Questions have emerged over the transparency of a tender process involving the management of National Identity Cards (NID) and biometric data of nearly 130 million voters, a highly sensitive national database with significant security implications.
Concealment of technical evaluation scores, failure to notify bidders before the opening of financial proposals, and the issuance of a Notification of Award (NOA) to a company in alleged violation of mandatory procurement procedures are among the serious allegations raised against the management of the Identification System for Enhancing Access to Services (IDEA) Project (Phase-II), run under the Election Commission.
Against this backdrop, Bangladesh Public Procurement Authority (BPPA) has suspended the final contract awarding process and scheduled a review panel hearing on Monday. The project’s director Brig Gen Mohammad Azizur Rahman Siddiqui has been directed to appear with all relevant documents.
The smart NID project has long been dogged by allegations of inefficiency, irregularities, project failures and wasteful spending. Repeated extensions of project deadlines and frequent overseas trips by officials have also drawn criticism.
The latest controversy in the selection of a contractor for the project’s second phase in violation of procurement rules has once again brought the project into the spotlight.
According to Election Commission (EC) and BPPA sources, the EC Secretariat invited tenders under the project’s phase-II for the implementation of the Bangladesh Voter Registration System (BVRS) and the Automatic Biometric Identification System (ABIS), including technology adoption, support services, software development and enhancement, data migration, training and software development for DRS operations.
The tender was conducted following the Quality and Cost-Based Selection (QCBS) method, under which technical evaluation carried a weight of 80% and financial proposals 20%. Following bid submission and opening on 31 March 2026, two firms — Synesis IT Ltd and Dynamic Solution Innovators (DSI) Ltd — remained in the race.
Complaint with BPPA
In a petition submitted to the BPPA Review Panel on June 7, Synesis IT managing director Sohrab Ahmed Chowdhury alleged serious irregularities and violations of procurement rules in the evaluation process.
He argued that the procurement authority failed to comply with mandatory QCBS procedures, which require completion of technical evaluation, financial proposal opening, financial evaluation and combined evaluation before negotiations are held with the highest-ranked bidder.
According to him, Synesis IT was never informed of the date, time or venue of the financial proposal opening despite qualifying in the technical evaluation. The financial proposals were opened without disclosing the technical evaluation results or technical scores, after which a Notification of Award was hastily issued in favour of DSI without Synesis being notified.
The complaint further states that the e-GP portal contains no records under the mandatory Negotiation, Debriefing and Clarification sections, suggesting that none of those required stages were completed.
Synesis claimed its financial proposal amounted to Tk19.69 crore, lower than DSI’s of Tk20.34 crore bidding. As a result, the technical score became the determining factor in selecting the winning bidder. But the scores have not been disclosed, raising questions about the fairness and transparency of the evaluation process, the company alleged.
A Synesis official further claimed that the NOA was issued in favour of DSI within hours of the financial proposals being opened on 24 May, just before the Eid holidays. He said that the hasty move effectively curtailed the seven-day legal window available to competing bidders to challenge the decision.
What the rules require
Rule 141(10) of the Public Procurement Rules 2025 requires the preparation of an evaluation report showing the technical scores awarded to each bidder in order to identify those eligible for combined technical and financial evaluation.
Rule 142(1) requires that, following approval of the technical evaluation report, all bidders achieving the minimum technical score must be invited to attend the public opening of financial proposals.
Under Rule 142(2), the evaluation committee must publicly announce both the technical scores and financial offers of all qualified bidders during the opening session.
The IDEA project’s own Request for Proposal (RFP) document contains similar requirements. Clause 42.1 of the Instructions to Consultants (ITC) states that bidders who achieve the minimum technical score must be notified through the e-GP system of the date, time and venue of the financial proposal opening, normally at least one week in advance.
Clause 42.3 requires the public opening of financial proposals by the Proposal Evaluation Committee (PEC), with consultants permitted to attend. During the opening, the names of bidders, their technical scores and proposed prices must be announced and recorded. Minutes of the proceedings must also be prepared and made available upon request.
However, serious allegations have emerged that these requirements were not followed.
BPPA steps in
In a letter dated 15 June, BPPA Director (Deputy Secretary) Mohammad Ali Ahmed Khan instructed the IDEA Project Director Brigadier General Mohammad Azizur Rahman Siddiqui to refrain from issuing any NOA or proceeding with contract execution until the appeal is resolved.
A day later, Md Ali Kader, chairman of BPPA Review Panel-3, fixed 10:00am on Monday for the hearing on the petition filed by Synesis IT.
The notice directed the PD to appear before the panel with all original documents, including the tender notice, tender documents, opening report, evaluation report and contract documents.
The Chief Election Commissioner and Senior Secretary of the EC Secretariat have also been requested to send representatives. Synesis IT managing director Sohrab Ahmed Chowdhury has also been asked to be present with necessary documents.
A senior BPPA official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told TIMES of Bangladesh that under the QCBS method, the evaluation committee is legally required to announce the technical scores and financial offers of all qualified bidders during the public opening session.
“If that was not done, it would amount to a violation of the law,” the official warned.
Claiming that all procedures had been followed, PD Brig Gen Mohammad Azizur Rahman Siddiqui told TIMES, “An appeal has been filed against our process. Since the matter is now before the review panel, it would be inappropriate to comment further. We will present our formal position to BPPA.”
EC Abdur Rahmanel Masud said he was aware of the allegations regarding the tender evaluation process.
“An investigation may be conducted. However, since a complaint has already been filed and the matter is now before a legal forum, it would be best to let that process run its course,” he said when asked whether the EC would conduct its own inquiry.
Project dogged by controversies
Several EC officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the IDEA Project, responsible for managing the country’s NID database, voter rolls and biometric information, has long faced allegations of inefficiency and irregularities.
They said that more than 15 years after the project began, smart NID cards have yet to reach all eligible voters, even as spending under the project, including officials’ foreign travel, has continued.
Officials also alleged that tender conditions in previous procurements during Awami League’s tenure were designed to favour Tiger IT, the company responsible for the data centre, enabling it to retain significant technological control over the national identity database for years.
Although the World Bank debarred the company in 2014 over irregularities in a smart card printing contract, it continued to be involved in key EC operations, the officials said.
Following the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government in 2024, efforts began to transfer control of the data centre back to the EC. While Tiger IT recently handed over passwords for the facility, it has yet to transfer the source code.
Questions have also been raised over the smart card personalisation programme under the IDEA Project. Sources alleged that although the EC owns the equipment, workforce and blank cards used in the process, Bangladesh Machine Tools Factory (BMTF) has received payments for the work without any formal agreement.
