Strengthening Pharmaceutical Systems Bangladesh Quarterly Newsletter

Volume 1, Issue 2 December 2011

Inside this issue

Bid Document and Procurement Procedures Manual Review Workshop

1

DGFP Organized Bidders’ Orientation Program

2

Executive Vice President of MSH Meets with MoHFW Secretary

2

Case Study: SPS Supported DGFP to Manage Excess Syringes

2

Demonstration of MoHFW’s Procurement Management Portal

3

Introductory Meeting with National TB Program

3

Follow-Up Session for DGFP Web-Based Logistics Management Tools and Reports

3

Assistance Provided to MoHFW Line Directors to Develop Procure-ment Plans with Reimbursable Project Aid

4

Success Story: Bangladesh SCIP Receives Two Digital Innovation Awards

4

Establishment of a Procurement and Logistics Management Cell

5

Voice from the Field: UIMS Made My Life Easier

5

Bid Document and Procurement Procedures Manual

Review Workshop

A technical session entitled “Bid Document and PPM (Procurement

Procedures Manual) Review Workshop” was held August 8–9 and

16–17, 2011, at the Logistics and Supply Unit’s (L&S) conference

room at the Directorate General of Family Planning (DGFP) and at the

Strengthening Pharmaceutical Systems (SPS) conference room, respec-

tively. The objective of the session was to review the DGFP’s standard

bid documents and to strengthen the clauses in the bid data sheet to

remove discrepancies that are not consistent with the Drug Administra-

tion’s regulations for registering pharmaceuticals and medical devices.

In addition, the PPM was given a final review before publication.

Mr. Faikuzzaman Chowdhury, Director, Finance and Line Director,

Field Services Delivery Program (FSDP), opened the discussion and

provided important input on bid documents and the PPM.

Procurement desk officers, a deputy director (Foreign Procurement),

an additional director (Drugs and Stores at the Central Warehouse

[CWH]), and the CWH assistant director were also present and

provided necessary feedback, which has already been incorporated

in both the bid documents and the PPM.

The sessions were facilitated by Joseph Ampomah Adu, Deputy

Director, and Abdullah Imam Khan, Senior Program Associate-

Procurement, of the SPS Program.

Deputy country director of SPS-Bangladesh in discussion with desk

officers of the DGFP.

Page 2 SPS Bangladesh Quarterly Newsletter

DGFP Organized Bidders’ Orientation Program

The DGFP procures large quantities of many commodi-

ties, including oral contraceptives, condoms, injectables,

intrauterine devices, drug and dietary supplement kits,

by utilizing Government of Bangladesh (GOB) and

World Bank-managed pool funds. The DGFP contracts

for the provision of goods on the best possible commer-

cial terms, awarded to the technically qualified, lowest-

cost bidder with appropriate skills and commercial

standing. DGFP operates a transparent and consistent

control system for tendering and contracts management.

But unfortunately, all the bidders do not have the same

knowledge in preparing the tender documents and sub-

mitting the necessary supporting documents according to

DGFP criteria; this results in less competition.

To remedy this situation, DGFP organized a day-long

orientation session for potential bidders on September

15, 2011, at the information, education, and motivation

(IEM) conference room at the DGFP in Dhaka. The

session was facilitated by SPS, which is funded by

USAID. The goal of the session was to provide national

and international bidders with updated information on

bidding procedures, qualifications, maintenance of

delivery schedules, and other relevant matters. In

addition, DGFP officials were keenly interested in

bidders’ opinions about doing business with DGFP. At

the end of the program, the participants provided DGFP

with a set of specific recommendations.

The welcome address was given by Mr. Md. Kafil

Uddin, director (Logistics and Supply). Dr. Zubayer

Hussain, country director, SPS, explained the objectives

of the program. Mr. M. M. Neazuuddin, Director

General of DGFP, then inaugurated the event.

