A knowledge sharing delegation of public procurement officials from the Arab Republic of Egypt concluded its two-day visit to Central Procurement Technical Unit (CPTU) of Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) on 7 March 2023.

Since 2011, about 15 countries and international organizations visited CPTU for knowledge and experience sharing on public procurement reforms and electronic government procurement (e-GP) system in Bangladesh. In December 2022 another such team from the Republic of Mozambique had a three-day visit to CPTU.

The four-member delegation from Egypt was led by Ms. Leena Abbasy, Procurement Specialist of the World Bank. She is based in Baghdad, Iraq.

The delegation comprised Mr Mohamed Ousama,  Ms Noha Taher Zaher, Mr Mohamed Atef and Mr. Ahmed Saad. They attended some learning sessions over the two days on various aspects of e-GP at CPTU.

The team members also shared knowledge and ideas about e-GP implementation status in their country. Egypt is going to implement the e-GP. At present, they only advertise their tender notices online but the rest of   activities are still done manually. They visited LGED on 6 March. The LGED has implemented e-GP in all its procurement.

On 7 March 2023, the visiting team had a meeting with Secretary, IMED Mr AKM Mohiuddin, at the CPTU Conference Room. The Secretary highlighted success of e-GP in Bangladesh. He said IMED and CPTU will provide necessary support, if needed, to Egypt in its bid to implement e-GP.   

Mr. Shoheler Rahman Chowdhury, Director General of CPTU of Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED), Ministry of Planning, chaired the learning sessions for the Egypt team at CPTU. He also made a presentation on overview of public procurement system in Bangladesh.

Director of CPTU, Mr Masud Akter Khan gave a presentation on communication and citizen engagement in public procurement and Director Mr Md. Shamimul Haque made a presentation on implementation of e-GP and CPTU projects.

Senior System Analyst of CPTU Mr. Md. Mosharraf Hussain gave an overview of e-procurement system in Bangladesh and made a demonstration of e-GP system. Hel also touched upon e-GP sustainability issues, maintenance and upgrades.

Mr. Nazmul Islam Bhuiyan, Deputy Team Leader and Senior Database Administrator, Dohatec New Media, engaged in e-GP operation and maintenance, elaborated on design, development and deployment of the system.

Mr Asad Ibne Moin, Senior IT Security Assurance Consultant, presented on e-GP security aspects and Mr Ashfakul Islam, Senior e-GP Adviser, gave a presentation regarding future thoughts on e-GP.

The two-day visit from 6 March to 7 March 2023 took place under the auspices of the World Bank. It has been providing technical support to CPTU to implement the Digitizing Implementation Monitoring and Public Procurement Project (DIMAPPP).

Mr. Ahsan Ali, Lead Procurement Specialist of World Bank Dhaka office and Mr Mustafizur Rahman, Task Team Leader of DIMAPPP and Senior Procurement Specialist of World Bank Dhaka Office, and other WB representatives were present during the visit of the Egypt delegation. 

The overall objective of the knowledge exchange was to build Egypt’s preparedness to design, develop, and implement electronic government procurement, with a focus on strengthening the institutional and technical capacity of public procurement officials in Egypt.

The Egyptian delegation expressed satisfaction and appreciated the e-GP system in Bangladesh. The members of the team visited the data centre and 24/7 e-GP Help Desk at CPTU.

The specific objectives of Egypt team’s visit were to learn from Bangladesh its journey to digitalize public procurement system, including design, development, implementation, and sustainability; gather advice/guidance from Bangladesh. It is envisioned that the interventions from Bangladesh will include advice/guidance for the Egyptians.

The CPTU has been implementing e-GP since 2011. Over the last several years it has added some new features to the system to make public procurement process and contract management fully digitalized. It has started inviting international competitive tender of Goods through e-GP system, launched electronic contract management system (e-CMS), e-Audit manual and tenderers’ database.

So far, about  6 lakh 70 thousand tenders have been invited through e-GP, more than one lakh tenderers and 1427procuring agencies have registered with the e-GP system since 2011. Honourable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the e-GP Portal on 2 June 2011. Bangladesh is now considered a global leader in electronic procurement. The CPTU is also working to fulfil the SDG targets on public procurement. It has already drafted a Sustainable Procurement Policy (SPP) under the DIMAPPP.

Egypt is taking steps to strengthen public procurement, most notably via the 2018 Public Procurement Law, which aims to achieve efficiency of public expenditure and enhance the principles of good governance, among several other objectives. In 2022, Egypt is working with the Korean Development Agency (KOICA) to introduce electronic procurement.

The World Bank supports Egypt’s efforts to introduce electronic procurement, as it is a key pillar to an efficient, transparent, and modern public procurement system. There are, however, serious challenges to designing, developing, and implementing electronic procurement, as evidenced by international experiences.