Up to 17 December 2023, the number of women tenderers registered with the electronic Government Procurement (e-GP) system was 3388 in the country.

The first Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the newly-established Bangladesh Public Procurement Authority (BPPA), Mr. Mohammed Shoheler Rahman Chowdhury, said this at a workshop on citizen engagement in public procurement with women tenderers at the conference room of the BPPA in Dhaka on 17 December 2023.

He said, at present the total number of tenderers registered with the e-GP system is about one lakh 11 thousand. “Although the number of the women tenderers in e-GP is very small, we are hopeful that this will gradually increase further,” he mentioned. The BPPA has been working to this end, he said.

About 30 women representatives of various business chambers, women entrepreneurs and women tenderers participated in the workshop organized by BPPA under the Digitizing Implementation and Public Procurement Project (DIMAPPP). The BPPA has been implementing the project with support from the World Bank. The Dnet, a consulting firm engaged by BPPPA in managing the Citizen Portal, facilitated the workshop.

Secretary, Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED), Mr. Abul Kashem Md. Mohiuddin was present as the chief guest in the workshop chaired by the CEO of BPPA. Senior Procurement Specialist of the World Bank Dhaka office Mr. Arafat Ishtiaque was present as the Special Guest. Director (Additional Secretary) of BPPA Mirza Ashfaqur Rahman delivered the welcome address.

The CEO said the government has recently issued the Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP) Policy. To fulfill the SDG targets in public procurement, the BPPA will work to implement sustainable public procurement under the SPP Policy. To do this, economic, social and environmental issues will be considered in the public procurement process. The issue of giving preference to women entrepreneurs and tenderers will also be considered, he noted.

Data Analytics Expert of Dnet Mr. Andalib Bin Haque made a detailed presentation on the Citizen Portal and efforts to engage citizens in public procurement through this digital interactive platform. The BPPA launched the portal in 2020 with the objective of disclosing various information on public procurement to citizens. The portal of its kind is unique and rare in the world, he said in the presentation.

The women tenderers appreciated the government initiative and demanded availability of information on them in the portal. They also expressed their views on issues of public procurement.

Secretary, IMED, said, “We have taken note of the demands and suggestions of you. We want the number of women tenderers to increase in the country. We want to bring more of you in the trade of public procurement in the country. Pursuant to this, we have exclusively brought women tenderers here to hear your voice on citizen engagement and public procurement issues. We have been exchanging views with other stakeholders too.”

The WB representative said this portal will help all hold both procuring entities and tenderers accountable to citizens as they will be questioned about the quality and delivery in public procurement.

Citizen Portal which is much known as ‘Sorkari Kroy Batayan’ in Bangla is an interactive web portal which has been open to citizens since 20 August 2020.

In order to digitize public procurement in Bangladesh, Honorable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the e-GP Portal on 2 June 2011. Both the government procuring entities and the private tenderers embraced the electronic system gladly since beginning because of its convenience. Up to 17 December 2023, a total of 761,146 tenders were invited through e-GP involving a total estimated cost of TK792,664 crore. The number is growing day by day. The government earns revenue worth about Tk400 crore a year through the e-GP system.

At present about 40 per cent of the national budget and 80 per cent of the Annual Development Programme (ADP) are spent on public procurement. Total annual expenditures on public procurement is worth about 30 billion US dollars a year.

Public procurement is done with public funds and that is why citizens have rights to know about public procurement. To fulfill the rights, BPPA has established the Citizen Portal.

For further improvement of the overall procurement management and establishing a sustainable procurement environment in the country, the government has recently transformed the Central Procurement Technical Unit (CPTU) of IMED into Bangladesh Public Procurement Authority (BPPA).