Tender troubles continue as e-GP remains distant dream

Many public offices are yet to adopt e-GP or electronic government procurement under the Public Procurement Act 2006, undermining the move for making the tendering process transparent and trouble-free.
Officials concerned consider the latest gunfight at Bidyut Bhaban as a consequence of skipping the government-framed rules on e-tendering.   
To prevent tender-related violence and ensure transparency, the government in 2008 introduced e-GP system under the operation of Central Procurement Technical Unit (CPTU) of the IME Division under the ministry of planning.
The system provides an online platform to carry out procurement activities by the public agencies (PAs) and procuring entities (PEs).
Although 30 state-owned agencies and entities have so far been brought under the coverage of e-GP, also known as e-tendering, the system has not fully been implemented yet because of "active syndication" between officials and influential bidders, the officials said.
They said the latest incident of trading gunshots at Bidyut Bhaban between the activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League and Juba League, two associate organisations of the ruling Awami League, was a consequence of the apathy towards following e-tendering process.
At least three persons were injured in the clash over tender submission for the Dhaka Power Distribution Company (DPDC) contract at the Bhaban in city's Abdul Gani Road Tuesday.
Officials at the Bidyut Bhaban said the clash erupted when two groups came to submit two separate tenders worth around Tk 7.6 million.
The tender has two parts: one for the construction of boundary wall at a cost of Tk 4.3 million at DPDC Tejgaon office and another for civil works at the office of Madartek Substation at Tk 3.3 million.
Seeking anonymity, an official at the DPDC said influential bidders, especially those with strong political links, maintained a syndicate with the officials of the public offices like the Bidyut Bhaban for bending the rules for online tender process.
"That's why the bidders have to come physically to the office to submit their bids and face threats on their life from the influential groups," he said.
If there is e-GP in place, he adds, there is no need for bidders to come in as they can submit their bids online from anywhere across the globe.  There is a provision under the e-GP that public procurement worth within Tk 500 million can go through the process. "But this is not mandatory," former Director-General of CPTU Amulla Kumar Debnath said.
The system was introduced only to make public procurement transparent and corruption-free, he said.
He said nearly 17,000 procurements have so far been executed through online tendering. When contacted, Managing Director of the DPDC Brigadier-Gen (Retd) Md. Nazrul Hasan said they in most cases follow electronic tender procedure.
"But it's a case of re-tender and we've to customise or change many things under the e-GP that will take too much time. That's why we did not go for it," he added.  
However, no case was filed in connection with the gunfight that triggered panic among the staff and people who were passing by at the time.
Officer-in-Charge (Investigation) of Shahbagh Police Station AK Saidul Haque Bhuiyan said they did not arrest anyone as "there is no allegation submitted by anyone over the incident".
Tender-related violence often takes away lives of people as two people, including an eight-year-old minor, were killed in an armed clash between two groups over a railway tender bid in the port city of Chittagong in June 2013.
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