Executive Vice President of MSH Meets with

MoHFW Secretary

On July 5, 2011, Mr. Paul Auxila, executive vice

president and chief operating officer of Management

Sciences for Health (MSH), made an introductory visit to

Md. Humayun Kabir, the Secretary of the Ministry of

Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW). During the

discussion, Mr. Auxila shared the MSH experience

worldwide in the public health field and the history of

MSH’s presence in Bangladesh; he also explored

opportunities to broaden the organization’s activities. He

also talked about MSH’s relationships with USAID and

other donors. Mr. S. M. Ashraful Islam, joint secretary,

Administration, MoHFW; Ms. Aktari Mamtaz, joint

secretary, Development and Medical Education,

MOHFW; Ms. Belkis, NGO capacity building and gender

advisor, MSH; Dr. Zubayer Hussain, country director,

SPS Bangladesh, were also present.

Case Study: SPS Supported DGFP to Manage Excess Syringes

When SPS critically reviewed the web-LMIS (http://www.dgfplmis.org) report, it found that an excess of ap-

proximately 3.8 million auto-disable (AD) syringes were stored in different warehouses including service deliv-

ery points (SDPs). Despite the excess, DGFP was planning to procure additional AD syringes in FY 2011-12.

Dr. S. A. Fida Hasan, program manager, FSDP, presided over an August 18, 2011, meeting with DGFP and the

German Development Bank (KfW) on managing the excess syringes and revising the procurement (based on

the forecast supported by SPS) for FY 2011-12. It was decided that DGFP-FSDP will revise the procurement

plan for FY 2011-12 and procure 2 million fewer AD syringes. The GOB will procure 1.6 million instead of 2.6

million and RPA will procure 10 million instead of 11 million; the result will be a savings of 12 million taka.

(Left to right) Ms. Mamtaz, Dr. Hussain, Paul Axila, Ms. Bel-

kis, Mr. Kabir, and Mr. Islam.

Page 3 SPS Bangladesh Quarterly Newsletter

Demonstration of MoHFW’s Procurement Management Portal

A technical session entitled “Demonstration of Ministry

of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) Procurement

Management Portal (PMP)” was held on August 3,

2011, at the management information system (MIS)

auditorium, Directorate General of Health Services

(DGHS), Dhaka. The session was facilitated by SPS

with financial support from USAID.

Mr. A. K. M. Amir Hossain, Additional Secretary,

MoHFW, graced the session as the chief guest. Ms.

Aktari Mamtaz, Joint Secretary, Development and

Medical Education, MoHFW, chaired the session.

Professor Dr. Abul Kalam Azad, Additional Director

General (Planning), DGHS, moderated the technical

session (he is also the focal person from MoHFW for

the portal).

At the beginning of the demonstration, Prof. Azad

clarified the objectives of the program which are—

To share the demo version of the PMP with key

stakeholders to promote common understanding

To seek input for the development of the portal

To build consensus on major components of the portal

SPS Country Director Dr. Zubayer Hussain then

presented the keynote speech on the PMP. He also

mentioned that the portal would address drawbacks of

the previous system. For example—

A product catalog is now available with unique

codes for all items

Product specifications are now available in a central

repository

Line directors can develop, submit, and manage

procurement plans electronically (procurement

packages will no longer be managed and tracked in

Word/Excel)

Procurement sections of all 32 operational plans can

be handled electronically

Information on registered medicines and contra-

ceptives can be directly linked to procurement

processes

Mr. Mahmudul Islam, IT consultant, then demonstrated

the functionality of the portal. Additional Director

General (Administration) Prof. Dr. A. F. M. Saiful Islam

expressed his views as a representative of the director

general, DGHS. Ms. Aktari Mamtaz, Joint Secretary,

development and medical education, MoHFW, briefly

explained the idea of forming a procurement and logistics

management cell (PLMC) within MoHFW. This

management body/cell will oversee procurement

functions of all procuring entities under MoHFW,

particularly four major entities—Central Medical Stores

Depot (CMSD)/DGHS, Logistics and Supply Unit/DGFP,

Health Engineering Department (HED), and MoHFW

itself. Ms. Mamtaz also pointed out the need for a PLMC

for effective and efficient procurement management.

