Have you heard of a2i? In case you didn’t, it was an initiative founded 15 years ago, a division of the ICT Ministry, run out of Prime Minister’s Office and funded by UNDP.

All that gotta give you a primary idea of how influential it is! It was in essence, founded as a research center for ushering in what the govt. refers to as ‘Digital Bangladesh’. UNDP funded Tk 950Cr into it. And they were responsible for various projects to mobilize and facilitate the digitization of public services. And it was all good till then.

But something else is happening now. a2i used to stand for “Aspire to Innovate”. And now the govt. has been planning to change it to “Agency to Innovation”. This is not merely a name change. Rather, it’s an overhaul of their scope of work, influence, and goal.

So far a2i was supposed to only assist in various tech necessities of the government. But with some policy changes, it will emerge as a new agency that can operate like a profit-making company. This means it can compete for government tenders and contracts for tech projects. And that got the private companies that usually compete to get these contracts uneasy.

Now, before you think it’s just them being anti-competitive, hear out their rationale. As a private company, they have to spend money on rent, infrastructure, employees, etc. a2i will not have these burdens, as they will be operating out of office in govt infrastructures. They can also use employees from various govt. institutions and overall have better economies of scale. Private companies are worried this will help a2i quote rates much lower than if it were a level playing field.

However, the even bigger concern for companies is that, as a govt agency that can legally procure contracts, a2i will receive preferential treatment for all government projects. And all other companies will be snubbed from the contracts. And this unfairness in competition and influence between a government and private companies makes them uneasy.

Now there is no doubt that for government contracts a2i has a lot of unfair advantages. But there are some arguments in its favor too. If a2i can quote a better price for tenders, that will save public money. Also, the government has so many tech projects, that it might be better to have a standalone agency take care of those instead of private contractors. And as for competition, according to this Daily Star article, about 50% of the government contracts went to just two companies. And only 14 companies were a recipient of one contract only. So it seems like the contracts and bidding process was not very competitive, to begin with. And a2i as a contractor can reduce inefficiency and corruption related to these procurements. And as for other private firms, likely, a2i will also be able to subcontract jobs to other private companies.

It can be a force for good just like any other government agency. Whether it will be, is a whole different debate that only time can answer.