On September 08-09, 2025, Dr. Irfan Ahmad, a leading expert on public procurement and contract management, conducted a two-day workshop on “Public Procurement in Pakistan and Disposal of Public Assets” for the participants of the 44th Mid-Career Management Course (MCMC) at National Institute of Public Administration (NIPA) Lahore. On the first day of the workshop, Dr Ahmad focused on Public Procurement, while on the second day, he mainly discussed Contract Management. With regard to Public Procurement, Dr. Ahmad introduced the participants to several key concepts such as Bid and Tender Rules & Regulations, emphasizing transparency, competitiveness, and accountability in public procurement. He elaborated the significance of well-defined Terms and Conditions, including price and rate setting, warranties and guarantees, and the use of technical specifications and standards to ensure quality and compliance. Dr. Ahmad also explained the eligibility and qualification requirements for bidders, including relevant experience, past performance, financial strength, human and technical resources, and managerial capability. Dr Ahmad also demonstrated the actual use of EPADS (E-Pak Acquisition & Disposal System), developed by the federal government to digitalize the public procurement process. On Contract Management, Dr. Ahmad discussed several fundamental concepts such as pre-contract review, contract finalization, types of contracts (consultancy contracts, goods contracts, works contracts), and contract management.

The discussion on each topic was followed by a hands-on exercise/simulation exercise and a question answer session. Following the discussion on Public Procurement, the class was divided into five groups and each group was assigned a to prepare a procurement document, which then they presented before the class. Following the discussion on Contract Management, a simulation exercise was conducted, with the class divided into two groups, with each group comprising three sub-groups (Contractor. Procuring Agency and Arbitrators). Dr. Ahmad applauded the quality of work/arguments by the participants in both hands-on exercise and the simulation exercise. Throughout the workshop, MCMC participants showed a keen interest in the discussion and asked many probing questions, which were answered by the learned guest speaker.