ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has mandated third-party validation for all development projects with budgets exceeding two billion rupees.
Chairing a meeting in Islamabad on electronic procurement, e-Pak acquisition, and disposal systems, the Prime Minister emphasized the government’s commitment to ensuring transparency in procurement procedures.
He instructed that third-party validation be introduced to address grievances and concerns effectively. Furthermore, he called for changes to the existing rules to ensure that the system for handling procurement complaints is independent of the procuring agency.
Expressing dissatisfaction with the delays in the e-procurement project, Sharif directed that the project be completed within one month.
During the meeting, it was reported that the e-Procurement project, funded by the World Bank, began in 2017.
The project, which has a total cost of 45 million dollars, has been implemented across 37 ministries and over 300 federal government procuring agencies.
Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) have also been signed with the governments of Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Azad Jammu and Kashmir to extend the e-procurement
