The Ministry of Interior published in this week’s issue of the Official Gazette Ministerial Decision 16/2023 Issuing the Financial System for the Expenses, Disbursements, and Tenders of the Elections of the Members of Majlis Al-Shura and the Municipal Councils. This new system provides an alternative procurement process to that stipulated by the Tender Law and gives the Ministry of Interior new powers including the power to directly award contracts relating to works, services, and supplies for the elections up to the value of 245,000 Rial Omani without going through a tender.
The objective of this new system is to allow the Ministry of Interior to contract quickly to meet the special needs of the electoral process for Majlis Al-Shura and the municipal councils, and is issued by virtue of the authority granted to the Minister of Interior by article 78 of the Majlis Al-Shura Elections Law and article 6 of the Municipal Councils Law which allow the issuance of this unique system without being bound by the Tender Law and the Financial Law.
This system provides an alternative procurement process to the Tender Law to be undertaken by a special committee named the Financial Committee for Elections to be established by a decision by the Minister of Interior. This committee has the authority to float tenders up to the value of 3,000,000 Rial Omani without going through the Tender Board, negotiate mumarasah without a financial cap, and directly award contracts up to the value of 245,000 Rial Omani, i.e. almost 10x the limit on direct award set by article 56 of the Tender Law. The new system also has shorter process deadlines to allow the Ministry of Interior to quickly float and award tenders.
The Financial System for the Expenses, Disbursements, and Tenders of the Elections of the Members of Majlis Al-Shura and the Municipal Councils entered into force the day after its publication.