New Tender Board structure to upgrade government projects and procurements

MUSCAT: His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik recently issued Royal Decree No 32/2022 amending some provisions of Royal Decree No 84/2020 regarding the restructuring of the Secretariat-General of the Tender Board and introducing new administrative divisions with the aim of upgrading the efficiency of government projects and purchases and enhancing related local content.

The new divisions are as follows: the Directorate-General of Tenders, Follow-up Office of Government Projects, the Directorate-General of Government Purchases, the Directorate-General of the Local Content. The aim is to set up an integrated coherent system that would enhance the efficiency of government spending related to government purchases and achieving value-added as well as improving national cadres, domestic companies and the local market in general with a view to achieving sustainable economic benefits.

Engineer Bader bin Salim al Mamari, Secretary-General of the Tender Board, stated that the roles entrusted to the Secretariat-General of the Tender Board constitute a pivotal role in creating an integrated system for raising the efficiency of the government spending related to public projects and procurement and maximising spending in local content through these projects and procurement.

Over the upcoming period, the Secretariat-General of the Tender Board will be working in an integrated manner along with the relevant authorities on the development of the government’s procurements and improving the efficiency of the government’s tenders and devising programmes that guarantee speedy implementation of government projects and reducing change orders while committing to the approved financial allocations in accordance to efficient approaches and frameworks. The Secretariat-General of the Tender Board will closely follow up, along with the competent authorities, the projects from the planning stage until completion.

In addition, it will upgrade procurement policies and procedures by devising strategies for managing frequent purchases as per quantum economics. This is in addition to collecting and analysing future procurement needs and determining appropriate contracting strategies in line with local content programmes based on the holistic approach adopted by the Secretariat-General in order to achieve the best service and value of goods and services for all concerned parties. In addition, the Secretariat-General of the Tender Board will work on developing effective procedures to ensure achieving the highest local added-value from spending on government projects and procurement, the official said.

Secretariat-General of the Tender Board affirmed that the restructuring and the establishment of the new divisions is in line with the goals of the Oman Vision 2040 pertaining to improving the government spending in projects and procurements. The most important functions of the new restructure are: to lead efforts to raise the efficiency of government spending, enhance local content through the formulation of policies and regulations, set objectives and measure the effect achieved by enhancing the efficiency of government spending related to government projects and procurement.

The Directorate of Tenders aims to boost the efficiency of government tendering procedures in accordance with the best local, regional and international practices as well as achieve the principles of transparency, equal opportunities, equality, fee competition and the preservation of public money in government tenders in accordance with the objectives of Oman Vision 2040.

The government tenders platform was founded to regulate the procedures and is considered as a unified portal for the management of government tenders and procurement. The Directorate intends to develop a new vision for the platform and develop the existing procedures so that the electronic tendering system would include all stages from the beginning of approvals to the stages of closing the contract and developing a database of classified and registered companies. The platform also seeks to enhance the process of evaluating suppliers, contractors and to serve as a reference for the government system.

The Implementation Follow-up Office has been established under the umbrella of the Secretariat-General of the Tender Board. The founding team of Office said that it aims to upgrade the efficiency of the government projects and ensure quality and speedy implementation and minimise change orders in project implementation.

The decision to establish the Directorate for Unified Government Procurements aims to provide unified procurement services. The Directorate seeks to raise the efficiency of spending by providing the best service and value of goods. In addition to enhancing local content and uplifting the capabilities of human cadres working in procurement departments at the government departments.

The Directorate for Unified Government Procurements applies the principle of quantum economics by electronically collecting data related to procurements of similar nature required by the government’s civil departments. The Directorate’s purviews include activating the unified procurement operations and minimising the volume of current expenditure related to the government’s procurements. For the time being, the Directorate will work on laying down the legalisations and framework required during the foundation stage.

The decision on setting up the Directorate-General of Local Content aims to achieve the maximum value-added from the government spending on public projects and procurements, stimulate the national economy and enable the government departments to apply the best practices in terms of creating job opportunities for citizens. The Directorate also seeks to enhance the benefit of small and medium enterprises from government spending, develop local suppliers, promote overseas investments and augment the benefits from local products and services.