The electronic government procurement (e-GP) system developed by a Bangladeshi software firm was launched in Bhutan yesterday.

The e-GP system developed by software firm Dohatec New Media has the capacity to handle 15,000 bids a year.

Bhutanese Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay inaugurated the digital tendering system in a state ceremony in Thimphu, capital of Bhutan.

Luna Shamsuddoha, chairman of Dohatec New Media, told The Daily Star, "To get the Bhutanese contract, we competed with leading companies from India and also other developing countries".

Dohatec had partnered with a Bhutanese company New Edge Technology to complete process and signed an eight-year contract with them for the landlocked country.

"It is prestigious for Bangladesh that Dohatec is competing with leading global IT solution providers," said Shamsuddoha.

The World Bank and Asian Development Bank have provided the support, which related with USD 395,690, according to Bhutanese media.

Earlier Dohatec developed this same system five years back and is now replicating the Bangladeshi e-GP system in Bhutan.

Through this electronic procurement system, Bangladesh government floated more than one lakh tender and of it 61,288 -- involving Tk 43,828.45 crore -- awarded electronically, according to the Central Procurement Technical Unit as of June 1.

Some 38,890 tenders were floated for fiscal 2016-17 and it will grow further in next fiscal and onwards.