Bangladesh declares new procurement authority to control procuring

Bangladesh has announced it has initiated plans to create a new procurement agency to improve public purchasing.

The government’s cabinet has been sent a draft law to create Bangladesh Public Procurement Authority (BPPA), which will regulate public purchases.

The BPPA will be created out of the Central Procurement Technical Unit, according to bdnews24.com.

The move is part of conditions set by lenders who have supported the creation of the country’s e-procurement system, e-GP.

The government initially introduced e-GP in 2011 and has added new features to the system to help fully digitalise public procurement process, with funding of $10m and $95m from the World Bank.

Among the additions are processing international competitive tenders of goods, an electronic contract management system, e-audit manual and tenderers’ database.

Secretary of the country’s planning ministry IMED, AKM Mohiuddin, said during a visit by an Egyptian delegation: “The e-GP system has brought about a historic change in our public procurement.”

He said savings achieved through the system were increasing every year.

“Our government is committed to ensuring good governance in all sectors including public procurement. Therefore, we have opted for digitisation in our public service delivery.”

In 2021 80% of Bangladesh’s public procurement expenditure was processed through the e-GP system – up from only 2% when the current phase of the project was launched in 2017, according to the World Bank.

It said the number of registered bidders in e-GP has increased from 23,000 in 2017 to 96,446 in 2021.

It added that the system had improved “the integrity aspects of public procurement”.

Features included online submission and evaluation of bids, approval, and award of contracts, reducing external influences, preserving documents and transactions online for audit purposes, validating bidders’ information, and online submission and tracking of complaints.

Bangladesh has also drafted a sustainable public procurement policy system which it aims to implement by 2030, Mohiuddin added.

“The vision of our government is to build a Smart Bangladesh by 2041 when economy and society will have a digital culture,” he said.

Bangladesh spends an estimated $25bn on public procurement, according to the planning ministry.

It said the number of registered bidders in e-GP has increased from 23,000 in 2017 to 96,446 in 2021.

It added that the system had improved “the integrity aspects of public procurement”.