Barriers & enablers of E-Government Procurement (E-GP): an analysis of Public Works Department (PWD)

Abstract

The planning ministry is taking a timely initiative for all government purchases to be done under the electronic government procurement (EGP) process. Tenders on paper have not only given ample scope to corruption and irregularities, but has caused serious clashes too. Bidders are harassed while submitting the tender documents. Some can’t even submit their documents due to threats from criminal quarters. Vested quarters backing these criminals are in control of the procurement process. The taxpayers and the service seekers are the ones who suffer the most. In order to resolve these problems, in 2011 the government introduced the EGP system for procurement in the local government engineering department, Roads and highways department, Water Development board and the Rural Electricity board. The e-GP is a single web portal from where and through which public procurement agencies and entities will be able to conduct their procurement related activities with transparency and accountability. For their part, the bidders and tender applicants will not only save time but also have a level playing field. Electronic government procurement (e-GP) is a modern and integrated online system for procurement of goods, works and services with public funds. The government deserves appreciation for digitizing public procurement that involves about TK 780 billion development budget every year. This research looks into e-GP system through the lens of Public Works Department (PWD). There are many facts which are either hindering or helping the e-GP process in PWD. Respondents were asked about their experience so far and several interesting factors came though interviewing them. Respondents descried what they think has helped them to forward through the e-GP process till such, namely Lesson learnt from other department, Bitter experience of the manual system and Support from the strategic level of the Government. Various Blockers to impletion for e-GP was identified such as Lack of training and Understanding about the system, inadequate capability of CPTU server, Untrained Contractors and incapability of e-GP system to encompass all stakeholder in the Purchase to Pay (P2P) cycle. Respondent then recommended various steps that they think should be implemented for the future performance of e-GP. Innovative and Interactive training of the stakeholders were recommended by most of them. This training can be both offline and online type. Some even suggest that current interface of website can be made more user friendly, so that beginner can fell easy to use. If all the recommendations are implemented, that day is not far when e-GP system will achieve 100 % coverage in all the government purchase.