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The Government-Contractors’ Forum (GCF) has been formed in all 64 districts of Bangladesh. The 64th Forum was formed and its meeting was held at Circuit House auditorium in Manikganj on March 4, 2017.
Md. Mofizul Islam, Secretary in Charge of Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED), Ministry of Planning, was present at Manikganj GCF meeting as the chief guest. System Analyst of CPTU Md Mosharraf Hossain gave clarifications and answers to queries of participants about e-GP system in Manikganj.
Central Procurement Technical Unit (CPTU) of IMED, Ministry of Planning, formed the 64 forums and conducted their meetings facilitated by Bangladesh Centre for Communication Programs (BCCP)
The objective of the GCF is to create a bilateral platform of government procuring entities (PEs) and tenderers at local level so that they can sit face to face to remove any confusion through discussion about public procurement issues and electronic government procurement (e-GP) system. If something cannot be resolved in the GCF meeting they can seek assistance of CPTU.
It is expected that the holding of dialogue under GCF between the major two groups will help implement contracts smoothly within the purview of the Public Procurement Act and Rules. Since the dialogues are expected to remove gaps in understanding each other’s needs, it will also help government maintain quality of public procurement. There will be mutual trust and confidence and both the groups will have equal importance and dignity in the process.
The PEs and the tenderers are the main partners in GCF at district level. However, local journalist representatives and civil society can also join such meetings as observers. They were also present in the meetings. Primarily, a convening committee of either 13 members or 15 members has been selected unanimously in each of the districts. But all tenderers and PEs of a district can be members of the GCF. The GCF will sit at least once in two months. They will discuss issues stemming from the public procurement conducted by PEs in a particular district. |
