The Digitizing Implementation Monitoring and Public Procurement Project (DIMAPPP) got off to a good start on October 25, 2017 with the Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith MP as chief guest declaring its launch in a colourful ceremony in presence of dignified guests and about 250 participants representing the major stakeholders of public procurement.   

The Central Procurement Technical Unit (CPTU) of Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED), Ministry of Planning, organized the launching of DIMAPPP at Radisson Blu Dhaka Water Garden in the evening.

Finance Minister A M A Muhith speaking as chief guest at the launching of DIMAPPP at Radisson Blu Dhaka Water Garden on October 25, 2017.

With support from World Bank, the CPTU will implement the project having four components for five years (July 2017 to June 2022). The components are: Restructuring of CPTU and Institutionalizing e-GP, Enhancing Digitization of Public Procurement, Professionalization of Procurement and Citizen Engagement, and Digitizing Project Implementation Monitoring.

The main objective of the project is to improve overall public procurement management in the country.  

Planning Minister A H M Mustafa Kamal FCA MP chaired the programme. Secretary of Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division, Mr. Md Mofizul Islam, made the opening remarks.

Country Director, World Bank Bangladesh, Qimiao Fan, and Director, Governance Global Practice, World Bank Vinay Sharma also spoke as special guests. Director General of CPTU Md Faruque Hossain made a detailed presentation on the objective and components of the new project.

The Finance Minister also inaugurated the new website of CPTU. At the DIMAPPP launching programme a MoU was signed between CPTU and LGED. Under the MoU, LGED will take care of e-GP implementation by 888 local government institutions (LGIs).

CPTU is implementing e-GP to enhance transparency, accountability and competition in public procurement. There are 1300 government procuring agencies in the country. Up to October 25, 2017, a total of 1149 procuring agencies were connected to the e-GP system.  

Until October 25, 2017, the total number of tenders invited was 1,19,459 and the total value   was Tk1,11,015 crore. The total number of contract awarded   was 73,778 and their total value was Tk 54,291 crore.
Officials of government procuring agencies, representatives of development partners, business associations, members of the civil society and media attended the launching programme.

In his speech the Finance Minister expressed his satisfaction over the progress achieved in the process of public procurement in Bangladesh.

 "I personally feel that we're doing reasonably well in this area (public procurement). In public procurement, there should be competitiveness, there should be chance for everybody to participate in it and the process should be open and transparent," he said.

The Planning Minister mentioned that the aim of the present government is to make public procurement transparent so that there is no waste of public funds here and there.

 “We put all-out endeavor to make public procurement more effective and it has to be made transparent,” he added.

The Secretary, IME Division said effective implementation of any development project depends on efficient management and procurement. In this line, the IMED has planned to digitize its project monitoring system under the new DIMAPPP through CPTU.

In 2007 about 15 per cent of the contract awards used to be made public whereas in e-GP system 100 per cent of the contracts are published on e-GP website. About 70 per cent of the tender notices were published in 2007 and in 2017 it is 100 per cent in e-GP. In 2007, only 10 per cent of contract award decisions were made within the initial tender validity period and in e-GP it stood at 99.5 per cent in 2016, he mentioned.

After the opening remarks of the Secretary, the DG, CPTU explained the context, rationale, objective and every component of DIMAPPP in his presentation. He said, “We need to make public procurement sustainable to fulfill the concerned SDG goal.”   

The Country Director of World Bank, Bangladesh appreciated the government of Bangladesh for the progress it achieved in digitization of public procurement.

He said, “Bangladesh spends approximately over $10 billion annually on public procurement, comprising about 75% of its annual development programme. Therefore, only about 1% savings of waste in procurement can build over 2000 more primary schools or 1000 km additional rural roads.”

Director, Governance Global Practices, World Bank, observed that increased value-for-money with efficiency, transparency, and accountability in the expenditure of public resources are critical to sustainable development and the reduction of poverty.

“We are deeply encouraged to see that the government of Bangladesh has acted consistently and in a sustained manner since 2002 once the deficiencies of the procurement system were identified in the Country Procurement Assessment Report (CPAR),” he said.

“I understand the proposed DIMAPPP project will support key priority areas to bring the entire public procurement of the country under e-GP system and all national development projects will be monitored with on-line platform,” the director noted.