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UNB
30 September, 2011
A total of 225 bidders, including two from abroad registered with the electronic government procurement (e-GP system) as of September 30 since a portal has been open for registration by the contractors, suppliers and consultants from home and abroad.
Since the government is considering e-tender as a tool to fight corruption, more applications from bidders are being processed for approval. A total of 306 branches of seven scheduled banks have also registered for facilitating payment under the e-GP system, officials said.
They are operating transactions successfully with the e-GP system, said the officials at the Central Procurement Technical Unit (CPTU) of the Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED). They said some more private scheduled banks have contacted CPTU for registration. A total of 33 procuring entities of five ministries also registered with the system.
When contacted, Director General of CPTU Amulya Kumar Debnath said the e-GP web portal can accommodate registration of three lakh bidders and the number can also be raised, if necessary. He said the e-GP system is safe and secure. The data provided by the bidders are kept in the central data centre at CPTU in an encrypted format. The data centre has several security layers. So, the hackers will not be able to hack the data. If they are able to trespass one layer, they will get all wrong data in the second and third layers. Besides, the system has been verified by the VeriSign Authority. He said, "We"re encouraged by the confidence and the extent of registration of the bidders with the e-GP system within a short time of its opening. Now we"re organising some orientation sessions for the registered bidders on e-tender."
Debnath further said the target agencies and the IMED have already uploaded some of their procurement plans on the e-GP portal fore-tender. Every day, the nitty-gritty of various aspects are being checked and settled. "We"re hopeful of getting electronic tenders invited by the target agencies as a pilot exercise in a month." The e-tender will act as a strong tool to check any malpractice in the process of procurement. It is aimed at plugging the scopes for corruption identified in the manual system.
Communications and Social Awareness Consultant of PPRP-II Shafiul Alam said CPTU will also arrange wider dissemination of the activity through TV and press so that more bidders can join the process. The influence and obstruction to submission of tenders will be removed as no one will be able to know who submits tenders from where. So, the culture of creating "syndication" or "unholy alliance" between the tenderers and also price manipulation will go. The malpractices regarding publication of tenders in the press will be stopped. The advertisement will be open for all in the e-GP system which will facilitate wider competition in the tender process. Competition is vital for achieving the value for money in public procurement. To raise awareness about public procurement and e-tender, 64 advocacy workshops have been held in 64districts. The annual value of public procurement in Bangladesh constitutes over 80 percent of the Annual Development Program (ADP). With an annual increase, the outlay of the current ADP has stood at Tk 46,000crore. So, the spending on public procurement would be over Tk 36,000, said an official.
Procurement in the public sector is an important factor in ADP implementation. Earlier corruption in procurement, among other factors, was blamed for frustrating performance in ADP implementation. The present government has taken the initiative for a gradual shifting to electronic government procurement (e-GP) under the Public Procurement Reform Project-II supported by the World Bank. The CPTU of IMED is implementing the PPRP-II. It has completed all preparations for piloting the e-tendering in four procuring entities of the four target agencies under the PPRP-II. The target agencies are LGED, REB, RHD and BWDB.
These agencies consume about 80 percent of the total procurement value every year. Gradually, 308 entities of such target agencies will be brought under e-tender. The national e-GP web portal (www.eprocure.gov.bd) developed by CPTU was officially inaugurated by The Prime Minister on June 2, 2011. |
