e-PG3 Goods Tender Participation Guideline

01Is This Tender for You?

e-PG3 is BPPA's Standard e-Tender Document for national goods tenders above Tk. 50 lakh under the Open Tendering Method. You will see "e-PG3" as the STD in the e-GP notice.

Nature

Goods and related services

Value

Above Tk. 50 lakh

Method

Open Tendering (OTM)

Currency

Bangladesh Taka, fixed price

Performance security

10% of contract price

Award to

Lowest evaluated responsive

Packages this size usually need a proven supply record and enough production or supply capacity. Check the TDS figures against your track record before buying the document.

If the notice names e-PG5A (National), the job is turnkey: you design, supply, install and commission plant. See the e-PG5A National participation guideline. If it names e-PG8, read the e-PG8 two-envelope guideline.

02Eligibility

• Open to tenderers from all countries except any the TDS excludes; you need legal capacity to sign and enrolment in the relevant professional or trade organisation in your country.
• Taxes and social security contributions paid as required by law.
• Not under suspension or debarment for corrupt, fraudulent, collusive, coercive or obstructive practices, or for fundamental breach of contract, and not restricted by any development partner in Bangladesh.
• Not insolvent, in receivership, bankrupt or being wound up, and not barred from business.
• No link to a consultant who prepared the design or specifications, and no conflict of interest with another tenderer (common control, subsidy, same legal representative, or influence over another tender).
• Government-owned enterprises may tender only if legally and financially autonomous, operating under commercial law, and not dependent on the PE.
• These eligibility rules also apply to any subcontractor you propose.
• If awarded, you must disclose beneficial ownership in Form e-PG3-2 and consent to its publication after signing.

One tender only. Submitting or participating in more than one tender for the same item or lot gets all tenders with your participation rejected. Alternative tenders are not allowed.

03Qualification Criteria

These are pass/fail. The TDS sets the exact figures; e-PG3 recommends these ranges, so you can estimate before reading the TDS.

For several lots, your resources must meet the combined criteria of the lots you want to win.

04Subcontracting

• You may subcontract an activity or part of the goods worth up to 30% of the whole goods value.
• Identify each subcontracted item and subcontractor in Form e-PG3-3, signed by the subcontractor, with its eligibility documents and similar contracts. The PE may ask for more detail or a substitute.
• A subcontractor may join more than one tender, but only as a subcontractor.
• You stay fully responsible for the contract. Subcontracting not disclosed in your tender is not allowed later, and unauthorised subcontracting is a fundamental breach that can lead to termination.

05Questions and Addenda

• Ask for clarification through e-GP before the date in the IFT. The PE answers within 5 working days and need not answer late requests.
• A pre-tender meeting, if any, is held online in e-GP. Answers appear on the dashboards of tenderers who bought the document. Missing it does not disqualify you.
• Only a numbered, dated Addendum can change the document; meeting minutes cannot. Addenda come through e-GP and become part of the document.
• If an addendum arrives with less than one-third of the preparation time left, the deadline is extended by at least 3 working days.

06Documents to Upload

Tenders are written in English. Supporting documents in other languages need an accurate English or Bangla translation of the relevant parts, at your cost.

07Tender Security

• Ask an e-GP registered bank to prepare the e-tender security for the TDS amount (a fixed sum, at most 3% of the official estimate) in favour of the PE.
• Form: bank draft, pay order, or an irrevocable unconditional bank guarantee in Form e-PG3-7 from a scheduled bank, without alteration.
• It must stay valid at least 28 days beyond tender validity. A tender without a valid security is non-responsive.
• Return: non-responsive tenderers after the evaluation report is approved; the three lowest responsive tenderers once the winner furnishes performance security and signs.

Your security can be forfeited if you:

• Fail to furnish the performance security, or furnish one that is not authentic.
• Refuse or fail to sign the contract.
• Engage in corrupt, fraudulent, collusive, coercive or obstructive practice.

08Price Your Tender

• Quote unit rates for every item in figures and words, excluding discounts, in Taka.
• Each item must be priced for its full quantity, and a lot tender must cover 100% of its items and quantities. Leaving out an item worth more than 50% of the lot value makes the tender non-responsive.
• Include all taxes, customs duties, VAT and levies as of 28 days before the deadline, plus profit, overheads, transport, insurance and banking charges up to the point of delivery.
• Prices are fixed for the contract; they do not change with economic conditions. A later change in tax law is adjusted, subject to HOPE's approval.
• Offer any unconditional discount, and how to apply it, in the Discount Form; for multi-lot discounts, state it per lot or combination.
• e-GP does not correct arithmetic errors. If you find an error before submitting, correct it and have the authorised person initial it.
• Keep item prices balanced. If the TEC finds them unbalanced, it can raise your performance security up to 25% or your retention up to 20% of the contract price.

Two price traps: a tender more than 10% above the official cost estimate is rejected, and a tender below the Significantly Low-priced Tender limit (weighted average minus one standard deviation, using rivals' prices, the estimate and the national price index) is rejected too. If yours is the only responsive tender, it must be within 20% of the estimate.

09Technical Compliance

• Declare the country of origin of every item in the price schedules, with supporting evidence. Origin is where goods were produced or substantially transformed, not your nationality.
• Prove conformity with literature, drawings and data: a detailed description of the essential technical and performance characteristics, and an item-by-item commentary on the PE's specifications.
• Goods must be new, unused, of the latest models, and meet the stated standards (or, if none, the latest standards of the country of origin).
• Minor deviations that do not meaningfully change specifications or commercial terms may be accepted; anything material will not.

