Work orders worth Tk 600b awarded in single-contractor tender in 11 years: TIB
Work orders worth Tk 600 billion were awarded through tenders where only one contractor participated in the bids in the last 11 years.
Single contractors participated in each of these work orders done through the e-Government Procurement (e-GP) system and they got the work.
Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) said such a practice gives rise to corruption in the country.
This picture was found in a research titled "Government e-procurement in Bangladesh: Monitoring the trend of competitive practices". The TIB report said one out of every five tenders awarded across the country in the last 10 years was decided on a single tender basis.
TIB published the results of the research at TIB office in Dhanmondi on Monday.
TIB executive director Iftekharuzzaman blamed an evil nexus of politicians, administrators and contractors behind the trend of single tender. These three parties predetermine who would be awarded works.
“Bid of a single contractor increases the risk of corruption and the process loses competition. Desired results are not achieved in the e-GP system in government procurement. The Anti-Corruption Commission can work on this issue,” Iftekharuzzaman said.
TIB research and communication outreach’s coordinator Towhidul Islam led the research. Rifat Rahman and KM Rafiqul Alam were other researchers.
TIB also published a list of 10 offices that awarded the most procurements in a single tender. These offices are: Noakhali Sadar upazila engineering office, BPDB’s sales and distribution department-5 of BPDB in Habiganj, Sonaimuri pourashava, sales and distribution department-5 of BPDB in Chattogram, Madhobdi pourashava, Gournadi pourashava, Feni pourashava, sales and distribution department-5 of BPDB in Sylhet and sales and distribution department-3 of BPDB in Sylhet.
TIB also published a list of the top contractors who got the work in a single tender. The contractors are: Max Infrastructure Limited, Navana Limited, M/S Ahsan Enterprise, Creative Engineers Limited, Rangs Limited, M/S Enterprises, M/S Fon International, M/S Buckley Enterprise, M/S Bhuiyan Builders and M/S Telikhali Construction. The TIB research did not mention the names of these contractors.
The report also identified Noakhali and Feni as the districts with most works through single tender followed by Cumilla and Narayanganj.
TIB studied the data of 455,633 work orders of 64 ministries and departments from January 2012 to February 2023. A total of 41,918 contractors participated in those tenders.