Authority for Projects, Tenders and Local Content: New phase in development
The Authority's mandate includes proposing policies related to increasing the efficiency of government spending and promoting local content related to government projects and procurement, national policies and strategies related to local content development as well as laying down plans, programmes, and initiatives for promoting local content in the Sultanate of Oman and setting local content targets in all sectors at the national level.
Among the Authority's powers is developing frameworks and methodologies to enhance the efficiency of planning and implementing government projects with the aim of ensuring their quality, expediting implementation, reducing change orders and adhering to approved budgets.
Engineer Badr bin Salem al Maamari
The Authority will monitor and manage the implementation of government projects in coordination with relevant authorities. It will also organise technical processes and procedures related to tender management to achieve transparency, equal opportunities, equity and freedom of competition. It will also provide unified procurement services including strategic analytical studies of government procurement needs based on quantum economics. It will also review local content requirements in contracts, purchases, and tenders subject to the Tenders Law and follow up on these requirements in coordination with relevant authorities. It will also conduct a legal review of draft contracts and change orders before they are signed and implemented by any unit of the state administrative apparatus and other public legal entities.
The amendments include the addition of purviews related to proposing policies to increase the efficiency of government spending and enhance local content related to government projects and purchases, national policies and strategies related to local content development, and responsibilities related to the national local content system, which includes managing, organising, and monitoring local content in all sectors at the national level. The name of the Directorate-General of Local Content will be changed to the National Office for Local Content in the organisational structure, and the responsibility for managing the execution of government projects will be added in coordination with relevant authorities.
Authority for Projects, Tenders and Local Content: New phase in development
Engineer Badr bin Salem al Maamari, Chairman of the Authority for Projects, Tenders and Local Content, said: 'The amendment represents a qualitative shift in the governance of public projects and procurement as well as a strategic shift towards managing this vital system according to an integrated institutional approach with a significant developmental and economic dimension.' Al Maamari pointed out that the change in the name builds on the achievements made and ensures their sustainability through comprehensive governance of projects and procurement, based on the priorities of Oman Vision 2040 and its strategic objectives related to economic diversification, financial sustainability, private sector empowerment and enhancing spending efficiency.
The Chairman of the Authority for Projects, Tenders and Local Content explained that the approval of the National Local Content Policy represented a pivotal milestone in the comprehensive development process. The Authority is working to develop clear indicators and measurable methodologies for monitoring and evaluating local content across various sectors, encompassing all units of the state's administrative apparatus, government companies, and the private sector. This will contribute to maximising local value-added from government projects and procurement.
The Authority, through this institutional transformation, represents the technical reference body and national centre of excellence for all matters related to project governance, procurement, and tendering, as well as enhancing local content in the Sultanate of Oman. It also seeks to function as a role model in consolidating the concepts of sustainability, efficiency and institutional integration, the official concluded. — ONA
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