10Submit Through e-GP

1. Pay the document fee through an e-GP member bank by the day before the deadline, then download the e-TD. There are no other preconditions to buy it.
2. Check every file is virus-free, readable and complete. Corrupt or unreadable files are not considered.
3. Allow time for large uploads; late submission is impossible in e-GP.
4. Final-submit. Your e-signature authenticates the tender, it is stored encrypted, and you receive a confirmation e-mail.
5. You can modify, substitute or withdraw only before the deadline. After it, no withdrawal is allowed.

The tender must remain valid for the days in the TDS after the deadline. The PE may ask, at most twice, to extend validity; you may refuse without losing your security, but your tender then drops out. If you agree, extend your security too and do not change your tender.

11How You Are Evaluated

1. Preliminary: all forms signed, priced schedule and a valid tender security. Anything missing means rejection.
2. Technical: origin, conformity (Form e-PG3-5) and each qualification criterion, including capacity and subcontractors, judged only on your tender.
3. Financial: the 10% ceiling, any economic factors and discounts, then the SLT check.
4. Post-qualification: your documents are verified, possibly with a visit to your premises. If you fail, the next lowest is considered.

• The TEC may ask for clarifications, including breakdowns of unit rates (through e-GP, from the Chairperson), with at least 3 working days to reply. You cannot use a reply to change your tender. No reply may mean your tender is not considered.
• From opening until the NOA, do not contact the PE except to answer a clarification or file a complaint. Trying to influence evaluation can make your tender non-responsive and lead to action under Section 64(5) of the PPA.
• There are no negotiations. Ties are settled by checking for collusion, then past performance, then quality; never by lottery.

12Award and Contract Signing

1. The NOA (Form e-PG3-9) arrives within 3 working days of approval. It states the price, performance security and deadlines, and with it you are bound by the contract.
2. Quantities may be changed by up to the TDS percentage (max 20%) at award, at your quoted unit prices.
3. Furnish the 10% performance security (bank draft, pay order or bank guarantee in Form e-PG3-11 from a scheduled bank, valid 28 days beyond completion) and sign the Contract Agreement (Form e-PG3-10) on the deadlines below. Government enterprises have 10% deducted from invoices instead.
4. Failing to furnish security or sign forfeits your tender security, and the award goes to the next tenderer.
5. Start supplying only after these steps. The PE publishes the contract and, for contracts above Tk. 10 lakh, your beneficial ownership details.

If you lose, you may ask for a debriefing on your own tender's weaknesses, and you may complain and appeal under Sections 29 and 30 of the PPA 2006 and Rules 72 to 77 of PPR 2025.

13Payment, Delivery and Warranty

Advance (if offered)

Up to 10%, within 30 days of signing

On acceptance

90% with advance, 100% without

Retention

10%, until warranty ends

Minimum warranty

3 months supplies, 1 year equipment

• An advance, if the PCC allows one, needs your claim and an original bank guarantee in Form e-PG3-12 for the same amount, valid until the goods are delivered.
• Pack goods to survive transit, with a packing list and the markings in the PCC; insure them until the PE accepts them; deliver to the site in the price schedule.
• Carry out the tests in the PCC at your cost and report results. Rejected goods are rectified or replaced at your cost.
• The TEAC starts inspection within 24 hours of delivery; the Acceptance Certificate follows within 14 working days (partial if defects are found).
• Claim payment with the invoice and delivery documents listed in the PCC. The PE pays within the PCC days and may owe interest if late.
• Your performance security is returned within 7 days of final payment and the Acceptance Certificate, if there is no claim.
• Warranty starts when the delivery chalan is accepted. Repair or replace defective goods within the PCC days. Retention is released only if goods are free of patent and latent defects.
• You bear all permits, licences, taxes and duties, and you indemnify the PE against intellectual-property claims.

14Delays, Penalties and Disputes

• Need more time? Notify the PE in writing with the cause and duration before the original delivery date. The PE decides within 21 days; justified extensions carry no liquidated damages.
• Liquidated damages: 0.10% to 0.15% per day (as in the PCC) of the value of undelivered or late goods, up to a cap of no more than 10% of the contract price.
• Force majeure: notify within 14 days; it excuses delay but not payment obligations.
• Performance security claims: the PE may claim if a notified breach or unpaid amount continues for 14 days or more.

The PE may terminate for default, after a Notice of Default giving you 21 days to explain, if you:

• Fail to deliver within the contract period or extension.
• Fail to maintain a required security, or fail any other obligation.
• Engage in corrupt, fraudulent, collusive, coercive or obstructive practice.
• Reach the maximum liquidated damages, or bring in a subcontractor after signing.

After termination you may be charged the PE's extra cost (15% to 25% of the revised estimate of the undelivered goods). Disputes go to amicable settlement, then the Adjudicator, then arbitration under the Arbitration Act 2001.

15Submission Checklist

• You meet the experience, capacity, liquid-asset and litigation criteria in the TDS.
• Forms e-PG3-1, 2, 4A/4B and 5 are complete and electronically signed; e-PG3-3 for every subcontractor (30% maximum).
• Trade license, TIN, return acknowledgement for the TDS assessment year and VAT/BIN are uploaded.
• Liquid-asset evidence is dated within 28 days of the deadline, or audited statements cover the TDS years.
• Tender security matches the TDS amount and is valid 28 days beyond tender validity.
• Every item is priced for full quantity, all-inclusive, within 10% of the estimate, balanced, and realistic against the SLT limit.
• Specifications, origin, make and model and literature are provided for every item; Manufacturer's Authorisation if required.
• Only one tender per item or lot, no alternatives, submitted well before the deadline.