Economic Reporter :
The first of five sessions on orientation about public procurement for officers of the Parliament Secretariat was held in the Oath Room of Parliament Building on Tuesday.
About 30 officers of different sections of the Parliament Secretariat took part in the one-day orientation.
Dr Md Abdur Rob Howlader, Senior Secretary, Parliament Secretariat, presided over the inaugural session while Farid Uddin Ahmed Chowdhury, Secretary, IME Division, was present as special guest.
Dr. Zafrul Islam, Lead Procurement Specialist, the World Bank, was also present on the occasion. Faruque Hossain, Director General of Central Procurement Technical Unit (CPTU), IMED, Ministry of Planning, conducted the orientation session.
The Senior Secretary in his inaugural speech said procurement is in the heart of development and revenue budget of the country. Its relevance to Parliament is more important as officers provide support to various parliamentary standing committees which need to deal with large procurement of the government, he added.
The secretary of IMED said now the public procurement is transformed into digital technology which is called e-GP. “On the one hand we are implementing e-GP and on the other we are enhancing capacity of the main actors, he said, adding that at the same time IMED is engaging other stakeholders in dialogues and examining possibility of citizen engagement in public procurement.
Dr Zafrul Islam said Bangladesh is the only country in the world that has carried out reforms in its public procurement by borrowing money from the World Bank. It indicates the seriousness of the government to ensure transparency and accountability in this important sector of public expenditures, he added.
William Liam Heavin, Team Leader of Fineurop, Consultant for the capacity development under the PPRP-II, said, “We have been coordinating and managing various training and orientation on public procurement under project being implemented by CPTU with support from the WB.
In the orientation on public procurement, the DG, CPTU touched upon public procurement system and principles, committees, methods, advertisement, documents, approval process, delegation of financial power (DoFP).
