ISLAMABAD: In order to get a full sense of e-procurement and related issues of the E-Pak Acquisition and Disposal System (EPADS), the Ministry of Housing and Works has arranged a conference in collaboration with the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA).
All heads of departments/organisations and nominated senior officers of this ministry has attended the conference.
The secretary Housing and Works welcomed the participants and informed them that the secretaries' committee has decided to conduct such training in all ministries/divisions/departments.
After the introduction of all participants, the secretary invited the executive director PPRA to start the session formally.
The executive director PPRA has informed that The Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) has decided to start E-Procurement System at the federal level. PPRA has launched an E-Procurement System titled “E-PAK Acquisition & Disposal System (EPADS)”. Under this system, the Authority, all Procuring Agencies and bidders shall use EPADS starting from planning to close of contracts in case of public procurement of goods, works, services and commercial transactions and shall also cover all the aspects of regulatory framework.E-Pak Procurement Regulations, 2023 have been notified and are available on PPRA’s website.
Representative of PPRA further informed that E-procurement now has been introduced in 18 ministries, 166 departments. Up till now Rs10 billion expenditure has been incurred on it. Further, 15 billion is expected in the next financial year. 600 vendors have been registered. Secretary, H&W asked some questions about duplication with provincial authorities and the mandate of federal PRA in provinces. However, the PPRA representative clarified that only necessary integration has been compiled and no interference in affairs of provincial procurement will be occurred through this software.
The representative of PPRA provided details of Configuration Management module (CMS) and other related details of software i.e. physical, GIS, contact management, evidence, test mobile app and e-payment parameters of the software.
Participants showed keen interest in the training session and asked various questions. The representative of PPRA answered all questions and also appreciated the interest of the participants.
After the introductory session, Ijaz Haider Malik, project manager M/s Abacus Consulting, Islamabad started the technical session and provided all the details through PowerPoint presentations. He informed the participants that with the modern trends of e-governance procurement (e-GP), the authority has undertaken to develop a state-of-the-art web-based e-procurement system encompassing the total procurement life cycle starting from planning to closing out of the contract. The system name as "E-Pak Acquisition & Disposal System"(EPADS) which will be a centralized end-to-end procurement system developed for the whole country including the Federal as well as Provincial Regulatory Authorities (PPRAs). It is further stated that e-procurement and electronic reverse auction can enhance the efficiency of procurement, eliminate bid rigging, strengthen transparency and achieve value for money (VFM).
After a detailed session, the following decisions were taken: Ministry Housing and Works will continue coordination with PPRA till the completion of training process of all relevant officers/officials of this ministry and attached organisations/departments; and all departments/organisations nominate officers/officials for this training.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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