Women participation in public procurement process can ensure sustainable development: Speakers

The participation of women in the process of public procurement can ensure sustainable development, speakers said at a workshop on Tuesday (19 September).

"The government under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is working sincerely for women empowerment through inclusion of this large segment of the population in all activities to ensure sustainable development of the country. As a result, women in large numbers have come forward in all fields including employment, income generation activities and public services as well as business and enterprises, and in some cases their success crossed the levels of that of the male community," said Abul Kashem Md Mohiuddin, secretary at the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) under the Ministry of Planning. 

He was speaking as the chief guest at an e-GP awareness workshop for women entrepreneurs and women tenderers, organised by the Central Procurement Technical Unit (CPTU) at its conference room today.

Md Shoheler Rahman Chowdhury, director general at CPTU, chaired the workshop and made a presentation on "Overview of Public Procurement System in Bangladesh. Arafat Ishtiaque, Procurement Specialist of the World Bank spoke at the workshop. 

A total of 50 participants including over 30 women tenderer and entrepreneurs attended the workshop. The IMED secretary and CPTU DG appreciated the interests of women in e-GP of CPTU.

Senior officials from CPTU present at the workshop include Md Aknur Rahman, PhD, Director (Joint Secretary), Md Nasimur Rahman Sharif, Director (Joint Secretary), Md Mahfuzar Rahman, Director (Joint Secretary), Ashfaqur Rahman, Director ((Joint Secretary), Md. Mosharraf Hussain, Senior System Analyst, Laboni Chakma, Director (Deputy Secretary) and Md. Shafiul Alam, Senior Communication Consultant. Mohammad Shahjahan, Director and CEO, Dr Zeenat Sultana, Program Director, BCCP, among others, were present.

Abul Kashem Md. Mohiuddin said, most women across the country are contributing to economic activities in various forms and so the fact is that 100 percent of women in the country are employed, which is an exception than males. With the belief that women can bring better results in all fields in all aspects, he encouraged the women community to come forward in enterprises and tendering activities. He supported CPTU's plan to give preferential treatment to women tenderers and said, if women are supported, then the country would find big female tenderers in the near future. 

He highly appreciated the World Bank for its continuous support for taking e-GP forward since its beginning and expected its further contributions in making sustainable public procurement in the country.

Md. Shoheler Rahman Chowdhury said, CPTU is supervising implementation of the e-GP system in the country. As part of that, several significant modules have been added recently to make e-GP more functional. As a result, the entire process starting from tender planning to contract implementation management can now be done online.

The new modules include tenderer's database, A-challan, direct procurement method (DPM), international tender module, electronic contract management system (e-CMS), electronic audit (e-audit) and e-GP's integration with National Identity Card (NID). 

With these inclusions, the public procurement system has been fully digitized which will ensure sustainable development in the country by implementing the government's vision to build Smart Bangladesh, he added.

Mentioning that 50 percent of the country's population are female, CPTU chief said the state cannot be a developed one without their participation in the development process. Referring to a study he said, the activities completed with involvement of women are done honestly, sincerely and efficiently and so there is every chance for better outcomes from the works accomplished by women.

Participants made various queries on public procurement and raised their problems and concerns that they face while taking part in tendering and completion of tendering procedures. CPTU high officials replied to their queries and assured them of resolving those for the benefit of all concerned.