The Ministry of Works, Municipalities Affairs & Urban Planning has launched an electronic system to receive contractors’ pre-qualification applications, under the supervision of the Works Affairs Undersecretary and Chairman of the Contractors & Consultants Pre-qualification Committee, Ahmed Al Khayyat.

The launch has taken place in collaboration with members of the Committee and in coordination with the Technical Development & Preparation Team from the Cost Engineering Directorate and the Information Technology Directorate. This goes hand in hand with the eGovernment’s programmes in the Kingdom of Bahrain; aiming to create a leap in terms of upgrading the service and ensuring a higher quality service.

Al Khayyat said that contracting companies are now able to complete their transactions through the eGovernment portal of the Kingdom of Bahrain and use it to access the Ministry’s official portal to use the electronic pre-qualification system link to submit their applications without the need to personally go to the Ministry for follow-up and inquiry. Also, the period needed to issue the pre-qualification license has been reduced to 7 weeks instead of 12 weeks, which serves the interest of customers and enhances the quality of services provided. This qualitative initiative is also part of the Ministry’s efforts to facilitate services to customers and ensure compliance to the Kingdom of Bahrain’s strategic vision to improve the services sector.

The undersecretary explained that this electronic service enables the application of a new pre-qualification service, or renew or upgrade an existing pre-qualification request. Through the introduction of this service, the ministry aims to improve the quality of performance related to the implementation of projects, in addition to providing a high level updated and modern database to shed light on contracting companies of different levels and capabilities and regularly measure their performance in order for all concerned parties to benefit from that, including contracting companies and establishments from both the public and private sectors.

He added that pre-qualification licenses are granted to the applying companies based on their specialization and capabilities, together with determining the pre-qualification category according to the results of the evaluation. Many ministries and government agencies rely on the pre-qualification results issued by the Ministry and the lists of qualified contractors approved by the Tender Board, which they include within the requirements for the related project tenders.

He pointed out that the ministry is working on evaluating pre-qualification applications for companies wishing to participate in the Ministry’s construction projects and maintenance works in different sectors like the construction and building maintenance sector, the roads and sanitary sectors, and beautification and afforestation works. The companies are evaluated technically and financially based on precise criteria approved by the Tender Board, which have been developed to suit the needs and requirements of each field independently.

The ministry had organized 2 pre-qualification workshops for engineering contracting companies, where 70 representatives to local engineering companies attended the workshops. The workshops highlighted updates made by the ministry in its efforts to enhance the quality of the service and the accuracy of its outputs, which include the establishment of an electronic system through which pre-qualification applications are submitted and evaluated. This saves time and effort compared to the traditional method currently in place. Also, a unified electronic system for the Ministry has been developed to regularly evaluate the performance of qualified contractors assigned with implementation of the Ministry’s projects and enhance coordination between the various concerned sectors and directorates and their representatives at the Ministry in relation to the provision of the pre-qualification service

Source: Fana News