The revised procurement rules and regulations 2009 along with Electronic Government Procurement (e-GP) system is expected to curb the issues related to public procurements.
The revised rules and regulations have already been drafted. It is in the final stage of public consultation.
According to the Finance Minister Namgay Tshering, most mismanagement and corruptions today are related to procurement.
“As per the policy, we go for the lowest bidder while procuring goods and services. This actually affects the quality. So with the revised rules and regulations, quality will be the taken into account as we look at the cost.”
He added the ministry is planning to put up Public Procurement Bill in the next session of the parliament for deliberations.
Similarly, e-GP is a web-based portal maintaining complete and up-to-date public procurement activities of all public agencies.
The Royal Audit Authority (RAA) report 2017 recommended the government to initiate providing information on commonly used products and prices through a web portal to facilitate comparisons.
The Finance Ministry has been identified as the agency to issue directives and reinforce the requirements in public procurements.
“Use of e-GP will involve less time and paper works can be avoided. The e-GP will help in making uniform cost among the ministries and government agencies. Most importantly, it can curb corruption and enable the procurement of quality goods and services. The misuse of funds can also be avoided,” Finance Minister Namgay Tshering said.
e-GP is being piloted in few ministries since the mid of last year.
