The country spends an amount equivalent to USD 30 billion on public procurement every year. About 45 per cent of the national budget and about 85 per cent of the Annual Development Program (ADP) is spent on public procurement. In order to ensure transparency, efficiency and accountability in the expenditure of this huge sum, the Hon'ble Prime Minister inaugurated the digitization of public procurement named electronic Government Procurement (e-GP) system on 02 June 2011.

Because of convenience of the e-GP system, the electronic system witnessed an exponential growth over the years. At present, all ministries, divisions and procuring agencies of the government are connected to e-GP. Digitization of public procurement has ushered in a new horizon of opportunities. However, it also brought challenges. The Central Procurement Technical Unit (CPTU) of IME Division under the Ministry of Planning, does not have required workforce and capacity to cope up with the evolving technological challenges. The ever- increasing volume of public procurement and the need for enhancing professionalization required an Authority to deal with the situation.

Therefore, there was a need to create an Authority for proper implementation of public procurement law and rules, increase efficiency and create professionalization in public procurement management, as well as to institutionalize the e-GP system and implement sustainable public procurement.

Pursuant to this, the CPTU started the implementation of a project titled Digitizing Implementation Monitoring and Public Procurement (DMAPP) in July 2017 with the support of the World Bank. The first of the four components of the DMAPP project is restructuring CPTU and policy reform. Under this component, the process of transforming the CPTU into an Authority took off.

On July 5, 2023, the Honorable Minister of Planning placed the Bangladesh Public Procurement Authority (BPPA) Bill 2023 in the Jatiya Sangsad (National Parliament). After the Bill was passed on September 10, 2023, it received the assent of the Honorable President on September 18 and Act No. 32 of 2023, the Bangladesh Public Procurement Authority Act 2023, was published for public information.

Bangladesh Public Procurement Authority (BPPA) has been established with the enactment of the Act. Under this Act, through a circular on November 28, 2023, the government appointed the current Director General (Grade-1) of CPTU as the first Chief Executive Officer of BPPA. On December 7 of the same year, the first meeting of the Board of Directors of BPPA was held under the chairmanship of the Hon'ble Minister of Planning.

Governance of the Authority:

The office of the Authority is in Dhaka. Its general management and administration are vested on the Board of Directors. The Board of Directors can exercise and perform all the powers that the Authority can exercise and perform.

The Board of Directors is chaired by the Hon'ble Planning Minister. Hon'ble Minister of State for Planning is Senior Vice-Chairman and Secretary of Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) is the Vice-Chairman. Other members of the board are- one each representative at least in the rank of a Joint Secretary nominated by the Finance Division, Planning Division, Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General, Legislative and Parliamentary Affairs Division, one representative nominated by the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI), one representative at least in the rank of a Joint Secretary from the concerned ministry. The Chief Executive Officer is its Member-Secretary.

The Chair of the Board of Directors presides over the meeting of the Board. In his absence, the Senior Vice-Chair presides, and in his absence, the Vice-Chair. There is a provision for holding at least 4 meetings a year and the quorum of the meeting is decided on the basis of majority.

Responsibilities and Functions of the Authority:

Among others, some of the important responsibilities and functions of the Authority are-

(1) Formulation of policy, strategy and legal framework related to public procurement;

(2) Formulating policies on the governance and management of BPPA;

(3) Approving action plans related to the development of BPPA;

(4) Reviewing the overall functioning of the BPPA and providing necessary directions;

(5) Ensuring, monitoring, coordinating, managing and supervising the compliance with the public procurement law;

(6) Proposing necessary amendments to the Public Procurement Act, 2006 and Public Procurement Rules, 2008 and Bangladesh e-Government Procurement (e-GP) Guidelines;

(7) Operation and management of the e-GP System and storage and use of e-GP related information, data and databases;

(8) Preparation, approval and distribution of standard tender or proposal documents and other documents relating to public procurement;

(9) Providing guidelines and instructions regarding the implementation of procurement act and documents;

(10) Taking necessary steps regarding the sustainability and simplification of public procurement.

(11) Fixation and collection of fees, service charges or sale price for the registration, certificates and tenders and other documents and other activities provided under this Act or the Public Procurement Act.

The CPTU was established in April 2002 as a unit within the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division of the Ministry of Planning. It is headed by a Director-General, who reports directly to the Secretary, IMED. The DG has a staff complement of Directors, system Analyst, Deputy Directors, Programmer, Assistant Directors and other support staff.

