Political influence still role in e-govt procurement: TIB

Staff Reporter :
Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) on Monday said that political influence was still playing a role in the process of obtaining work orders even in the electronic government procurement system was already launched in the country.

‘The competitive environment that was supposed to be created in e-GP has not been created due to nexus among political leaders, administrative officials and contractors,’ said TIB Executive Director Iftekharuzzaman.

He came up with the observation at a press conference arranged at TIB office in Dhaka on ‘E-Government procurement in Bangladesh: A trend analysis of competitiveness (2012-2023)’.

Iftekharuzzaman also said e-GP – an online platform for conducting all public procurement activities – is an important and positive step of the government, but the system is yet to play an effective role or give good outcome due to the unholy nexus among the officials concerned with contractors.

He said the competitive procurement could not be ensured in the e-GP system as around 75 to 100 per cent work orders were getting through single bids.

‘A group of contractors grab the market here as well,’ he added.

According to the TIB analysis, collusion and syndication are still the main obstacles to ridding the procurement process of corruption.

It said despite being introduced 12 years ago, e-tendering in Bangladesh covers only 20-35 per cent of government procurement and nearly all high value contracts are excluded from its scope.

The majority of e-procurement contracts (99 per cent) fall within the Tk 1 to Tk 25 crore value range.

It said that ten ministries and divisions account for 92 per cent of the total number of works and nearly 97 per cent of e-contract value, with the Local Government Division being the highest spender.