Bangladesh Public Procurement Authority (BPPA), the former CPTU, is working hard to improve the public procurement environment and enhance professionalisation in the country.
Abul Kashem Md Mohiuddin, secretary, Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division under the Ministry of Planning, said this as the chief guest at an orientation programme for the prime stakeholders on the establishment of BPPA and its functions, read a press release.
BPPA conducted the programme at its conference room in Dhaka on Monday. The Bangladesh Centre for Communication Programs (BCCP) facilitated it.
The Secretary said that CPTU was a small unit within the IMED. Amid the growing technological challenges and volume of public procurement, it was very difficult for such a small unit with a small staff to take care of legal issues of procurement in the country, said a press release.
To improve the public procurement environment and professionalization, the CPTU was transformed into BPPA on September 18, 2023, with the enactment of the Bangladesh Public Procurement Authority Act 2023, he added.
"We are now drafting an organogram for BPPA and hope to send it to the Ministry of Public Administration soon", said the secretary of the orientation programme.
Officials of the Bangladesh Planning Commission, Planning Division, Economic Relations Divisions, General Economics Division, IMED and BPPA numbering about 55 attended the orientation.
Mohammed Shoheler Rahman Chowdhury, Chief Executive Officer of BPPA, made a detailed presentation on the background, establishment, functions and future plans of BPPA.
He said that the total cost of public procurement in the country was only $3 billion in 2003, which is now about $30 billion. About 90 per cent of the Annual Development Programme (ADP) allocation is spent on procurement. Globally, the expenditures on procurement are about $13 trillion.
Economy is one of the major objectives of procurement for ensuring value for money, he said.
He said e-GP has made life comfortable and the e-GP system is now made mandatory. "The day will come when it will not be possible to conduct procurement by any department without e-GP."
BPPA CEO said that specialization is needed for better services, especially in procurement. "Specialization is now a must as everything is now specialised," he mentioned.
Referring to practices in different countries, he said, specialised central procurement agencies discharge services with their specialization in a number of countries.
"We have laid emphasis on green procurement and so formulated Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP) Policy to attain Goal 12.7 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)," said the BPPA chief.
"For this we have formulated policy guidelines and a roadmap for its implementation. We are working with the World Bank on this," he said.
The participants raised various questions and gave suggestions for operationalizing BPPA. The BPPA CEO replied to their queries.
