Experts at a workshop said citizens engagement in public procurement has improved the quality of works and ensured social accountability alongside creating an environment for the best use of public money.
Involvement of citizens in public procurement would help stop the irregularities and errors of procurement, they said this on Monday while speaking at a divisional level workshop titled “How to Engage Citizens in Public Procurement Process” at Chez Razzaque Restaurant in Rajshahi city.Emphasis should be given on generating public awareness related to the existing rules and regulations of procurement process so that the social watchdogs and citizens can get scopes of involving them in the process. Central Procurement Technical Unit (CPTU) under Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) of Planning Ministry hosted the workshop in association with BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD). CPTU Director General Ali Nur and Additional Commissioner of Rajshahi division Jakir Hossain addressed the opening session as chief and special guests respectively with Deputy Commissioner Hamidul Haque in the chair. During his keynote presentation, Dr Mirza Hassan, Team Leader of BIGD, illustrated the aspects of citizens engagement in public procurement to ensure social accountability.
Ali Nur underlined the need for ensuring transparency and accountability in public procurement for the best uses of the public money together with proper implementation of the uplift programmes.
Wide-range promotion of Government Procurement (e-GP) has become an urgent need.
As part of its Digital Bangladesh initiative, Bangladesh considers e-Governance to be a vital ingredient in achieving its goal. Various issues like raising awareness about citizen engagement in public procurement, reflection on the perception of the existing rules and regulations and introducing the third party monitoring piloting strategy were discussed elaborately in the workshop.
Around 70 government and non-government officials’ concerned, professional leaders, contractors and members of the civil society took part in the workshop.
Taking part in its group discussions, they placed a set of recommendations on how to ensure transparency and accountability in public procurement through citizens’ engagement.
