Don’t Abandon E-bidding Over Hacking

Public procurement has long been one of the areas most vulnerable to corruption in Nepal. Government contracts involving large sums of public money have historically been marred by collusion, intimidation, manipulation and unfair competition. The introduction of Electronic Bidding (E-bidding) was an important step toward addressing some of these problems by making the tendering process more transparent, accessible and competitive. That progress should not be reversed because the e-bidding system has been compromised. Reports that the electronic procurement system was hacked are undoubtedly serious. If unauthorized access allowed individuals or groups to view competitors’ financial proposals and manipulate bids at the last moment, it constitutes a grave breach of the procurement system and warrants a thorough investigation. Those responsible must be identified and prosecuted. The Central Investigation Bureau of Nepal Police is already investigating the matter. But addressing a security breach by scrapping e-bidding and returning to paper-based sealed tenders is the wrong response. The Public Procurement Monitoring Office's decision to instruct government offices to conduct procurement through paper-based bidding until further notice, citing security concerns, risks taking public procurement back to a system that had its own well-documented vulnerabilities. Sealed bidding was never synonymous with transparency or fair competition. Before E-bidding, bidders often had to physically visit offices to submit tenders, while intimidation, collusion, manipulation of sealed envelopes and other forms of interference were common complaints. There were also reports of clashes, assaults and criminal influence surrounding tender processes.