e-PG3 Goods Tender Preparation Guideline

01When to Use e-PG3

Use e-PG3 when the Procuring Entity (the Purchaser) will select a Tenderer (Supplier) for goods and related services under the Open Tendering Method (OTM) through the e-GP system, for a value above Tk. 50 lakh. The contract is awarded to the lowest evaluated responsive tender.

Nature

Goods and related services

Method

Open Tendering (OTM)

Value

Above Tk. 50 lakh

Competition

National

Award basis

Lowest evaluated responsive

Channel

e-GP system

• "Goods" includes commodities, raw material, machinery, equipment and industrial plants and, where applicable, related services such as insurance, transport, installation, commissioning, training and initial maintenance.
• The invitation is open to tenderers from all countries except those you exclude in the TDS. Origin of goods is separate from the tenderer's nationality.
• Compared with e-PG2 (up to Tk. 50 lakh), e-PG3 adds a production capacity criterion, financial statements when working capital is used, declared subcontracting, an optional advance payment, and deadlines that scale with the estimate.

Need the plant designed, installed and commissioned as a working facility by one contractor (a turnkey job with a civil part and performance guarantees)? Use e-PG5A (National) instead. For high-tech goods where specifications should be judged before prices are seen, use e-PG8.

02How the Document Works

The PE adapts e-PG3 to its package only through the Tender Data Sheet (TDS), the Particular Conditions of Contract (PCC), the Price Schedule, the Technical Specifications and any Drawings. Specify in the TDS only what the ITT says should be specified there.

03Key Time Limits

04Fill In the TDS

These are the TDS entries e-PG3 asks for, with the values or ranges the document recommends.

The pre-tender meeting date and time, if you hold one, must be stated (ITT 10.2 refers to the TDS and the IFT); keep the two consistent.

05Fill In the PCC

06Subcontracting Rules

• Tenderers may subcontract an activity or portion of the goods worth no more than 30% of the whole goods value, and must name the items and subcontractor in Form e-PG3-3.
• Eligibility requirements apply to each proposed subcontractor. You may ask for more information and request a substitute if a subcontractor is ineligible or unsuitable.
• A subcontractor may appear in more than one tender, but only as a subcontractor.
• During the contract, undisclosed subcontracting is not allowed, the supplier keeps full responsibility, and the contract cannot be assigned to a subcontractor. Unauthorised subcontracting is a fundamental breach.

07Schedules and Specifications

Price Schedule Form e-PG3-4A covers goods (including spare parts) and Form e-PG3-4B covers related services. For each item, set the description, unit, quantity, point of delivery and delivery or completion period; tenderers enter country of origin and manufacture and the unit price, and the total is quantity × unit price.

• State whether tenders are invited item-by-item, for a single lot, or lot-by-lot. For e-GP, e-PG3 states tenders are invited for a single lot. Alternative tenders are not allowed in e-GP.
• Write specifications and standards in the Technical Specifications (and Drawings, if any). Tenderers answer them in Form e-PG3-5 with country of origin, make and model and full specifications.
• Where no standard applies, goods must meet the latest authoritative standard of their country of origin.
• Document sale has no preconditions and stays open until the day before the deadline.

08Clarifications and Addenda

1. State in the IFT the last date for clarification requests. Requests come through e-GP; answer within 5 working days. You need not answer late requests.
2. If you hold a pre-tender meeting, it is online in e-GP. Answers go to the dashboards of tenderers who bought the document; upload minutes within 5 working days. Missing the meeting does not disqualify anyone.
3. Change the document only by an Addendum issued in e-GP before the deadline, dated and numbered, and circulated within 5 working days. Never change it through meeting minutes.
4. Post the addendum on your website and notice boards where the IFT was posted.
5. If an addendum is issued when less than one-third of the preparation time remains, extend the deadline by at least 3 working days.

09Opening and Preliminary Check

e-GP opens tenders automatically after the deadline and generates the Tender Opening Report (TOR). Late tenders cannot be submitted. The TEC evaluates in four steps: preliminary examination, technical responsiveness, financial evaluation and post-qualification, reviewing the Tender Evaluation Reports (TERs) e-GP generates.

A tender is rejected at the preliminary stage if any of these is missing:

• All applicable forms, filled in and electronically signed.
• The priced schedule.
• A valid tender security.

10Technical Evaluation

• Judge responsiveness on the contents of the tender only, without outside evidence. There is no minimum number of responsive tenders.
• A material deviation, reservation or omission (one that substantially affects scope, quality or supply; limits the PE's rights or the tenderer's obligations; or would unfairly affect competitors if corrected) makes a tender non-responsive, and it cannot be cured afterwards.
• Check, in order: the country-of-origin declaration in Forms 4A/4B, conformity in Form e-PG3-5 and its evidence, then each qualification criterion, including capacity and any subcontractor.
• You may ask a responsive tenderer to fix non-material documentary omissions, but never anything touching prices or mandatory criteria.
• Clarification requests go through e-GP from the TEC Chairperson only, allow at least 3 working days, and must not change the substance of the tender.

