Five government agencies primarily unveiled a large volume of procurement opportunities in ICT for hardware and software under a new project titled “Strengthening Institutions for Transparency and Accountability (SITA)” before private sector suppliers and consulting firms at a market engagement conference in the city on 25 June 2025.

The market engagement conference was organized, in cooperation with the World Bank, by the Bangladesh Public Procurement Authority (BPPA) of the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division under the Ministry of Planning at the conference room of BPPA.

The objective of the conference was to build a bridge between private sector suppliers and vendor firms, and the government agencies, to assess the market soundness, readiness, and response, and to understand the requirements for the procurement of hardware and software in the ICT sector under the project.

The five agencies are the Bangladesh Public Procurement Authority (BPPA) of IMED, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), National Board of Revenue (NBR), Planning Division, and the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (OCAG).

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Additional Charge of BPPA, Dr. Sitara Begum, presided over the conference.

The Director General (Joint Secretary), Monitoring & Evaluation Sector-6 of IMED and Project Director of the Digitizing Implementation Monitoring and Public Procurement Project (DIMAPPP), Mr. Md. Mahbubur Rahman; Senior Procurement Specialist of the World Bank, Mr. Mulugeta Dinka; Mr. Mir Mehbubur Rahman, Consultant, World Bank Office, Dhaka, Additional Secretary, Planning Division Dr. Nurun Nahar, officials of the five agencies, and suppliers and representatives of consulting firms were present at the conference.

The 250-million-dollar, five-year SITA project supported by the World Bank is expected to start in July 2025 and continue until 2030.

Each of the agencies made presentations on their major ICT procurements over the project period. The representatives from the private sector responded positively and informed all of their readiness, capacity, and availability of hardware and software in Bangladesh.

The suppliers and vendor firms, after the presentations, mentioned that hardware and software are mostly available in the local market. However, they also suggested a turnkey basis and joint ventures with foreign firms, where necessary.

Each of the agencies will implement separate components, such as Improvement of Public Investment Management System (IPIMS), Procurement Modernization to Improve Public Service Delivery (PMIPSD), Statistical Capacity Enhancement and Modernization Project (SCEMP), Strengthening Public Audit Through Digital Transformation and Capacity Enhancement (SPADTEC), and Strengthening Domestic Revenue Mobilization Project (SDRMP).

The IPIMS project under the Planning Division, the PMIPSD project under BPPA of IMED, the SPADTEC project under the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General, the SDRMP project under the National Board of Revenue (NBR), and the SCEMP project under the Bureau of Statistics (BBS) will be implemented as separate components under the umbrella project Strengthening Institutions for Transparency and Accountability (SITA) funded by the World Bank.