ISLAMABAD: The Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) has agreed to hand over its source code of E-Pak Acquisition and Disposal System (EPADS) to PPRA Punjab with the condition that basic architecture of the system will not be altered, well informed sources told Business Recorder.

Sharing the details, sources said, at a recent meeting of PPRA Board, MD PPRA apprised that in line with the notion of ‘One Nation-One System’, the e-Procurement System (EPADS) was conceived as a unified system for federal, as well as, provincial and regional governments of Pakistan.

Consequently, the project for Designing, Developing, Installation, and Commissioning of E-Pak Acquisition and Disposal System stipulates to develop a unified e-Procurement System duly aligned with the regulatory frameworks of all PPRAS in Pakistan.

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Clause “J” of Statement of Work of the Contract reads as: prepare the same system containing all modules and sub-systems for provincial/ regional PPRAS as well, duly aligned with their regulatory framework“.

Therefore, EPADS is expected to serve federal and provincial/ regional procurement regulatory authorities, ensuring complete independence and separation of data and applications in accordance with each jurisdiction’s regulatory framework while providing a centralised control of only technology component to F-PPRA.

However, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Federal PPRA (F-PPRA) and Punjab Procurement Regulatory Authority (Punjab PRA) on 10th November, 2022 under which EPADS was to be provided to Punjab PRA. Clause 1.9 of the MoU stipulates that: Federal Authority shall handover the source code along with Intellectual Property Rights of the application whenever required by Provincial Authority“.

MD PPRA further informed the Board that the Chief Secretary Punjab is pressing hard for the transfer of source code and Intellectual Property Rights of EPADS to Punjab PRA in order to improve the functionalities and complete the missing modules at a faster pace.

Transfer of source code of EPADS to provinces is an important matter that requires guidance of the Board and the following pros and cons are submitted for consideration of the Board:

Punjab Government has to honour the commitment of Federal PPRA under the MoU. It will enable Punjab PPRA to address their EPADS-related issues locally instead of requesting federal PPRA to intervene on a regular basis. It will help Punjab PPRA to customise EPADS according to their requirements (to the extent of Punjab and improve service delivery in the province).

According to MD PPRA, EPADS may not be able to generate national level reports if its control is decentralised. Hence, federal government may not be able to fulfil its international reporting obligations.

The unified nature of EPADS will be compromised if its source code is transferred to Punjab government, as other provinces may also follow the suit. Each jurisdiction will separately spend public money on maintaining a system which can be maintained at federal level.

One of the Board member opined that the EPADS system is running at the national level and the Federal PPRA’s mandate is to regulate the public procurement regime at the federal level.

Since EPADS is a national level platform and the provinces may have their own pros and cons keeping in view the provincial procurement legal framework, so there maybe chances for any overlapping in the provincial and federal public procurement regime.

Project Director EPADS reiterated that the commitment of federal PPRA under the MoU may be honoured to support Punjab PPRA to address their EPADS-related issues locally instead of requesting federal PPRA to intervene on a regular basis. It will help Punjab PPRA to customise EPADS according to their requirements and service delivery in the province.

However, the national level reporting and control of the system may be compromised which could affect the international commitments of the federal government.

Secretary Finance/ Chairman Board desired that the progress on EPADS made so far may be shared with the Board after one month with concrete achievements and future game plan with timelines and further asked PPRA to proceed with early closure of EPADS Contract on the basis of deliverables/ iterations already delivered by M/s Abacus and accepted by PPRA, followed by a Support Period up to six months.

PD EPADS apprised the Board that addendum for closure of contract was ready for signing after legal vetting by both sides. This action is being taken to ensure smooth transition of the software system from vendor to the PMU EPADS.

One of the Board members suggested that service agreement maybe agreed and executed on month to month or quarterly basis.

After detailed discussion, it was agreed that PPRA will hand over the source code to Punjab PRA with the condition that basic architecture of the system will not be altered. They will only be allowed to improve, in agreement with Federal PPRA, the existing functionalities or develop additional modules related to Punjab’s regulatory framework. In any case, unified nature of EPADS shall not be disturbed.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2025