The government will decide about the amendments to the regulations after the planning ministry gets responses from the 27 ministries to which it wrote last month, asking them to specify the problems facing them.

Sources said the communications ministry, Local Government Engineering Department of the local government, rural development and co-operatives ministry, and public works ministry are exerting considerable influence on the planning ministry to get the regulations amended to their liking.

The ministries argue that their compliance with the regulations is putting brakes on the implementation of the Annual Development Programme (ADP). It hampered public purchase even during the floods, they complain.

The planning ministry, however, brushes aside the arguments and points to the clause of the regulations that provides for direct purchase through negotiations in case of exigencies. On the allegation that the regulations are holding back ADP implementation, a planning ministry official said there may be some initial problems in complying with the regulations, which have to be dealt with prudently.

A World Bank estimate says corruption in public expenditure eats away as much as 3 percent of GDP a year. A planning ministry high official involved with implementation of the procurement regulations told The Daily Star, preferring anonymity, that GDP will double if 35 percent of corruption in public purchase goes.

If the regulations introduced in the middle of last year are properly implemented uninterrupted for two years, Bangladesh can shrug off the label of being the most corrupt country in the world for three consecutive years, the official observed.

The new procurement regulations have abolished the provision of lottery for obtaining work orders, which had provided enough scope for corruption and nepotism, leading to sub-standard work. For instance, the planning ministry official said, corrupt officials used to put bids of their favoured contractors in refrigerators until a few minutes before lottery and would pick the cold papers to help them win the lottery.

But some ministries are lobbying the planning ministry for reintroduction of the lottery system.

Under the new provision, advertisements inviting bids against tenders have to be published in at least two widely circulated national dailies and the ministries and departments concerned, instead of the Department of Films and Publications (DFP), are to put the adverts on the newspapers. Donors also put pressure on the government to implement the provision.

However, the provision is still to be put into force because of a legal tangle.

Previously, the DFP would put advertisements only a few days before the deadline in little known and shady dailies, leaving little scope for competitive bidding. The new regulations have already incorporated necessary changes to plug loopholes in public procurement, including in tenders.

The planning ministry also put in place a Central Procurement Technical Unit to enforce compliance with the regulations. The Finance Division last month delegated financial powers to relevant officials of autonomous and semi-autonomous bodies, corporations in the public sector for completion of public works, purchase and signing and approving agreements relating to consultancy services.

The Finance Division also delegated financial powers for revenue and development expenditures under the procurement regulations.

Officials at the planning ministry said they would review the status of compliance with the new measures on a yearly basis.

The ministry last week also issued a circular styled, Public Procurement Processing and Approval Procedures, spelling out timeframes for completion of procurements.