FROM LEFT: Yousef Al Naama, General Manager of Corporate and Institutional Banking Department; Abdulaziz bin Nasser Al Khalifa, CEO of Qatar Development Bank; Abdulaziz Zaid Al Talib, Director of Government Procurement Department; and Ahmed Ali Al Ansari,
DOHA: The third edition of the Government Procurement and Contracting Conference & Exhibition (‘Moushtarayat’ 2018), which is to be held from April 23 to 25, is expected to offer billions of riyals of job opportunities for local suppliers, including SMEs, a top official at the Ministry of Finance announced yesterday.
Companies aiming to participate in the tenders to win job contracts, which are expected to be to the tune of over QR60bn, need to get registered with the Ministry of Finance to obtain classified certificates to qualify for applying for these tenders.
Since the launch of the previous edition of the ‘Moushtarayat’ ( held in April 2017) till now, business opportunities worth QR28.7bn have already been awarded to local suppliers, including SMEs, accounting for nearly 70 percent of the QR41.3bn total value of the awarded contracts.
“There are huge business opportunities for local suppliers this year just like last year. Last year we had tenders worth QR60bn, and this year also we are expecting the same numbers between QR40bn and QR60bn, or even more. We encourage and expect local suppliers to engage in networking with the 57 government agencies, including Ashghal and Kahramaa and others. The Department of Government Procurement Regulations (DGPR) at the Ministry of Finance (MoF) is the focal point of all the 57 agencies. So the companies must get registered with us to avail the benefits,” Abdulaziz Zeid Rashid Al Taleb, Director of DGPR at the Ministry told The Peninsula on the sidelines of a press conference held yesterday.
Al Taleb added: “I see more business opportunities coming up during the current period given the fact the share of the international suppliers is mainly limited to the construction industry. We are also emphasising on the law that encourages main contractors to give no less than 30 percent of contracts to local suppliers.”
Al Taleb said that the main objective of Moushtarayat event is to provide a national platform to registered firms. It’s a great opportunity for local companies to get fast access to the government tenders, especially those classified and registered with the government.
“Classified companies which have obtained certificate from the MoF get priority and easy access to participating for tenders. Those not registered they get disqualified from the tenders. In the absence of classification certificate, companies will not get the chance to participate in the tender”, he noted.
However, he also noted that in the absence of not getting business opportunities, classified firms can register complains with the DGPR at the Ministry of Finance, which take matters to the end users for amicable solutions. The press conference, held to announce the readiness of Moushtarayat 18 at the Ministry of Finance, was also attended by Abdulaziz bin Nasser Al Khalifa, CEO of Qatar Development Bank (QDB); Ahmed
Ali Al Ansari, the Technical Office Manager at Ashghal, and Yousef Al Neama, General Manager, Group Corporate & Institution Banking at QNB.
This year’s conference and exhibition will provide SMEs with more than 2000 opportunities with an estimated cumulative value worth up to QR4.6bn (expected to raise further) as well as the platform to learn about existing public tenders extended by 40 big buyers, such as larger private sector companies, semi-governmental and governmental bodies.
In addition, Moushtarayat 2018 aims to educate attendees on the procedures involved in partaking in future tender and application processes successfully, so that members of the private sector may become more active contributors to the diversification of the economy.
Commenting on this occasion, Al Khalifa (CEO of QDB), said: “The exhibition is expected to bring significant achievements for all parties, where SMEs will be able to identify the existing opportunities and open new markets through their presence. Local buyers will also benefit from gaining more knowledge and establishing better dialogue with prominent buyers and suppliers.”
Al Khalifa (CEO of QDB), also added that: “QDB’s efforts will help enhance SMEs market positions both technically and financially by assisting to localise supply chains, the active participation of entrepreneurs and SMEs at previous two editions of Moushtarayat underscored the success of the event and demonstrated how deeply they valued new public sector opportunities.”
Moushtarayat 2017 recorded a nationwide turnout of entrepreneurs, participants from SMEs, members of the larger business community and media personnel at its pavilions, which were largely hosted by government and semi-government organisations.
The Moushtarayat 2017 exhibition witnessed the participation of 30 exhibitors.
According to reports, during the course of the three-day expo, 2,000 job opportunities for SMEs were created with an estimated cumulative value worth up to QR2.5bn.
