The government has taken an initiative to ensure 100 percent electronic government procurement (e-GP) at all public sector procuring agencies through the Digitising Implementation Monitoring and Public Procurement Project (DIMAPPP).
"All the procurement and tender processes, including international bidding and over Tk 100 crore (1.0 billion) procurement, will be brought under e-GP through the project," director general of the Central Procurement Technical Unit (CPTU) M Faruque Hossain said, reports BSS.
Finance minister AMA Muhith is expected to launch the project as the chief guest at a function on October 25 at the Radisson Blu Dhaka Water Garden Hotel in Dhaka, he added.
Planning minister AHM Mustafa Kamal will preside over the function while state minister for finance and planning MA Mannan, country director of the World Bank (WB) Qimiao Fan and director of the WB Governance Global Practice Vinay Sharma will be present as the special guests.
DIMAPP will support the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) under the Ministry of Planning to monitor the execution of the Annual Development Programme (ADP) by digitally connecting all public sector organisations combined with a nationwide expansion of the e-GP system.
CPTU will implement the project by June 2022 with a cost of US$60 million to improve the capacity of the public procurement to monitor implementation of development projects and programmes using digital technology.
Of the total outlay of the project, the International Development Association (IDA) of the WB will provide $55 million, while the government contribution is $5.0 million.
The credits of WB are interest-free and repayable in 38 years, including a six-year grace period, and carry a service charge of 0.75 per cent.
The DIMAPPP has four components--restructuring CPTU and Institutionalising e-GP, enhancing digitisation of public procurement, professionalisation of procurement and Citizen Engagement (CE) and digitising project implementation monitoring.
A total of 32 selected Public Sector Organisations (PSOs) including four target agencies-Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board (BREB), Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB), Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) and Roads and Highways Department (RHD) - that constitute the bulk of total public procurement will be the part of procurement management, monitoring and e-GP implementation.
All procuring Public Sector Organisations are expected to get registered with the e-GP system and conduct e-procurement as part of the government's plan to fully digitise public procurement in the country.
