The number of tenders opened in a single day in the electronic government procurement (e-GP) system registered a new record of 2,230 on Wednesday.
Earlier the number was 1,508 in a single day.
The e-GP system was introduced by the Central Procurement Technical Unit of Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED), Ministry of Planning, in 2011 as part of reforms and government's efforts to digitise all public service delivery.
The procuring entities and tenderers across the country have embraced the electronic system gladly as it has removed all physical and operational hassles.
There has been an exponential growth in the numbers of invitation, submission and opening of tenders and contracts through e-GP since 2012.
Up to May 03 this year, a total of 105,569 tenderers and 11,174 procuring entity offices registered with the e-GP system. So far, a total of 686,703 tenders worth Tk 7,071.04 billion (707,104 crore) were invited in the e-GP system.
Bangladesh has been in a leading position in digitising entire cycle of procurement starting from planning to contract implementation management.
Electronic contract management (e-CMS) system and electronic audit (e-Audit) modules and Tenderers' Database have recently been added to e-GP.
The CPTU has also formulated Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP) Policy which is now under process of finalisation.
It has been implementing a project titled, "Digitizing Implementation Monitoring and Public Procurement (DIMAPP)" with support from the World Bank.
The e-GP is saving US$ 600 million annually. Travel distance has been reduced by about 497 kilometres. About 1,053 million pages of paper are saved. About 153,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emission has decreased. The procurement lead time has also come down to 57 days from 100 days. The digital system is saving both time and money.
