Impact of the “Public Procurement Rules, 2008” on the implementation of development projects-A Case Study on the National Board of Revenue

Abstract

Public procurement refers to the purchase by governments and state-owned enterprises of goods, services and works. As public procurement accounts for a substantial portion of the taxpayers’ money, governments are expected to carry it out efficiently and with high standards of conduct in order to ensure high quality of service delivery and safeguard the public interest. Public procurement is concerned with how public sector organizations spend tax payers’ money on goods, works and services. Public procurement is guided by principles of transparency, accountability, and achieving value for money for citizens and tax payers. Before 2001 there were no central and harmonized national procurement rules and guidelines in Bangladesh. Different ministries and offices or institutions under those ministries used to follow the procurement procedures inherited from the beginning. There was no central control or system of oversight by any authorized agency. In 2001, the World Bank (WB), in agreement with the Government of Bangladesh and participation of other development partners, including Asian Development Bank (ADB) to improve public procurement performance, developed a Country Procurement Assessment Report. The report identified the key issues of any sound procurement process that needed to be addressed. The main issues were (i) the legal framework to govern public sector procurement, (ii) procurement planning (iii) standard bidding documents and proposals, (iv) evaluation of bids, (v) contract management (vi) mechanism for ensuring value for money, fairness, efficiency, transparency and accountability. In 2002 with the financial assistance of WB, the Government undertook the Public Procurement Reform Project. The objective of this project was to contribute to improved performance in public procurement through introduction of measures to make the public procurement system compliant with internationally agreed norms of efficiency, transparency and accountability with the increase of procurement capacity through training creation of a pool of national procurement professionals. Under the project the Central Procurement Technical Unit (CPTU) was established. In 2003, the government issued Public Procurement Regulations (PPR 2003). CPTU undertook major reform activities in public procurement system like posting of government information on internet, a management information system, intensive training, and preparation of standard bidding documents for the vi procurement of goods, works and services. The Public Procurement Act 2006 (PPA 2006) was ratified in Parliament. Subsequently, the Public Procurement Rules (PPR) 2008 was developed under PPA 2006. The PPR 2008 included provision of framework and concession contracts, procedures for procurement of commodities and emergency procurement. In Bangladesh, Public Procurement comprises a significant portion of the national budget. Public procurement contributes directly to the development of the country. It ensures timely delivery of goods to the public like construction of the roads, bridges and infrastructural development. Public procurement provides lots of job opportunities to the people directly and indirectly. It facilitates many firms, factories and organisations to participate in tenders for providing their goods and services, and as such it ensures social protection in the country. Public procurement ensures macro-economic development. It also contributes to the infrastructural development, human development, promoting good governance, and productivity and efficiency in science and technology. The objective of the study was to find out the impact of the Public Procurement Rules 2008 on the implementation of development projects under National Board of Revenue (NBR). Project Documents review, questionnaire survey, interview with Project personnel, contractors and suppliers were done to collect the necessary data. The key findings of the study reveals that PPR 2008 has a significant impact on time, quality and cost of the projects.