Tamkeen has signed an agreement with Bapco to co-finance the second phase of the e-procurement project which is aimed at enabling Bahrain’s companies especially SMEs, to enjoy a greater share of the Kingdom’s progress.

Tamkeen is working closely with a selection of Bahrain’s larger companies - Bapco, Alba, Garmco, GPIC, Banagas, Gulf Air, Batelco, ASRY, and BAS - to collaborate on developing an e-procurement marketplace through which these companies procure from the local market for goods and services, said a top official.

A committee was formed from the different stakeholders to manage the e-procurement project. The committee, lead by Bapco, established a unified set of requirements for an e-marketplace and electronic purchasing cards and recommended conducting a feasibility study for the project.

The e-procurement project is vital as it reflects the co-operation between the private sector, represented by the big companies, and the public sector, represented by Tamkeen, to promote a shared social responsibility towards the economy of Bahrain.

“Bahrain has made great headway in transforming business processes to cope with best practices through the electronic medium which in turn provides better business opportunities to all stakeholders and in particular the SMEs,” said Tamkeen’s chief executive Abdulelah Al Qassimi.

“A key tool in this process is the evaluation of the establishment of e-procurement marketplace which will support local SMEs. This MoU with Bapco to co-finance a feasibility study will help us to collect valuable data on e-procurement in Bahrain and map our future strategies,” he noted.

This phase will focus on conducting the feasibility study to verify the potential benefits of the e-marketplace for the private sector suppliers and participating companies alike, in addition to evaluating the different potential e-procurement platforms that may best suite the Bahraini market, he added.

Tamkeen hopes that through the e-procurement market place, the private sector, and in particular the SMEs, will have better opportunities to trade with the founding companies and those public purchasing authorities or private companies who may subsequently join.

Bapco acting chief executive Faisal Al-Mahroos expressed his commitment to the project, saying that Bapco was aware of its commitment to the local economy and fully appreciated SMEs role in the future development and prosperity of the Kingdom.

The Bapco e-procurement strategy includes the development of a local marketplace and support for SMEs, and the opportunity to align with Tamkeen and other participating companies, will ensure this is successful.

“Bapco has a long and rich history of commitment to Bahrain’s progress and this project sees us playing an important role in a process that will see a complete modernizing of the way business is conducted in Bahrain,” Al-Mahroos said.

He also thanked both the Minister of Oil & Gas Affairs and chairman of Bapco’s Board Committee Dr. Abdul-Hussain bin Ali Mirza, and the minister of state for Foreign Affairs and Tamkeen chairman, Dr Nazar Sadeq Al-Baharna, for their support in promoting e-Procurement in Bahrain.-TradeArabia News Service