A suggested public procurement framework

Md. Abu Sayed Siddique

Recent developments in public procurement, development of new procurement methods, need for transparency and accountability, and need for best practices and best value for money require a sustainable framework in public procurement. Different government agencies or procurement entities, especially the ministries, divisions, departments, directorates and other autonomous and semi-autonomous bodies and corporations in Bangladesh, often purchase goods, services or works by contractual means. A suggested procurement framework is given below for smooth public procurement:

PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT: Planning and management is the first and foremost requirement for any kind of public procurement. Procurement planning is the responsibility of the respective procurement entity. However, mangaement of the procurement requires the involvement of many stakeholders. All the important pillars of the country like the legislature, executive branch and the judiciary are involved in the procurement management process. Legislative branch makes different acts, rules and regulations for procurement. The executive branch plans, prepares and  executes procurement. It is the judiciary that ensures the settlements of  disputes and complaints.

PRE-PROCUREMENT PLANNING: Pre-procurement planning is one of the important aspects of procuremment. Study has to be carried out deliberately before deciding any procurement based on the identification of the need and the availibility of the budget. It is commonly known that "failure to plan is planning to fail".

PROCUREMENT RULES AND REGULATIONS: Procurement rules and regulations require to be formulated in such a manner that they ensure transparency and accountabilty. Methods of procurement vary from country to country. Timeframe in different methods also varies from country to country. However, it must be mentioned in the procurement regulations of the country about different methods of the procurement including its tentative timeframe. Procurement method must set the conditions that provide flexibility to the procurement entities.  Besides the methods, stages of the procurement also vary from country to country. Generally it starts with the identification of the needs and ends with the contract conclusion.

PROCUREMENT EXECUTION: The execution and implementation of procurement is a very importatnt aspect in the entire procurement process. There is a requirement of standardisation of the tender documents amongst different organisations. This would lessen the transacting cost of procurement. Besides standardisation of the tender documents, tender evaluation is also an important aspect of procurement. Evaluation should include both cost and quality. As such, the evaluation should include both technical and the financial aspects. Criteria may be set by giving  weightage  in the different dimensions. The evaluations should not be done on the basis of the submission of the quotaions, papers and documents only. It should also include the interview, presentation, visit by the evaluation pannel, experts and committee as applicable. Experts should be included from the different stakeholders for ensuring transparency during tender evaluation. Procurement should include the monitoring of the contract also. Responsibilities for procurement should be decentralised and the authority should be delegated to avoid the bottlenecks in the procurement system. It will enhance the increased responsiveness by the decesion making authority. There should be a provision of check and balance between the responsibilities of the different procurement tiers. The indentor, budget controller, tender evaluation committee, authority for contract and user must be with their separate charter of duties and responsibilities.

There is a need for an organisational structure with professional staff to oversee and monitor the procurement process. The organisational structure requires combination of both legal and non legal issues. It should monitor and oversee all the procurement activities; maintain their records; issue time to time guidelines to all stakeholders, and also form and conduct appeal procedures. There should be a provision for investigation by the concerned authority that the procurement rules and regulations are strictly followed. It should also contain the penalties applicable for the bidders for any kind of offences related to the procurement. Besides adhering to the rules and regulations, there should be a system of appeal to the court by the bidders for any breach of procurement regulations. There may be a provision of special tribunal for public procurement to hear appeals for speedy disposal of the cases considering the long delays in the courts dealing with the other cases.

EVALUATION AND FEEDBACK: Procurement framework should have evaluation and feedback system for improving the procurement. Besides procuring entity, procurement regulatory authority should also monitor the contract, evaluate them and give a correct feedback through their websites so as to ensure correct procurement for all. Feedback should also include the problems and difficulties faced by the vendors during the entire procurement process.

Dr. Md. Abu Sayed Siddique serves in Bangladesh Army as a Brigadier General.

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