Mohamed Bin Hadi Al Hussaini: The Digital Procurement Platform enhanced government spending efficiency and provides a cutting-edge model for government practices Mohamed Bin Hadi Al Hussaini: The platform introduces a new concept of government procurement based on international best practices Mohamed Bin Hadi Al Hussaini: The platform supports the government digital transformation system to help achieve the country's vision and comprehensive development plans. Mariam Al Amiri: The new platform contributes to reducing the cost of goods and services purchased by government entities Mariam Al Amiri: The platform offers a ‘spending report’ feature that integrates all data related to procurement Sub titles: - 32 ministries and federal entities started deploying the platform - Signing 100 agreements with suppliers, including SMEs - Offers more than 7,000 products and 500 services that are distributed over 19 categories included in the platform Catalogue - Businesses, including SMEs, freelancers, and SANAA Productive families can register as federal suppliers for free Dubai – United Arab Emirates, 20 February 2023: The Ministry of Finance (MoF) today launched the third phase of the Digital Procurement Platform (DPP), and 32 ministries and federal entities started deploying the DPP. The announcement was made during a forum that the ministry organised in Dubai in the presence of representatives from the government entities and in tandem with the UAE Innovation Month. The Ministry organised the forum as part of its endeavours to achieve the highest levels of efficiency and transparency in managing federal government procurement, and in line with its efforts to instill a culture of innovation in supporting government work. The DPP digitalises the procurement process across the UAE federal entities. It brings together the federal entities and registered suppliers on a single platform, where all the stages of the procurement process including announcement, bidding and following up on tenders, placing purchase orders, and generating invoices, can be completed online. Government spending efficiency His Excellency Mohamed Bin Hadi Al Hussaini, Minister of State for Financial Affairs, emphasised the significance of the DPP, which aims to improve procurement processes, enhance government spending efficiency, support entrepreneurs and SMEs, and provide a cutting-edge model for government practices, cementing the UAE’s position on global competitiveness indices. His Excellency said: “The Digital Procurement Platform introduces a new concept of government procurement and a flexible procurement policy based on international benchmarking and international best practices. This comes in line with the wise leadership’s directives to support the government digital transformation system and achieve the country's vision and comprehensive development plans. The platform contributes to improving the procurement and contracting processes and enhancing the efficiency of negotiations with suppliers to obtain better prices. It also helps to ensure the quality of procurement at low prices, accelerate procedures, and enhance the efficiency of planning and procurement management at the federal level.” Reducing the cost of goods and services Her Excellency Mariam Al Amiri, Assistant Undersecretary for Government Financial Management Sector at MoF, noted that the new platform contributes to reducing the cost of goods and services purchased by government entities. This is by signing framework agreements with suppliers to ensure best prices and to provide the federal government with high quality products and services. Her Excellency also mentioned that the DPP offers a ‘spending report’ feature that integrates all data related to procurement and supplier performance, ensuring the highest levels of spending transparency and budget control. Her Excellency Al Amiri stated that “the Ministry of Finance held more than 200 interactive workshops and training sessions to test user acceptance and discuss ideas for designing the platform. The ministry also added 32 federal entities to the platform, registered and evaluated more than 200 technical and financial proposals from suppliers participating in the proposed practices, and signed 100 agreements with suppliers, including SMEs. The ministry also offered more than 7,000 products like laptops, printers, stationary, water, and others, as well as 500 services within the platform, and these are distributed over 19 categories included in the DPP Catalogue.” Forum agenda Her Excellency Mariam Al Amiri delivered the opening speech during the forum, which then discussed key achievements of the DPP, the plan for the third phase and the features it includes such as providing the electronic signature feature on contracts through the UAE PASS, the smart reports feature, and evaluating the performance and risks of suppliers, among others. The forum also deliberated the current and future plans of developing the DPP Catalogue. The 6-minute procurement process The DPP provides an easy and simple user experience and introduces a new concept of government procurement by creating a catalogue of the commonly procured goods and services by the federal entities. Buyers can choose the product based on a pre-contract with the supplier, add it to the shopping cart and submit their request to obtain the necessary approvals, helping to reduce procurement process time from 60 days to six minutes. Local businesses, international businesses, free zone companies, national SMEs, freelancers, and SANAA Productive families can register as federal suppliers for free. SMEs get exclusive privileges SMEs get exclusive privileges on the DPP by classifying SMEs through the platform in order to direct government entities and facilitate access to SMEs products by adding the ‘SMEs’ logo to the platform. SMEs also get 10% of purchases by monitoring their spending percentage on an annual basis, and during the evaluation process, 10% is added while calculating the final score for SMEs. This is in addition to long-term contracts to supply services and products to federal entities. Moreover, SMEs are exempted from submitting a Performance Bond; instead, a retention amount will be deducted from their initial invoices. The Ministry of Finance developed a new procurement policy based on international benchmarking and best practices adopted by leading countries in the field of digital procurement. The DPP provides smart control features and enables federal entities to extract detailed reports that display all data related to procurement operations and supplier performance, ensuring the highest levels of budget transparency, governance, and control. The forum honored representatives of the government entities charged with managing procurement processes through the platform. The entities that utilised the catalogue the most frequently in 2022 were also disclosed during the forum. The Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure came in the first place, the National Counselling Center came in second place, and the Ministry of Justice ranked third. The Ministry of Finance continues to work to achieve maximum benefit from the DPP by enhancing the catalogue to offer specialised services in accordance with best practices, and adding new categories to ensure the provision of all requirements of the federal government.
