The developer of the government’s e-procurement website, promise.lk, has hit back at the Finance Ministry’s claims that it has delayed the expansion of the platform to accommodate large-scale international and national competitive (ICB and NCB) projects. Theekshana Research and Development states that the Ministry’s Electronic Government Procurement (eGP) Secretariat had given “contradicting requirements”. The eGP [...]

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Promise.lk not expanded due to “contradicting requirements” by eGP Secretariat, says developer

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The developer of the government’s e-procurement website, promise.lk, has hit back at the Finance Ministry’s claims that it has delayed the expansion of the platform to accommodate large-scale international and national competitive (ICB and NCB) projects.

Theekshana Research and Development states that the Ministry’s Electronic Government Procurement (eGP) Secretariat had given “contradicting requirements”.

The eGP Secretariat is responsible for implementing and managing the government’s electronic public procurement system.
Promise.lk is a major International Monetary Fund (IMF) structural benchmark aimed at improving transparency, accountability and efficiency. But the platform continues to attract only shopping tenders, falling short of the objective of opening up high-value projects to scrutiny and thereby minimising corruption.

Last week, upon inquiry by the Sunday Times, Finance Ministry sources said the developer was issued a strict October 2025 deadline by the Cabinet of Ministers—its second extension—to expand the platform. They said the website’s developer—hired in 2019 as a direct contract and not on a competitive tender— has faced challenges in meeting its targets.

In response, Theekshana claimed that it has put on hold the development work, “asking for long-awaited resolutions” to contract and payment issues, “after working for six months beyond the expiration of the development contract”.

The contract to develop the World Bank-funded e-GP version 3 was signed in February last year after a delay of four months, it also said. Consequently, the eGP Secretariat and the developer mutually agreed to an extension till
May 2025. However, “this extension was never processed…”

Theekshana insisted the project was granted as a single-source contract because the Finance Ministry had decided that the party that develops the e-GP “must not participate in public tenders due to a conflict of interest”.

At that time, the developer was from the university sector and not involved in the public tender process, having also carried out “several highly confidential projects that involved the national security of the country”. “Those became the sole reasons to single-source the project to the developer,” Theekshana said.

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