e-PG4 International Goods Preparation Guideline

01When to Use e-PG4

Use e-PG4 when the Procuring Entity (the Purchaser) wants to buy goods and related services through international competition under the Open Tendering Method in e-GP, for any value. The contract goes to the lowest evaluated responsive tender.

Nature

Goods and related services

Method

Open Tendering (OTM)

Competition

International

Value

Any value

Award basis

Lowest evaluated responsive

Channel

e-GP system

Need the equipment installed, tested and commissioned as a working facility by one contractor? That is a turnkey tender under e-PG5A (International).

02How the Document Works

You adapt e-PG4 only through the TDS, the PCC, the Schedule of Requirements, the Technical Specifications and any Drawings. Specify in the TDS only what the ITT says should go there.

03Key Time Limits

ITT 64.2 still says the performance security is due within 28 days of the NOA, while the TDS sets 7, 10 or 14 working days under Rule 123(5). Use the TDS figure and state it in the NOA, so the supplier is not misled.

04Fill In the TDS

As in other PPR 2025 goods STDs, the TDS sets a 10% performance security and 10% retention but caps their total at 10% of the contract price. Confirm with BPPA how to apply the cap before you publish.

05Price Schedules, INCOTERMs and Currency

Tenderers choose the schedule that fits the origin of each item. Splitting the price this way lets you compare tenders fairly and apply domestic preference; it does not limit your right to contract on any of the terms offered.

• Currencies: local expenditure in Taka; expenditure outside Bangladesh in the one foreign currency named in the TDS (USD, GBP, EUR or JPY). Bangladesh manufacturers may combine local and foreign currency.
• Conversion: for evaluation, the TEC converts everything to Taka at Bangladesh Bank's selling rate on the opening date.
• Taxes in evaluation: the Supplier's VAT on local goods, and customs duties and import taxes on imported goods, are left out of the comparison but are part of the contract price.
• Carriers and insurers: tenderers may use transport and insurance from any eligible country.
• For e-GP, tenders are invited for a single lot, and alternatives are not allowed. Prices are fixed.

06Fill In the PCC

Imported goods: advance

Up to 10%, within 30 days of signing

Imported goods: on shipment

80% by irrevocable confirmed L/C

Imported goods: on acceptance

10% within 30 days of receipt

Local goods: on acceptance

90% with advance, 100% without

This is the PCC's sample payment provision; adapt it to your package. For 100% GoB-funded procurement, advance payment does not apply unless the Government specifically decides otherwise. Advances need an original bank guarantee in Form e-PG4-12.

07Schedule of Requirements and Specifications

• List of Goods: item, unit, quantity, final destination and the earliest and latest delivery dates in weeks, counted from contract signing (or L/C opening or confirmation, as you choose). You may include a limited supply of fast-moving or hard-to-find spare parts.
• List of Related Services: assembly or start-up, tools, operation and maintenance manuals, maintenance or repair for a period, and training, with the place and completion date. Use "1" or "lump sum" where units do not apply.
• Technical Specifications: follow Rule 38 of PPR 2025. Allow the widest possible competition, state the standards, require new and current-model goods, and say which tests you require and where.
• Site visits: for goods needing installation, commissioning or networking, tenderers are encouraged to visit the site at their own cost and must tell you in advance.

08Clarifications and Addenda

1. Set the last date for clarification requests in the IFT. Requests come through e-GP; answer within 5 working days. You need not answer late requests.
2. A pre-tender meeting, if held, is online in e-GP. Send minutes within 5 working days to all buyers of the document, including those who did not attend.
3. Change the document only by a dated, numbered Addendum in e-GP, circulated within 5 working days and posted on your website and notice boards.
4. If an addendum is issued when less than one-third of the preparation time remains, extend the deadline by at least 3 working days.
5. You may annul the proceedings before the deadline on justifiable grounds (Rule 48); tenders received are then returned unopened.

09Opening and Preliminary Check

e-GP opens tenders automatically after the deadline and generates the Tender Opening Report. Late tenders cannot be submitted. The TEC then works through four steps, completing the Tender Evaluation Reports that e-GP generates.

• Check the compliance, adequacy and authenticity of the qualification documents, and that every document in ITT 20 is present.

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 tender's contents only. Information you did not ask for is not considered. There is no minimum number of responsive tenders.
• A material deviation, reservation or omission makes a tender non-responsive and cannot be cured afterwards.
• Check, in order: the country-of-origin declarations in Forms 4A to 4D, conformity in Form e-PG4-5, then each qualification criterion.
• If a subcontractor is ineligible, the portion assigned to it is disallowed; you may ask for a substitute.
• You may ask a responsive tenderer to fix non-material documentary omissions, but never anything touching rates or mandatory criteria. Clarifications go through e-GP, allow at least 3 working days, and may not change the price or substance.
• Keep evaluation information confidential from tenderers and anyone not officially involved.

11Financial Evaluation

• e-GP has no arithmetic-correction step.
• Reject any tender priced more than 10% above the official cost estimate.
• Convert all currencies to Taka at Bangladesh Bank's selling rate on the opening date.
• Verify each price schedule against ITT 23, then evaluate the tender price adjusted for any equivalent-lot-value method, economic factors, unconditional discounts and, if it applies, domestic preference.
• Count only the spare parts and tools listed in the Schedule of Requirements, not those the supplier recommends.
• If the winning lot misses 20% or fewer items, buy them from the tenderer offering them at least cost. If item prices are unbalanced, the TEC may recommend raising the performance security up to 25% of the contract price.

