Frequently asked questions about government tendering process in Bangladesh.

  1. What is Public Procurement?
    Public Procurement means furnishing any procurement using public funds. All budgets of government organisations are public fund. Budgets of the autonomous and semi-autonomous bodies are also public fund. But the own fund of the state owned companies are not public fund according to PPR 2008.
  2. What is PPR 2008?
    PPR 2008 stands for Public Procurement Rules 2008. These are the detail rules governing the government tendering process in Bangladesh. PPR 2008 is formulated under PPA 2006.
  3. What is PPR 2006?
    PPA 2006 stands for Public Procurement Act 2006. PPA 2006 is the fundamental law under which public procurements are done in Bangladesh. It was passed in the National Parliament in 2006 but was enacted from 2008 after formulation of PPR 2008.
  4. What is CPTU?
    CPTU stands for Central Procurement Technical Unit. It is the government agency under the Ministry of Planning who takes care of the implementation of PPA 2006 and PPR 2008. CPTU is legally authorized to provide explanations of PPA & PPR.
  5. What is eGP?
    eGP means electronic government procurement. CPTU has developed an web based platform where the whole procurement cycle can be completed electronically. It is known as eGP portal and website address is eprocure.gov.bd. Most of the government procurement of Bangladesh are now done using this eGP portal.
  6. Which methods are used for public procurement in Bangladesh?
    There are many different methods of procurement available in the PPR 2008. Following methods are widely used:
    a) Works / Goods procurement:
    i) Open Tendering Method (OTM); ii) Limited Tendering Method (LTM), iii) Request for Quotation (RFQ), iv) One Stage Two Envelope Tendering Method (OSTETM), v) Direct Contracting, vi) Direct purchase etc.
    b) Service Procurement:
    i) Quality & Cost Based Selection (QCBS), ii) Fixed Budget Selection (FBS), iii) Least Cost Selection, iv) Individual Consultant Selection, v) Selection based on Consultants Qualification
  7. What is Review Panel?
    Review Panel is the highest tier of Complaint Management system of PPR. Several Review Panels are formed by CPTU. But decision making of Review Panel is idependant of CPTU. It is a quasi-judiciary institution. Each Review Panel comprised of specialists to review complaints submitted by a Person.
  8. Who is Procuring Entity (PE)?
    A Procuring Entity is an officer who receives the portaion of public fund through budetary allocation and invites for tender from the potential contractors.
  9. Who is Procuring Manager (PM)?
    A Project Manager is the person named in the Contract or any other competent person appointed by the Procuring Entity (PE) and notified to the Contractor who is responsible for supervising the execution of the Works and administering the Contract. The Procuring Entity himself can act as the Project Manager. In small contracts, normally PE is the Project Manager. But in large contracts, PE appoints a PM.
  10. What are the differences among Contractor, Supplier and Consultant?
    A contractor executes a construction Works contract. A supplier executes a Goods supply contract. A consultant executes a consultancy service contract.
  11. What is CFCC?
    CFCC stands for Corrupt, Fraudulent, Coercive and Collusive practices. These are the prohibited activies for all the concerned persons who are involved in public procurement. Getting involved in CFCC may lead to debarment and other punitive actions against that person.
  12. What is Delegation of Financial Powers?
    Delegation of Financial Powers (DoFP) is issued by the Finance Division of Ministry of Finance. DoFP determines the authority who will approve a particular purchase proposal.
  13. What is CCGP?
    CCGP means Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase. It is the highest authority to approve a government purchase proposal. CCGP does not approve a contract rather recommends to approve it. Then the contract is approved by the Prime Minister.
  14. What is Tender Security?
    Tender Security is a security instrument deposited along with a tender. It may be in the form of a Pay Order, Bank Draft or Bank Guarantee. The purpose of tender security is to prevent submission of frivolous tenders and to keep the number of participats to an acceptable limit. Tender security also helps to prevent CFCC practices.
  15. What is Performance Security?
    Performance Security is a security instrument deposited by the winner tenderer before signing the contract. It may be in the form of a Pay Order, Bank Draft or Bank Guarantee. The performance security acts as an insurance against non-performance by the contractor. The purpose of performance security is to protect the procuring entity's rights.
  16. Who is HOPE?
    HOPE means Head of the Procuring Entity. HOPE is a administrative head of the Procuring Entitiy's organization. The Secretary is the HOPE for a procurement of a Ministry or a Division, Chief Engineer is the HOPE for PWD, LGED, RHD. Similarly, the Head of a Government Department or Directorate; or the Chief Executive, by whatever designation called, of a local Government agency, an autonomous or semi-autonomous body act as HOPE. HOPE has some special responsibilities in public procurement like approval of Annual Procurement Plan.
  17. What is Annual Procurement Plan?
    Every Procuring Entity (PE) shall prepare a list of procurement pacakges at the begining of a financial year which is called Annual Procurement Plan (APP). APP contains tentative dates of calling tenders and contract signing, allocated budget etc. APP is approved by the HOPE and published on the Procuring Entity's website. Now, preparing APP through eGP portal is compulsory even for the offline procurement packages.
  18. What is Liquid Asset?
    Liquid Asset means those financial resources which can be easily converted to working capital for execution of a particular contract. It is a good measure of financial wellness of a potential contractor or supplier. For Works procurement, normally 3-6 months working capital is set as minimum required liquid asset. For goods procurement, 70-100% of official cost estimate is normally set as liquid asset.