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The government has given priority to make the electronic government procurement or e-GP system more time-befitting and user-friendly through bringing necessary reforms in the public procurement law soon.
Mirza Ashfaqur Rahman, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Bangladesh Public Procurement Authority (BPPA) of the Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) under the Ministry of Planning made this remark at a workshop on “Sharing of experience about BPPA functions and e-GP” as the chief guest held at the DC office conference room in Moulvibazar district on 8 April 2025. Deputy Commissioner and District Magistrate of Moulvibazar Md Islael Mohd. Israil Hossain chaired the workshop. Additional Deputy Commissioner (General) Bulbul Ahmed was present.
Mentioning the objective of the BPPA, Mirza Ashfaqur Rahman said the BPPA is working in line with the guidance of the present government to make the country’s public procurement truly user-friendly by incorporating the recommendations and feedback from the concerned stakeholders at the grassroots through holding workshops across the country. He, however, urged stakeholders to make more recommendations on bringing reforms in the system to make e-GP fully workable.
“We want to develop public procurement system newly that will be more user-friendly and so our priority is to bring positive changes now because this is the right time,” said the BPPA chief pointing to this present favourable environment as the government is very sincere and prompt to bring reforms in the system.
In the present public procurement system, there is budget allocation for only implementing a project but no fund is allocated for its maintenance after completion, he mentioned, suggesting the concerned, especially the procuring entities for seeking funds for maintenance of a work as that is very much essential for longevity.
Responding to the participants at the workshop, he said, BPPA would consider if the performance guarantee of tenders could be increased to ensure quality of work, but that might put burden on tenderers as this fund is held for quite a long time.
Referring to the upcoming amendment to the law, he said there will be no scopes for selling tender by any awardee as the provision of 10 percent less is being omitted from the law and rules. He requested people to notify any loopholes in project works and publish those, saying “Time has changed now and so there is no reason for feeling afraid or weak.”
Mentioning that the national budget of Bangladesh for the present financial year 2-024-25 is Taka 7,99,000 crore of which 40 percent is allocated for public procurement, he said 65 percent of the procurement is done through e-GP at present. Considering that such a huge budget is spent through e-GP, he said, training on e-GP is a must for educating all concerned for smooth implementation of projects works.
The workshop was organized by BPPA with support of the Bangladesh Center for Communication Programs (BCCP). Deputy CEO and Program Director of BCCP attended the workshop. A total of 70 participants including representatives of procuring entities, tenderers, journalists, bankers and civil society members were present.
