Proper audit can improve public procurement environment
DHAKA, May 28, 2025 (BSS) – Audit officials need to have knowledge on the provisions of public procurement law and rules as proper audit is essential to check anomalies in the process of public procurement.
With strong demands for more training on public procurement for audit officials and the introduction of pre-audit in public procurement, the above observations dominated a workshop titled “Public Procurement, e-GP and e-Audit” held today at the conference room of the Bangladesh Public Procurement Authority (BPPA).
BPPA organized the workshop for officials of BCS Audit and Accounts Cadre as part of its efforts to improve overall public procurement management and environment under the Digitizing Implementation Monitoring and Public Procurement Project (DIMAPPP), said a press release.
With the inclusion of electronic Contract Management System (e-CMS), the e-GP introduced by BPPA is now a complete online system.
The system is now more robust as e-Audit module, Tenderers’ Database, international tender module, have been added to the e-GP System. The e-GP system has also been integrated with iBAS++ and NID.
Audit officials observed that e-Audit in e-GP has made their tasks easier as they can do audit of public procurement online through e-GP system and they do not need to travel to procuring entities while they also do not need piles of papers for conducting their audits.
Mirza Ashfaqur Rahman, Chief Executive Officer of BPPA presided over the workshop. Nurul Islam, Director General of Foreign Aided Project Audit Directorate (FAPAD), was present as the chief guest while Mohammed Shoheler Rahman Chowdhury, former CEO of BPPA, was the special guest.
Nazmul Islam Bhuiyan, Team Leader, Enhancement of Operation and Maintenance of e-GP system, Dohatec New Media, made a detailed and comprehensive presentation on the aspects of e-Audit and its implementation progress.
The BPPA CEO also made another presentation highlighting the legal aspects of public procurement where audit is essential and where audit personnel get misunderstood while carrying out audit on public procurement.
About 30 officials of BCS Audit and Accounts Cadre attended the workshop. BPPA officials were also present. Bangladesh Center for Communication Programs (BCCP) managed the workshop as communication consultant of BPPA.
Mentioning that auditors are making significant role in protecting public funds, BPPA CEO said, BPPA has been working for ensuring transparency and accountability in public procurement where audit officials can help a lot in achieving its target.
Giving details of tasks that BPPA (former CPTU) took to take public procurement forward, he said, BPPA is making efforts to maximize the use of e-GP and its target is to conduct 90 percent of public procurement through e-GP in next five years.
Urging BPA for arranging more trainings on public procurement to check misappropriation of public funds and thus benefit the country, Nurul Islam, DG of FAPAD said, without strong educated auditors, BPPA cannot make procurement transparent and accountable.
Emphasizing the need for arranging training for audit officials, former CEO of the BPPA urged the office of the CAG to provide BPPA a long list of auditor officials and said this would help audit officials better understand public procurement, e-GP and e-Audit.