MUSCAT: Nama Water Services has always prioritised SMEs by designing tailored programmes. The Local Value-Added Program is one of these programs through which Nama Water Services aims to promote and create job opportunities, develop skills, reduce reliance on imports, and develop SMEs. The programme is meant to award tenders and purchase orders and the allocation of the work to SMEs as subcontractors by major contractors. In addition to this programme, Nama Water Services is working on a training program for SMEs in the field of preparing tenders and submitting them in a professional and integrated manner to guarantee the award of the tender.
Commenting on that, Dr Barakat al Busaidi, Senior Manager of Supply Chain Management, said: "Nama Water Services is one of the leading companies in supporting SMEs. The total value of contracts and purchases awarded to SMEs last year exceeded RO 40 million. The procurement department is responsible for contracts worth less than RP 50,000, while the contracts department is responsible for tendering, evaluating, and awarding contracts that exceed RO 50,000."
“In 2023, the purchase orders awarded to SMEs exceeded RO 5 million, while the contracts awarded by the contracts department exceeded RO 9 million.” Al Busaidi added that Nama Water Services has provided significant support to SMEs registered with Riyada by assigning them as subcontractors by the contractors of significant projects. All companies that have been awarded large tenders are committed to allocating at least 10% of the value of the project to SMEs. Thus, Nama Water Services follows up and supervises to ensure that this percentage is achieved. The total value of contracts awarded to subcontractors registered with Nama exceeded RO11 million.
Dr Barakat elaborated: "At Nama Water Services, we provide training opportunities for SMEs that we see are capable of executing some projects but face difficulties in reading and preparing the tender documents and complying with the conditions therein. The training covers three fields: health and safety to ensure the safety of workers in these institutions, developing and submitting error-free proposals that maximize competitiveness, and in-depth technical training covering the required connections, equipment, and procedures for integrating properties into the existing water and wastewater network. Three water and wastewater network connection tenders worth RO 400,000 have been awarded to implement the work in the properties served by the network."
Highlighting the projects assigned to SMEs registered with Riada, Al Busaidi noted: “Certain works and projects have been designated to SMEs registered with Riada, including connecting private and government facilities to the main water network, installing water meters, connecting private and government facilities to the main sewage network, connecting private and government facilities to the treated water network. We have also assigned projects of allocating leak detection works in the main network or internal networks, in addition to other works, such as transportation and customs clearance.”
Al Busaidi concluded that the company's plans for 2024 regarding the support of SMEs registered with Riada include scaling up the total amount of the awarded tenders from RO 50,000 to RO 500,000. In addition, the company will form a committee to work on training and developing SMEs in the field of internal leak detection. The company will also increase the volume of allocated work to SMEs.
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