Saudi authorities have ordered pharmaceutical manufacturers to quickly complete the baseline calculation of their local content to avoid exclusion from government tenders to be made by the National Unified Procurement Company (NUPCO).
The Local Content and Government Procurement Authority, at the end of 2021, revealed the signing of four agreements to localize the manufacture of medical personal protection products.
The 3-5-year agreements were signed between the NUPCO and a group of private investors, to localize medical masks, eyeglasses, and medical isolation uniforms.
Today, the Authority is asking private sector manufacturers of pharmaceutical products to confirm their baseline for local content when submitting to any government competition containing products listed at the beginning of January of 2022.
Recently, the Saudi government approved the Authority forming teams to develop local content in all government agencies whose budget is financed from the state's general budget. These teams will undertake all tasks and responsibilities related to the development of local content.
Bandar Alkhorayef, Chairman of Authority, confirmed that the local content file constitutes a national agenda that all economic segments contribute to its development.
This interest is evident in several reforms and royal orders issued in the past years.
These orders and reforms chiefly aim to enable local content and increase its stake in the national economy.
Alkhorayef added that the presence of teams in government agencies, in cooperation with the Authority, will ensure the activation of all local content preference mechanisms.
The Authority has issued the guideline for forming the teams and developed the work methodology which they will follow.
Activation will take place in three stages, the first begins with the formation of teams, then workshops will be held to clarify the mechanism and methodology through which they will work, and in the last stage they will start implementing tasks.
