The Cabinet Division on Monday issued an official gazette mandating that all local government engineering departments, zilla parishads, and municipalities execute public contracts entirely through the electronic government procurement (e-GP) platform.

The reform follows investigative findings submitted by the Central Procurement Technical Unit (CPTU) revealing systematic physical intimidation and paper-tender tampering in district-level road maintenance contracts.

Under the tightened regulatory regime, automated financial cross-checks will instantly verify bidder tax compliance, commercial bank solvency letters, and performance history, eliminating manual discretion by tender evaluation committees.