The government will introduce real-time tender processing in public procurement to ensure transparency and accountability, said Abul Kashem Md Mohiuddin, secretary of the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) under the planning ministry.

The e-government procurement or e-GP system of the government has already been functioning for saving time and money and for more transparency.

Mohiuddin made the comments today at a meeting of the Public-Private Stakeholders' Committee (PPSC) under the "Digitizing Implementation Monitoring and Public Procurement Project (DIMAPPP)" held at the NEC Conference Room in Dhaka.

Officials from different ministries, agencies and departments of the government and members from the media participated at the consultative meeting, organised by the Central Procurement Technical Unit (CPTU).

In his presentation, Mohammed Shoheler Rahman Chowdhury, director general of the CPTU, said the lead time in tender for public procurement has been reduced to 53 days in 2023 from 100 days in 2017 thanks to the adoption of technologies.

The e-GP helped us save $1.1 billion annually, 497 million kilometres of travel distance, 1,053 million tonnes of pages of papers and cut 153,559 tonnes of carbon emission, said Chowdhury.

Director of CPTU and Additional Secretary Masud Akhter Khan moderated the meeting.