A group of contractors still control most of the tenders in the country, said Transparency International Bangladesh Monday.
“The competitive environment that was supposed to be created in e-tendering with the cooperation of political administration and contractors, has not been achieved. A group of contractors still control the market,” said TIB Executive Director Dr Iftekharuzzaman at the press conference titled “Government e-procurement in Bangladesh: Monitoring the trend of competitive practices” at TIB’s office in Dhanmondi on Monday (25 September).
During the press conference, TIB’s study results on the tenders were shared.
According to the TIB research, Chattogram City Corporation and Dhaka South City Corporation awarded the most number of single tenders among city corporations. TIB’s said two out of every three projects of Chattogram City Corporation are given through a single tender and every two projects of Dhaka South City Corporation are awarded through a single tender.
“Although tenders were invited through e-tendering in the last 12 years, about 63% of Chittagong City Corporation and about 55% of Dhaka South City Corporation made only one tender in this regard,” TIB said.
One out of every five government tenders awarded across the country is decided on a single tender basis, the TIB report said.
“This rate is 26% in the open tender system. That is, only one out of every four has been given work in a single tender. 70% of e-procurement work is done by local contractors, the remaining 30% by non-local contractors. The financial value of the work orders given through a single tender is 60,000 crores, which is 15% of the total purchase price of projects and goods procured through e-tendering. 12 procuring firms got a single tender order of more than 75% of the time, with 416 contractors receiving more than 75% of the work,” TIB said.
Even after 12 years, 20-35% of government procurement is done through e-tendering. Tenders with large contract values have not yet come under this process. More than 99% of all purchases that have been made through e-procurement have contract value below Tk25 crore, TIB said.
Meanwhile, the top 5% of contractors’ share of work is increasing every year. On average, about 30% of the work is controlled by these contractors.
In government e-procurement, the average tender reading rate has increased, but the average tender submission rate is 3.54 in the open system.
The average number of bid submissions in the limited tender system is 47.75. The 10% price ceiling on open tendering has popularised limited tendering, where no prior work experience is required to get the job, which is destroying the competitive environment in the market., TIB added.
