70025


Strengthening Monitoring and Evaluation of PPR
1. Description, Objective, Major Conclusions & Recommendations
1.1. Task Description
The study will cover following aspects:

1. Carry out field level study to track actual procurement processing time from invitation for
bids to award of contracts and comapre those deviations with the government mandated
timeline as per the procurement regulations.

2. Identify the areas of delays in procurement processing including reasons for such delays.

3. Review the current strength of CPTU and its capability to monitor procurement activities
across the country. What actions would be required to fill in the gap? Can CPTU engage
Monitoring Associates or introduce other mechanism to track performance of implementing
agencies on a regular and sustained basis.

4. Investigate the possible role of NGO/ civil society/ outside independent institutions in the
monitoring of procurement functions carried out by public bodies. How such involvement
can be materialized within the current framework of the government functionaries. How
civil society/ NGO can play the role of a vigilence agency on behalf of the large
community.

5. Work out modality to publicize inappropriate procurement practices including collusive
bidding and corruption issues.

6. Developing a strategic framework of procurement monitoring both by CPTU and NGO/
civil society which can be implemented through the next phase of procurement reform.

1.2. Strategic Objectives
The key objectives are following:

1. Developing a comprehensive framework to track procurement performance by involving
civil society/ NGO monitoring.

2. Working out a modality to strengthen Central Procurement Technical Unit (CPTU)/
Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) of the government including
its monitoring staffing and logistics at the field level so that it can track persisting
governance problems including corruption issues.

3. Expanding the existing MIS at CPTU to link posiible implementing agencies for online/
off-line data transmission so that CPTU 's MIS become the central entity of the government
to provide performance report to the government.
1.3. Major Conclusions / Recommendations
There was no formal report issued, instead few draft reports were prepared by the
consultant.

Under the NLTA, the Bank assisted Central Procurement Technical Unit (CPTU) of the
Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) and the possible four key
sectoral target agencies (Roads and Highways Department- RHD, Local Government
Engineering Department - LGED, Rural Electrification Board- REB, and Bangladesh Water
Development Board- BWDB) to review their existing procurement implementation and
monitoring system in reference to the new laws/ regulations (Public Procurement Act 2006-
PPA; Public Procurement Regulations 2003- PPR) and suggest areas of improvement with
possible indication of evaluation mechanism of procurement performance. The four target
agencies were chosen taking into account their bulk of procurement and large share of
public budget spending.

Major Findings: The generic deficiencies include planning, budgeting, bidding process,
contract management, and monitoring, a brief of which is provided below:

# planning & budgeting- inadequate procurement planning and its monitoring; splitting of
contract packages; inadequate integrati on of procurement planning with budget
formulation; delays and complex procedures in the fund release mechanism.

# bidding process- excessive delays in award of contract as the contract approval limit goes
higher, specially at the levels of ministry and above; ignoring PPR requirements, review of
bid evaluation committee#s report by another committee or set of persons attached to the
contract approving authority; allowing submission of bids at multiple locations; incidence
of collusive bidding practices; frequent extension of bid validity; inadequate disclosure of
information; inadequate adherence to the complaint handling mechanism.

# Contract management- poor contract administration; frequent non-adherence to the work
plan/ schedule; excessive delays in contract execution; frequent incidence of delayed
payments to contractors/ suppliers/ consultants; non-imposition of liquidated damages for
delayed implementation; inadequate supervision and quality control of works.

# monitoring- either no or poor means of collecting procurement processing data from the
field; no centralized system in place at the agency level to track and monitor bidding and
contract award information; poor monitoring of contract performance; and infrequent
submission of procurement information to CPTU.

Major recommendations: After detailed evaluation of the weaknesses for the four target
agencies, a set of recommendations were made to improve the procurement management
system including its monitoring. The sector strengthening reform actions need to be
anchored at CPTU and the target agencies through a technical working group (TWG)
comprising small number of highly motivated officials in the CPTU and the target agencies.
Each target agency will implement the following standard protocol within the overall
framework of the PPA/ PPR:

i. procurement monitoring coordinator (PMC): designate a PMC for overall monitoring of
agency#s procurement. The PMC will be responsible for coordination and monitoring of
procurement management at the entity level;

ii. procurement planning: prepare annual procurement plan with appropriate contract
packages without splitting and publish the same in website of the agency and/or CPTU for
contracts of Tk. 10 million and above;

iii. budgeting: prepare budget taking into account the annual procurement plan and the
timeline for procurement packages

iv. fund release mechanism: obtain fund or assure timely release of fund in coordination
with the relevant ministry.

