The government has implemented various reforms in public procurement system and further reforms through amendment to procurement law are under process.

The electronic Government Procurement (e-GP) being a fully electronic system has become very popular among tenderers and procuring entities as this is hassle-free and user-friendly. As a result, 65 percent of total public procurement is now being done through e-GP.

Secretary of the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) Mr. Abul Kashem Md. Mohiuddin said this at an orientation program on public procurement and e-GP. He graced the programme for journalists as the chief guest.

Director General of Central Procurement Technical Unit (CPTU) of IMED, Mr. Mohammed Shoheler Rahman Chowdhury, presided over it at the conference room of CPTU in Dhaka on 25 September 2023.

Mr. Masud Akter Khan, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Primary and Mass Education, who is also a national procurement trainer, made the keynote presentation on the overview of public procurement and electronic government procurement (e-GP) for members of Development Journalists Forum of Bangladesh (DJFB).

The Central Procurement Technical Unit (CPTU) of IMED organized the workshop under the Digitizing Implementation Monitoring and Public Procurement Project (DIMAPPP) supported by the World Bank

Ms. Laboni Chakma, Director of CPTU, moderated the programme. Bangladesh Center for Communication Programs (BCCP) facilitated it.

President of DJFB, Mr Hamid Uz Zaman, spoke in the orientation programme. A total of 33 journalists from various media houses attended it.

Mentioning major reforms in public procurement in the recent past, IMED secretary said, electronic project management information system (e-PMIS) has been developed where details of all projects, including the first one of the country are open to all.

Md. Shoheler Rahman Chowdhury said, several significant modules have been added recently to make e-GP more functional. As a result, the entire process starting from procurement planning to contract implementation management can now be done online.

The new modules include tenderer's database, A-challan, direct procurement method (DPM), international tender module, electronic contract management system (e-CMS), electronic audit (e-audit) and e-GP’s integration with National Identity (NID) and iBASS++.

“e-GP has ensured public procurement fully flawless as there is no scope for irregularities in this system,” he said urging all procuring entities to conduct their procurement through this system.

Details of all procurement have been made public through Citizen Portal to make public procurement accountable and transparent, he added.

A video documentary on public procurement and e-GP was presented at the programme.