Dummy bids, manipulated records: How a firm tried to rig Titas' Tk2,214cr smart meter contract

Summary:

• DTCL used dummy bidders and false claims to secure the contract
• An investigation exposed DTCL's fraudulent tactics and procurement rule violations
• Titas decided to retender the project instead of awarding it to DTCL
• DTCL and Framir Engineering were found to be secretly affiliated
• Evaluation committee overlooked discrepancies, allowing DTCL's bid to progress unfairly

When state-owned Titas Gas invited bids from consultants for its Tk2,214 crore "Smart Metering Energy Efficiency Improvement Project" right after the 2024 national polls, local firm Development Technical Consultants Pvt Ltd (DTCL) used several tricks to secure the contract.

The company submitted multiple bids through dummy bidders to block competitors, claimed false experiences to get them shortlisted, and changed addresses and manipulated tax certificates to obscure its affiliations with the dummy companies in the tender process for the project to install 6.5 lakh smart meters across Dhaka.

All its illegal manoeuvers almost paid off when, in October, the evaluation committee awarded DTCL the highest score among the four shortlisted bidders, prompting the Titas authorities to move towards signing a contract with the company.

However, an investigation was later launched after a competing bidder challenged the evaluation process, exposing DTCL's manipulations.

The investigation report from December 2024, obtained by TBS, found the evaluation process in the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-funded project questionable, as DTCL and its affiliated bidder allegedly used irregular practices to secure the contract.

Based on the findings, the Titas board of directors decided on 20 February 2025 to retender the consultancy instead of awarding it to DTCL.

Following the board decision, Titas will not award the consultancy work to DTCL and float a new tender, said Titas Gas acting managing director Shahnewaz Parvez.

Titas Chairman Saifullah Panna told TBS on 22 February, "It is frustrating to see how the gigantic projects had been running here."

Relevant parties and the members of the evaluation committee might face the music according to the Public Procurement Rules (PPR) 2008, said Saifullah Panna who is a secretary at the Chief Adviser's Office.

Deceptive attempts halted by investigators

In March 2024, nine solo and joint ventures submitted expressions of interest to Titas for the smart metering project covering the southern part of Dhaka zone.

In April, Titas shortlisted four bidders – DTCL, Pegasus International (UK) Limited, a joint venture of Indian Voyants Solutions and two other firms, and another joint venture of Korea Management Association Consulting Inc and Framir Engineering Bangladesh.

The shortlisted firms submitted their proposals in the middle of last year.

In October, after the evaluation committee awarded DTCL the highest score and moved to grant it the project, Pegasus International challenged the decision, citing its own superior experience and questioning the evaluation process.

Pegasus also submitted documents exposing fraudulent tactics used by DTCL.

Petrobangla swiftly formed an investigation committee led by its General Manager Umme Tajmeri Selina Akhter. The committee also included Titas GM Engineer Razib Kumar Saha and DGM Engineer Mohammad Sahadot Hossain.

After reviewing Pegasus' claims and evidence, the committee, on 18 December, recommended actions based on local public procurement rules and the relevant guidelines of the development partner.

"The entire corruption master plan was set during the previous government and we got the courage to complain only after the political changeover to stop repetition of similar corruption," Mohammad S Karim, director of Pegasus International, told TBS.

"Consultancy itself is a small portion of such projects, but the power for a control over project design and procurement made it excessively lucrative to a new group of firms in the industry over the past one decade," he said.

He added that Titas should take action against the wrongdoing bidders as well as the evaluation committee members.

Karim further stated that DTCL's experience includes consultancy for Karnaphuli Gas Distribution Company, where they worked on around 60,000 smart meters, while Pegasus served as the consultant for Titas's project involving 4.2 lakh meters.

Investigation findings

The investigation report reveals two Korean bidders with almost similar names from the same office address in Seoul participated in the consultancy tender and they were related to DTCL.

Echoing procurement experts, Titas acting MD Shahnewaz Parvez said local PPR demands at least four shortlisted firms and having dummy competitors within helps deter real competitors.

Korea Management Association Consultants bid alone and was not shortlisted.

