Public procurement legislation in Bangladesh: a study on the application of PPA, 2006 and PPR, 2008 in the procurement activities of Election Commission Secretariat

Abstract

Bangladesh enters into the public procurement legislation officially at 2006. It has created two procuring law documents like Public Procurement Act. 2006 and Public procurement law, 2008, which are supported by Delegation of Financial power, 2015 and e-GP guidelines.

Bangladesh Election Commission is mandated for conducting election according to the supreme law of this republic. With a view to conducting its legislative duties it has to pro cure different types of items regarding electoral management. All the tasks of BEC are done though its secretariat. The secretariat has its own field offices. Some projects are assisting the activities of ECS. The item s procured most of the cases through centralized and a little amount through decentralized system. Election Commission Secretariat was allotted 841 core 59 lakh 62 thousand taka in the fiscal year 2021-22, among which 39.44% of i t used in procurement purpose. It uses both revenue and development budget.

The research finds that PPA. 2006 & PPR, 2008 applied properly in the procurement process of ECS. With some extent due to lack of special knowledge. some sort of deviations were found. But these were not affecting the application of law. Want of technical proficiency, problematic specification s were prepared in a little extent.

Proper monitoring of purchasing activities i s needed to prevent or reduce these impediments. The procurement officials of ECS should be trained with necessary capacity enhancing programs for the purpose of making them competent. Those professionals should also have the knowledge of e-GP system. Introducing e-GP in procuring field will make sure the rational treatment for the competitors as well as ensure integrity, fairness. accountability and transparency.