PM opens e-GP web portal today

National electronic government procurement (e-GP) portal will be opend today for introducing e-tendering in the country. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is expected to inaugurate the website at 10:00am at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre. Central Procurement Technical Unit (CPTU) Planning Ministry is organising the inaugural programme. Interested individuals will be able to register themselves with the e-GP system after the web portal (www.eprocure.gov.bd) opens. The CPTU will also provide them orientation on the use of e-GP. In the first phase, e-tendering will be introduced in four procuring entities (PEs) of the four target agencies under Public Procurement Reform Project -2 supported by the World Bank. Later it will be expanded to 16 procuring entities of the target agencies and the CPTU. In the way, a total of 308 PEs of the target agencies will come under the e-GP system. The target agencies are Local Government and Engineering Department (LGED), Roads and Highways Department (RHD), Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) and Rural Electrification Board (REB). Planning Minister AK Khandker, Science and Information & Communication Technology Minister Yeafesh Osman and Country Director of World Bank Dhaka Office Allen Goldstein will speak as the special guests with Secretary of IME Division Md Habib Ullah Majumder in the chair. The CPTU has been implementing the PPRP-2 to make public procurement a well-functioning system in Bangladesh. Capacity building, improvement of procurement performance, introduction of e-GP and greater awareness are the four components of the project. - Statement