Evaluating Suppliers/Consultants and Procuring Entities in the landscape of Public Procurement in Bangladesh

Abstract Developing professionalism in procurement, both in Public as well as in Private Sectors, is a challeng e i the field of Public Procurement in Bangladesh . This paper discusses on application of Public Procurement Rules in Governme t Sector with an objective to develop a transparent, account able and efficient procurement aiming at value for money wit h sustainable development in Bangladesh. Finally the study strive s to identify the bottlenecks in implementing Public Procurement Rules in Bangladesh.


Introduction
Public procurement is one of a number of activities within the operations of the Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh that requires special attention in promoting good corporate governance and better overall value for money.
Measuring the Effect of capacity of Suppliers/Consultants and the procuring entities in successful implementation of Public Procurement Rules has always been an effective role for organizations and corporations. Increasing the effectiveness, efficiency and transparency of public procurement systems is an on-going concern of governments in Developing Countries and the international development community. Moreover, in most Developing Countries public procurement of goods, services and works accounts for a significant proportion of GDP, so improved public procurement capacity results in greater value for money and increased public service delivery.
Strong procurement management in the public sector is a tool for achieving political, economic and social goals. In the area of diminishing resources and increased demand for accountability and transparency in government, the "stakeholders/shareholders" of the public sector are demanding more effective and efficient use of public resources.
Present study is aimed to conduct a systematic study and evaluation of existing public procurement process of Government of Bangladesh and to develop considerable suggestions for sustainable development about public procurement in Bangladesh.

Literature Review
This research is to gain effective implementation and ensure an open, transparent and compliant process in Public Procurement within the suppliers/consultants and procuring entities. Effort will also be made to analyze the possibilities of continuous improvement on all categories of expenditure, work in partnership with the private sector and other organizations, i.e., suppliers/consultants to achieve value for money, quality and effective service delivery, promote innovation and equal opportunity for all businesses through a transparent and fair public sector procurement process. This research will closely looks into what value for money is and how we can achieve it. In addition we will also look why suppliers/consultants and procuring entities should work in partnership and how they can work These are the following steps that were followed in developing of questionnaires: (a) Based on definition of the fact to be investigated, data requirements were fixed and qualitative outcomes from case study and contributor observation were integrated. (c) Three sets questions were developed for this study.
(d) Matter of questionnaires were summarized and questions were written on two areas for each set of question; one general information and another being specific information.
(e) Questionnaires were pre-tested by the field to know how well to work.
(f) After pretest of questionnaires, final versions were completed to ensure that the questionnaires are ready for application.
(g) Finally the questionnaires were prepared to complete it dependable and applicable realistic check lists were considered for this study to do an acceptable job.
Questionnaire technique of survey method was used to collect primary data from the Procurement Personnel of Procuring Entities in Public Sector. Random sampling method was used to select 50 nos. participants (20 nos. from procuring entities, 15 nos. from suppliers and another 15 nos. from consultants) who were engage in public procurement process.
Total 20 queries of each set questions for Procuring Entities and Suppliers and 19 queries were developed only for consultants for assessment of supplier/consultants and procurement personnel of Procuring Entities in the landscape of public procurement.

Statistical Status of Respondents
Demographic data and statistical status of respondents for general information are as below:   Table 2 shows that majority of the participants had experience of more than 10 years, from all the three types of organizations, i.e., Procuring Entities, Suppliers and Consultant involved in the public procurement process.  Table 3 shows that majority of the participants are representatives of the organizations, 53.34% for the suppliers, and 80% for the consultants.  Table 4 shows that survey was conducted with major participation of Government officials, i.e., 70%, the other part being the consultants (30%). The Procuring Entities should take more care and appropriate arrangements to handle the obstruction in tendering process.   . Graphical representation on measurement of performance of concern personnel in public procurement process

Experimental Outcomes from the Specific Questionnaires Implemented on Selected Respondents
The consultants are the best in doing performance assessment, suppliers being next and very close but the procuring entities lags too behind. Figure 9. Graphical representation shows that invitation status of pre-tender/pre-proposal meeting in the tendering process The procuring entities invite pre-tender/pre-proposal meetings more frequently whereas the suppliers think that they do it only in some cases, but according to the consultants it is even lesser. Figure 10. Graphical representation shows that attendance status in thepre-tender/pre-proposal meeting by the representative of procuring entities, suppliers and consultants In the view of Procuring Entities, Suppliers and consultants sometimes attend the pre-tender/pre-proposal meetings, whereas the Suppliers demand that they attend in most of the cases. The consultants are sanguine that they attend almost in all cases.
In Figures 9 and 10, all of the respondents opine that pre-tender/pre-proposal meeting is useful for efficient procurement process. The suppliers were found divided equally in three groups who feel comfortable, not comfortable at all, and others partially comfortable, whereas the consultants are mostly partially comfortable and only some feel comfortable. Figure 13. Comparative analysis on re-submission oftenders/proposals The Procuring Entities divided and majority not sure on the issue of re-submission of tender documents/RFPs, whereas the suppliers did not know the actual provision, but the consultants are in good scenario, where mostly are of the opinion that it do not need to be re-submitted.   The graph shows that 90% respondents agreed that market survey is essential for better procurement.  Figure 18. Analytical presentation on preparation/revision procurement plan in team (under revenue budget) Graph show that 20% procurement personnel under revenue budget do not prepare/revise procurement plan in teams. Figure 19. Analytical presentation on preparation/revision procurement plan in team (under development budget) Graph show that 100% procurement personnel under development budget prepare/revise procurement plan in team.

Conclusions
Based on the experiment evaluating the Suppliers, Consultants and Procuring Entities in the landscape of public procurement, the following recommendations are made: (a) e-GP is strongly recommended as all the Procuring Entities, Suppliers and Consultants are interested in it as e-GP could be a solution to perception of corrupt, coercive, obstructive, fraudulent or collusive practices by procuring entities or the Suppliers/Consultants. boosting market economy to achieving value for money needs to be institutionalized. As a research work and as per tactical analysis and procedure of the research, there may have some off-center facts & findings. So, creative ideas are always respected.