Page 59 - CMA Journal (Jul-Aug 2026)

F oc us S ec t ion

Inadequate documentation makes post-award provincial regulatory authorities. Another important
accountability more di cult and less competition may aspect incorporated is the oversight access has been
result in higher prices. Required or necessary given to the National Accountability Bureau, the
improvements in procurement process will lead to Competition Commission and the Auditor-General of
e ciency and generate signi cant scal savings, Pakistan. It had registered around 1,800 procuring
reduced procurement cycle times, improved supplier agencies and 18,000 vendors, with roughly 7,000
procurements completed. A separate e-Disposal
participation and enhanced transparency which will module extends the same discipline to selling o
ultimately translated into better value for taxpayers’ government assets.
Introduction the tender documents in money and nancial management of public resources. The Hybrid Trap
person and prepare a Procurement reform has become an inevitable pillar of
Public procurement is undergoing a mega sealed envelope with the public nancial management as required and The hybrid trap in the electronic government
transformation due to the adoption of digital required information and encouraged by organizations such as the World Bank procurement is the condition Pakistan is actually
technologies and the signi cant transformation is the and other nancial institutions. passing through. When manual and electronic
implementation of E-Procurement systems which plays documents and submit it What Actually Got Built processes run parallel or only some modules are
before the deadline, and
a key role for enhancing e ciency, reducing corruption, automated, worst results are expected in both manual
and improvement in the compliance requirements. then wait, with no real The Crown jewel is EPADS, the e-Pak Acquisition and and automated system are expected. Duplication of
These systems are designed to automate various idea who else bid or on Disposal System developed, managed and run by the data is inevitable in such case. Instead of improvement
procurement processes and real-time audit trails what terms. Now this Federal Public Procurement Regulatory Authority in the transparency there is a decline in it as can as
provide transparency and accountability which lead to conventional mechanism (PPRA) and it is Pakistan's o cial web-based electronic o cial record is now split across two places and neither
good governance-Procurement systems ensures is disappearing and new public procurement platform with aim to digitize and
improvement in procurement practices and compliance system that is way faster regulate the government's procurement process by is complete.
with existing regulatory frameworks. Globally, the and more convenient providing a centralized online platform for procurement Does It Save Money?
origins of E-Procurement trace back to the 1980s with than most people planning, tender advertisement, vendor registration, bid The million-dollar question is after spending huge
the introduction of electronic data interchange and it outside the system submission, bid evaluation, contract award, and amount of money that does it save public money and it
has evolved to a wide range of functions that support realize. procurement record management.
the digital transformation of procurement systems. Public agencies are under constant pressure to improve contributes to the public nancial management. And
the answer is yes. Independent research on Pakistani
E-Procurement align procurement activities with transparency, reduce costs, and modernize outdated Public sector organizations use EPADS to conduct
modern governance principles by providing timely and processes. As procurement departments move away procurement activities electronically and the suppliers, public sector universities using EPADS identi ed that
accurate data for monitoring and evaluation. from paper-based work ows, the signi cant question is 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
Studies collectively con rm that, E-Procurement has what is e-procurement, and how does it improve participate in public tenders through a transparent 35 percent and this is achievable as more bidders see
been widely associated with improved performance accountability in government operations? mechanism for all. the tender and competition rises and cycle times
outcomes in both public and private Understanding what e-procurement is essential for By maintaining a comprehensive electronic record of reduced from months to weeks.
organizations’-Procurement reduced fraud and public sector organizations that want to streamline procurement activities, the system strengthens
enhanced institutional performance by streamlining procurement processing, strengthen supply chains, and compliance with Pakistan's public procurement laws Security is Now a Procurement Risk
operations’-Procurement contributed to administrative reduce spending. By digitizing the purchasing process, and regulations, facilitates e ective monitoring of Annual allocation and spending of trillion rupees on one
savings, improved job performance, and better overall agencies gain real time visibility into spending while procurement activities, and promotes fair competition platform subject to attack and more speci cally to
productivity. E-Procurement signi cantly improved improving contract management and compliance. among bidders. valuable data like Supplier records, bidding data, and
tender evaluations, transparency in supplier selection Why Public Procurement Matters? Half Automated, and Honest About It other con dential information related to procurement.
and created opportunities for better supplier Security of data is essential for procurement integrity it
relationships and reduced the potential for corruption. Worldwide public procurement is one of the most E-procurement system is either digital or it is not. As per requires role-based access control, strong
signi cant and largest areas of government
The adoption of E-Procurement is accompanied by expenditure. Governments procure extensively for the PPRA's own assessment of the rst-generation system: authentication, audit logging as integral part of regular
multiple challenges. i.e.an underdeveloped legal roads, hospitals, medicines, educational equipment, supplier e-registration fully automated; e-planning, maintenance and as proactive strategy rather reactive
framework, poor technological infrastructure, and defense supplies, IT infrastructure and countless other e-advertising, e-noti cations and grievance redressal when some negative incident happened.
concerns about data security and E-Procurement cannot goods and services through procurement processes. only partially automated; e-bidding and e-evaluation The Crux of the Matter
operate successfully without an environment that According to international estimates and data available, still hybrid, part online and part dependent on o ine
supports digital engagement. public procurement accounts for approximately 12–20 judgement; and digital contract management with The milestone of digitizing procurement mechanism
was aimed at removing the issues that came from
Anyone bidding for a government contract in Pakistan percent of GDP in many countries. 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
knows the conventional procedure in which you collect In Pakistan, public procurement involves hundreds of half automated is not good to go system considering with a system in which records anyone can check to
federal and provincial organizations, autonomous achieve the objective of transparency. Pakistan has built
bodies, universities, hospitals, local governments and huge budget allocation. most of that machine, and with version 2.0 wired into
state-owned enterprises. These entities allocate and EPADS 2.0 and the Integration the databases that verify identity, tax status and
spend trillions of rupees on annual basis on the public Question professional standing, the veri cation gap is nally
procurement. closing.
The drawback of the rst version was veri cation aw. A
Whenever procurement systems are not up to mark, the system that cannot check in real time whether a bidder
consequences extend will lead to administrative issues is a registered company, tax compliant, and run by the About the Author: Adnan Mehmood Khan is a Chartered Accountant and
Fellow Member of PIPFA, currently serving as Senior Manager in the Quality
and delayed procurement and ultimately as a result will people it claims, is a vulnerable system a well-prepared Assurance Department of ICAP. He previously worked as an Audit Consultant
impact adversely infrastructure projects, healthcare intruder can walk through. That is the gap version 2.0 on PIFRA, a World Bank-supported project of the Auditor General of Pakistan
aimed at improving financial reporting, auditing, transparency, and
services or escalation in the project costs. was conceived to remove. EPADS 2.0 is integrated with accountability in the public sector. He has also served as a faculty member at
organizations like FBR, NADRA, SECP and other LUMS, PIPFA, and CSA, teaching Audit, Accounting, and Public Finance.
ICMA’s Chartered Management Accountant, Jul-Aug 2026 57