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Bahrain: Initiatives on way to help SMEs take part in government tenders

Bahrain is set to introduce several initiatives to support the participation of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in government tenders and auctions.

This was revealed yesterday by Electricity and Water Affairs Minister Yasser Humaidan, who is also politically responsible for the Tender Board.

“We will enable suppliers and contractors, especially SMEs, to view all government tenders and auction announcements and decide whether they would like to participate in them,” the minister said, in a written response to a question by Shura Council woman and child committee chairwoman Leena Qassim.

He added that 10pc of tenders issued will be allocated for SMEs following a Cabinet decision.

“A number of public tenders have been allocated with participation limited to small and medium enterprises registered with the Industry and Commerce Ministry,” Mr Humaidan said.

“We are also creating an organisational unit to supervise initiatives aimed at supporting SMEs.

“The board has signed a memorandum of understanding with a local bank which will enable SMEs to provide the necessary guarantees to participate in government tenders.”

The minister also highlighted the inclusion of productive families in the initiatives undertaken by the board.

Any family that possesses an SME classification certificate can take part in government tenders and auctions by including a valid copy of the document in its submitted bid, he said.

Workshops will be held to make SMEs aware of the procedures and processes of government tenders and auctions, as well as their duties and rights.

Meanwhile, in another response Youth Affairs Minister Rawan Tawfiqi said financial support provided to youth empowerment centres will depend on their work plan and the quality of activities and programmes provided by them.

“We provide BD133,000 annual financial support to the 38 registered centres every year,” she revealed.

“We seek to conduct comprehensive, diverse and periodic studies to determine the needs of the centres and the challenges they face in an effort to solve them and develop the services they provide.”

MPs were notified about the two responses during yesterday’s weekly session.

Meanwhile, Housing and Urban Planning Minister Amna Al Romaihi said 78 per cent of Bahraini families on the social housing waiting lists for 20 years and more have opted for BD40,000 residential plots. They have also chosen to continue their BD100 housing allowance for two years.

The minister said that three options were presented to resolve housing issues related to the pending applications.

The other two options are:

Getting a temporary apartment with maintenance costs waived for two years, and a BD3,000 grant.

Getting social housing financing of BD70,000 and a BD10,000 grant.

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