Korea Management Association Consultants Inc bid through a joint venture with Framir Engineering Bangladesh, a company owned by DTCL Managing Director MM Amir Hossain's wife, Rahima Khatun.

To meet the requirement of at least one prepaid meter project consultancy, the Korea-Bangladesh joint venture cited a 2015-19 consultancy experience in the prepaid gas meter installation project of Karnaphuli Gas Distribution Company.

However, investigators found that Framir was established in 2020 and had falsely claimed the Karnaphuli project experience of Rome-based Framir Engineering Srl, Italy, which later exited the business.

In an apparent slip, the local Framir also declared that it is not a part or branch of any parent company. As a result, the claimed work experience was deemed unacceptable, and the Korea-Bangla joint venture should have been disqualified.

However, according to the investigation report, the evaluation committee overlooked this discrepancy.

If the committee did its job right, Titas might have retendered months ago, said Energy and Mineral Resources Division Additional Secretary and Titas Director SM Moin Uddin Ahmed, who led another three member committee to comment on the investigation report.

The Request for Proposal instructed shortlisted firms not to submit a second proposal, whether as a sole bidder or as part of a joint venture.

Connection between DTCL and Framir

The investigation report stated that DTCL initially listed its address as Niketon, Dhaka. Later, it changed the address to Gulshan as Framir Engineering had listed the same Niketon address in several other documents.

DTCL MD MM Amir Hossain's wife, Rahima Khatun, is the managing director of Framir Bangladesh.

They altered the addresses in the later submissions, according to the report.

Rahima also submitted an allegedly manipulated tax certificate later on as the first one listed her husband's name, while the second replaced it with her father's name. The tax certificate only mentions one of the two for female taxpayers.

DTCL and Framir are interrelated; their key expert, office address, and even website are the same, according to the investigation report.

DTCL's change of address and Framir's alleged alteration of the tax certificate were all "attempts to conceal the family connection between their managing directors," with the investigation committee deeming it a "violation of integrity".

Same key expert represents multiple firms

Also, the local PPR does not allow a key expert to represent more than one consultant firm and the tender for Titas's similar Gas Sector Efficiency Improvement and Carbon Abatement Project left no room for this. However, in the Smart Metering Energy Efficiency Improvement Project it was not prohibited.

Project Director Muhammad Abul Kawser told TBS that development partner ADB allows this and foreign funded projects follow their guidelines.

DTCL and Framir joint venture with Korea Management Consultants Inc both proposed Korean Expert Young Do Kim as the key gas metering expert. Interestingly, the proposal evaluation committee gave the same expert a score of 87 for DTCL and 85.5 for the winning firm's dummy joint venture.

The evaluation committee, having Project Director Abul Kawser as the member secretary, did not care about any explanation of the different scores for the same expert, said the investigation committee.

Kawser told TBS that the project had not been awarded to DTCL yet; the process was still ongoing.

What DTCL said

When questioned about the company's address change, DTCL MD Amir Hossain said, "It wasn't just an address change; we shifted to our own property in the process."

However, the investigation committee found no official notification or declaration of the address change.

Referring to the allegations as a conspiracy by its foreign competitor, the DTCL MD added, "We have yet to receive any updates from Titas regarding this matter."

Regarding the multiple bids, he stated that family members may own different companies, which can compete in the same tender.

On the use of work experience from Framir Engineering Srl, Italy, Amir claimed that the Italian company's owner had granted them power of attorney to conduct business here through a local company. However, he did not mention this in the Titas documents.

He added, "Once we have the formal letters [over the allegations], we will consult with our lawyers."

Investigation committee recommendations

The investigation committee recommended that Titas comply with the PPR, which states that consultancy should be awarded to the winning bidder if there are no unresolved complaints. However, the PPR also stipulates that awards should not be granted in cases of proven corruption, fraud, conspiracy, or coercive actions by any of the relevant parties, whether buyer or vendor.

After seeking a written explanation from the guilty party regarding the findings, if their response is unsatisfactory, the procuring entity may cancel the proposed work orders and impose a ban for future participation.

Additionally, relevant individuals or officials from the procuring entity could face anti-corruption actions.