E auction - more flexible, transparent

Director-general Piyapan Nimmanhaemin yesterday said the department had discussed revision of the e-auction rules with representatives from the business sector, state-owned enterprises and government agencies. The aim is to make them more flexible and transparent.

There have been complaints of collusion between government agencies and bidders through the setting of conditions that favour certain companies. There have also been complaints about delays in the provision of information to some bidders, putting them at disadvantage, while others have said the whole e-auction procedure is too time-consuming.

The department says the government has been able to save about Bt70 billion on its procurements since the introduction of e-auctions in 2005, due to more competitive bidding.

For the current fiscal year to date, government procurement via e-auction is worth Bt130 billion and the government has saved Bt9.8 billion, it said.