New features added to e-GP to make public procurement digitised

Considering that transparency in public procurement is a key prerequisite for sustainable development, Bangladesh has witnessed a big headway in digitisation by incorporating a number of electronic methods in the electronic government procurement (e-GP) system.

Electronic Contract Management System (e-CMS) is one of a number of prominent new modules that has created a positive impact on procurement practices.

The Central Procurement Technical Unit (CPTU), the nodal agency that introduced   the e-GP system in the country, has made a paradigm shift by adding new features to the e-GP to make the entire procurement process digitised.

According to a disclosure by CPTU Director General Mohammed Shoheler Rahman Chowdhury before the press, the unit – working under the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) of planning ministry, has implemented e-CMS and some other very important features towards full digitisation of public procurement process and contract management.

Elaborating on some major and unique initiatives incorporated in the system in recent times, besides e-CMS, he mentioned Tenderers’ Database, A-Challan for electronic payment, Direct Procurement Method (DPM), International Competitive Bidding (ICB), Electronic Audit and NID integration which are expected to make public procurement smarter and convenient for all concerned.

Speaking about e-CMS, he said, through the e-GP system, it is possible to conduct procurement up to contract signing and its management by the procuring entities (PEs).

The PEs can now manage contracts through an automatic contract management system to allow conduct of work flow, validation order and other complex issues at the management stage by using documents uploaded in the system.

The entire public procurement cycle, starting from planning to contract management is now integrated with the system of the Finance Division soon. With this, when a tenderer generates a bill, it will enter the e-GP system from the PEs and connect with the iBAS++ system.

Then the concerned official of the PE will scrutinize it and send funds to the accounts of the tenderer through iBAS++.

The director general also mentioned development of the tenderers’ database, a major milestone achievement that will simplify the tasks of both the PEs and the tenderers as all. The required data will be stored in the database.

“We are receiving responses from the tenderers. The information, following endorsement by PEs, will be accepted in the system. For submitting a tender for any procurement, bidders just need to do mapping of required documents in the system and complete the process without any hassles,” he added. 

Automated Challan (A-Challan) is another milestone initiative of CPTU. At present, for collecting documents, bidders need to go to a bank and deposit fees.

With payment slip, they later go to the office of the PEs and wait there for approval that enables them to enter the system and download the document.

But now, they can download tender documents in five minutes by paying document fees, registration fee, renewal fee etc through A Challan by using any debit/credit cards, bKash, Rocket or Nagad, he said.

The CPTU has also introduced Direct Procurement Method (DPM) in the system with two types of arrangements for PEs that need to conduct procurement by using government funds, and also for those who want to do it by using funds of the development partners.

He said requesting representatives of the ADB to advise procuring entities to do DPM from the system as CPTU is ready to provide any sort of cooperation.

International Competitive Bidding (ICB), a landmark initiative in the country’s procurement system has been introduced recently, the director general said adding, “The CPTU is a pioneer in this area as it is the first to invite a tender through ICB with approval of IMED.”

He requested others to use the ICB model as it is compatible for both local and international tenderers for its two options.

“Any PE that uses ICB through GoB funds will find one type of tender document while those using funds of the development partners will find a separate tender document,” Chowdhury added.

Another big task completed so far is e-Audit (electronic audit), announced DG adding, this has significantly cut down hassles in auditing where officials need not go to the audit office and submit or download huge volumes of papers.

From the system, all documents can be evaluated and an audit report can be prepared. Contract management part will be incorporated with the e-Audit system within three months.

With completion of e-Audit, no PEs will need to go to the audit office for audit purposes. Auditors can generate audit reports based on the documents stored in the system, DG declared.

NID integration is a major initiative by the CPTU to make e-GP secure, said the director general, adding, “For making the procurement system secure, we need to confirm the identity of bidders which will now be automatically authenticated from the system of the election commission.

“This will also reduce the lead-time of procurement completion as well as make the lives of all involved in the process comfortable. We are at the final stage of NID integration. We had several meetings with the Election Commission (EC), signed MoU and deposited required fees.”

The CPTD director general further said, “We are upgrading the e-GP system from monolithic to multi-serviced one to make the system much faster as Bangladesh for the first time is going to start a new journey towards sustainable public procurement aligned with SDG 12: Responsible consumption and production and more specifically for achieving SDG - 12.7 target and indicator on Sustainable Public Procurement implementation.”