Bahrain saw strong growth in its tender opportunities in the past 12 months, according to the 2017 annual report released by the country's Tender Board.
The total number of opened tenders reached 1,091 in 2017, up by 9.2 percent on the previous year. In response, 5,208 bids were submitted, to which 1,892 tenders were awarded worth BD3.75 billion ($9.9 billion), up 156 percent on 2016.
Basim Bin Yacob Al Hamer, Minister of Housing and chairman of the Tender Board, said: “We had a strong 2017 and we are expecting continued growth over the next 12 months. Procurement laws are being updated to better suit current business needs and further improve an already highly transparent system.
"The Cabinet recently approved new streams of revenues that will allow us to hire qualified personnel for new specialized roles, add further value to our services, develop our capacities, and implement further strategic improvements.”
According to the report, the top five purchasing authorities with the highest value tenders in 2017 were Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco), Gulf Air, the Electricity and Water Authority, Ministry of Housing and Tatweer Petroleum.
Among the major projects was the Bapco Modernisation Program, the purchase of aircraft engines for Gulf Air’s new fleet, the transmission of cable works for the Electricity and Water Authority and the construction and maintenance of housing units for Ministry of Housing.
The Tender Board said the number of local suppliers registered jumped to 4,268 from 3,123 in the previous year while there was also a 35 percent increase in international engagement.
Hayam Al Awadhi, secretary general of the Tender Board, said: “We are very proud of what we have been able to achieve in the past 12 months and plan to continue on our path forward with more enhancements that tie directly back to our vision. We plan to continue improving the transparency and efficiency of the kingdom’s Government procurement practices in ways that are sure to encourage more suppliers and contractors to engage with Bahrain.”
