With the online-based government procurement (e-GP) being carried out, the incidents of snatching of tenders, obstruction of submission and show of force in the government procurement process have stopped. However, it did not fulfill the expectations of eliminating corruption, rather increased.
Dr. Iftekharuzzaman, executive director of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB), explained his views at a press conference held at TIB’s Dhanmondi office on Monday.
The press conference was held to present a research paper titled ‘E-Government Procurement in Bangladesh: Analysis of Trends in Competitive Practices (2012-2023)’.
Earlier in his speech, Iftekharuzzaman said that the purchasing companies give the works to certain organizations in connivance with the concerned people and contractors of the government. It was found that multiple tenders were submitted by the same company. Other companies do not have the opportunity to read the tender. As a result, a huge amount of government money is wasted. The e-GP did not achieve what was expected of outside open competition from certain contractors.
Mohammad Touhidur Rahman, head of TIB’s public relations department, highlighted the corruption in the field of e-GP in his research paper. In the presentation, he showed that the top 5 percent of contractors in online government procurement are doing 26 percent of the total work and their scope of work is increasing every year. On the other hand, the bottom 10 percent of contractors are working only 2 to 3 percent and their share is decreasing every year.
One-fourth of the government procurement is done in a single tender. As a case study, TIB presented the tender program for the construction of Hussainabad School and College building in Kushtia district. Khalek Enterprise, the only contractor to build the company, bought 25 tenders and got the work, which has already been completed. The financial value of the contracts awarded through a single tender is Tk 60,000 crore, which is 15 per cent of the total e-tendering work and products.
Certain bidders and companies carry out procurement through a single tender. In Sonaimuri, Barguna and Daganbhuiyan municipalities, the highest number of 90 to 100 percent single tenders are received. And in Chittagong City Corporation, 62.70 percent falls. It is followed by Dhaka South City Corporation at 55.21 per cent.
Tib’s research revealed that bidders are less interested in open tenders. Because in this method, there is more room for negotiation than competition. From 2016 to 2021, the rate of tender submissions increased. In 2011, the average bid was two. By 2015, there had been no major changes. In 2016, it rose to 8.57 percent. In 2021, it will increase further to 35. Of this, 3.53 percent were submitted in the open tender system. And limited bids are 47.75 percent.
Public money is being wasted due to the tender being completed in an opaque process. Citing the World Bank’s figures, TIB’s research noted that if tenders are submitted below four percent of government procurement, it is considered to be opaque activities. There, 46 percent of bids were submitted below four in Bangladesh. And more than four submissions were 54 percent.
At present, tendering below Tk 25 crore is done online. The rest of the tender process is online. To bring online or e-tender activities under the tender, to ensure competition; TIB presented seven proposals, including revamping the limited tender system to align with the 2006 law on public procurement and ending possible collusion to ensure competition.
