The Federal Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (FPPRA) is ushering in a new era of efficiency and transparency in public procurement across Pakistan through the implementation of the cutting-edge e-Government Procurement (e-GP) System known as the “E-Pak Acquisition and Disposal System (EPADS).” The EPADS, a sophisticated electronic platform, would provide a unified national regime of public procurement across the country digitizing the entire public procurement cycle along with a state-of-the-art decision support system. Initially the system was piloted in two federal ministries: Ministry of National Health Services Regulations and Coordination & Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training, alongwith piloting in Punjab on March 1, 2023. After piloting the FPPRA launched an extensive training program to ensure smooth adaptation of the system. FPPRA has made significant progress and up to now around 4000 users in around 300 training sessions have received training. The system has already been rolled out in 17 ministries and 246 departments and FPPRA is making all efforts to complete its rollout in all ministries by the end of December 2023.
Furthermore, FPPRA is facilitating the users in registration process by providing them user logins during the training program and by helping them afterwards through its established help desks and support through electronic means including phone & email etc. Currently, around 1000 users for Federal Procuring Agencies, 564 for Federal Vendors/Suppliers, and 345 at the Provincial levels have been successfully registered in EPADS, highlighting the system’s widespread adoption. FPPRA is making all efforts to facilitate system adaptation through continuous and free of cost training, registration, and support. The EPADS is a large-scale national level system and will prove to be the backbone for e-governance in Pakistan.
