Challenges of adopting strategic procurement policies: a case study of infrastructure Development Company Limited

Abstract

This paper aims to identify the current scenario of public procurement management, the challenges of traditional procurement, and the possible barriers of implementing strategic procurement in Bangladesh. Infrastrructure Development Company Limited (IDCOL), a state-owned organization, has been chosen as scope of the research since it follows procurement guidelines of international development partners under their financed projects. The preparedness of IDCOL and the possible solutions to manage this new procurement approach have been analyzed in the paper. As relevant, foreign direct investment management, public investment, expenditure management, sustainability of economic growth, and the relationship among all these components have been discussed. In order to complete the analysis, some procurement experts have been interviewed, and some IDCOL employees and some bidders have been surveyed. They were asked to provide their opinions on current status of public procurement, which challenges they find in public procurement, which changes they expect in public sector procurement, and what they think about the changes in new procurement framework and strategic procurement approach. After finding their opinions, data analysis has been completed using analytical tools. Some people think that new procurement framework may not be much effective since a well-established procurement policy already exists in Bangladesh. However, some others are optimistic about the new change. They think this new framework may add value, and therefore, this new approach should be accepted, analyzed more, and supported by its stakeholders. This has been found that IDCOL has already an existing capacity of procurement management, but in order to ensure efficiency in procurement under new framework, focusing on enhancing capacity and improving cross-functional coordination should be considered with more importance. According to experts, this is essential now to put more emphasis on financial allocation and strategic coordinated effort for procurement capacity development in order to extract the genuine essence of strategic procurement in public procurement of Bangladesh.