Dubai: The UAE government reworked digital procurement strategy is paying off, with suppliers finding lead times on processes bring brought down to minutes.
For instance, the overall process of suppliers signing up has been reduced to six minutes, whereas it used to be 60 days. While the Federal Suppliers Register has been expanded, new practices such as e-signatures and online contracts have been introduced.
All stakeholders are now involved in the procurement of products or services to 'achieve efficiency and effectiveness'. This 'ensures flexibility in responding to market changes and securing competitive prices and offers', the Ministry of Finance said in a statement.
The Federal Suppliers Register - within the Digital Procurement Platform - recorded 24,789 names in Q1-2024. The process started with 19,669 suppliers in 2021, increasing to 21,997 in 2022, and then to 24,418 by the end of 2023.
Easy 'link' to update supplier info
A 'special link' on the government procurement platform allows companies to register and update their information electronically, qualifying them to participate in tenders offered by the federal government.
"The Ministry of Finance has provided a registration service on the homepage of its website to facilitate registration, reduce the number of required attachments, and simplify the procedures of the Federal Suppliers Register," the statement added.
An updated catalogue of the digital procurement platform was introduced recently, now covering 35 categories with more than 120,000 products and services offered by 230 suppliers.
The Central Procurement Unit negotiates with these suppliers to secure the optimum prices for federal entities.
"The Digital Procurement Platform is also part of the strategic orientations represented by the five major transformational projects of the UAE Ministry of Finance," it added.
The first project - Supply Strategy of the federal government - included new supplier categories in the supplier base.
