শিরোনাম :
In a country where government files are notorious for moving at a snail’s pace, the speed at which Chinese tech giant Huawei secured a Tk 463 crore 5G infrastructure project from Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited (BTCL) has raised serious questions.
Documents reviewed by the The Daily Corporate reveal that the entire tender process — from announcing the date for opening financial offers to awarding the contract — proceeded at an unusually rapid pace, violating key procurement rules along the way.
The project, aimed at installing an optical fibre transmission network as part of Bangladesh's 5G rollout preparations, has been marred by allegations of irregularities and a lack of transparency.
“This level of haste is unprecedented and impossible under proper procedures. The government must investigate,” said AKM Fazlul Karim, former director general of the Central Procurement Technical Unit (CPTU), the agency responsible for overseeing government procurement.
BTCL floated the tender in December last year, attracting bids from Huawei, ZTE, and Nokia. Despite shortcomings in meeting technical requirements, all three companies were cleared through the technical evaluation stage.
However, former BTCL Managing Director Asaduzzaman Chowdhury reportedly faced consequences for objecting to the evaluation process and calling for a fresh tender. He was demoted in October and later suspended in November, though these disciplinary actions were eventually overturned by the court.
Meanwhile, on November 6, project director Md Monjir Ahmed summoned the bidders to the financial offer opening scheduled for November 8 — providing less than 48 hours' notice, despite the mandatory seven-day notice period clearly stated in the tender documents.
ZTE formally objected to this breach of procedure, noting that their representative was out of the country and could not attend on such short notice. The company requested that the process be paused, but BTCL proceeded regardless.
Huawei, which submitted the lowest bid of Tk 326 crore, was awarded the contract in record time. Within just two working days — or four days if weekends are included — the BTCL board completed the evaluation process and submitted its report on November 12.
According to CPTU rules, the evaluation committee must thoroughly review documents, seek clarifications, correct errors, convert all prices to a single currency, and conduct detailed post-qualification assessments — steps that experts say cannot be completed within such a short window.
“It is impossible to carry out the proper evaluation in two working days. Such rushed processing suggests irregularities,” said former CPTU chief Karim.
The following day, on November 13, Huawei’s proposal was approved at BTCL’s 216th board meeting, and the official work order was issued on November 14.
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Several BTCL officials, speaking anonymously, confirmed that board members are supposed to receive meeting agendas and evaluation reports at least 72 hours in advance to allow time for review. In this case, those procedures were not followed.
A board member told The Corporate that he received the meeting notice on November 9, bearing the signature of the company secretary dated November 8, but no agenda was provided.
A former BTCL official familiar with tender procedures described the process as highly irregular, noting that preparing meeting minutes, obtaining necessary approvals, and issuing the final work order typically takes at least three to four days.
“It is highly unusual for a major project to be approved and awarded within such a rushed timeline. This appears to be a staged process to favour a specific company,” the official said.
BTCL’s current acting Managing Director Md Anwar Hossain could not be reached for comment. Project director Ahmed declined to speak on the matter.
AKM Habibur Rahman, Managing Director of Teletalk and chair of the tender evaluation committee, defended the process, stating that all public procurement rules were followed.
However, telecom experts and industry insiders remain unconvinced.
“The malpractice is evident at every stage of this project. It is shocking that the Anti-Corruption Commission has not intervened yet,” said a senior telecom analyst.
With Bangladesh’s 5G ambitions hinging on such critical infrastructure, concerns over transparency and fairness in major contracts continue to cast a shadow over the country’s digital future.