The interactive session with Mr. Islam brought together

key policy makers, line directors, tertiary-level hospital

directors, a civil surgeon, the deputy director from

family planning, the director general for drug adminis-

tration, program managers, and representatives from

WHO and USAID.

Introductory Meeting with National TB Program

The SPS team met with Dr. Motiuddin Ahmed, Line

Director, TB-Leprosy, on July 26, 2011, at the National

TB Program (NTP) office. The meeting was held to get

initial information on NTP’s procurement, logistics, and

MIS, and to explore avenues for providing assistance for

the overall improvement of these functions as well as

human capacity. At the beginning of the meeting, Dr.

Zubayer gave a short briefing about the SPS-Bangladesh

program and its activities within MoHFW, including

DGHS and DGFP. Representatives from WHO,

University Research Co., LLC (URC), and the Global

Fund were also present at the meeting.

Follow-Up Session for DGFP Web-Based

Logistics Management Tools and Reports

SPS facilitated a workshop on March 29–30, 2011, to

review the current logistics reporting forms, DGFP’s

Supply Chain Information Portal (SCIP), Warehouse

Inventory Management System (WIMS), Upazila

Inventory Management System (UIMS), and Web-Based

Logistics Management Information System (LMIS) to

determine their functionality and identify further

Page 4 SPS Bangladesh Quarterly Newsletter

enhancements. SPS incorporated all the recommendations

made during the workshop into a report which it shared in

a follow-up technical session held on September 21, 2011,

at the IEM conference room in the gracious presence of

DGFP directors and officials. The objective of the session

was to agree and validate the recommendations of DGFP

Logistics Management Tools and Reports made by

participants during the workshop held on March 29–30,

2011, and to reflect on the recommendations of the

revised reporting format. Deputy Director, Mr. Rezaul

Islam, MIS, DGFP, made a presentation on the updated

features on the various tools and the monthly family

planning logistics report.

Mr. M. M. Neazuddin, Director General of Family

Planning, stressed the physical verification of data from

the field and requested that the MIS director ensure an

effective monitoring system at every level (central,

division, district, upazila, and SDP).

Assistance Provided to MoHFW Line Directors to Develop Procurement Plans with Reimbursable

Project Aid

The World Bank, a pool of development partners, and the

GOB are funding the five-year Health, Population, and

Nutrition Sector Development Program (HPNSDP) for the

country. Under the development credit agreement between

the donors and the GOB, items purchased under HPNSDP

must be procured in accordance with the International

Development Association’s (IDA) and the World Bank’s

procurement requirements and guidelines.

The responsibility for procuring health care commodities

falls to two directorates of MoHFW—DGFP, which is

responsible for procuring contraceptives, and the CMSD,

which is responsible for procuring medical supplies and

equipment for DGHS. These agencies were not familiar

with widely-held principles of good public procurement

Success Story: Bangladesh SCIP Receives Two Digital Innovation Awards In July 2011, at Bangladesh’s Digital Innovation Fair, Md. Humayun Kabir, Secretary, MoHFW, accepted a Digital Innovation Award for the SCIP, considered the best e-governance initiative at the fair; in addition, the portal won the runner-up award for national digital innovation in the e-health category, making it eligible for the 2013 World Summit Award, which is the global initiative to promote the world’s most innovative information technology applications. The SCIP strengthens the supply chain by making web-based tools available to the Bangladesh DGFP and registered public users. For example, the LMIS and stock status report provide information on the availability of government-owned contraceptives and raises an alert regarding possible shortages or overages. In addition, the Procurement Tracker allows government officials to track the status of the procurement process every step of the way, which helps prevent delays while also promoting transparency. The portal is unique in the government sector for its ability to allow users to manage data and create presentations using web-based dashboards. The DGFP SCIP helps to ensure the availability of contraceptives at the upazila and field levels, which eventually will help reduce unwanted pregnancies and population growth—steps toward reaching the relevant Millennium Development Goals. This portal was developed by the SPS Program, supported by USAID. The fair, held July 6-9, 2011, at the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Novo Theatre in Dhaka, showcases innovative government initiatives and projects on the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in various government and private organizations. The fair was opened by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on July 6 and was organized by the prime minister’s office in collaboration with the Ministry of Science and ICT. The fair was also meant to bridge the communication gap between government, private organizations, and the general public; 68 different ministries, government authorities, and private organizations took part with over 100 digitally enabled projects and initiatives.

