It is mandatory for Government Procurement Agencies to process thru’ e-GP
Processing of tenders through e-GP has been made mandatory for all government procuring agencies as per government decision. BPPA Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Md. Shoheler Rahman Chowdhury announced this decision in a BPPA communication and promotion meeting under the Dimap project held at the BPPA conference room in Dhaka.
He said that the number of government procurement agencies in the country is about 1600. But, the number of procuring organizations registered in the Electronic Government Procurement (e-GP) system till March 4 is 1456. The Bangladesh Public Procurement Authority (BPPA), formerly known as the Central Procurement Technical Unit (CPTU), has taken a special initiative to ensure that the rest of the organizations join the e-GP system quickly.
CPTU was converted to BPPA on 18 September 2023 under the Bangladesh Public Procurement Authority (BPPA), Act 2023. The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of BPPA said that according to the government decision, tender processing through e-GP is mandatory for all government procurement agencies. Calling on all the companies that have not yet registered in e-GP to join the system quickly; he said that all stakeholders including the purchasers and bidders are benefiting from the implementation of e-GP in government procurement. Digitization of government procurement has eliminated all the hassles of submission and processing of tenders. Increased competition, transparency and efficiency in government procurement.
Sources said BPPA has already written to companies that have not yet joined the e-GP. BPPA has also published a notification in this regard on the website. The notification states:
- Full implementation of e-GP is necessary to implement ‘Smart Bangladesh’ declared by Hon'ble Prime Minister and to ensure transparency and accountability in government procurement.
- As per decision No. 124 of Cabinet meeting dated 16th February 2015, e-tendering system must be followed by all Ministries/Departments/Subordinate Offices in Government procurement.
- In the meeting of “Digital Bangladesh Task Force” on 06 August 2015, a decision was taken to follow e-tendering system for all Ministries/Divisions/Subordinate Offices in Government Procurement.
- As per decision 4.4 of the meeting held chaired by the Chief Secretary, Prime Minister's Office on 17 November 2016 inclusion in e-GP is mandatory for all procuring agencies.
In this case, all procuring agencies are requested to tender through e-GP; requested to call e-GP Helpdesk 16575 for assistance. The e-GP system is integrated with NID, iBAS++ and IMED's Electronic Project Management Information System (e-PMIS). Some new features have been added to e-GP. These are Electronic Contract Management System (e-CMS), International Competitive Tendering (ICT), e-Audit Module, Automated Invoicing (A-Invoicing), Direct Procurement System and Professional and Intellectual Services.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the e-GP portal on June 2, 2011. A total of 7,85,997 tenders have been invited through e-GP from 2012 to 4 March 2024 with a total value of Tk 822,598 crore. So far more than one lakh bidders have been registered in the e-GP system. It may be noted that the World Bank has assisted BPPA in implementing various reforms in public procurement.
