Does Digitalization Bring Efficiency in Public Procurement Management? An Evaluation of Bangladesh’s Electronic Government Procurement System (e-GP)

Abstract

Electronic Government Procurement (e-GP) is primarily a public procurement reform initiative undertaken by the Bangladesh government to streamline procurement activities efficiently and effectively by procuring agencies. The study investigated the Procuring Entities (PEs) and the Bidders nationwide. A structured questionnaire survey was conducted among bidders from 64 Districts, and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) were held with different leading Procurement Entities (PEs) to determine the effectiveness of the e-GP System. It has been found that it helps to ensure efficiency in many dimensions of the procurement process. The e-GP System is faster, time-saving, user-friendly, and less procedural than the conventional procurement process. The study also found that the procurement lead time has reduced substantially and increased competition by many folds due to the adoption of the e-GP System. The System has brought efficiency by reducing corruption, costs, visits, procurement lead time and saving public funds. However, the competition in OTM (Works), language barriers and centralised training for e-GP remained as issues. A fully automated e-GP system could be a comprehensive solution to the conventional paper-based procurement process, overcoming these problems and ensuring ultimate success.