E-Perolehan into next phase

Phase two of the electronic procurement (e-Perolehan) project has proceeded with the live rollout of the direct purchase module. This, according to Commerce Dot Com Sdn Bhd, which is developing and managing the e-Perolehan system, will be followed by the roll-out of the request for quotation, tender and payment modules either in the third or fourth quarter of this year.

Following this, government contracts between RM50,000 and RM100,000 will need to go through the direct purchase module while contracts valued at more than RM100,000 will go through the quotation and tender process.

Commerce Dot Com's vice president for operations, Zaharin Ali, said other modules in the pipeline include faxes and short messaging service (SMS) which will be integrated into e-Perolehan, to cater to suppliers who are waiting for a purchasing order, but are out of the office. He added that since its implementation in October 2000, the e-Perolehan system has managed to improve efficiency in many government agencies.

"The turnaround time from receipt to approval of applications has been shortened from 36 days to 14 days, marking a 61 per cent improvement," Zaharin said. He added that the number of missing applications has been reduced from five per cent to zero and the number of applications awaiting supporting documents cut from 1,487 to 337, a 73 per cent drop.