BRTA to seek proposals from bidders on VAT collection
Mahmuda Shaolin | Tuesday, 3 March 2009
Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) will issue Requests for Proposal (RFP) this week to the seven bidders to appoint one of them as a service provider to collect Motor Vehicle Tax (MVT) online from July this year.
After getting the RFP, the selected seven bidders including banks and software companies will send their technical and financial offers to the BRTA within next two months, officials of the BRTA said.
The BRTA will also send the offers to the Proposal Evaluation Committee (PEC) and later the PEC will send its recommendations to the Ministry of Communications that will finally give its approval for appointing one company for the job.
'BRTA will finally appoint one company in the next two months or three months after getting approval from the Ministry of Communications,' Sitangshu Shekhar Bishwas, Deputy Director (Engineering) of BRTA, told the FE Sunday.
The appointed company will introduce online motor vehicle tax and fee collection within 90 days after getting the final approval from the BRTA, he also said.
The service providing company will get commission on the amount it will collect, he added.
Earlier, BRTA invited 'expression of interest' (EOI) from financial and non-financial institutions by June 24 last year. After getting poor response, the deadline was extended until June 29 and then again to July 21 but still it failed to find out any competent institution to carry out the job, said a BRTA official.
Finally, the BRTA received a total of 22 EOIs for the job by September last year and in November the same year, it shortlisted seven bidders to appoint one of them as a service provider to help motor vehicle owners pay their MVT online, according to the BRTA.
'Our objective is to provide a competitive and standard service to the customers who want to pay the MVT and fees without any harassment,' Mr. Bishwas said.
Replying to a question, he said the BRTA would appoint a company that would charge the lowest commission rate and offer the best services.
'The online service will ease the processing time. It will replace the age-old manual system, which is mostly plagued with errors, costly and time-consuming. The online service is guaranteed to be error-free,' he added.
At present, Bangladesh Postal Department (BPD) is collecting MVT and other fees manually through its 91 post offices. In 2007, BPO launched an online service at Dhaka's General Post Office (GPO) and Mirpur BRTA Post Office. BPD charges three per cent as commission on the amount it collected, the BRTA official said.
After getting the RFP, the selected seven bidders including banks and software companies will send their technical and financial offers to the BRTA within next two months, officials of the BRTA said.
The BRTA will also send the offers to the Proposal Evaluation Committee (PEC) and later the PEC will send its recommendations to the Ministry of Communications that will finally give its approval for appointing one company for the job.
'BRTA will finally appoint one company in the next two months or three months after getting approval from the Ministry of Communications,' Sitangshu Shekhar Bishwas, Deputy Director (Engineering) of BRTA, told the FE Sunday.
The appointed company will introduce online motor vehicle tax and fee collection within 90 days after getting the final approval from the BRTA, he also said.
The service providing company will get commission on the amount it will collect, he added.
Earlier, BRTA invited 'expression of interest' (EOI) from financial and non-financial institutions by June 24 last year. After getting poor response, the deadline was extended until June 29 and then again to July 21 but still it failed to find out any competent institution to carry out the job, said a BRTA official.
Finally, the BRTA received a total of 22 EOIs for the job by September last year and in November the same year, it shortlisted seven bidders to appoint one of them as a service provider to help motor vehicle owners pay their MVT online, according to the BRTA.
'Our objective is to provide a competitive and standard service to the customers who want to pay the MVT and fees without any harassment,' Mr. Bishwas said.
Replying to a question, he said the BRTA would appoint a company that would charge the lowest commission rate and offer the best services.
'The online service will ease the processing time. It will replace the age-old manual system, which is mostly plagued with errors, costly and time-consuming. The online service is guaranteed to be error-free,' he added.
At present, Bangladesh Postal Department (BPD) is collecting MVT and other fees manually through its 91 post offices. In 2007, BPO launched an online service at Dhaka's General Post Office (GPO) and Mirpur BRTA Post Office. BPD charges three per cent as commission on the amount it collected, the BRTA official said.