There have been allegations of a lack of competition in the initial tenders for printing free textbooks for the 2027 academic year. Competition, however, has increased in the reretendering process.
In 34 lots, increased competition has brought bids down by nearly 14 per cent, or Tk 93.7 million, from the estimated costs. For 23 lots covering four new textbooks, costs have fallen by a further 8.5 per cent, or Tk 40.6 million. The government has thus saved a total of around Tk 140 million.
According to the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB), the estimated cost of printing books under the 34 retendered lots was Tk 670.3 million. With increased competition, contractors submitted bids totalling Tk 576.6 million.
NCTB officials say the government could have saved considerably more if the same level of competition had existed in the original tenders. Applying the same rate of cost reduction achieved through retendering to the total value of the original tenders suggests that the government could have saved more than Tk 2.59 billion on secondary-level textbook printing alone.
Printing is underway for around 310 million textbooks for the next academic year, covering pre-primary through Classes-IX and X. More than 220 million of these books are for secondary-level students, with the remainder intended for primary-level students.
The total estimated cost of printing the books is around Tk 19 billion. The government's goal is to deliver the textbooks to students at the beginning of the academic year.
Retendering changes the picture
Every year, some textbook printing lots, a lot being a specified portion of the printing and supply work, are cancelled during the tendering process. This happens when a company fails to meet the required qualifications or does not submit the necessary documents. This year, tenders were invited again for 34 lots for such reasons.
The lots include one for Ebtedayee classes-I to V, five for Class-VI, six for Class-VII, two for Class-VIII and 20 for Class-IX.
According to NCTB documents, the estimated cost for these lots was Tk 670.3 million. Based on the bids submitted by contractors, costs have fallen by Tk 93.7 million, representing savings of approximately 13.98 per cent.
The tender documents also reveal the extent of competition. For example, 34 contractors purchased tender documents for Lot No. 745, but only five submitted bids. Most of them represented different companies. In contrast, 37 contractors purchased tender documents for Lot No. 947, for which 32 bids were submitted.
Mahanagar Printing and Publication won the contract for Lot No. 947 by offering to print the books at Tk 2.87 per forme.
The company's owner, Gias Uddin, told Prothom Alo, “My profit will be lower, but I won't incur a loss.”
Tofayel Khan, former president of the Bangladesh Mudran Shilpa Samity (Bangladesh Printing Industries Association), believes that syndicate leaders had secured more work than they could handle. As a result, the earlier understanding among them did not hold in the subsequent tendering process.
In addition, four new textbooks, two each for Classes-IV andVI, will be introduced in the next academic year. The NCTB has completed the tendering process for these books as well.
The NCTB had allocated Tk 539.4 million for 23 lots covering the four books. An analysis of the tenders shows that contractors submitted bids totalling Tk 493 million, saving the government Tk 40.6 million.
‘Evidence of corruption’
The tendering process for printing free textbooks has been dogged by allegations of confidential bid information being leaked, the existence of a syndicate and excessive costs.
Prothom Alo carried a report on the allegations on 18 September. Following the report, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) conducted a raid at the NCTB on 6 October.
Prothom Alo contacted NCTB Chairman Mohammad Fakhrul Mawla for comment on the overall situation. He advised the newspaper to speak to Mohammad Abu Naser, an NCTB member responsible for textbooks.
Abu Naser told Prothom Alo that lower bids in a retendering process were normal.
“It is natural for bids to come down when a tender is retendered. This is an established practice. It would not be appropriate to compare it with the original tender,” he said.
Asked whether any action had been taken over allegations of collusion in the original tendering process, the NCTB member said they had no scope to take such action.
However, Iftekharuzzaman, executive director of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB), considers the reduction in costs through retendering evidence of corruption involving collusion between NCTB officials and contractors.
He told Prothom Alo that the authorities could not evade allegations of corruption by offering routine explanations.
The government must take action against NCTB officials as well as printing company owners, he said.