WB gives $55m more for e-GP

The World Bank is going to give Bangladesh another $55 million to help the country bring electronic government procurement (e-GP) system to all public sector organisations.

An agreement was signed in this regard yesterday by Kazi Shofiqul Azam, Economic Relations Division (ERD) secretary, and Qimiao Fan, WB country director for Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal, at a programme in Dhaka.

The Digitising Implementation Monitoring and Public Procurement Project would also help improve capacity to monitor implementation of development projects and programmes using digital technology.

“The government of Bangladesh has made notable progress in improving public procurement performance, which is a key to increasing efficiency of public spending,” said Fan.

“This project is a testament to the government's commitment to expand digitisation to all public procurement entities as well as to monitor development programmes and projects,” he said.

In Bangladesh, annual expenditure on public procurement amounted to over $7 billion in recent years, representing 70 percent of the annual development programme, the WB said.

The global lender also said, since 2002, the WB has been helping Bangladesh improve its public procurement system, and in 2011, the bank supported the rollout of e-GP in four key procuring entities.

Currently, about 35 percent of the annual development budget is executed using the e-GP platform. This has helped improve efficiency of public spending, and reduced procurement delays, the WB said.

In 2016, 83 percent of contracts were awarded within the initial bid validity period, versus only 10 percent in 2007. 

The effort has significantly reduced inappropriate bidding practices at decentralised levels and increased transparency as now all bid invitations and contract awards are published on the platform's website.

“The government is progressively working towards achieving 'Digital Bangladesh' vision, and this is another step forward towards that vision,” said ERD Secretary Kazi Shofiqul Azam.

“The project will institutionalise electronic procurement and digitise the monitoring of development projects and programmes to expedite project implementation and enhance transparency of spending of public resources.”

The credits are from International Development Association, the World Bank's concessional lending arm. The credits are interest-free and repayable in 38 years, including a six-year grace period, and carry a service charge of 0.75 percent.