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

12Domestic Preference

Unless the TDS turns it off, Bangladesh-made goods get a 15% margin of preference in the comparison (ITT 48 and 51).

1. Confirm each tender's group, reclassifying where needed. Using the wrong price form is not a reason to reject.
2. Find the lowest evaluated tender in each group and compare them.
3. If the lowest is from Group A, it is selected.
4. If the lowest is from Group B, add 15% of each Group B tender's CIF/CIP price, for comparison only, and compare again with the lowest Group A tender. The lowest after that is selected.

Example Lowest Group A tender: Tk. 1.10 crore. Lowest Group B tender: Tk. 1.00 crore, of which the CIF/CIP price is Tk. 0.90 crore. For comparison, Group B becomes 1.00 + 15% × 0.90 = Tk. 1.135 crore, which is higher than Group A, so the Group A tender is selected. The contract is still signed at the Group A tender's own price.

13Post-qualification and Award

1. Post-qualify the lowest evaluated tenderer on its submitted evidence. Any visit to its premises is a general visual inspection only, with no discussion of the tender.
2. If it fails, move to the next lowest, but only while the evaluated costs remain acceptable. Once the remaining tenders are significantly above the estimate or market price, you may re-tender under Rule 34 with a revised document.
3. After approval, issue the NOA (Form e-PG4-9) within 3 working days and before validity expires, with the price, performance security and deadlines. Quantities may vary up to the TDS percentage (max 20%).
4. Within 24 hours, publish the award (Format e-PG4-B) for at least 28 days.
5. Receive the 10% performance security, in the contract currencies, from an internationally reputable bank with a correspondent bank in Bangladesh (Form e-PG4-11, Rule 36(4)), and verify its authenticity. Sign the Contract Agreement (Form e-PG4-10) within the TDS deadline.
6. Within 3 days of signing, publish the contract with beneficial ownership details (Format e-PG4-C) for at least 30 days; required above Tk. 10 lakh.
7. Return tender securities: non-responsive ones after the evaluation report is approved; tenderers who did not agree to a validity extension at once; the three lowest after signing.

All tenders may be rejected only on HOPE's approval and for the reasons in ITT 57.2, but not if the lowest price matches the market price.

14Contract Management

• Shipping: the supplier notifies you and the insurer of each shipment; documents must reach you at least one week before the goods arrive, or the supplier bears the resulting costs.
• Acceptance: the TEAC starts within 24 hours of delivery; issue the Acceptance Certificate within 14 working days, for accepted parts only if defects are found.
• Payment: in the currencies of the tender price, within the PCC days; pay interest at the PCC rate if late.
• Taxes: if a tax rate changes by law, adjust the price, with HOPE's approval, so the supplier's net amount is unaffected; help the supplier use any available tax exemptions.
• Change orders: for specially manufactured goods, a change must improve the goods, cost nothing extra, and not prejudice losing tenderers. Grounds include emergencies, mistakes in the contract and similar circumstances. Additional items use contract unit prices or agreed market prices, and the total increase may not exceed 10% of the original contract price.
• Extensions: the supplier applies before the original date; decide within 21 days. Up to 30% by the PE; 30% to 100% needs HOPE's approval; above 100% needs the Secretary's.
• Liquidated damages: T = V × P × n, at the PCC rate per day, up to the PCC cap.
• Warranty and retention: warranty starts when the delivery chalan is accepted. If the supplier fails to fix notified defects in time, you may call on the retention money; otherwise release it after the warranty if goods are free of patent and latent defects. Extend the performance security if the warranty is extended.
• Disputes: amicable settlement, then the Adjudicator (referral within 14 days, decision within 28 days), then arbitration under the PCC rules.

15Termination Procedure

e-PG4 adds a formal procedure (GCC 44) for terminating for default, insolvency or convenience.

1. Within 7 days of a report of grounds (or on your own initiative), verify them and prepare a Verified Report with the evidence.
2. On your recommendation, the Head of the Purchaser issues a Notice to Terminate stating the grounds, the extent of termination, any special instructions, and asking the supplier to show cause. Attach the Verified Report.
3. The supplier has 7 days to submit a verified position paper. If it does not, the Head issues a termination order.
4. You may withdraw the notice before the position paper arrives if the items concerned were already delivered.
5. The Head decides within a non-extendible 10 days of receiving the position paper, on the stated grounds only. A Contract Termination Review Committee may assist.

• Default grounds: late delivery, not maintaining a security, other breach, corrupt practice, maximum LD, or subcontracting after signing. Buy the remainder elsewhere and recover extra cost at the PCC percentage.
• Convenience (21 days' notice): conditions changed so the contract is no longer feasible, implementation impractical or unnecessary, funding withheld or reduced, or similar. Goods delivered or ready within 21 days are accepted at contract prices.

16Publishing Checklist

• International competition is justified and the method is OTM.
• Final destination, CIP/CIF named place or port, any other INCOTERM, and the foreign currency are stated.
• Domestic preference is set to "shall" or "shall not".
• Experience, capacity and liquid-asset thresholds are set per lot; subcontracting percentage stated.
• Validity, a rounded tender security in Taka or US dollar equivalent, spare parts and after-sales service requirements are filled in.
• Performance security and signing deadlines match the estimated-cost band.
• Schedule of Requirements gives earliest and latest delivery dates; specifications follow Rule 38.
• PCC shipping documents, payment terms, insurance, LD rate (0.03% to 0.05% per day) and arbitration rules are filled in.

17Common Questions