BIGD, as part of the Public Procurement Reform Project (PPRP, phase 11) has been supporting the Central Procurement Technical Unit (CPTU), IME Division, Ministry of Planning to pilot test a third-party monitoring system (model) of infrastructure projects, involving the beneficiaries/citizens at the Upazila level. BIGD team has been involved in implementing the project in four Upazilas of Rangpur and Sirajganj for the past 18 months. The essence of the project is to establish greater transparency and accountability in public procurement through citizens’ engagement.
This pilot project has received the World Bank's South Asia Procurement Innovation Award for 2016-2017 at the fourth South Asia Regional Public Procurement Conference, hosted by the Sri Lankan Department of Public Finance at Sri Lanka, on February 20-23, 2017.
The theme of the conference was "e-GP in South Asia: Achievements, Opportunities and Challenges". Director General of CPTU Md Faruque Hossain, the current chair of the South Asian Public Procurement Network (SAPPN), represented Bangladesh in the conference.
The SAPPN is a platform of heads of public procurement regulatory bodies in South Asian countries. They exchange ideas and experiences to innovate good practices to improve public procurement management in the region in general and their own country in particular. The SAPPN for the first time declared public procurement award under some categories. The World Bank, Asian Development Bank and the Islamic Development Bank were the sponsors of the conference.