The government has planned to introduce electronic government procurement (e-GP) or e-tendering system in all of its ministries and divisions by January next in a bid to ensure greater transparency and accountability in public procurements, said Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal, reports UNB. “All the ministries and divisions are more or less likely to come under e-GP system by January next as the government is going well with e-tendering activities,” the minister told the news agency. If e-tendering cannot not be introduced in all ministries and divisions, then it will not be possible to check the misuse of funds and corruption, he said adding, “So, we’re creating a congenial atmosphere for e-tendering to go at full swing. Mustafa Kamal said the introduction of e-GP in full swing will also discourage the trend of taking work with much less than the tender price. The minister said a benchmark is being set for bidding price which would be not less than five percent of the tender price. “If such things could be ensured,” he said, “Then the contractors will deliver maintaining the quality of project works.” The minister mentioned that a tendency is there to award works with even 40 percent less than the tender price, which leads to substandard work and loss and wastage of public funds. Electronic government procurement (e-GP) is a modern and integrated online system for procurement of goods, works and services with public funds by the government procuring entities. To make the best use of public money and enhance transparency, accountability, equal treatment to all concerned and fair competition, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the national e-GP portal on June 2, 2011. The guideline for e-GP was also declared the same year in line with the Public Procurement Act (PPA- 2006). The E-GP was first piloted in four key target agencies-Local Government and Engineering Department (LGED), Roads and Highways Department (RHD), Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) and Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board (BREB) — under the PPRP-II. Replying to a question, the minister said it is true that the big ministries often tend to avoid the e- tendering process, but those would be brought under the e-GP system to avert the misuse of fund and checking corruption. “Once e-tendering is introduced in full scale, gross irregularities in public procurement will come to an end.” The minister said initiatives will also be taken so that no contract awardee could sell his or her work or bid to others in an attempt to ensure standard of works. Only five to six ministries currently float and receive their tenders online. As of July 26, 2015, a total of 1949 procuring entities of 98 agencies under 24 ministries, including the four targeted ones, are conducting their procurement through e-GP. A total of 26787 tenders have so far been invited under e-GP, while over 15,000 tenderers have been registered in e-GP for tendering.
