Major software-related projects implemented by the ICT Division during the 2009–2024 period were undermined by governance lapses, procurement irregularities and political interference, according to the ICT white paper.
The findings relate to initiatives taken under the Digital Bangladesh campaign during the last government’s tenure, the paper said.
Despite large-scale public investment in digital transformation, projects dedicated specifically to software development accounted for only a small portion of the ICT Division’s overall spending.
A review of Development Project Proposals showed that only 51 percent of ICT Division projects involved major software procurement, the paper noted.
Even among those projects, the average proposed allocation for software stood at about Tk40.87 crore per project, reflecting modest prioritisation relative to stated ambitions.
The white paper examined four flagship ICT Division projects with significant software components to assess how public resources were used and why outcomes fell short.
Those projects were the Bangladesh e-Government ERP initiative, the Enhancement of Bangla Language in ICT through Research and Development project, the Bangladesh Parliament Secretariat ICT project and the Digital Sylhet City project.
According to the paper, all four projects displayed systemic weaknesses in governance, accountability and implementation.
Weak oversight, fragmented planning and opaque decision-making emerged as cross-cutting failures across the projects, it said.
Procurement irregularities were also recurrent, including altered deliverables, questionable contracting practices and conflicts of interest, the paper found.
Resource inefficiency appeared in the form of incomplete systems, redundant procurement, long delays and wasted public funds.
Project priorities were frequently misaligned as scopes shifted away from original objectives without adequate consultation or technical justification, the paper noted.
One government-wide ERP project progressed far enough to develop multiple modules and train users before stalling during the Covid period due to funding shortages and vendor complications.
Despite a later allocation of Tk129 crore under the EDGE project to advance the ERP initiative, the project was abruptly cancelled without any transparent explanation, the paper said.
Evidence cited in the report suggested that political and institutional interference, including obstruction by a senior a2i official later accused of corruption, contributed to the cancellation.
As a result, public resources were wasted and a viable pathway toward a unified government ERP backbone was shelved.
In another case, a project launched in 2016 to strengthen the digital presence of Bangla proposed the development of 16 software modules.
Nearly a decade later, several of those modules remained incomplete or were delivered at substandard quality, according to the paper.
Independent evaluation by BUET identified serious deficiencies, but oversight weakened when BUET’s testing contract was terminated instead of enforcing vendor accountability.
Vendors were also allowed to renegotiate deliverables after contract award, raising concerns about procurement integrity.
The Parliament Secretariat ICT project showed similar weaknesses as mission-critical systems were procured separately from the core resource planning platform.
This fragmented procurement created redundancy, inflated costs and undermined the goal of an integrated parliamentary digital system, the paper noted.
Ambiguities regarding the role of the a2i programme and inconsistent references to DSDL software applications further raised governance concerns.
Training components under the project included highly technical courses of questionable relevance to parliamentary operations, indicating misaligned priorities.
In the Digital Sylhet City project, an original plan to deploy eight interconnected smart-city systems was radically revised midway through implementation.
All eight systems were replaced with a single Health Management System, effectively abandoning the original smart-city vision, the paper said.
The procurement of the replacement system raised concerns over political influence and transparency.
Across all four projects, the paper observed a consistent pattern of governance weakness, political interference and compromised value for money.
Although some initiatives demonstrated vision and technical potential, systemic lapses prevented them from delivering meaningful digital transformation.
The white paper concluded that comprehensive audits, stricter vendor accountability, transparent procurement and safeguards against conflicts of interest are necessary to restore confidence.
Without such reforms, it warned, future public-sector ICT initiatives risk repeating the same cycle of waste, delay and lost opportunity, it said.
