There were initiatives for introducing e-tendering in the country, but half-hearted moves have left them largely undirected and hence unrealised. Way back in 2004, the government with the assistance of the World Bank (WB) developed a website on e-government procurement to invite bids through the portal where the state-owned agencies can float their tenders, as a starter. Later, the 'Government Procurement (e-GP) Guidelines' were prepared under the provision of Public Procurement Rules (PPR)-2008 where the e-GP system was made compulsory for all concerned for procurement of goods, works and services using public funds. But little or negligible response has halted the planned course that otherwise could have taken a shape by now to steer things ahead.
A news item published in this newspaper says that most government offices are yet to introduce e-tendering though it is one of the priorities of the government's 'Digital Bangladesh' initiatives. More than 70 per cent of the works are still reportedly done through the age-old manual system, although the Prime Minister had instructed all the ministries to implement e-tendering system more than a couple of years back. The main reason, understandably, is severe inertia amongst government officials who, having been incorrigibly tuned to the manual and cumbersome methods of tendering, do not find the sophisticated e-tendering device friendly enough to make their job easier.
The very reason why e-tendering got recognised as the most efficient method of analysing and sorting out bids and works related to it, is primarily because of its proven transparency, which experts hold is capable of removing more than 50 per cent of corruption from the government's procurement system - believed to be a major breeding ground for bribery in this country. Besides, it hardly needs any mention of why successive governments did not pay any heed to modernising the bidding system. One plausible reason for that could well be explained from the 'nourishment' it provides to the ruling party cadres through its 'built-in merit' -- lack of transparency -- at the cost of the quality of the product and services procured.
The communications minister has been reported to be enthusiastic about e-tendering. Understandably, if the bids of the ministry of communications alone could be floated electronically, it would be a watershed in parting with the corruption-prone practice followed so long. Treading on a new path does call for a bold first step. One such step can bring a remarkable change in the state of things called governance.
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Quelle/Source: The Financial Express Bangladesh, 13.04.2014
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