The Minister of Finance Muhammad Bin Abdullah Al-Jadaan has said on Tuesday that the New Government Competition and Procurement System, approved by the Council of Ministers, is a sophisticated system meant to achieve the goals of the Ministry of Finance — an offshoot of the goals of Kingdom's Vision 2030. The system will contribute to achieving a financial balance by enhancing the effectiveness of financial planning and efficient finance resource management. It will also contribute to organization and governance of measures related to government purchases, according to the best international practices, tackling the shortcomings in the current system so as to raise spending efficiency in development projects. Dr. Al-Jadaan stressed that the system would enhance integrity and competition by preventing the influence of personal interests, protecting public funds and ensuring their safekeeping, providing just treatment for all competitors so as to ensure implementation of the principle of equal opportunities, which is one of the goals of the ministry's vision. This is in addition to ensuring efficient finance resource management. The system will provide more transparency in all the procedures for competition and procurement, including submitting the tenders and opening the tenders via the unified e-gate "Etimad". Dr. Al-Jadaan said that the system has been developed so as to meet the needs of the public and private sectors and it takes into consideration the contractors and suppliers sector. In this connection, a clear mechanism has been drawn up in case of a rise in prices of raw materials, customs tariffs or taxes. The mechanism also deals with the case in which the contractor faces unforeseeable financial difficulties while carrying out the contract. It gives the government authority the right to disburse the installments directly to the contractors and subcontractors. Al-Jadaan said that the new Government Competition and Procurement System has passed through several stages before its issuance. The rules of the current system were studied from all aspects and they were compared with similar systems of advanced countries in this field. This is in addition to benefiting from the opinions of experts and specialists as well as the various viewpoints so as to come out with a System in its best possible form. Al-Jadaan said the new system will contribute in enhancing economic development by developing the government procurement work and its procedures in order to achieve the goals of local content. It will enhance national industries and support them with Saudi manpower by increasing job opportunities for Saudi young men and women. He said that the system will support local SMEs and give them priority in competitions and exempt them from the condition to present a preliminary guarantee. In this regard, the requirements of the public interest ought to be taken into consideration without violating the principles for competition. It will also achieve sustainable development for companies and consolidate the concepts of governance such that they contribute to protecting their future. The system encourages family-owned companies to be listed in the stock market so as protect them and safeguard their future by developing their contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The system will achieve the optimum levels of efficiency in government spending by determining the actual needs of government authorities, raise the quality of their practices with regard to business and procurement by evaluation of the contractor's performance and quality level. Al-Jadaan said that the Center for Achieving Spending Efficiency is the authority that will be in charge of unified purchases. The Center will carry out a pivotal role in the New Government Competition and Procurement System, in cooperation and coordination with the pertinent authorities. This will be by concluding peripheral agreements in the tasks, which have to be repeatedly secured by the government authorities; and revising the feasibility studies and conditions and specifications booklets for government authorities. — SG
