The Ministry of Finance is set to launch a new website for announcement of all government procurement tenders. The website will be officially launched on June 13, 2016, the day when the newly enacted Procurement Law No (24) of 2015 takes effect.
The online platform will provide information on all public procurement and auction related announcements to interested bidders, traders, suppliers and firms. It will be functioning under the Ministry of Finance.
"We are expected to launch a new website where advertisements of all the government entities inviting tenders for procurements will also be announced in addition to the organisation's respective websites," Abdulziz Zeid Rashid Al Taleb, Director of Government Procurement Regulations, told The Peninsula yesterday.
Al Taleb was speaking to this newspaper on the sidelines of a press conference held to announce the launch of 'Moushtrayat', the first public procurement conference and exhibition to be held from March 8.
However, he did not disclose the domain name of the online forum.
The website will be named once it has been decided whether it will be a separate site or is to be integrated with the ministry's website. Interested parties will be able to apply for tenders online to help with applications with technical specifications.
Al Taleb said: "There will be links between websites, the government regulator and other public entities. It will help traders and supplier go to a single platform where they can find all information. The idea is to provide a single platform to promote small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Qatar."
The SMEs have been made part of the government procurement process as per the state's plans to support entrepreneurship and economic diversification.
According to the new law, foreign companies implementing national projects are to use local market resource to the value of 30 percent of the contract.
On the size of procurement deals to be signed this year, Al Taleb said given the scale and number of public infrastructure development projects, billions of riyals of procurement tenders will be announced in future. "I do not want to speculate about any numbers as it's premature for me to comment, but there will be huge opportunities for local companies with considerable number of tenders from government entities, including Qatar Rail and Ashghal (Public Works Authority), among others." The initiative is part of government's efforts to check on any possible riggings and manipulations in biddings to ensure further transparency in the public procurement process. Qatar is contemplating tough actions against price fixing, bid rigging and other forms of possible collusions in public tenders. The soon-to-be-implemented procurement law stipulates prosecution of officials who act against the country's competition protection and collusion combat policy in public procurements. Bidders found involved rigging bids or making attempts to influence officials, including through bribing, will be sternly dealt with.
Qatar Development Bank has been working with the ministry to integrate SMEs into the state procurement network. Government procurement refers to the act of obtaining goods and services for a public agency. It is all about government-related purchasing activity.