Flawed tendering and evaluation process of the country’s telecom regulator is delaying several projects that witnessed repeated rescheduling in the last one and half years.
Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission officials said inefficiency of the officials concerned was the core reason for re-tendering of several projects including setting up of central monitoring system to curb VoIP.
They also said sudden change of mind of the commission high-ups also forced them to re-tender some projects.
The repeated tendering of projects is causing waste of huge public money and the man-hour of the officials, they said.
The Central Procurement Technical Unit, a government body for public procurement, has recently raised an objection about a BTRC project to install internet safety solution.
The BTRC earlier faced High Court order on August 2011 that cancelled its appointment of auditor to check into financial details of mobile phone operators because of flawed appointment process.
‘Sometimes the officials are found not qualified enough to fulfil the Public Procurement guideline given by the government. Sometimes the commission high-ups change their mind about a project which also lead to re-tendering,’ a senior BTRC official told New Age last week.
He said although a procurement entity had the right to cancel or re-tender its appointment or project procurement, repeated incidents in the last one year was delaying some key projects.
The BTRC in May 2013 called for interested parties to set up a central monitoring system in a bid to curb illegal voice over internet protocol; but after tendering twice the process is likely to be cancelled again, said the officials.
‘The CMS issue is pending before the CPTU following a complaint by an aggrieved participant about the tender evaluation process,’ said a BTRC official.
In another incident, the BTRC on April 8, 2013 called for IT firms to set up an internet safety solution to fight cyber crime but after cancelling the tender twice the regulator is set to float the third tender.
The BTRC officials said the last ender of ISS was cancelled following an objection by the CPTU as the telecom regulator violated the Public Procurement Rules while forming the evaluation committee.
In January 2013, the BTRC floated a tender intending to hire an international audit firm to check the financial details of the mobile operators but cancelled the tender following objection from the local audit firms.
The BTRC officials said although the regulator’s previous move to audit the mobile companies in 2011 was declared illegal by the HC, the January 2013 move was also flawed.
‘The second move was also flawed as the tender calls for international firms without knowing that a foreign audit firm can work in other capacity here like a consultant but cannot be appointed as an auditor,’ said a BTRC official.
He said some commission high-ups also changed the mode of purchase to facilitate vested quarters which also led to cancellation of tender.
‘For example, the decision for the ISS project was to purchase the solution by the BTRC and managed by itself. Later the commission changed its mind and decided to hire a firm for managing the ISS service,’ he said.
-With New Age input
