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  1. MAPS Initiative
  2. Assessments
  3. Country cases
  4. Bangladesh

Quick facts

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Countries: Bangladesh
Year of assessment: 2020
Procurement value: US$ 24 billion in FY 2019

Principal organisation: Central Procurement Technical Unit (CPTU)

Main partners:

The World Bank (WB)

Background

Bangladesh has witnessed robust economic growth, averaging nearly 6% annually since 2000, with a noteworthy 8% in FY19. This growth, coupled with effective poverty reduction, propelled the nation to lower-middle-income status in 2015.

Aligned with its aspirations, Bangladesh, under the Vision 2021, aims to achieve middle-income status and deepen poverty reduction. The latest five-year plan (FYP16-20) emphasizes productive employment, increased investment, good governance, and sustainable development.

Public procurement plays a pivotal role in these plans, constituting a substantial portion of the national budget—US$24 billion in FY19, or 45.2% of the annual budget and 8% of GDP.

Bangladesh has undertaken significant reforms in public procurement over the past decade. Triggered by the Country Procurement Assessment Report 2002 (CPAR 2002) recommendations, the government, with World Bank support, implemented two reform projects and is currently working on a third. These initiatives have led to the establishment of a comprehensive procurement system, including laws, secondary regulations, and standardized documents.

A notable achievement is the implementation of an electronic government procurement (e-GP) system, covering the entire procurement cycle. The system, processing 62% of procurement expenditure in FY19, has contributed to efficiency gains, reduced lead times, and estimated savings of US$600 million between FY12 and FY18.

The Central Procurement Technical Unit (CPTU) serves as the primary agency overseeing procurement. A substantial capacity development program, training over 37,000 stakeholders, has been instrumental in enhancing the skills of procurement officials and bidders.

While progress is evident, ongoing amendments to the legal framework and a desire for comprehensive evaluation prompt a detailed study. Previous assessments have offered insights, but a more encompassing analysis is essential, considering the evolving legal landscape and the potential for further amendments.

Process

 

The assessment was carried out by a World Bank team in close coordination with country authorities. The Government formed a MAPS assessment steering committee with the leadership of CPTU and comprising representatives from all key stakeholder groups. This ASC facilitated data collection and identification of the key stakeholders for the interviews, and also provided valuable inputs on the indicator analyses. The assessment team reviewed the current procurement laws, guidelines, procurement processes, standard documents, other relevant laws, national statistics, development plans, analytical and diagnostic works done in the country etc. Data collection took a number of forms – (i) 297,000 procurement packages’ electronic data collected from the e-GP system; (ii) 12,000 paper-based (non e-GP) procurement packages’ data collected under a parallel study on e-GP impact evaluation; and (iii) interviews and focus group discussions with the key implementing agencies including field level procuring entities, other important stakeholders within government, development partners, civil society organizations, professional associations, leading universities, and other business and bidding communities. In-addition, bidder surveys were also conducted in five districts of Bangladesh. 

 

Key results and impacts

  • Top 6 Recommendations:

 

    1. Remove ±10% cap from Open Tendering Method (OTM) for works
    2. Revise Limited Tendering Method (LTM) for national works procurement
    3. Introduce an independent debarment process
    4. Develop and implement a sustainable procurement policy
    5. Fast-track the establishment of the Bangladesh Public Procurement Authority (BPPA)
    6. Enhance integration of the procurement system with the integrated budget and accounting system (iBAS++)

 

  • Next Steps:
    • Implementation of recommendations under the Digitizing Implementation Monitoring and Public Procurement (DIMAPP) Project
    • Request for additional financing from the World Bank for priority MAPS recommended actions