Most sellers click "accept" at registration and meet the GTC again only when a clause bites — a late-delivery penalty, a rejected consignment, a payment clock that didn't start when they thought. This guide is the seller's working map of the document: what it covers, where it bites, and what to check before you commit to any order.
Think of GeM's contractual stack as three layers:
| Layer | What it is | Negotiable? |
|---|---|---|
| GTC | The platform-wide standard contract — applies to every seller, every order | No |
| ATC | Additional conditions a buyer attaches to a specific bid | No (but you choose whether to bid) |
| Your listing/bid | Specs, price, delivery commitments you offered | Yours — until submitted, then binding |
When you accept an order or win a bid, all three bind simultaneously. Sellers get in trouble in the gaps between layers — quoting a price (layer 3) without reading the sample clause (layer 2) sitting on top of the penalty framework (layer 1).
Delivery period and its consequences: Your delivery commitment starts a clock; missing it triggers liquidated damages (a percentage per period of delay, capped) and, beyond limits, cancellation with consequences to your seller standing. Practical rule: quote delivery periods you can hit on your worst month, not your best.
Inspection, rejection and replacement: Buyers/consignees inspect against the listed specs — the golden parameters and spec sheet you filled are the contract's yardstick. Rejected goods mean replacement obligations and timelines. This is why spec inflation in listings is self-sabotage: you're writing the standard you'll be inspected against.
Payment terms — and what starts the clock: Payment timelines run from acceptance, evidenced by CRAC — not from delivery, not from invoice. The verified chain: CRAC due within 10 days of delivery (with Auto-CRAC as backstop), payment due within 10 days of CRAC, penal interest at 1%/month beyond. Sellers who don't chase the CRAC discover the clock never started.
Performance security: Higher-value contracts may require ePBG — a bank guarantee with its own cost and return conditions. Price it into bids that demand it.
Termination and default: Non-performance paths: order cancellation, forfeiture of securities, and impacts on your seller rating/eligibility. One badly-chosen order executed worse can shadow your account's bid credibility.
Dispute resolution: The GTC prescribes the process — incident-based first, structured escalation after. What it doesn't prescribe: speed. The practical dispute strategy is prevention: documentation discipline at every stage (delivery proofs, correspondence, photos) so any dispute starts with your evidence already assembled.
The confusion this page exists to fix: GTC is the platform's constitution; ATC is the buyer's house rules for one bid. GTC you accepted once at registration; ATC you accept implicitly every time you bid. Evaluators disqualify on ATC non-compliance far more often than sellers expect — the full ATC guide covers the patterns.
Can an ATC contradict the GTC? Buyers layer conditions on top of the framework; where a conflict seems real, it's queryable pre-bid — after submission, you've accepted the stack as published.
The authoritative GTC lives on the portal — gem.gov.in's terms section [link current URL + version at publish]. Read it once, fully, early in your GeM life; skim it again when the version updates. This guide is the seller's field map, not a substitute for the source — and when the document and any summary (including ours) differ, the document wins.
Before accepting any order or submitting any bid:
Delivery period: achievable on a bad month?
Specs in my listing: exactly what I'll ship? (inspection yardstick)
ATC: read line-by-line, every certificate/sample demand noted?
EMD/ePBG: costs priced in?
Penalty exposure: LD math understood on this order value?
Post-delivery: who chases PRC → CRAC, and when?
Six checkboxes; every one is a real order we've seen go wrong for someone who skipped it.