To create an environment of mutual trust between tenderers and procuring entities and remove any confusion regarding public procurement issues through dialogue at local level, a meeting of the Government Tenderers Forum (GTF) was held in Netrokona on 22 October 2020.

Bangladesh Center for Communication Programs (BCCP) managed the program on behalf of CPTU under the Digitizing Implementation Monitoring and Public Procurement Project (DIMAPPP).

Secretary, Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED)  Mr. Pradip Ranjan Chakraborty was present as chief guest while Additional Secretary and Director General of CPTU Md. Shoheler Rahman Chowdhury was present as special guest in the meeting. Deputy Commissioner of Netrokona district Mr. Kazi Md. Abdur Rahman presided over the meeting. Superintendent of Police, Netrokona, Md. Akbar Ali Munshi, Private Secretary to IMED Secretary Muhammad Ashraful Islam, Deputy Director of CPTU Mohammed Salah Uddin also attended the meeting.

Local tenderers, officials of procuring entities and representatives of media participated in the meeting held in Netrokona DC office conference room.

In the inaugural session of the meeting, IMED secretary said, the government is working sincerely to expedite development activities. Even in this tough time of COVID, the ECNEC meetings are being held regularly.

DG, CPTU said the e-GP system has not been closed for a single day in the COVID situation. Mentioning different aspects of e-GP he further said, different activities of procurement processes ranging from e-tendering to e-contract management are now being conducted through e-GP system.

Khadiza Bilkis, Senior Deputy Director of BCCP presented the keynote paper. The Deputy Director of CPTU delivered the welcome address in the meeting.

Tenderers and officials of procuring entities underscored the importance of GTF. They also raised issues of public procurement and e-GP. The DG CPTU answered to their queries.

The GTF is a bilateral platform between tenderers and government officers of procuring entities. There are 64 GTFs in 64 districts.