Bahrain had awarded a total of 1,892 tenders worth BD3.75 billion ($9.84 billion) in total value last year, thus registering a growth of 150 per cent in value terms, the country's tender board said in its 2017 annual report.

The total number of opened tenders rose to 1,091 in 2017, up 9.2 per cent from the previous year. In response, 5,208 bids were submitted, stated the Tender Board, the official platform of Bahrain for all new public tender announcements.

According to the report, the top five purchasing authorities with the highest value tenders last year were Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco) with BD1.8 billion worth of bids; Gulf Air (BD1.2 billion), the Electricity and Water Authority (BD309 million), Ministry of Housing (BD82 million) and Tatweer Petroleum (BD78 million).

Among the mega projects was Bapco Modernization Program, the purchase of aircraft engines for Gulf Air’s new fleet as well as aircrafts Forward sale and leaseback, the transmission of cable works for the Electricity and Water Authority and the construction and maintenance of housing units for Ministry of Housing, said the report.

Minister of Housing and Chairman of the Tender Board Engineer Basim Bin Yacob Al Hamer said: "We had a strong 2017 and we are expecting continued growth over the next 12 months. Procurement laws are being updated to better suit current business needs and further improve an already highly transparent system."

"The cabinet recently approved new streams of revenues that will allow us to hire qualified personnel for new specialized roles, add further value to our services, develop our capacities, and implement further strategic improvements," stated the minister.

The Tender Board said it also worked closely with the public and private sectors in 2017 and recorded greater levels of transparency and engagement with its suppliers and contractors.

The number of local suppliers registered with the tender board jumped to 4,268 from 3,123 the previous year.

The annual report also reveals a healthy 35 per cent increase in international engagement, with 2,948 regional and global companies registering in 2017, compared to 2,176 the year before.

In addition, 2,568 companies took initiative to prequalify themselves for tenders last year, up by 18 per cent from 2016. Keeping up with the growing demands, the tender board achieved phenomenal response time, turning around more than 90 per cent of incoming government requests in less than 14 days.

Hayam Al Awadhi, the secretary general, lauded the Tender Board's success as a part of the ongoing development plan approved by the cabinet chaired by HRH Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, Prime Minister, based on the recommendation of the government executive committee chaired by HRH Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister.

She said Bahrain Tender Board was proud of all it had achieved in the past 12 months and planned to continue on the path forward with more enhancements that tie directly back to its vision.

"We plan to continue improving the transparency and efficiency of the kingdom’s government procurement practices in ways that are sure to encourage more suppliers and contractors to engage with Bahrain," he added.-TradeArabia News Service