Going digital in public tendering

The advent of the internet, digital connectivity, and the explosion of e-commerce business models in the private sector have for sometime been pressurising the public sector to rethink hierarchical, bureaucratic organisational models. Governments worldwide are facing the challenge of transformation and the need to modernise administrative practices and management systems. Needless to say, many governments, even of the less developed countries, have embraced the system and found in it a huge watershed in shifting from the old ways to remodeling their governance culture. The traditional bureaucratic paradigm, characterised by internal productive efficiency, functional rationality, departmentalisation, hierarchical control and rule-based management is being replaced by competitive, knowledge-based requirements. These new paradigms have caused the shift towards e-procurement and e-tendering paradigm.

E-tendering is not only a highly efficient tool to part with much of the cumbersome works at bidding and post-bidding stages, it has also proven its potential for ensuring transparency --- a much needed goal that governance demands in order to be credible. It is easily accessible, secure and cuts on costs considerably. It automates most of the tendering process. Everything right from the pre-qualification questionnaire to negotiation and award is made through online platforms. It is now easy to invite more potential bidders to make use of user-friendly negotiation models to make the process free from any of the usual time-consuming tasks. Some of the other most common benefits include reducing the length of the tender process, minimising costs, ensuring consistency, improving operational efficiency, and enhancing communication.

In Bangladesh, the idea of electronic tendering (e-tendering) has been doing the rounds for some time, though with no visible positive outcome as yet. A few examples that can be had do not at all reflect the acceptability or even the mindset of people to welcome the model. Half-hearted moves ended up largely undirected and hence the purpose remained unrealised.

Way back in 2004, the government with the assistance of the World Bank developed a website on e-government procurement to invite bids through the portal where the state-owned agencies can flout their tenders, as a starter. Later, the 'Government Procurement (e-GP) Guidelines' were prepared under the provision of Public Procurement Rules (PPR)-2008 where the e-GP system was made compulsory for all concerned for procurement of goods, works and services using public funds. But uninspiring or negligible response has halted the planned course that otherwise could have taken a shape by now to steer things ahead.

A report published in this newspaper says that most government offices are yet to introduce e-tendering though it is one of the priorities of the government's 'Digital Bangladesh' initiatives. More than 80 per cent of the works are still reportedly done through the age-old manual system, although the Prime Minister had instructed all the ministries to implement e-tendering system more than a couple of years back. The main reason, understandably, is severe inertia of the officials who, having been incorrigibly accustomed to the manual and cumbersome methods of tendering, do not find the sophisticated e-tendering device friendly enough to make their job easier. There is more to it. A lack of transparency does produce an undeniable comfort zone for vested quarters. A very recent report in the media flashed the alleged misdeeds in a government department in offering work orders to a chosen few.   

The very reason why e-tendering got recognised as the most efficient method of analysing and sorting out bids and works related to it, is primarily because of its proven transparency, which experts hold is capable of removing more than 50 per cent of corruption from the government's procurement system - believed to be a major breeding ground for bribery in the country. Besides, one plausible reason why successive governments did not heed to modernising the bidding system could be explained from the benefits the age-old manual system offers their party-men-understandably through manipulations of all kinds, at the cost of the quality of the product and services procured.

It is clear that the Digital Bangladesh agenda of the government has so far been rolled to only a few areas, notably in the payments to the government exchequer against various services. Considering the huge applicability of digitisation, these are too insignificant, to say the least. Considering the huge applicability of digitisation, the primitive tendering procedure is a candidate for transformation under the digitised system with the potential of leaving a huge positive impact. Not only can it ease the work of the concerned authorities but, more importantly, also bring about a change in governance. All it takes to be implemented is a strong political will. Otherwise, things will remain where they are.

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