Page 5 SPS Bangladesh Quarterly Newsletter

nor did they have direct experience with international

competitive bidding, international trade practices, or

World Bank procurement requirements. As a result, the

procurement process was ineffective, leading to

significant delays in order processing and delivery of

commodities.

To address this issue, MoHFW asked the SPS program

to provide on-site technical assistance to develop 18-

month, IDA-funded procurement plans for the next

sector program so that MoHFW could submit the

consolidated procurement plans of its 32 operational

plans to the World Bank on time.

Establishment of a Procurement and Logistics

Management Cell

One of the main goals of the HPNSDP for 2011–2016 is

to set up a PLMC within MoHFW to oversee all procur-

ing entities under the Ministry. The establishment of a

PLMC will also be coupled with the transformation of the

CMSD into a strategic procurement organization. It is

expected that the cell will be responsible for coordinating

and supervising all procurements and supplies of products

and services and will coordinate decentralization, capacity

building, and monitoring of procurement processes.

SPS engaged an international consultant to conduct a

comprehensive assessment of MoHFW’s four procure-

ment entities to identify the strengths and weaknesses of

each and map the key stakeholders involved. The four key

procuring entities are—

CMSD, under DGHS, procures goods and services

L&S Unit, under DGFP, procures goods and service

HED procures works

MoHFW procures goods and service

The findings in the assessment will be used to carefully

plan and execute the transition process without negatively

affecting the procurement functions of the four entities

and the quality of health service in general.

Voice from the Field: UIMS Made My Life Easier

Madaripur Sadar is one of 483 upazilas where an Upazila Inventory Management System (UIMS) was installed recently. It is a large upazila in terms of family-planning area coverage and number of field workers deployed; it has a total of 101 SDPs. Rabeya Begum, the Upazila Family Planning Assistant of Madaripur Sadar, performs multiple tasks and has a heavy work load. She is the focal person for UMIS, the Personnel Management Infor-mation System (PMIS), and services data in her upazila. She has to work in the areas of accounts, store man-agement and other general activities, and ad-hoc report preparation.

Rabeya received training on UIMS 2 from SPS in May 2011 and successfully generated reports the following month. UIMS 2 has the one-click backup feature, which allows her to preserve the data and regularly send it to her supervisor to prevent any untoward situation like a hard disk crash.

According to Rabeya, “I can now generate monthly reports and issue vouchers for 101 staff correctly using UIMS 2 software in less than a day. This used to take me at least 3 days to prepare all manually, and monthly reporting was impossible before the 15th of the next month. But now, it only takes me less than a day to complete and send by the 3rd of the next. It also helps me multitasks quite effectively and efficiently.” She happily said, “UIMS2 has made my life easier.”

UMIS 2 has an option to upload the monthly 7B report directly to the DGFP SCIP web portal. Thus, UIMS software has enhanced the efficiency of the upazila family-planning store staff and assists them in error-free recording and reporting. It has also tremendously increased the reliability and validity of logistics data.

Rabeya Begum

Page 6 SPS Bangladesh Quarterly Newsletter

Contact address: MSH/SPS Country Office, Flat #E1-W1 House 28, Road #63, Gulshan-2 Dhaka-1212, Bangladesh For more information, please visit DGFP Supply Chain Information Portal http://www.dgfplmis.org/

This report is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the US Agency for International Development (USAID), under the terms of cooperative agreement number GHN-A-00-07-00002-00. The contents are the responsibility of Management Sciences for Health and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.