Bidding process must be fair

On Sunday, the cabinet approved the draft Public Procurement (Amendment) Ordinance, 2026, aiming to make the bidding process more competitive, protect local industries, and modernise procurement. These changes are indeed much-needed and long-awaited, but will the proposed changes make the overall procurement process impervious to corrupt and exploitative practices that have long been plaguing the sector?

According to a report by this daily, the proposed changes, awaiting vetting by the Legislative and Parliamentary Affairs Division, include easing key eligibility requirements for the bidding process. Under the current tendering process, only firms with prior experience and high annual turnover can bid for large government projects. The changes—demanded by political leaders at different levels and raised in parliament back in June—are intended to give new or relatively small-size firms, start-ups, and entrepreneurs (who are excluded from bidding for public contracts under the existing framework) a greater opportunity to compete.

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Procurement abuse must stop

Broadening participation, particularly for technically capable businesses, could encourage innovation and enhance value for public money. However, experience and financial capacity are also necessary safeguards, especially for large-scale projects where a contractor’s failure can cause serious financial and public harm. What the procurement sector needs is bidding requirements proportionate to a contract’s size, complexity, and risks. As TIB's executive director has pointed out, a new firm should be allowed to compete if it can demonstrate the relevant technical competence, financial capacity, and ability to deliver.

The proposed provision where the government will retain the authority to impose “separate conditions” based on the nature, complexity, and risks of a specific work order needs scrutiny as well. These special conditions must be paired with clear definitions, objective criteria, and independent oversight so that such discretion does not become a convenient means of favouring preferred bidders. In February 2025, a TIB study found that 17 percent of all government tenders had only one bidder for the previous 12 years, facilitated by a similar discretion. The proposed changes must prevent a repetition of this.

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Public procurement process must be fair and competitive

The draft ordinance must also clarify how corruption will be addressed. We have seen many reports of blatant procurement abuse. Earlier this year, an investigation by the Comptroller and Auditor General's (CAG) office found that in the purchase order of electrical substation equipment and generators for 11 buildings in the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant housing project, equipment officially valued at around Tk 27 crore was billed at Tk 214 crore.

Opening up public procurement is a good move, but it must be done with appropriate safeguards so that the transparency and fairness of the bidding process are never compromised, and the loopholes that can be exploited for corruption are closed. The draft ordinance must ensure that public contracts are awarded competitively and to those best equipped to deliver the results, not to those more connected to power.