Experts at a seminar on Sunday said that the government should remove discriminatory tax structure to ensure level playing field for all domestic and foreign firms in the public procurement process, according to a press release.
They also urged the government to ensure transparency, and consider the capacity of any potential awardee of procurements at the seminar titled 鈥楶ublic Procurement Act-Challenges and Opportunities鈥� organised by the International Business Forum of Bangladesh in the capital Dhaka.
In the keynote paper, former lead procurement specialist of World Bank Zafrul Islam said that conflict of interest was a major concern in procurement processing in Bangladesh.
鈥楥ertificate of insurance arises out of possible informal or undisclosed relationships between public officials and the contracting or consulting industry,鈥� he said.
Zafrul said that there were instances of public officials or their family members operate businesses that participate in same procurement process in the organisation.
He called upon the Bangladesh Public Procurement Authority to consult with stakeholders before formulating any laws or rules.
Adviser to the IBFB and former chairman of the National Board of Revenue Muammad Abdul Mazid stressed the need for imposing equal tax to local and foreign companies instead of existing discriminatory tax structure to local firms.
IBFB vice-president MS Siddiqui urged the government to impose uniform tax at all level, including public imports.
Professor of economics at the University of Dhaka Muhammad Shahadat Hossain Siddiquee urged the authority to ensure equity in the awarding process of the work.
State minister for planning Md Shahiduzzaman Sarker said that electronic government procurement was introduced to ensure transparency at the very primary level of procurement.
He said that E-gp turned the procurement process 180 degree, and there were more ways to go in terms of transparency and accountability.
Bangladesh Public Procurement Authority chief executive officer Mohammed Shoheler Rahman Chowdhury said that they want to bring 100 per cent procurement system in the country under the E-gp system.
He said that the BPPA was identifying challenges of procurement and amending them continually, and they would bring down existing three-step complaints resolution to one-step to make redressing simpler.
