e-Government Procurement, or e-GP in short, is not a new concept in our country. This system has been online since the 2011s after being developed as a partner named as Dohatec New Media. It is a single web portal that allows all government agencies to carry out procurement activities online. The system has significantly improved efficiency and transparency in government procurement processes. Although the inception of this e-GP system is a major milestone in Bangladesh’s vision to become a “digital Bangladesh”, there is always room for improvement. Adding new features and further streamlining the process is paramount for Dohatec New Media.
What are the changes?
Innovation and advancement are always an ongoing process. Adding new features to the e-GP system will help the government achieve their initial goal – to streamline the process and eliminate corruption. These brand-new features are discussed below.
Contractor Performance Appraisal/Rating Module-
- A new contractor performance appraisal/rating module has been developed in the e-GP system. This will grade the contractor based on seven factors – Availability of resources, quality, responsiveness, accountability, integrity, organization and collaboration.
- These ratings will be determined using a five-level Likert scale, from strongly disagree to strongly agree.
- The PE will prepare the contractor performance appraisal/rating while approving the work complete certificate in the tenderer database.
- The workflow initiator will prepare the contractor performance appraisal/rating while sending the final bill through the payment workflow in the e-CMS module.
Tenderer Registration –
- A new link named “Business Profile Verification” is added to the “Tenderer/Consultant Documents” tab for international tenderers. This link will redirect users to an internationally recognized website for verification.
Annual Procurement Plan-
- The Project Name will be shown alphabetically in the dropdown list for all users in the e-GP System.
Tender Preparation and Submission by using Tenderer Database –
- During the tender preparation for e-PW(2a) and e-PW3 STD’s, the tenderer must map their completed and ongoing work experience from the Tenderer Database.
- The tenderer can map individual and JVCA work experience.
- If the tenderer is a JVCA, they can map their partners’ work experience.
- After mapping, the tenderer can view, remove, and download the work experience certificate before final submission.
- After final submission, the tenderer can view the mapped work experience and download the work experience certificate.
- The TEC can verify the mapped work experiences if the authorized PE has not been registered in the e-GP System. The status of the work experience in the Tenderer Database will be changed to “Verified by TEC Chairperson” based on the verification by the TEC chairperson.
- The Approving Authority (AA) for DoFP can view the disqualification reason and upload the document of Post Qualification.
- While completing the post-qualification, the TEC chairperson can upload and download the post-qualification documents.
Tender Validity Extension –
Tender Validity Extension Information such as “Date of Tender / Proposal Validity” and “Last Date of Tender / Proposal Security Validity” will be displayed in the following places:
- Tender Notice
- Tender/Proposal Document from Tenderer Dashboard
- “Validity and Security Extension” under Evaluation Tab from PE and TEC Dashboard
Notification of Award and Contract Signing –
- The “Approval of Contract Signing Information” sub-menu in the PE dashboard has been updated to include three new tabs for the Expire Contract List: Pending, Processed, and All.
- The Pending tab will show tenders whose contracts have expired or have been sent to HOPE for contract approval.
- The Processed tab will show tenders whose contracts have been approved by HOPE.
- The All tab will show all expired contracts.
- A new searching criterion “Status” has been added to the advanced search panel. This allows the PE to search for expired contracts by status (Pending, Processed, or All).
JVCA Formation –
- The tenderer will form JVCA in the e-GP System for the manual tender awarded to a JVCA. This JVCA will be used only for adding Work Experience and Payment Certificate in Tenderer Database.
Tenderer Database –
- National ID Integration has been incorporated into the Tenderer Database. This means that the National ID number of an employee must be verified before they can be added to the Tenderer Database or updated in the Tenderer Database.
- The following information can be added to the Tenderer Database by TOC/POC, TEC/PEC, and Authorized User (AU):
- Tenderer’s Contract Information
- Experience Certificate
- Payment Certificate
- Litigation Details
- A new “Completion Status” field has been added to the ongoing and completed work experience certificate. For ongoing experience, the completion status will be “Ongoing”; for the completed venture, it will be “Completed”.
- A new “Bill Status” field has been added to the interim and final payment certificate. For the interim bill, the bill status will be “Interim”, and for final bill, it will be “Final”.
e-Audit Module
The following changes have been made to the Audit Module in the e-GP system:
- A user transfer system has been developed. This allows users to be transferred from one role to another, such as from CAG Admin to DG Admin.
- A new “Audit Consent” tab has been added to the Mapped Tender Dashboard. This allows the Audit User of an Audit Team to give tender-wise audit consent for each mapped tender.
- A new “Complaint Mgmt” tab has been added to the Mapped Tender Dashboard. This tab shows the complaints already sent to DG CPTU and allows the Audit User to view the decision of DG CPTU, Tenderer, PE, HOPE, Secretary, Review Panel Comments, and all uploaded documents regarding the complaint.
- The head of the Audit Team can now finalize the audit report and upload documents during audit operation.
- A new menu called “Audit” has been included in the PE Dashboard. This menu allows the PE to view audit teams and mapped tender lists under those audit teams and the audit status of those tenders.
- User manuals for CAG Admin, DG Admin, and Audit User have been added to the user dashboard.
Other changes –
- An option has been added for TEC Members, PE, and Auditors (in the e-Audit Module) to check the Tenderers’ debarment status from the CPTU website. This means these users can now see if a tenderer has been debarred from participating in government procurement tenders.
- The Branch Maker, Branch Checker, Tenderer, and PE will be able to view the release history of Performance Security. This means these users can see when and why performance security was released for a particular tender.
- National ID verification has been applied for Review Panel Users in Complaint Management. Review Panel Users must verify their National ID numbers before accessing the Complaint Management system.
Closing Words
The e-GP system has been updated with many new features designed to improve the efficiency, competitiveness and transparency of the public procurement systems. These changes are expected to make the system more user-friendly, which will, in turn; improve the quality of public procurement in Bangladesh.