The UAE Ministry of Finance organised the Suppliers as Partners Forum to highlight the efforts of building relationships with suppliers as partners to the success of government entities.
The forum reflects the UAE government’s approach to building deeper relationships with the private sector, which the Ministry of Finance translates through its partnership and cooperation with suppliers and broadening the sustainable relationship by streamlining the customer experience and proactively anticipating their needs to them meet them, in line with the UAE Digital Government Strategy 2025 and the UAE Strategy for Government Services.
The forum was attended by Younis Haji Al Khoori, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Finance, Mariam Al Amiri, Assistant Undersecretary of Financial Management Sector, and several leaders from federal entities including the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation, the Ministry of Economy, and the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology.
More than 270 suppliers and service providers participated in the Forum to shed light on the role of the Digital Procurement Platform in enabling relationships between government entities and business sector, both locally and internationally. The forum also featured a number of brainstorming breakout sessions focused on creating more effective relationships, and discussing the future of the platform and growth prospects.
Younis Al Khoori, said:
“The Federal Supplier Register is playing an increasingly important role in the Digital Procurement Platform, which connects government entities with suppliers whom we consider partners to success. Our efforts to develop the Federal Supplier Register and the Digital Procurement Platform reflect the Ministry’s commitment to proactively identifying all requirements of government entities and businesses alike, which is a primary objective of the next phase of the government’s work. In a world that demands more agile and effective tools and approaches, as well as significant shifts in how resources are managed and more collaborative efforts, we are at the forefront of government innovation. This aligns with the advancements across key industries and fulfils the nation’s future needs. Such an environment requires cultivating and strengthening active collaborations with the private sector, including suppliers, via the Digital Procurement Platform. Therefore, the Ministry of Finance is guided by the leadership’s vision and its strategic direction towards digital transformation in procurement processes at the federal level.”
During the forum, outstanding suppliers were awarded across three categories – Longest Serving Supplier, Most Promising SME Supplier, and Most Promising Entrepreneur Award – in recognition of their collaboration with government entities to build bridges, spread the spirit of competition, raise morale and motivate them to further develop their work, contributing to setting the best quality standards in accordance with the strategic plans of government entities and achieve the highest standards of excellence in government services.
The Supplier Register aims to simplify the customer’s journey, as the Ministry of Finance has enhanced the system’s processes to boost supplier satisfaction, and increase the number of suppliers registered in the platform, bringing the total number of registrations in the Federal Supplier Register to more than 10,000 suppliers. The types of registered suppliers include local suppliers, which represent companies located in the UAE providing products and/or services in the country and are not located in any of the free zones; free zone suppliers, which are companies registered in one of the free zones within the UAE; foreign suppliers, which refers to companies located outside the UAE and do not have a branch in the country; and productive families, which are Emirati families or people of determination who can provide high-level, sustainable artistic or craft products to the federal entities; SMEs, which are small and medium enterprises according to the classification approved by the Ministry of Economy, and self-employed persons which are individuals residing in the country or outside the country who have a freelance work permit and can provide services to federal entities.
In an effort to develop existing platform services for suppliers’ registrations who are providing their services from inside and outside the country, and in line with the Ministry of Finance’s keenness to provide the best means of communication between the federal entities and suppliers and service providers, a special link has been allocated on the Digital Procurement Platform, allowing companies to register and update their data digitally. Thus, qualifying to participate in tenders issued by federal government entities, through a fully digitised registration and qualification process that ensures the highest level of ease of access.
In line with the UAE Digital Government Strategy 2025 to create a broad cross-sectoral government commitment and buy-in for embedding the digital aspects into overall government strategies, the Ministry of Finance has entered into strategic partnerships with federal entities, including the Ministry of Economy, the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation, and the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology, where they are working together to digitise several joint strategic initiatives, and applying them on the Digital Procurement Platform, and through the Federal Supplier Register, with the aim of continuous development and facilitating government procedures for suppliers and service providers.
Among the most important of these procedures is establishing exclusive privileges for entrepreneurs and small and medium enterprises, including directing 10% of annual government purchases to SMEs, adding 10% when calculating the final score during the process of evaluating offers in tenders, adding the SMEs’ respective logo to their products in the catalogue on the platform, signing long-term contracts to supply services and products to federal entities, and being exempt from providing a bank guarantee for good performance in exchange for deducting an amount from the payable invoice.
Giving private-sector companies that are committed to Emiratisation goals priority in the Digital Procurement Platform, and digitising the mechanisms of the In-country Value Program in the Digital Procurement Platform, so that the percentage of in-country value is calculated from the total amounts spent by suppliers within the country on the cost of manufacturing, local products and services, the volume of investment, and the appointment and qualification of Emirati talent.
In line with the Ministry of Finance’s continued efforts to enhance customer experience, it has initiated a series of improvements to facilitate the customer’s journey on the Digital Procurement Platform. Among them is reducing the supplier registration time from an average of 11 days to one business day, providing registration services through the Ministry’s smartphone application, and streamlining procedures through a fully digital process, including negotiation and e-signatures of contracts with the use of UAE Pass.
News Source: Emirates News Agency