11Financial Evaluation and SLT

• e-GP has no arithmetic-correction step.
• Reject any tender priced more than 10% above the official cost estimate.
• Evaluate the tender price adjusted for any equivalent-lot-value method, TDS economic factors and unconditional multi-lot discounts. Ignore unsolicited extras.
• If the winning lot misses items of 20% or less, the PE may buy them from the lowest responsive tenderer for those items.
• If item prices look unbalanced, the TEC may recommend raising the performance security up to 25% of the contract price, or the retention money up to 20%.

With at least two technically responsive tenders, screen for a Significantly Low-priced Tender (ITT 49):

x̄ = 0.5 × (average of quoted prices) + 0.2 × official cost estimate + 0.3 × X_NPPI

S_d = √( Σ (x̄ − x_i)² / n )    Lower limit = x̄ − S_d

• X_NPPI is the official cost estimate multiplied by the National Public Procurement Price Index: the national average deviation between estimate and awarded price for goods, from e-GP awards over the 28 days ending on the opening day (excluding national LTM).
• Any tender below the lower limit is financially non-responsive and rejected.
• With only one responsive tender, compare its price with the official estimate instead: more than 20% deviation makes it non-responsive.
• The lowest-priced technically and financially responsive tender is the lowest evaluated responsive tender.

On a tie, first look for collusion (Rule 149). Without it, prefer the tenderer with better past performance with the PE, then the quality more advantageous to end-users. Never use a lottery, and hold no negotiations.

12Post-qualification and Award

1. Post-qualify the lowest evaluated tenderer on its submitted eligibility and qualification evidence only; the TEC may visit its premises. If it fails, move to the next lowest.
2. After approval, issue the NOA (Form e-PG3-9) within 3 working days and before validity expires, with the price, performance security amount and form, and the deadlines for security and signing. Quantities may vary up to the TDS percentage (max 20%) without changing unit prices.
3. Within 24 hours of the NOA, publish the award (Format e-PG3-B) on your notice board or website and on the BPPA website, for at least 28 days.
4. Send the draft Contract Agreement (Form e-PG3-10) with the NOA. Receive the 10% performance security and sign within the TDS deadlines. If the tenderer fails to furnish security or sign, annul the award, forfeit its tender security and go to the next lowest qualified tenderer.
5. Within 3 days of signing, publish the contract information with beneficial ownership details (Format e-PG3-C) for at least 30 days; beneficial ownership is required for contracts above Tk. 10 lakh.
6. Return tender securities: non-responsive ones after the evaluation report is approved; the 1st to 3rd lowest once the winner furnishes performance security and signs.

All tenders may be rejected only on HOPE's approval and for the reasons in ITT 55.2 (price above a realistic estimate, lack of competition, unrealistic completion, all non-responsive, defects in the process, or misconduct), but not if the lowest price matches the market price.

13Contract Management

• Acceptance: the TEAC starts inspection within 24 hours of delivery; issue the Acceptance Certificate (Format e-PG3-D) within 14 working days, for accepted parts only if defects are found.
• Payment: any advance within 30 days of signing; the balance on the supplier's invoice with the delivery documents, in Taka, within the PCC days; pay interest on late payment if the PCC provides it.
• Securities: claim the performance security only after a notified breach or unpaid amount persists for 14 days; otherwise return it within 7 days of final payment and the Acceptance Certificate.
• Retention: keep 10% until the warranty expires; release it only if goods are free of patent and latent defects.
• Change orders: drawings or specifications for custom goods, packing, delivery place, related services, with an equitable price or time adjustment. Extra deliveries within the warranty only in exceptional cases and only after approval.
• Extensions: the supplier must apply before the original date. The PE may grant up to 30% of the original time; 30% to 100% needs HOPE approval; more than 100% needs the Secretary's approval.
• Liquidated damages: T = V × P × n, where V is the value of undelivered goods, at the PCC rate per day, up to the PCC cap.
• Termination for default: send a Notice of Default giving 21 days to explain; terminate with HOPE's approval through a final notice. A Contract Termination Review Committee may assist.
• Disputes: amicable settlement, then the Adjudicator (referral within 14 days, decision within 28 days), then arbitration under the Arbitration Act 2001.

14Publishing Checklist

• Estimated cost is above Tk. 50 lakh and the method is OTM.
• Experience (60% to 80%), capacity (2 to 5 times the quantity) and liquid-asset (80% to 100%) thresholds are set against the estimate, per lot.
• Assessment year, financial-statement years, validity (60 to 150 days) and tender security (up to 3%, fixed) are filled in.
• Performance security and signing deadlines match the estimated-cost band.
• Manufacturer's Authorisation, economic factors and advance payment are either specified or deleted.
• Price Schedules 4A/4B list every item with unit, quantity, delivery point and period.
• Specifications and drawings are complete; inspections and tests are set in the PCC where needed.
• PCC payment, warranty, LD rate (0.10% to 0.15% per day) and cap, retention and dispute details are filled in.