The country now 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. To ensure transparency, accountability and efficiency in the expenditure of such a large sum, the government took up reforms in public procurement. The process of reforms started in 1999 with the launch of Country Procurement Assessment (CAS) by the government in partnership with the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

In 2001, the Country Procurement Assessment Report (CPAR) captured a series of recommendations to streamline public procurement process. Three key recommendations of the CPAR were related to institutional, legal and capacity building issues.

In line with the recommendations, the government established Central Procurement Technical Unit (CPTU) within Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) under the Ministry of Planning in 2002. To execute reforms the former CPTU took up a project titled, Public Procurement Reform Project (PPRP) with support from the World Bank in 2002. The government also issued the Public Procurement Regulations 2003. The then CPTU also took up capacity building programmes under which the process of providing training on public procurement to government officers and tenderers, and development of national procurement trainers started. Preparation and issuance of various Standard Tender Documents (STDs) also took off in 2003. In 2006, the Public Procurement Act 2006 was passed by Parliament. The Public Procurement Rules 2008 was framed under the PPA 2006. Both the Act and Rules were given effect in 2008. The reforms gathered pace with the efforts to digitize the process of public procurement starting in 2008 with support from the World Bank under a project titled, “Public Procurement Reform Project (PPRP) Phase-II”.

On 2 June 2011, the electronic Government Procurement (e-GP) portal was inaugurated to digitize the public procurement process.  

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 former Central Procurement Technical Unit (CPTU) of IME Division under the Ministry of Planning, did 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 transform the former CPTU into an Authority for proper implementation of public procurement law and rules, increasing efficiency and creating professionalization in public procurement management, as well as institutionalizing the e-GP system and implementing sustainable public procurement.

Pursuant to this, the former CPTU started 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 Bangladesh Public Procurement Authority (BPPA) Bill 2023 was placed 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 then Director General (Grade-1) of former 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.