The CPTU is a permanent institution of the government, funded under the revenue budget and established for carrying out the purposes of Section 67 which states as follows:

Section 67: For carrying out the purposes of the Act, the Government shall, through a Central Procurement Technical Unit or any other unit established by it relating to procurement monitoring, coordination and management, perform the following responsibilities, namely -

1. Providing for monitoring compliance with and implementation of this Act through the authority as designated by the Government
2. Arranging for performance of the necessary functions and responsibilities incidental thereto, through the authority as designated by the government and
3. Performing any other responsibilities as prescribed.

Then the Public Procurement Rules-2008 prescribed the following additional responsibility to CPTU:

1. For the purposes of section 67 (a) of the Act, The Central Procurement Technical Unit (CPTU) of IMED shall, in addition to that Section of the Act, perform the following responsibility under Section 67 (b) and (c), namely
    
(a)     Propose any Amendment to the Act, Rules or other Documents which appears necessary in the light of international practices and experience gained in course of the Public Procurement process in Bangladesh
    
(b)     Issue guidance and instructions regarding the interpretation and implementation of these Rules and other Documents issued by it and give, upon request from the concerned Procuring Entity or Tenderer, advice and assistance to Procuring Entities without, however, diminishing the responsibility of a Procuring Entity.
    
(c)     Prepare and distribute standard Documents to be used in connection with public Procurement.

(d)     Prepare and submit to the Government an Annual Report of the previous financial year regarding the overall functioning of the public Procurement system, including recommendations on measures to be taken by the Government to revise and improve Procurement practices and other measures to enhance the quality of Procurement work.
    
(e)     Deliver the Annual Report within the period specified in Schedule I from the beginning of the current financial year, which shall contain -
 

i.     Statistics on Procurement undertaken during the year reporting the number and value of Contracts awarded, the methods of Procurement used and for each method, the type of Procurement undertaken (i.e. Goods, Works, or Services), and the nationality of the successful Supplier, Contractor or Consultant (i.e. Bangladesh or foreign national);

ii.     A summary of Procurement Post Reviews carried out during the previous financial year by Procuring Entities and by the CPTU in accordance with Section 24 of the Act and Rule 45;

iii.     Statistics on training and other capacity development activities;

iv.     Summary of complaints filed and sent to the Review Panel and status of complaints; and
v.     Other activities of the CPTU.
    
(f)     For completion of each part of the Annual Report, it shall comply with the following durations -
       
i.     Three (3) months for the completion of the statistical report;
    
ii.     Five (5) months for the completion of the summary on Procurement Post Reviews;
    
iii.     Three (3) months for processing statistics on staffing and training and professional development of officials and Persons engaged in Public Procurement; and
    
iv.     Three (3) months for producing data on other CPTU activities.
       
(g)     Request, receive and evaluate other information or records from Procuring Entities to the extent appropriate to its information needs;

(h)     Develop a public Procurement website which shall be structured as follows -
       
i.     Useful Documents which will provide the text of the Act, the Rules, procedures, the user guides and any new Document or instructions issued by the Government concerning public Procurement, and links to relevant international Treaties/Agreements/Regulations involving e.g. the World Trade Organization (WTO), World Bank (WB), Asian Development Bank (ADB), Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) and Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN);
    
ii.     Public Procurement opportunities to which users should be able to gain easy access, advertisements of Annual Procurement Plans, Tender or Proposal notices and Contract award notices exceeding a threshold value determined by the Government for national and international Procurement opportunities; and
    
iii.     The CPTU Website shall maintain information as follows -
    
a.     Statistics, including the statistical report on Procurement conducted in Bangladesh; and
    
b.     Technical standards, providing a list of technical standards for reference by Procuring Entities to help them define the product/Works/Services they intend to procure.
    
2.     The CPTU shall publish concise bulletin relating to advertisements of Tenders or Proposals of values above the thresholds determined by the government on daily basis and bulletin relating to information on Procurement on quarterly basis.
    
3.     Unless otherwise directed by its controlling authority, the CPTU shall not provide an opinion on any specific Procurement or Contract or get involved in any specific Procurement.
    
4.     The CPTU's management information system shall track information on procurement performance and post it on the website.