The Sultanate signs the E-Tendering Contract

The Tender Board representing the Sultanate signed the E-Tendering Contract with Imtac and C1 India on the 15th September 2008 at the premises of Oman Tender Board. This Contract worth 2,129,123/= OMR was signed by H.E. Dr. Khamis Bin Mubarak Al Alawi, Minister of Transport & Communications and Chairman of Tender Board on behalf of Oman Government, in the presence of H.E. Mohammed Bin Nasser Al Khasibi, Secretary General of the Ministry of National Economy and the Chairman of ITA, Mr. Fareed Al Hinai, Vice Chairman of Imtac and Mr. Vivek Agarwal, the CEO of C-1 India. The ceremony was also attended by H.E. Syed Mahmood Bin Hilal Bin Sood, Undersecretary of Tender Board, H.E. Sheikh Al Fadhel bin Mohammed Al Harthi, Vice Chairman of ITA and a number of other ITA and Tender Board officials. The E-Tendering system will fully automate the Tendering and Companies Registration Processes which will be available online via the Tender Board web-site. “The project will add to the periodic enhancements of the Tendering processes and it utilizes IT to ensure enhanced efficiency in implementing Government projects”, said Dr. Khamis Al Alawi. “Formulated with the cooperation with Information Technology Authority (ITA) of Oman, this project will enhance the automated system of Tender Board and develop a new Electronic Tendering System. The project mainly aims to automate all manual processes required during the tendering stages involved and train tender Board staff and IT professionals to ensure effective use, management and efficient monitoring of the E-Tendering System, remarked H.E. Syed Mahmood Bin Hilal Bin Sood. Speaking at the ceremony, H.E. Mohammed Bin Nasser Al Khasibi said, “Initiating E-Tendering project, for automating the Government Tender processes is considered as the fundamental building block, fully utilizing E-Procurement as part of the e-services which ITA is planning to develop in coordination with the respected government entities”. “E-Tendering is considered as one of the projects that ITA is providing consultancy on, as part of the Governance and Advisory division objectives set by ITA”, he added. Speaking on the details of this project, Mr. Mohammed Al Dhuhli, Project Manager at ITA said, @E-Tendering will enable all local and international vendors to use the online system to register and renew registration with Tender Board, Prepare, Review and approve the final Tender Documents online, Publish Tenders online, Purchase Tender Documents online, Receive and Reply to queries online, Send addenda/circulars to participating companies online, Receive Offers online, Publish Prices Online, Award Projects online and Pay all Required Fees online. The new system will interface with other government systems to ensure transfer of required data for e-tendering so that no further hard copied documents will be required”. He further added that, “in the first phase, which is planned to be completed in 9 months, will automate all tendering processes of the Tender Board and 5 government entities. The other 50 entities will join the system in phase II. The selected E-Tendering system can be used all government entities whether they are following the Tender Board Laws and Regulations or even if they are exempted since the selected system can be customized to include any number of entities”. “We are extremely pleased with the award of this project to our consortium of Imtac & C1 India. Imtac has been at the forefront of providing leading edge technology solutions to customers in Oman as well as in the region. I am confident that e-procurement would bring in significant benefits by way of cost and time savings to Tender Board and ministries. This automated, easy to use and internet based portal will also encourage the local up-coming entrepreneurs to participate with equal opportunities to bid for government contracts” , said Mr. Fareed Al Hinai, Vice Chairman of Imtac LLC. “We are proud to be associated with Tender Board to implement this prestigious project. This is the first project in the Middle East region wherein e-Procurement is being adopted at the National level by all Government departments, led by the Tender Board. This project will become the reference point and a role model for all such initiatives in the region. Tender Board followed a very rigorous evaluation process for selecting the product. All the best-known players in the world who offer similar products were evaluated and Tender Board has chosen our solution amongst all of them”, told Mr. Vivek Agarwal, CEO, C1 India Private Limited.

http://www.ita.gov.om/ITAPortal/MediaCenter/NewsDetail.aspx?NID=214

National implementation:

Ongoing from 15 Sep 2008

* The role of governments and all stakeholders in the promotion of ICTs for development
      * ICT for sustainable development
      * National e-strategies
* Information and communication infrastructure
* ICT applications: benefits in all aspects of life
      * E-government
         * E-government strategies
         * E-government systems
      * E-business
         * E-commerce and e-trade
         * Enabling environment

• Project