Good Practices and Innovations in Public Governance 2003-2011

Good Practices and InnovATIONS in Public Governance
within government departments, shortened tender cycle times, eliminated subjectivity
in the evaluation of tenders, lowered costs thanks to increased competition generated
by remote bidding, and reduced corruption.
In the pre e-procurement era, the departments used to take on average from 90 to 135
days for the finalization of high value tenders. The tender cycle time has gradually
come down to the average of 42 days over a period of one year and was further reduced
to 35 days at the end of the second year. There is greater accountability since
the electronic records/documents can be retrieved at any given time and all users’
activities are undertaken online.
The new system has also reduced opportunities for corrupt practices: the e-procurement
system allows a supplier to view the Notice Inviting Tenders, download bid
documents and Bill of quantities, free of cost, ‘anywhere’ and ‘any time’ from the
Internet. This has empowered the supplier as he is no longer dependent on government
workers for issuing a Request for Proposal (RFP), clarifications on the bids, bid
submission, information on tender evaluation status, etc. The entire e-procurement
process was designed to eliminate the human interface, i.e., the interaction between
supplier and government department, during pre bid and post bid processes, has been
minimized. The automatic tender evaluation functionality has reduced subjectivity in
tender evaluation.
It has also increased access to information, and therefore created greater business opportunities
for suppliers. In fact, before the system was put in place, suppliers had to
physically scan several newspapers to keep track of tenders called by the various departments.
Now, the new E-Procurement system provides all information regarding
procurement requests online. It allows the suppliers to access the tender document and
submit their bids online by paying transaction fees to the service provider. Due to this
innovative project, the suppliers have been able to participate in the procurement process
of a larger number of departments at vastly reduced transaction costs.
The news system has also provided equal opportunities to small and medium suppliers.
Earlier, small and medium suppliers were harassed and physically prevented
form participating in the tendering process. They were either not allowed to purchase
the tender document or submit their bids against a tender. However, through the e-
procurement exchange, they can easily participate in the government’s procurement
process remotely by sitting in their offices. It has eliminated the opportunity for contractor/supplier
cartels. The tendering process has been made completely anonymous
till the bid opening stage. Only after the opening of bids, does anyone come to know
the names of the bidders. Due to this lack of information, the suppliers have been
prevented from forming a cartel. Now the bids are received from a wider section of
small and medium Suppliers.
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