Massive awareness on sustainable public procurement demanded

Bangladesh has digitised its public procurement system, though not fully.

A major portion of procurement is now done through the well-known e-GP (electronic Government Procurement) system. Now, the government is focusing on implementing sustainable public procurement (SPP), which is obligated to achieve target 12.7 of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) in public procurement. This needs massive awareness among all concerned, including women entrepreneurs and tenderers. 

The government is implementing SPP, and this monumental task involves massive capacity and awareness building, legal coverage and rephrasing of all procurement documents. A steering committee headed by a planning adviser is looking after the implementation. With this view, the Bangladesh Public Procurement Authority (BPPA) is in consultation with the stakeholders. As part of it, the authority will conduct further consultations with women entrepreneurs and other concerned sectors. BPPA will first go for the pilot implementation of SPP in six products stipulated in the SPP Policy approved by the government in 2023.

Mirza Ashfaqur Rahman, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Bangladesh Public Procurement Authority (BPPA), IMED under the Planning Ministry, informed this at a Policy Dialogue on Bangladesh's Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP) Policy at a hotel in Dhaka on April 24, 2025. Md. Sakhawat Hossain, Director of BPPA, made an elaborate presentation on the BPPA's roadmap to implement SPP. 

Business Initiative Leading Development (BUILD), in collaboration with the International Trade Centre (ITC) 's She Trades Initiative, with support from the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), organised the program to disseminate reports on a survey on SPP Policy to identify policy implementation challenges and opportunities.

Referring to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor's 2023/24 Women's Report, he said that women's entrepreneurship is steadily growing globally, and women are becoming increasingly involved in high-growth, innovation-driven businesses. Yet they continue to face unique barriers, including unequal access to markets like public procurement. As of the most recent data, women own approximately 7.2 per cent of businesses in Bangladesh, according to the Labour Force Survey 2022, which indicates significant gender disparity in entrepreneurship in the country, the CEO of BPPA said. 

Despite comprising about half of the total workforce, women are substantially underrepresented in business ownership, he said, adding, "In the global arena, where women own about one in every three businesses, Bangladesh's rate is notably lower, highlighting the need for targeted policies and initiatives to promote women's entrepreneurship and address the barriers they face. That's why implementing the SPP Policy is not only a public sector responsibility—it is a social commitment."
Ferdaus Ara Begum, CEO of BUILD, presented the survey report highlighting some specific requirements for Women-Owned Enterprises (WoEs)  to be in business and their participation in public procurement activities. Survey findings show that 90% of surveyed WoEs participate in public procurement, of which 60% favour the Request for Quotation (RFQ) method, and only 30% use the more complex Open Tendering Method (OTM). She urged massive awareness among all, especially women, to raise awareness.

Ms Diyina Jem Arbo, Policy Lead of ITC's SheTrades initiatives, highlighted a gender-responsive monitoring and evaluation framework with a standard definition of women-owned businesses. She underscored the need for women entrepreneurs to understand the gender provisions in the public procurement processes and how they navigate them. She presented an action plan to measure the impacts of the gender-responsive M&E framework. She stressed that the output indicators should be SMART to be impactful. Finally, she stressed the need for an action plan alongside a well-planned roadmap; for this, a structured database from all the PES in the country is required.  

Several women entrepreneurs, procuring entities, BPPA officials, and development partners attended the event to interact on the issue. Women tenderers and entrepreneurs raised the challenges they face in public procurement.