Sri Lanka turns to e-procurement
By GovInsider
In bid to cut corruption and boost competition.
Sri Lanka will soon roll out an e-procurement platform to streamline public procurement, its Finance Minister has announced.
The platform will improve efficiency, transparency, competition and fairness, Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake said at the Fourth South Asia Region Public Procurement Conference.
Bids and procurement information will be widely accessible, which will allow more suppliers to participate, he added.
“The World Bank, ADB and other development partners recommend the introduction of electronic procurement as they are willing to provide technical assistance to implement e-GP in Sri Lanka”, The Ministry of Finance highlighted in its 2014 report.
In 2015, the Sri Lankan Government spent US$ 3.92 billion on public procurement, making up 5.3 percent of its GDP, and 26 percent of total government expenditure, according to a report by Verité Research.
In the region, India has digitised its procurement processes, linking 469 registered government departments to suppliers. Bangladesh launched its e-procurement platform in 2011. S
ince 2015, more than 28,000 tenders valued at US$3 billion have been processed.
Image by McKay Savage, licensed under CC BY 2.0