Transparency, Accountability, Equitable Treatment to all and ensuring competition in public procurement is a major global concern. Introducing good governance in public procurement with the establishment of a unified national procurement framework and institutionalizing the procurement management capacity is a priority for any government.
In Bangladesh, prior to the enactment of Public Procurement Act, 2006 (PPA, 2006), all the procurement contracts were dealt with “The Contract Law” which is very general in nature. Since any public procurement contract demands simple official procedure, high level of competency of the staff, quality tender documents, standard evaluation framework, effective contract administration and presence of adequate mechanism for ensuring transparency & accountability. Therefore, PPA, 2006 along with the Public Procurement Rules, 2008 has distinctly given advantage over the existing law. However, introduction of electronic government procurement in 2011 increases the transparency, accountability and ensures the Value for Money (VfM), which brings Bangladesh to a new height in procurement arena.
LGED, as a public sector Engineering Organization, follows the Country Procurement System, which is guided by above mentioned Public Procurement Law, 2006 (PPA, 2006), Public Procurement Rules, 2008 (PPR, 2008) and Electronic Government Procurement Guidelines, 2011, in procuring the goods, works and consultancy services. There are more than 800 procurement entities spread from LGED head quarter to Upazila (Sub-district) level. They are the district Executive Engineers, Upazila (Sub-district) Engineers, Project Directors, Unit heads at LGED Headquarters etc. Tender or Proposal Opening and Evaluation Committees (TEC/PEC) are approved by the Chief Engineer as approving authority. If the approving authority is Minister or Cabinet Committee on Government Purchases (CCGP), TEC/PEC is approved by the Local Government Division (Ministry).
Most of the procurement is processed in e-GP (e-Government Procurement) system following the cabinet decision using national e-GP Portal.
Annual Procurement Plan is prepared, approved and publish through e-GP System. E-Tender is floated in national e-GP portal giving sufficient time for preparation to the tenderer. Tender opening, Evaluation, Approval Process, Issuance of Notification of Award, Contract Signing etc. are done through online process. Proper publication is ensured in the national dailies as well as e-GP Portal, LGED website and Central Procurement Unit website. LGED as well as all the public sector organizations publish the debarment information in case of debarring the contractor or consultant for engaging in fraudulent, corruptive, collusive, coercive or obstructive practices as per section 64 of PPA, 2006, in the CPTU website and e-GP Portal which are cross checked before finalizing the recommendation of Evaluation Reports to the approving authority.
Soon, after the Government of Bangladesh issued the Public Procurement Regulations 2003 (PPR-03), LGED established a separate procurement unit, consists of a number of qualified procurement specialists, at the headquarters level on January 2004 in order to cope up with the changes.