ISLAMABAD, Dec 13: The People's Party Parliamentarians (PPP) has submitted a bill to the Senate Secretariat seeking the establishment of an autonomous corporation to develop and maintain the Pakistan Portal on Contracts Management for bringing transparency to all contracts pertaining to all services and purchases.

This was stated by PPP Senator Rukhsana Zuberi while speaking at a news conference here on Monday. Ms Zuberi, who had piloted the bill, said the corporation would serve as a repository of all information on all contracts for the procurement of all services and purchases providing online access to the information for all.

About the functions of the corporation, she said it would collect all tender documents, bids received, short-listing of the contractors, selection criteria and award of the contract. The portal, she said, would have the information right from tender inquiry and provide for monitoring of the progress and follow up on the quality of material and target timings.

Any one wishing to comment on any aspect will be able to give input, and every input will be scrutinised and its reply will be posted on the portal, she added.

The PPP senator said the party had submitted the bill because it was committed to good governance for which accountability was a prerequisite. She said the bill was also sent to Benazir Bhutto for her approval before its submission to the Senate Secretariat.