How digital public procurement has transformed Bangladesh

Each year, Bangladesh spends around $10 billion of its national budget on public procurement to build and maintain schools, roads, power plants and others. Public funds can be used effectively for the people only when the procurement system is transparent and efficient.  In the last few years, the country has shifted away from traditional procurement standards – paperwork and long processing time – and rolled e-GP, a new electronic government procurement system.

Launched in 2011, e-GP started implementation in 2012 across four key public sector agencies, which together spend about half of Bangladesh’s annual development program. As of August 2015, over 28,000 tenders valued at about $3 billion have been processed through electronic procurement.

E-GP means that all procurement is conducted from beginning to end through a single web portal. That is, from advertising through evaluation and contract award to completion and final payment, all are done online. Bidders submit tender applications and track progress online. Processing time has decreased substantially. With greater transparency and increased competition among bidders, the cost of doing business and the risk of collusive practices has gone down significantly. Moreover, the e-GP system is becoming self-sustainable with the revenues it generates; its exponential growth is embraced by all stakeholders from the business community to civil society.

Watch how e-GP helped pave new ways of doing business and create opportunities to improve living standards in Bangladesh. Here is the  Bangali version video.