The Tender Board published in today’s issue of the Official Gazette a brand new Regulation Governing Consolidated Procurement that requires government entities subject to the Tender Law to procure certain works and services through a new consolidated procurement procedure. The aim of this new procedure is to optimise government spending by obtaining better rates for routine works and services through consolidated purchases instead of procuring them individually by each government entity in an ad hoc manner.
The new Consolidated Procurement Regulation will apply to procurement relating to owned and rented vehicles, management of facilities, and IT. In regard to IT in particular, it is not clear if this relates to the purchase of IT equipment (i.e. just buying computers and other hardware) or extends to IT related services.
Government entities are now required to submit to the Tender Board their requirements in regard to the consolidated procurement categories annually, and submit to the Tender Board their requests to procure such items 6 or 12 months in advance depending on the expected length of the desired procurement contract.
An important point for contractors of consolidated procurement to note is that article 24 of the new regulation requires the winning bidder to employ the Omani nationals employed by the contractor that previously provided the works and services in question.
This new regulation enters into force tomorrow. You can read it in English in full on the link below: