Page 58 - CMA Journal (Jul-Aug 2026)

F oc us S ec t ion
E-Procurement in Pakistan: Progress,
Gaps and the Road Ahead
Introduction the tender documents in
person and prepare a
Public procurement is undergoing a mega sealed envelope with the
transformation due to the adoption of digital required information and
technologies and the signi cant transformation is the
implementation of E-Procurement systems which plays documents and submit it
before the deadline, and
a key role for enhancing e ciency, reducing corruption,
and improvement in the compliance requirements. then wait, with no real
These systems are designed to automate various idea who else bid or on
procurement processes and real-time audit trails what terms. Now this
provide transparency and accountability which lead to conventional mechanism
good governance-Procurement systems ensures is disappearing and new
improvement in procurement practices and compliance system that is way faster Adnan Mehmood Khan
with existing regulatory frameworks. Globally, the and more convenient Senior Manager, Quality
origins of E-Procurement trace back to the 1980s with than most people Assurance Department
Institute of Chartered
the introduction of electronic data interchange and it outside the system Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP)
has evolved to a wide range of functions that support realize.
the digital transformation of procurement systems. Public agencies are under constant pressure to improve
E-Procurement align procurement activities with transparency, reduce costs, and modernize outdated
modern governance principles by providing timely and processes. As procurement departments move away
accurate data for monitoring and evaluation. from paper-based work ows, the signi cant question is
Studies collectively con rm that, E-Procurement has what is e-procurement, and how does it improve
been widely associated with improved performance accountability in government operations?
outcomes in both public and private Understanding what e-procurement is essential for
organizations’-Procurement reduced fraud and public sector organizations that want to streamline
enhanced institutional performance by streamlining procurement processing, strengthen supply chains, and
operations’-Procurement contributed to administrative reduce spending. By digitizing the purchasing process,
savings, improved job performance, and better overall agencies gain real time visibility into spending while
productivity. E-Procurement signi cantly improved improving contract management and compliance.
tender evaluations, transparency in supplier selection Why Public Procurement Matters?
and created opportunities for better supplier
relationships and reduced the potential for corruption. Worldwide public procurement is one of the most
signi cant and largest areas of government
The adoption of E-Procurement is accompanied by expenditure. Governments procure extensively for the
multiple challenges. i.e.an underdeveloped legal roads, hospitals, medicines, educational equipment,
framework, poor technological infrastructure, and defense supplies, IT infrastructure and countless other
concerns about data security and E-Procurement cannot goods and services through procurement processes.
operate successfully without an environment that According to international estimates and data available,
supports digital engagement. public procurement accounts for approximately 12–20
Anyone bidding for a government contract in Pakistan percent of GDP in many countries.
knows the conventional procedure in which you collect In Pakistan, public procurement involves hundreds of
federal and provincial organizations, autonomous
bodies, universities, hospitals, local governments and
“One Nation, One System.” state-owned enterprises. These entities allocate and
spend trillions of rupees on annual basis on the public
The slogan is easy. procurement.
The plumbing underneath Whenever procurement systems are not up to mark, the
consequences extend will lead to administrative issues
and delayed procurement and ultimately as a result will
it is not. impact adversely infrastructure projects, healthcare
services or escalation in the project costs.
56 ICMA’s Chartered Management Accountant, Jul-Aug 2026
Inadequate documentation makes post-award provincial regulatory authorities. Another important
aspect incorporated is the oversight access has been
accountability more di cult and less competition may given to the National Accountability Bureau, the
result in higher prices. Required or necessary
Competition Commission and the Auditor-General of
improvements in procurement process will lead to
e ciency and generate signi cant scal savings, Pakistan. It had registered around 1,800 procuring
agencies and 18,000 vendors, with roughly 7,000
reduced procurement cycle times, improved supplier
participation and enhanced transparency which will procurements completed. A separate e-Disposal
module extends the same discipline to selling o
ultimately translated into better value for taxpayers’ government assets.
money and nancial management of public resources. The Hybrid Trap
Procurement reform has become an inevitable pillar of
public nancial management as required and The hybrid trap in the electronic government
encouraged by organizations such as the World Bank procurement is the condition Pakistan is actually
and other nancial intuitions. passing through. When manual and electronic
processes run parallel or only some modules are
What Actually Got Built automated, worst results are expected in both manual
The Crown jewel is EPADS, the e-Pak Acquisition and and automated system are expected. Duplication of
Disposal System developed, managed and run by the data is inevitable in such case. Instead of improvement
Federal Public Procurement Regulatory Authority in the transparency there is a decline in it as can as
(PPRA) and it is Pakistan's o cial web-based electronic o cial record is now split across two places and neither
public procurement platform with aim to digitize and
regulate the government's procurement process by is complete.
providing a centralized online platform for procurement Does It Save Money?
planning, tender advertisement, vendor registration, bid The million-dollar question is after spending huge
submission, bid evaluation, contract award, and amount of money that does it save public money and it
procurement record management.
contributes to the public nancial management. And
the answer is yes. Independent research on Pakistani
Public sector organizations use EPADS to conduct
procurement activities electronically and the suppliers, public sector universities using EPADS identi ed that
contractors, and consultants register on this platform to signi cant procurement cost reductions of around 12 to
28 percent and on time delivery improvement by 15 to
participate in public tenders through a transparent 35 percent and this is achievable as more bidders see
mechanism for all. the tender and competition rises and cycle times
By maintaining a comprehensive electronic record of reduced from months to weeks.
procurement activities, the system strengthens
compliance with Pakistan's public procurement laws Security is Now a Procurement Risk
and regulations, facilitates e ective monitoring of Annual allocation and spending of trillion rupees on one
procurement activities, and promotes fair competition platform subject to attack and more speci cally to
among bidders. valuable data like Supplier records, bidding data, and
Half Automated, and Honest About It other con dential information related to procurement.
Security of data is essential for procurement integrity it
E-procurement system is either digital or it is not. As per requires role-based access control, strong
PPRA's own assessment of the rst-generation system: authentication, audit logging as integral part of regular
supplier e-registration fully automated; e-planning, maintenance and as proactive strategy rather reactive
e-advertising, e-noti cations and grievance redressal when some negative incident happened.
only partially automated; e-bidding and e-evaluation The Crux of the Matter
still hybrid, part online and part dependent on o ine
judgement; and digital contract management with The milestone of digitizing procurement mechanism
was aimed at removing the issues that came from
e-invoicing and payment still under development. That paperwork and personal access and replacing them
last gap is signi cant one. A procurement system that is
half automated is not good to go system considering with a system in which records anyone can check to
achieve the objective of transparency. Pakistan has built
huge budget allocation. most of that machine, and with version 2.0 wired into
EPADS 2.0 and the Integration the databases that verify identity, tax status and
Question
professional standing, the veri cation gap is nally
The drawback of the rst version was veri cation aw. A closing.
system that cannot check in real time whether a bidder
is a registered company, tax compliant, and run by the
people it claims, is a vulnerable system a well-prepared
intruder can walk through. That is the gap version 2.0
was conceived to remove. EPADS 2.0 is integrated with
organizations like FBR, NADRA, SECP and other