Final Report on Completed Database and Survey Impact Assessment of e-GP and Other Selected Interventions (Contract Package # CPTU/S-10) Submitted to: Director General Central Procurement Technical Unit (CPTU) and Project Director, DIMAPPP CPTU Bhaban, Planning Commission Premises, Sher-E-Bangla Nagar, Dhaka-1207, Bangladesh Prepared by MIDAS MIDAS Centre (11th floor), Plot # 5, Road # 16, Dhanmondi, Dhaka 1209, Bangladesh Telephone: 9103421, 9113765, 9146579, Fax: 58153580 email: [email protected], website: www.midas.org.bd June 2018 Acknowledgements MIDAS would like to acknowledge CPTU, Ministry of Planning, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh and the World Bank for commissioning this ‘Impact Assessment of e-GP and Other Selected Interventions’, which attempts to measure the beneficial impact of e-GP System over the paper based tendering process. Our sincere gratitude goes to CPTU’s Mr. Md. Faruque Hossain, Director General, Mr. Shish Haider Chowdhury, Director, Mr. Md. Aziz Taher Khan, Director, Mr. Md. Aknur Rahman, Deputy Director, and The World Bank’s Mr. Jurgen Rene Blum, Senior Public-Sector Management Specialist, Dr. Zafrul Islam, Lead Procurement Specialist, Mr. Ishtiak Siddique, Senior Procurement Specialist and Ms. Sushmita Samaddar, e- GP Impact Evaluation Coordinator for their attention and continuous support throughout the whole process. The technical inputs and guidance provided by The World Bank was highly appreciated and instrumental for the successful completion of this entrusted assignment. We also like to extend our gratitude to all the authorities of three Domains (LGED, RHD and BWDB) who had contributed to this digital survey in many ways during the data collection process. Dr. A.S.M. Mashi-ur-Rahman Project Manager TABLE OF CONTENTS Sl Contents Page No. 1.0 Introduction 1 2.0 First Phase: Tender Listing Survey (TLS) 1 2.1 TLS Data Collection through Format 2 2.2 TLS Statistics 3 3.0 Second Phase: Training of Field Staff for Data Collection 4 3.1 Recruitment of Field Staff 4 3.2 Course Contents 4 3.3 Training Methodology 6 3.4 Training Venue and Timing 6 3.5 Participants 6 3.6 The Administrative Support and Logistics 6 3.7 Resource Persons 7 3.8 Training Inauguration 7 Third Phase: Survey of Paper-Based (Manual) Tenders 4.0 7 and Preparation of Database 4.1 Sample Size 8 4.2 Development of Data Entry Form 8 4.3 Pre-testing of Data Entry Form 9 4.4 Loading of Final Version of Software 9 4.5 Deployment of Survey Teams 9 4.6 Facilitation of Logistics 10 4.7 Data Collection Protocol and Survey Management 10 4.8 Quality Control Mechanism 11 4.9 Survey Statistics 13 4.10 Database 16 5.0 Deliverables and Reporting 16 6.0 Photo Documentation 17 7.0 Conclusion 17 Annexures Annexure 1 Training Course Schedule 19 Annexure 2 List of Participants 22 Annexure 3 List of Survey Teams 25 District and Domain-wise Distribution of Number of Samples Annexure 4 28 Surveyed against Target Annexure 5 Photo Documentation 32 List of Tables 1 MIDAS Team for TLS Activities 2 Domain-wise Distribution of Manual Tenders in TLS 3 Number of Training Participants 4 List of Training Resource Persons 5 Target Sample Size for Survey 6 Web Administrators for Central Cloud Server 7 Team for Back-checking and District Covered 8 Audit Team, Number of Audited Tender Files and Districts Covered Domain-wise Summarized Number of Sample Tender Files Survey against 9 Revised Target 10 Status of Deliverables and Reporting List of Charts 1 Share of Manual Tenders of Three Domains in TLS 2 Domain-wise Survey of Manual Tenders against Target 3 Domain-wise Survey of e-GP Tenders against Target 4 Domain-wise Distribution of PE Survey Abbreviations BREB Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board BWDB Bangladesh Water Development Board CPTU Central Procurement Technical Unit e-GP Electronic Government Procurement FY Financial Year LGED Local Government Engineering Department MIDAS Micro Industries Development Assistance and Services PE Procuring Entity SPR Survey of Paper-based Tender Records TLS Tender Listing Survey WB World Bank Final Report on Completed Database and Survey 1.0 Introduction The Central Procurement Technical Unit (CPTU) is responsible for setting procurement policies, and for overseeing their implementation across Government agencies. As a key innovation, CPTU had been overseen the role-out of Bangladesh’s electronic Government Procurement System (e-GP) since 2012. Bangladesh’s e-GP System currently digitize the entire contracting process, from the advertisement to final payment. It collects and publishes vast amount of detailed records placing it among the advanced procurement systems according to the emerging global standard: Open contracting Data Standard. So far, the e-GP system has primarily been rolled out in four major agencies-Local Government Engineering Department (LGED), Roads and Highways Department (RHD), Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) and Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board (BREB). In order to assess the impact of e-GP System of Bangladesh, CPTU assigned MIDAS for a consulting services for collection of tender related data from the three Government agencies-RHD, LGED and BWDB. As per contract with CPTU, MIDAS was responsible for only collecting the data from the three agencies. Analysis of collected data would be carried out directly by the World Bank. MIDAS successfully completed the total assignment which was carried out in three Phases as follows: 1st Phase: Collection of information through Tender Listing Survey (TLS) 2nd Phase: Training of field staff for data collection 3rd Phase: Sample Survey of paper-based (manual) tenders and preparation of database and checking-rechecking Audit The following sections cover phase-wise various aspects and other aspects of the completed assignment. 2.0 First Phase: Tender Listing Survey (TLS) The assignment commenced with TLS. With assistance of concerned three government agencies and CPTU, MIDAS completed Tender Listing Survey (TLS) in the first phase of the assignment. In TLS, basic information of all paper-based (manual) tenders executed during 5-year period (2011-12 to 2015-16) were collected from RHD, LGED and BWDB in all the 64 districts of Bangladesh. The following sections detail various activities carried out by MIDAS for TLS. Prepared by: MIDAS Page-1 Final Report on Completed Database and Survey 2.1 TLS Data Collection through Format A format for collecting information under TLS was developed consisting of the following basic information: a. Organization (Agency) b. Name of the Procuring Entity c. District d. Procurement Package Reference No. e. No. of lots f. Tender Invitation Date g. Name of the Procurement Package h. Procurement Category (Goods/Works) i. Procurement Method (ICT/NCT/ LTM) j. Contract signing date k. Estimated Costs l. Contract Amount as awarded (in BDT) The format developed in Excel, was sent to all 64 District Offices of Executive Engineer of RHD, LGED and BWDB with instruction of sending back the filled-in format to MIDAS and CPTU. MIDAS team made regular contacts and follow-up over telephone and email with the districts offices of the three agencies so that filled-in formats are sent back with in the stipulated time. After repeated persuasion and follow-up by MIDAS team, MIDAS finally received all TLS data either in soft copy through email or hard copy through postal mails from the district offices. The following table shows MIDAS Team that was involved with the TLS activities. Table 1: MIDAS Team for TLS Activities Sl Name 1. Dr.A.S.M.Mashi-ur-Rahman Project Manager 2. Mr. Ebrahim Hossain Field Manager 3. Mr. Ziaul Moquit Sr. General Manager 4. Mr. A.K.M. Shamsuddin Deputy General Manager, MIDAS 5. Mr. Mohammad Ridwan-UL-Alam Assistant Manager, MIDAS 6. Mr. Mohammad Ali Bayzid Program Associate, MIDAS 7. Mr. Md. Riashad Joarder Management Trainee, MIDAS Prepared by: MIDAS Page-2 Final Report on Completed Database and Survey Sl Name 8. Mr. Ahmed Tausif Reza Rochi Management Trainee, MIDAS 9. Ms. Anamika Islam PS to MD, MIDAS 10. Ms. Nipa Monalisa Receptionist, MIDAS 2.2 TLS Statistics After receiving TLS data, MIDAS compiled these in computerized format using excel for facilitating sampling of final survey in the third phase. After compilation of TLS data, MIDAS again sent these to CPTU and World Bank. A total of 33,285 basic tender records for the 5-year period (FY 2011-12 to 2015-16) were collected under TLS. The following table and pie chart present the distribution of number of tenders executed by RHD, LGED and BWDB. It can be seen that out of 33,285 number of tender records collected in TLS, majority of 21,498 (64%) are from LGED, followed by 7,549 (23%) and 4,238 (13%) records from RHD and BWDB respectively. Moreover, with the introduction of e-GP system, it is evident from the table that the number of paper-based tenders sharply declined from 12,198 in FY 2012-13 to only 954 in FY 2015-16. It is learned that tendering process for RHD has been completely digitized, as such, there are no manual tenders in RHD since FY 2014-15. Table 2: Domain-wise Distribution of Manual Tenders in TLS Name of FY FY FY FY FY Total the 2011-2012 2012-2013 2013-2014 2014-2015 2015-2016 Domains Number of Manual Tender Documents BWDB 1313 1059 1001 607 258 4238 LGED 7898 8481 3473 950 696 21498 RHD 2692 2658 2199 0 0 7549 Total 11903 12198 6673 1557 954 33285 FY: Financial Year Prepared by: MIDAS Page-3 Final Report on Completed Database and Survey Chart 1: Share of Manual Tenders of Three Domains in TLS BWDB, RHD, 4238, 7549, 13% 23% LGED, 21498, 64% 3.0 Second Phase: Training of Field Staff for Data Collection After completion and submission of TLS data to CPTU and World Bank, a 7-day training of field staff was carried out during January 21-29, 2018 in Dhaka under second phase of the total assignment.