Addressing the long awaited need of the public sector and marking the most transformational change in the Sri Lankan, public procurement domain, the Ministry of Finance is introducing an electronic procurement system which facilitates an efficient and transparent procurement process in the entire public sector.
The Finance Minister, Hon. Mangala Samaraweera launched this web portal today (29 May 2019) at the Ministry of Finance to facilitate the e-procurement system for procurement of all the goods, services and works in the public sector.
Following the 4th South Asia Region (SAR) Procurement Conference on the Theme “e-GP in South Asia” declared open by His Excellency the President held in Sri Lanka in 2017 and subsequent Cabinet Approval granted on the Cabinet Memo presented by Hon. Minister of Finance, Mr. Mangala Samaraweera, the Department of Public Finance took action to develop e-GP system with the technical assistance of the Theekshana R & D, University of Colombo – in complying with the recommendations and guidance of the Working Group appointed by the Cabinet of Ministers.
In future, it will be made compulsory that the procurements notices of goods, services and works of government institutions be published in this website. Also, government and private sector suppliers will be able to register in this website and make their responses conveniently to the respective procurement demands spell out in the procurement notices published in this web portal by the public institutions. This will expand the transparency, quality, accountability and efficiency of the government procurement process leaving no room to defects, malpractices and corruptions.
All the government institutions are capable of using this e-procurement systems by registering under this website operated by the Public Finance Department of the Ministry of Finance and, a user name and a password should be obtained for this purpose. Government and private sector institutions who desire to supply goods, services and works to the government institutions shall also be registered in the similar way which would make the procurement process efficient eliminating inherited delays in the process.
Approximately about of Rs. 750 Billion (20-25%) out of the total government budget of Rs. 3000 Billion is expensed through the procurement process. Implementation of this e-procurement system will prevent corruptions, malpractices and the delays in the procurement process. Further, the method of publishing procurement notices in newspapers could be avoided under this system. This will also help to minimize the cost borne by both government institutions and the suppliers of goods and services, due to unnecessary requirement in the current procurement process. Overall, it is estimated that nearly an amount of Rs. 27 Billion could be saved per annum by minimizing the corruptions and malpractices and reducing unproductive and wasteful expenses in the entire procurement process.
Under this new e-procurement system, provisions allocated to each public institute by the budget is connected with the formulated procurement plan and therefore, no procurement activity could be started without the availability of provisions.
Successful implementation of this e – procurement system aims to realize following objectives.
01 Improvement in the service of both buyers and sellers.
02 Making a joint tendency in the procurement process of government institutions with regard to different fields.
03 Cost reduction of transactions of both the customer and the service provider due to the standardization in procurement.
04 Making the procurement process of all the institutions automated, expedited and efficient.
05 Maximizing the value for the money received by government agencies
06 Obtaining a competitive price for quality goods and services by improving the competitiveness while maintaining a trustworthy source for supplies.
07 Creation of a stronger background for the audit of public procurement expenses.
08 Facilitating a public procurement process with more transparency and accountability with obtaining a high value for the money spent.