The two organisations signed a milestone memorandum of understanding (MoU) yesterday under which 300 companies will receive training on using the e-Tendering system to capture a bigger share of government contracts.
The MoU was signed by Oil and Gas Affairs Minister and Tender Board chairman, Dr Abdulhussain Mirza and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Labour Fund chairman Dr Nizar Al Baharna.
"The timing for such an initiative is just right," said Dr Al Baharna.
"With Bahrain rapidly adopting new e-Government initiatives such as e-Tendering and the kingdom going through a development boom that is seeing more and more governmental interaction with the private sector, it is imperative for companies to be able to use new technology tools such as the e-Tendering process to get their fair share of the action.
"Moreover, this initiative will expose Bahraini companies to new technology trends to streamline and simplify tendering processes, become more efficient, and lead them to embrace technology as a way to move ahead.
"This can be considered as the first practical step towards a major implementation of ICT infusion amongst the private sector within an e-Market place concept which is on the agenda of the Labour Fund's strategies.
"This project is part of adopting government-to-business scenario considering the fact that the largest purchasing power is within the government's boundaries," he added.
"Progress is about reaching the various players in the private sector in the fairest possible manner and no development is successful unless it is all-inclusive," he said,
"Thus, e-Tendering is the way forward and this initiative of training companies will empower them to play a greater role in Bahrain's development," he added.
"The e-Tendering process will be used to conduct all government tenders and purchase transactions undertaken by the authorities subject to the provisions of the law regulating government tenders and purchases, which are overseen by the Tender Board," added Dr. Mirza.
"By including the private sector and companies more strongly, the Tender Board is making a case for increased participation and fairness.
"It will enable the tendering process to be conducted via the Internet. The system will automate the workflows of the tender preparation, tender opening, tender evaluation and tender awarding process. Approximately 2000 tenders are processed annually, opening a huge potentially lucrative market for companies in the private sector," he said.
AlNadeem Technologies, which will be the training provider, is also the development agency behind the e-tendering process, hence companies will get expert training direct from the source, Dr Mirza said.
The training provider will have the responsibility of ensuring that the selected candidate from each company is familiarised with using the system, and understand the process for submitting their tenders online smoothly without any difficulties or problems.
It will be also responsible in testing the staff and certifying their ability to use the system with minimum errors.
The first batch of participating companies will be made up of 300 suppliers, based on their readiness with priority given to the most regular suppliers who have participated in the tendering process during this year and the past two years.
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Quelle/Source: Gulf Daily News, 04.07.2008
