They say the current interim government has finalised the draft of the Public Procurement (Amendment) Ordinance mandating the use of the Electronic Government Procurement (e-GP) system for all government purchases eligible for implementation through the platform.
As there is no parliament in existence now following the changeover through the July-August uprising, this amendment, after approval by the President, will replace the Public Procurement Act of 2006, said officials concerned of the Bangladesh Public Procurement Authority (BPPA), Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) and the Cabinet Division.
The amendment in the making introduces significant changes, including the removal of provisions that permit the rejection of bids in open tenders for physical works if they deviate 10 per cent above or below the quoted price, as well as the rejection of bids exceeding or falling short of the quoted price by 5 per cent in limited tenders.
It also promotes domestic participation by allowing local companies to form joint ventures for procuring IT services funded from government's own resources.
Experts and economists have identified the proposal of mandating the use e-GP and removal of the 5.0-percent and 10-percent caps on bid as vital changes to ensure transparency and efficiency in public procurement.
However, they warn that such initiatives will be ineffective unless transparency and accountability are upheld among those managing the automation process and the employees of organisations involved in procurement.
Officials have said the cabinet division recently held a second meeting to evaluate the draft formulated by the BPPA. High officials of the IMED and the BPPA attended the meeting chaired by Zaheda Parveen, Additional Secretary, Law Wing, at the Cabinet Division.
Officials of the BPPA say Bangladesh spends an amount equivalent to US$30 billion on public procurement annually, with a combination of about 45 per cent of the national budget and about 85 per cent of the Annual Development Program (ADP).
A total of 60-65 per cent of government procurements are currently being conducted through the e-GP system and the rate is supposed to increase to around 95 per cent after implementation of the new amendment of the law, aiming to ensure transparency, accountability and efficiency in the expenditure of such a large sum from public exchequer.
Meeting proceedings reveal that Mirza Ashfaqur Rahman, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the BPPA, said a drat for amending the law was placed at the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) and the meeting decided to return it to the BPPA for further correction.
"The amendment is proposed to ensure disbursement of the Development Policy Credit (DPC) committed by the World Bank as budget support," he was quoted as saying.
Removal of the 10-percent cap and mandating e-GP are key conditions attached to the budget support, he said further in the meeting.
However, Additional Secretary Zaheda Parveen emphasized placing the proposal before the Advisory Council Committee on Economic Affairs to get consent regarding the removal of 10-percent cap, meeting sources said.
On June 2, 2011, the electronic Government Procurement (e-GP) portal was inaugurated to digitise the public-procurement process with four key procuring entities BREB, BWDB, LGED and RHD.
Up to October 31, 2024, the number of registered renderers was 118,084, agencies 1,472, and tenders invited 868,093 valued U$107.35 billion.
The World Bank has supported the development of a procurement reform through e-GP in Bangladesh for 21 years since 2002.
A report of the development agency reveals that the e-GP system helps savings worth estimated around $1 billion per year, while it helps 1,053 million pages of papers savings, estimated 497 million km of travel-distance reduction.
The BPPA officials say the system helps in "ensuring accountability, transparency and speed of public procurement", while contract-award decision in initial bid-validity period was 10 per cent in 2007, which increased to 99.67 per cent.
Average lead time in tender invitation up to contract got reduced by about 34 days, from 86.7 days in 2012 to 53 days currently in the open-tendering method.
Percentage share of awarded bids within original bid-validity period increased from 10 per cent in 2007 to 99 per cent.
Percentage share of rejected bids decreased significantly from 8.0 per cent in 2012 to 3.0 per cent in 2019.
However, an assessment by the Independent Evaluation Group (IEG), most of the 97 incidents of reported corruption allegations relating to World Bank projects throughout FY16?21 to the World Bank's Integrity Unit (INT) were related to procurement, indicating the ongoing and persistent relevance of the need for procurement strengthening, says a report.
"The e-GP system was introduced with high hopes of curbing corruption in government procurement, and while it has contributed to reducing conflicts over tender boxes, its broader impact remains under scrutiny," says Dr Zahid Hussain, former lead economist at the World Bank Dhaka office.
He deplores that despite introduction of the e-GP and several reform measures, the procurement system remained under control of a group of people to decide who will submit the bid and what the price will be.
He welcomes the proposals as a welcome move but stresses ensuring "accountability and transparency among people behind the automation of the BPPA to prevent corruption in public procurement".
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