The UAE Ministry of Finance has launched the third phase of its Digital Procurement Platform to improve government spending efficiency and digitise the procurement process. The Digital Procurement Platform (DPP) aims to help digitise the procurement process across the UAE federal entities.

As detailed in the announcement, the solution brings together federal entities and registered suppliers on a single platform, where all stages of the procurement process can be completed online, including announcement, bidding, following up on tenders, placing purchase orders, and generating orders. The Digital Procurement Platform and what it means for the UAE Based on the information provided in the press release, the DPP is looking to improve procurement processes, boost government spending efficiency, support entrepreneurs and SMEs, and provide a ‘cutting-edge’ model for government practices, looking to cement the UAE’s position on global competitiveness indices, as stated by Financial Affairs officials. The DPP aims to introduce a new concept of government procurement, as well as a flexible procurement policy with a basis in international benchmarking and international best practices, lining up with the country’s directives in supporting the government’s digital transformation system and achieving its vision and extensive development plans.

The platform helps contribute towards the improvement of procurement and contracting processes and the improvement of negotiations’ efficiency with suppliers to obtain better prices. Furthermore, it helps ensure the quality of procurement at decreased prices, expedites procedures, and boosts the efficiency of planning and procurement management at the federal level. Additionally, the platform decreases the cost of goods and services purchased by government entities by signing framework agreements with suppliers to ensure best practices and to offer the federal government high-quality products and services.

The DPP also provides a spending report feature that integrates all procurement- and supplier performance-related data, helping ensure increased levels of spending transparency and budget control. As detailed in the announcement, the Ministry of Finance held over 200 interactive workshops and training sessions to have user acceptance tested and design ideas discussed, and the ministry has added 32 federal entities to the platform, registered and evaluated over 200 technical and financial proposals from suppliers that participated in the proposed practices, and signed 100 agreements with suppliers, including SMEs. What is more, the ministry provided over 7,000 products such as laptops, printers, stationery, and water, as well as 500 services within the platform, all distributed over 19 categories included within the DPP Catalogue.

Offering a simple user experience, DPP renews the government procurement process by creating a catalogue of the predominantly procured goods and services by federal entities. Buyers are enabled to choose the products based on a pre-contract with the supplier, add them to the cart and submit their request for the necessary approvals, thus being helped to reduce the procurement process time from 60 days to six minutes. SMEs will also be classified on the DPP through a logo on the platform to direct government entities and facilitate access to SME products.

Furthermore, SMEs also get 10% of purchases by having their spending percentage monitored on an annual basis, and during the evaluation process, 10% is added while having their final score calculated. This is in addition to long-term contracts for supplying services and products to federal entities and, apart from this, SMEs are also exempt from submitting a performance bond, as they have a retention amount deducted from their initial invoices. The DPP aims to provide smart control features and enable federal entities with extracting detailed reports that display data related to procurement operations and supplier performance, looking to ensure high levels of budget transparency, governance, and control.

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