Public Procurement Reform Project II (PPRP-II)
The Social Awareness Campaign and Communication (SACC) Program for PPRP-II
Focusing on public expenditure on procurement, Public Procurement Reform Project II (PPRP-II) aims to demystify the complexity of the existing public procurement process and make it transparent, standardised and comprehensible for the bidding community and other stakeholders. A Public Procurement Act was passed in the Parliament in 2006 and the Public Procurement Rules (PPR) were framed in 2008. Recognising a need for transparency and accountability in the public procurement system, the Government of Bangladesh initiated a project which became the precursor of PPRP-II. The implementation of PPRP-II is undertaken by the Central Procurement Technical Unit (CPTU) within the Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) of the Ministry of Planning. Through Social Awareness Campaign and Communication (SACC), BCCP led the way in laying the foundation for a fair society where public procurement is conducted in a sincere manner.
Communication Strategy
The Social Awareness Campaign and Communication (SACC) of PPRP-II included developing a Communication Strategy in context of the PPRP II project with an overarching goal to help successfully implement the ongoing public procurement reforms in the country. The Communication Strategy consisted of several elements of Strategic Communication such as raising awareness, increasing knowledge, fostering behavior change and making advocacy to demystify the procurement process -- often a black box to most individuals, to help promote a shift in behavior and mind-set among the members of the community (policymakers, public officials, bidding community, civil society, politicians) with regard to procurement activities, to encourage increased demand for reforms, and ultimately to provide the social foundations to support the institutionalization of a well functioning public procurement system in the long term. The Communication Strategy provided systematic and coordinated support to CPTU through a comprehensive range of mutually reinforcing strategic communication intervention at both local and national levels targeting different stakeholders that have direct or indirect stake in the issues of public procurement and its impact.
TV and Radio Commercials
As part of the intervention, a television (TV) and a radio commercial focused on PPR awareness were produced and aired between November 2010 and March 2011. These were aimed to disseminate the key themes of public procurement, namely accountability, transparency, open competition, equal treatment and skills, to the target audience in order to gain their support for PPR. The TV commercial was aired on BTV, ATN Bangla, NTV and Desh TV, whereas the radio commercial was aired on Bangladesh Betar, Radio Amar and Radio Today.
National Launch of PPR Awareness Campaign
Implementation of the Communication Strategy started at the national launch of the campaign in November 2011. With the slogan ‘Shokari Kroye PPR – Jonogoner Orther Shorbottom Baybohar’ at the forefront of the campaign, it was intended to give a clear message of PPR to procuring entities, bidding community, media and the civil society through raising awareness and capacity building, the stakeholders would be better equipped to comply with the provisions of PPR. The campaign was supported by development and distribution of posters and stickers and hoisting 72 billboards with the same message as the posters and stickers in 64 districts throughout the country.
National Launch of e-GP Portal
A grand gala launch event for the 'National Electronic Government Procurement (e-GP) Portal' was held on June 2, 2011 at the Hall of Fame in Bangabandhu International Conference Center, Dhaka. Sheikh Hasina, Honourable Prime Minister of Bangladesh graced the occasion as the Chief Guest and inaugurated the National e-GP Portal.
Among a splendid turnout of 900 guests were Air Vice Marshal (Rtd.) A.K. Khondoker, Honourable Minister of Ministry of Planning, Architect Yeafesh Osman, Honourable State Minister of Ministry of Science, Information & Communication Technology, Ms. Ellen Goldstein, Country Director of the World Bank, and many such notable individuals. A special e-GP kit was gifted to all the attendees.
Advocacy Kit
As a supplementary material for the advocacy campaign, an advocacy kit was developed. The kit contains a set of fact sheets, folder, notepad, along with a frequently asked question answer sheet on e-GP. It was distributed among various stakeholder groups involved in advocacy activities and interventions, such as program launches, trainings, workshops, roundtable meetings.
Procurement Video
Through several meetings with the Working Group and CPTU, the content and script of the procurement video was finalized and produced for showing in trainings, workshops, orientations for capacity development activities, advocacy/communication workshops, etc, and for distribution among the interested bidders and procuring entities.
Future Search Conference at District Level
The Future Search Conferences (FSCs) took place at the district level with representatives from target agencies, contractor community, media, civil society, locals that are influential or from administration, and other stakeholders. A total of 64 FSCs were conducted in 64 Districts with 45-50 participants at each workshop.
With the aim of analysing public procurement issues, creating a sense of ownership among participants and designing action plans for stakeholders, BCCP successfully brought in 2086 participants to the FSCs and facilitated them at district level. Sensitizing these groups of people would mean they would be more attuned to PPR issues and could help change public’s perception of reforming the public procurement system and PPR, as well as help develop the community action plans by involving key stakeholders. By reinforcing the message broadcasted on television and radio publicising PPR, FSCs help form a more positive image of PPRP-II related issues within the community to create an enabling environment for materializing the goals of PPRP-II.
Capacity Building
BCCP designed a number of short training courses for the procuring entities, contractors, media personnel and civil society members. Besides discussions, meetings have been held with CPTU and other training partners like FIN-EUROPE and BRAC-IGS to get their inputs on the proposed training on social awareness of PPR issues. With regards to the training, a two-day Curriculum Development Workshop was organized by BCCP to share and finalize the curriculum. The workshop was inaugurated by Mr. Habib Ullah Majumdar, Honourable Secretary of IME Division, Ministry of Planning and Mr. Amulya Kumar Debnath, Director General of CPTU, and it involved 21 participants. A set of 4 curricula was finalized through the analysis of findings from the workshop as well as suggestions from the Working Group.
The BCCP team also attended a PPSC meeting organised by IGS-BRAC, chaired by the Honourable Minister, Ministry of Planning. Additionally, BCCP team also attended a couple of meetings of the World Bank review mission at CPTU along with other partners and consultants of PPRP II.
Capacity Building
BCCP designed a number of short training courses for the procuring entities, contractors, media personnel and civil society members. Besides discussions, meetings have been held with CPTU and other training partners like FIN-EUROPE and BRAC-IGS to get their inputs on the proposed training on social awareness of PPR issues. With regards to the training, a two-day Curriculum Development Workshop was organized by BCCP to share and finalize the curriculum. The workshop was inaugurated by Mr. Habib Ullah Majumdar, Honourable Secretary of IME Division, Ministry of Planning and Mr. Amulya Kumar Debnath, Director General of CPTU, and it involved 21 participants. A set of 4 curricula was finalized through the analysis of findings from the workshop as well as suggestions from the Working Group.
The BCCP team also attended a PPSC meeting organised by IGS-BRAC, chaired by the Honourable Minister, Ministry of Planning. Additionally, BCCP team also attended a couple of meetings of the World Bank review mission at CPTU along with other partners and consultants of PPRP II.
PPRP II going from strength to strength and focusing on its ambitious goals, the program’s message communicated it clearly and effectively to the public. It is not long before muchneeded developments will be seen in the area of procurement.