Bangladesh Public Procurement Authority (BPPA) conducted a workshop at the conference room of Circuit House in Khulna on greater awareness about functions of BPPA and electronic Government Procurement (e-GP) on 6 June 2024.

Mirza Ashfaqur Rahman, Director (Additional Secretary) of BPPA was present in the workshop as the Chief Guest. Ms. Taslima Akter, Additional Deputy Commissioner (Education and ICT) chaired it and Mr. Asif Iqbal, Additional Superintendent of Police, Khulna, were present as the special guest on the occasion.

In his speech, Mirza Ashfaqur Rahman said currently about 70 per cent of public procurement in the country is conducted through e-GP. The implementation of e-GP has led to some positive changes in public procurement, such as:

The average time for processing public procurement has decreased from 100 days to 57 days due to the introduction of e-GP. About 96 per cent of contract award notices are issued within the initial validity period of tenders. 100% of tender notices and contract award notices are published in the e-GP system. The use of the e-GP system is saving $600 million annually. The travel distance for tenderers has been reduced by 49.7 million kilometers. About 1,053 million pages of paper have been saved. Carbon emissions have been reduced by 153,559 tons.

About 50 participants comprising officers of procuring entities, tenderers, journalists and bank officers took part in the workshop in Khulna. The participants raised various questions and the Director of BPPA answered those queries.

Bangladesh Center for Communication Programs (BCCP) facilitated the workshop. BPPA has been conducting such workshops in various districts and Upazilla as part of its communication program under the ongoing Digitizing Implementation Monitoring and Public Procurement Project (DIMAPPP).

The e-GP system introduced by BPPA was inaugurated by Honorable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on 2 June 2011 as part of her government’s commitment to build a Digital Bangladesh.

Mr. Asif Iqbal, the special guest, demanded of BPPA to provide training to police officials on the use of e-GP. He said e-GP has removed all hassles regarding submission of tenders. It is a great relief for the police department as there is no trouble over tender processing now.