Abdulaziz Al Mannai (left), Executive Director of Advisory Services, QDB; and AbdulAziz Zeid Rashid Al Taleb, Director of Government Procurement Regulations at the Ministry of Finance; during a press conference at Qatar Development Bank, yesterday. Pic:
The upcoming Government Procurement & Contracting Conference and Exhibition (Moushtarayat 2018), which will be held from April 23 to 25, is set to offer job and contract opportunities worth billions of dollars to local companies, including SMEs.
During the third-edition of highly awaited expo (Moushtarayat), which is expected to witness more than 60 exhibitors and over 4,000 visitors from key government agencies and private companies, may witness procurement of goods and services worth several billion dollars, as more government agencies are set to participate in this edition.
The expo’s previous edition attracted 2212 visitors and 30 exhibitors, opened 2022 job opportunities for SMEs with an estimated cumulative value worth up to QR2.5bn.
The high-profile expo will be held under the patronage of Prime Minister and Interior Minister, H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani at Doha Exhibition and Convention Center (DECC).
The three-day event is being organised by Qatar Development Bank (QDB) in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance, who jointly held a press conference yesterday at QDB headquarters to announce the details of the expo.
The meeting was addressed by Abdulaziz Al Mannai, Executive Director for Advisory Services at QDB, and Abdulaziz Zeid Rashid Al Taleb, Director of Government Procurement Regulations at the Ministry of Finance. QDB is collaborating with the Ministry of Finance, whose specialist procurement regulation department have helped frame and support the popular expo series since it was first launched two years ago.
“In the previous edition of Moushtarayat, more than 30 local companies participated. More than 2,000 business opportunities were awarded to SMEs. We expect that in this edition of the event the number of exhibitors and contract opportunities will be more than double,” said Al Taleb.
He added: “This edition will be held with more seriousness than the previous ones as more government agencies will be participating to make it a more success.”
Replying to a question on the implementation of the recent cabinet decision requiring for government agencies to procure 100 percent from local companies, Al Taleb added that government aims to provide maximum possible support to local SMEs. “The Financial Control Department at the Ministry follow up things closely through its own ways, which include reviewing bills and invoices of payments to ensure that contracting companies, both local and international, procure adequate share of the their materials and products from local suppliers.”
On his part, Al Mannai of QDB, said: “Throughout our various events, meetings, and exhibitions we have found that some companies and government agencies, such as Ashghal and Kahramaa and others, are very committed to achieving the objects laid under Moushtarayat.”
Building on the momentum of its preceding editions, Moushtarayat 2018 will usher in a wave of new opportunities for the government-private sector cooperation. The expo welcomes members of the local private sector, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), to attend and participate in a wide range of public tenders, publicly announced throughout the year. Notably, a key aspect of the conference is to educate local SMEs about the procedures involved in partaking in existing public tenders extended by big buyers, such as larger private sector companies, semi-governmental and governmental bodies.
Held in 2016, the first edition of the expo saw the participation of 25 exhibitors, who made nearly 450 contract opportunities available – with an approximate value of QR3bn– to the local private sector.
Out of these opportunities, 102 contracts were eventually awarded as a result of the facilitation that businesses enjoyed during Moushtarayat 2016.
