Dubai Ruler, Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum issued a law on Contracts and Warehouse Management in Dubai Government.
The Law aims to create a framework and set standards for regulating procurement processes of government entities in line with the vision of Dubai Government to meet the highest global benchmarks in this domain, a statement said Thursday.
The Law seeks to develop an efficient system for government entities to further raise the quality of their procurement and warehouse management, and to create unified government procurement processes to achieve the highest levels of financial efficiency, it said.
The Law also seeks to foster integrity, transparency and equal opportunities among suppliers and provide a legal framework for automating the procurement and warehouse management operations of government entities as part of achieving Dubai’s smart transformation objectives, according to the statement, carried on Emirates News Agency (WAM).
The Law seeks to unify rules and regulations governing government contracts and warehouse management, ensure sound governance of procurement, asset disposal and inventory management, and preserve government assets.
The new legislation outlines the responsibilities of Dubai’s Department of Finance, the Smart Dubai Government Establishment and all units responsible for inventory management in government entities, it said.
The Department of Finance is tasked with creating guidelines for the governance of procurement, and asset and inventory management, as well as drafting policies and decisions related to unified procurement processes, it did.
The Smart Dubai Government Establishment is tasked with coordinating with public entities to create a unified online government system to manage contracts and inventory; developing associated systems and programs; ensuring proper operations, maintenance, updates and supervision of the system; and monitoring compliance of government entities with the system.
The Law stipulates the creation of a ‘Central Registry of Suppliers’ as part of the government’s unified online system for managing contracts and inventory. Furthermore, the Director General of each government entity is authorized to create an ‘Inventory and Valuation Committee’ to manage inventory and assets.
The Law does not apply to commitments made by government procurement departments to projects and programs supported by the government, especially those relating to small and medium enterprises registered under the Hamdan bin Mohammed Program for youth projects.
The Law will be effective from January 1, 2021.
