Number of e-GP Tenders Crosses 4 Lakh

Number of e-GP Tenders Crosses 4 Lakh 

The number of tenders invited online in Bangladesh has gone past four lakh in a sign of the country's race towards digitalisation.

This is a landmark achievement of the electronic government procurement (e-GP) system introduced by the Central Procurement Technical Unit (CPTU) of the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division, consistent with a handout. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina unrolled the e-GP portal in 2011 as a part of digitalising public services. Now, the entire value of the tenders is Tk 410,000 crore.

E-GP may be a web-based system, which encompasses the entire procurement lifecycle and records all procurement activities. Its purpose is to take care of complete and up-to-date public procurement system activities of all public agencies also as provide tender opportunities to all or any potential tenderers from Bangladesh and abroad.

In 2011, the web tendering was piloted in four large procuring agencies like the government Engineering Department, the Roads and Highways Department, the Bangladesh water project Board and therefore the Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board.

Building on the success of piloting, the CPTU started implementing the e-GP across the govt procuring agencies from 2012.

Currently, there are 1,365 procuring agencies within the country. As of yesterday, 1,343 agencies registered with the e-GP system. The amount of tenderers registered with e-GP stood at 74,395.

Both procuring agencies and tenderers embraced the ICT-based digital procurement system because it has reduced physical hassles. It also saves time and costs, the handout said.

In Bangladesh, about 80 per cent of the annual development programme and 45 per cent of the national budget is spent on public procurement.

"Bangladesh has made concerted efforts for nearly a decade to systemically improve its public procurement system," the planet Bank said during a document in April.

The Washington-based lender has supported the govt to place in situ the e-GP.

The country now has 60 national certified procurement trainers and 37,000 officials are trained in procurement and therefore the use of e-GP.

A key transparency measure may be a publication of 100 per cent of procurement notices and contract award information, the WB said.

Procurement time interval (from invitation to contract signing) for all tenders decreased by 28 per cent, from 86.7 days within the financial year 2011-12 to 62.2 days in FY2018-19.

A 2017 study by Wahid Abdallah, then a search fellow at the Brac Institute of Governance and Development, showed that the e-GP holds enormous potential benefits for the country. Each Tk 1 spent on such efforts will do an outstanding Tk 663 of excellent, the study found.

The CPTU is developing and implementing the e-GP system. Besides, it operates a widely used, freely accessible, and frequently updated website providing procurement-related information, including policy and functional documents and standard tender documents.