The number of tenders invited through e-GP portal crossed 5 lakh on August 1, 2021 with a total value of about 5 lakh 10 thousand 499 crore taka.

This is a landmark achievement of the electronic government procurement (e-GP) system introduced by the Central Procurement Technical Unit (CPTU) of the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division under the Ministry of Planning, said a press release of CPTU.

The e-GP system has zero downtime. It remains active and functional throughout the COVID pandemic period with the 24/7 helpdesk open.

On July 22, 2020 the number was at 4 lakh involving over 4 lakh 10 thousand crore taka.

There are 1,365 procuring agencies in the country. Until August 1, 2021, a total of 1362 agencies got registered with the e-GP system. The number of tenderers registered with e-GP stood at 88,294 on the day.

The release said both the procuring agencies and the tenderers embraced the ICT based digital procurement system as it has reduced physical hassles.

It also saves time and costs. About 85 percent of the Annual Development Programme (ADP) and 45 percent of the national budget are spent on public procurement.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina formally launched the e-GP Portal on June 2, 2011 as part of digitizing public services.

In 2011, the online tendering was piloted in four large procuring agencies such as Local Government Engineering Department, Roads and Highways Department, Bangladesh Water Development Board and Rural Electrification Board.

Building on the success of piloting, the CPTU started implementing e-GP across the government procuring agencies from 2012. The World Bank has been providing support to the government in digitizing public procurement.