The official cost estimations for tender works are supposed to be kept strictly secret by any procuring authority of the state, but some officials of the Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) have allegedly been regularly disclosing them unlawfully as there is no punishment for the misdeeds.

A group of DNCC officials and engineers are leaking the information for their personal gains and, helping tenderers to become the lowest bidder capable of bagging the contracts, said sources.

According to section 31 of the public procurement act 2006, to be considered responsive in a tender, a bidder’s proposed prices have to be 10% higher or lower than the officially estimated cost of a work. Meanwhile, section 16 of public procurement rules 2008 made it obligatory for procuring entities to keep the estimated cost confidential until the tender is opened.

However, according to documents obtained by the Daily Sun, the confidential tender information was apparently leaked to bidders in many cases.

In one case, the official estimated cost for the DNCC tender titled "Development of Different Damaged Roads and Footpaths of Banani Area under Ward No 19" was around Tk11.08 crore and the winner of the contract, HM Helal & Co Limited proposed Tk9.97 crore, which was exactly 10% lower than the official estimation.

The tender was invited on 20 October last year by DNCC Executive Engineer Saifuddin Manik and one of the participants of the tender, Johney Enterprise accused Manik for leaking the information.

He also filed a complaint at DNCC authority and later at the local government ministry but no action was not taken in this regard.

The company later filed a complaint over the matter with the Bangladesh Public Procurement Authority (BPA) which resolves any contention over procurement issues.

In another instance, DNCC’s executive engineer Kamrul Hasan invited a tender for improvement of road and construction of master drainage Line on Sonakatra Krishi Bank Road, Baithakhali Road, Alif Nagar Main Road and Outlet Connection to Begunbari Khal on 21 October 2024.

Three companies participated in the bidding. One of them, Johney Enterprise proposed around Tk17.57 crore for the contract. The other two companies – Fast-build Arshi Enterprise and Zaman Consortium Limited proposed exactly the same amount – Tk17,58 crore, which was exactly 10% lower than the tender’s estimated cost – Tk19.53 crore.

This issue was also raised at BPA. Consequently it declared that confidential cost estimations were leaked in both the cases.

DNCC officials said the complainant Johney Enterprise was also involved in the process and took contracts by quoting exactly 10% less than the official cost estimation for Tender ID No 305079, 770341 and 855189.

Kamrul Hasan and Saifuddin Manik were made "officers on special (OSD)" over the allegations on 26 January.

Asked about the cases, DNCC executive Kamrul Hasan said that he won’t talk on the issue over phone while Saifuddin Manik did not receive this correspondent’s calls.

Talking to the Daily Sun, DNCC administrator, also additional secretary of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives Ministry Mahmudul Hasan said, “Recently, the Bangladesh Procurement Authority asked us to take actions against violation of procurement rules.  We have suspended two engineers over breaching confidentiality and we have initiated an investigation. We have asked them to reply regarding the complaints. ”

Asked why the DNCC and the LGRD Ministry did not take any action regarding the complaint earlier, he admitted that they had not handled the issue properly and will take it seriously in future.

He added, “The 10% cap for civil works tender is also questionable practice. The government should remove the 10% caps for tender to reduce this kind of allegation.”

Talking to the Daily Sun on 3 February, National Trainer on Public Procurement and founding Director General of Central Procurement and Technical Unit (CPTU) AKM Fazlul Karim said, “A four-member committee estimates the cost of a work and seals it. They submit the sealed document to the head of the procurement entity. If the confidential cost estimation is leaked, all of these five officials are responsible. ”

He said, “If anyone’s involvement is proved in leaking the information, the authorities can terminate or demote them or can award other punishments to the accused. The head of a procurement entity can also make the breach. In that case the concerned ministry can take steps against him.”