement has been enacted in India. However, public procurement in India is not bereft of its share of issues. Multiplicity of instructions, absence of procurement law and singular emphasis on upfront value of acquisition without considering life cycle cost mars public procurement in India. Further, social and environmental sustainability has also not received the attention it deserves. Studies highlight that migration of public procurement to Internet could provide us savings of up to 25% by streamlining 30% of Indian Union Budget spent on provisioning of goods / services. However, any such endeavor has 70% chances of failure. With only 13% e-procurement research focusing on public sector make matter worse. In the above backdrop, the chapter would cover: Importance of public procurement, Difference between public and corporate procurement, Overview of procurement framework of the country - covering constitutional/ legislative/ administrative provisions, generic public procurement process, various types of procurements – limited tender, open tender, single tender, issues in public procurement of the country and e-procurement initiatives by Government of India and status thereof.

Research by Clausen et al [8] underscored that in order to operate effectively, public institutions must inspire confidence in those they serve. The low level of confidence of Indians and world community in the transparency and efficacy of the government machinery is reflected in the Transparency [46] and competitive rankings [49] which preclude effective utilization of public funds [33]. Research by Kimberley [24] underscores the importance of e-Governance mechanisms to free and fair trade, particularly through Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) interoperability and interconnectivity, data sharing through international standards and process transparency. In view of these issues and other tangible and intangible benefits, Government of India launched National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) in 2006 to promote e-Gov services within the country. E-Procurement was included in NeGP as an Integrated Mission Mode Project (MMP) [36]. However, in the absence of enabling legal framework, eprocurement implementations in India have not been able to fully realize the potential of the system like greater transparency, costeffectiveness etc. The emerging issues of public procurement like balancing Social, Environmental and Economic considerations are also difficult to address in the prevailing legal environment governing government purchases. Based on the experience gained through qualitative case studies and semi structured interviews of the stakeholders, in this paper we briefly cover legal and policy frameworks related prerequisites for sustainable public procurement in India. Finally we suggest a model national procurement law which could help fulfilling e-procurement expectations in Indian context. The paper extends the existing body of knowledge on e-procurement by comparing legal imperatives of a statue vis-à-vis Critical Success Factors (CSF) in relation to sustainable procurement.