v. invitation for bids (IFB): publish invitation of bids above specified thresholds in website
of the CPTU, in addition to the publication in widely circulated newspapers.

vi. post qualification: invite bids for works contracts on a post-qualification basis, except for
the large value contracts of US$ 5 million and more where pre-qualification may be done
provided the work is of complex nature;

vii. bidding time: allow a minimum of 21 days bidding time in national competitive bidding
(NCB), however, for large value NCB contracts (Tk. 50 million and more), the bidding time
should not be less than 28 days;

viii. multiple dropping: all bids shall be submitted and opened at one location; on
exceptional circumstances as specified under the Procurement Act/ Rules, submission of
bids at more than one location may be allowed provided they are opened at one location and
the reasons thereof are recorded properly. However, for Bank-funded projects such
exception shall not be acceptable;

ix. opening of bids: open bids immediately after the bid submission deadline.

x. bid opening committee: open bids by a formal bid opening committee included in at least
one bid evaluation committee member.

xi. bid opening minutes: prepare bid opening minutes, with readout bid prices of
participating bidders, signed by bid opening officials and representatives of bidders; and
share the minutes with bidders immediately after opening.

xii. bid evaluation committee: include at least two members of outside the procuring entity
in the bid evaluation committee (either from public offices or from professional bodies/
universities/ beneficiaries);

xiii. timeliness of bid evaluation: ensure independent functioning of the bid evaluation
committee and submit bid evaluation report directly to the contract approving authority
within the stipulated timeline, along with the certificate of impartiality.

xiv. timeliness of contract: award contract within the initial bid validity period without
seeking extension of time.

xv. sub-delegation of financial power: appropriately sub-delegate financial powers at the
field level as per the GOB financial delegation notification. All field offices shall ensure
exercise of their authority in the field;

xvi. re-bidding: allow re-bidding only in exceptional circumstance with valid justifications,
taking into account that the development partner may not finance such contract, if found not
justified, in particular the agency will enquire into the matter, record and highlight the
grounds of re-bidding (i.e. inappropriate bidding practices or similar, high bid prices etc.).
For corrupt practices, actions need to be recommended.

xvii. contract awards: publish bidding results in website with brief reasons for rejection of
bids. Within two weeks of contract award, the agency will publish in its (if applicable) and
CPTU website;

xviii. complaint handling: introduce complaint box at each procuring entity and handle
complaints within the stipulated timeline, maintain a complaint database and a standard
protocol with triggers for carrying out investigations.

xix. late payment and liquidated damage: make payments to suppliers/ contractors/
consultants in a timely manner as per the provisions of the contract. Interest for delayed
payments beyond a specified period will be stated in the bidding documents. Also, impose
liquidated damages as per contract provisions for delayed completion/ delivery.

xx. post review: carry out annual post review of procurement packages on a sample basis as
per the provisions of the PPA/ PPR.

xxi. procurement performance monitoring: install and use the procurement monitoring
system PROMIS of CPTU with connectivity up to the district level to track procurement
performance, with necessary updating of required field, generate report at entity level, and
transmit relevant data to CPTU.

xxii. integration of contract management tool: for RHD, integrate the contract management
system (CMS) with CPTU PROMIS to generate all monitoring information starting with the
IFB up to the final payment.

xxiii. MIS data submission: provide procurement management and monitoring data to the
CPTU and the designated M&E consultant.

xxiv. pilot e-GP: pilot electronic government procurement (e-GP) at HQ for international
procurement (ICB contracts and international consultancy). The agency will establish e-GP
connectivity up to the division level.

xxv. training: nominate and train all relevant staff in procurement; also suitable candidates
will be trained on the use of e-GP/MIS applications.

xxvi. engagement of beneficiary: take initiatives to partner civil society/ beneficiary groups/
non profit organizations to help build a conducive procurement environment through
awareness building, media campaign, and monitoring as appropriate.

xxvii. action against bidders/ staff: take action against bidders and/or staff for corrupt and
fraudulent practices. In cases of possible collusion found or established for reasons, i.e.
same hand-writing, identical unit prices in the bill of quantities (BOQs), consecutive serial
numbers in bank guarantees for bid security etc, procuring entities will initiate actions,
including debarring contractors/suppliers, as appropriate in accordance with national rules.
If any firm is debarred, the list of debarred firms will appear in the web sites of CPTU, and
of the entity, if applicable, and the debarment notice will be circulated to all field offices
and other government/public sector offices, putting it as a lesson to discourage corrupt or
similar behavior. Similarly, for staff, the agency will take appropriate/disciplinary action
against those involved in corrupt or fraudulent practices, in accordance with the services
rules and procurement regulations.