Business opportunities exceed QR71bn under ‘Moushtarayat’

The Government Procurement and Contracting Conference & Exhibition (Moushtarayat) has so far offered business opportunities to the tune of QR71bn to local companies over the last few years. And a significant part of that, nearly two-third, went to local companies, including SMEs, said a senior official of the Ministry of Finance, yesterday.

“From the start of Moushtarayat in 2016 till now, when we are launching today the 4th-edition of the government procurement imitative, we have placed approximately QR71bn to the local market, and about 67 percent of the total contracts were awarded to local companies, which included small and medium businesses,” Abdulaziz Zaid Al Talib, Director of Government Procurement Department, Ministry of Finance (MoF), told The Peninsula yesterday.

Al Talib added: “Some of the 67 percent of that procured products could be goods made locally and some through suppliers that have provided these goods from abroad but orders placed by local suppliers, in addition to services provided by local firms.”   

Building on the momentum of its preceding three editions of ‘Moushtarayat’, QDB hosted a joint press conference to announce that preparations for the fourth ‘Moushtarayat’ are at an advanced stage, which is scheduled to take place for 3 days, beginning on March 31 and ends on April 02.

The event is being held in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance, and in partnership with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and Ashghal.

Al Talib, who also participated at the joint press conference for the launch of ‘Moushtarayat 2019’ at QDB headquarters along with representatives from QDB and Ashghal, said that the upcoming period is very promising as there are great business opportunities for the local suppliers and contractors that are competing in the market.

He said that there are 59 public entities, which include Ashghal and various other government agencies and organizations that are part of the Law No.24 of 2015 which requires these entities to promote and support local business by involving them in the process.

“We, as a procurement regulatory department at the Ministry of Finance, closely monitor these 59 government entities, out of which there are 48 Tendering Committees to ensure that the law has been obeyed and complied during the process. We also look at it that minimum 30 percent business go to local companies,” noted Al Talib.   

‘Moushtarayat,’ welcomes members of the private sector, particularly small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to attend and participate in a wide range of public tenders, which will be publicly announced. A key aspect of the conference is to educate the local SME about the procedures involved in existing public tenders extended by big buyers, such as larger private sector companies, semi governmental and governmental bodies.

This year’s conference and exhibition will provide SMEs with many opportunities as well as the platform to learn about existing public tenders extended by big buyers, such as larger private sector companies, semi-governmental and governmental bodies.

In addition, Moushtarayat 2019 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.

In a statement, Abdulaziz bin Nasser AI Khalifa, CEO of Qatar Development Bank, said: “Moushtarayat 2019 will usher in a wave of new opportunities for the government-private sector cooperation. The exhibition is an important platform for SMEs to communicate with government agencies and to identify tenders and contracts, thus opening the horizons of cooperation with government agencies and winning their tenders. QDB’s efforts will help enhance SMEs market positions both technically and financially by assisting to localize supply chains.