Practices & Challenges in Goods Procurement for Bangladesh Railway

Bangladesh Railway (BR), a principle transportation agency of the country, is a Government¿owned and Government¿managed organization. BR has to manage an inventory of more than 30,000 items. Non availability of the spare-parts is a major issue in the locomotive maintenance works. That is why the procurement of locomotive spare-parts is crucial and challenging for BR. The specific objectives of the study were to identify current practices of procurement, challenges faced in procuring spare-parts, understanding the current consumer¿s satisfaction level and finally to suggest ways to improve the performance of procurement function and enhance the consumer¿s satisfaction. The researcher recommends a number of possible ways for improving areas to procurement management like organization and management, portfolio segmentation, tender and contract terms, relationships development and management, personnel management, and BPR. The researcher believes that if BR considers and implements those recommendations in procurement management, certainly, the delivery performance will be improved considerably, and thereby, consumers¿ satisfaction will also be increased.