PwC Middle East shed light on Law No. (24) of 2015, some of its provisions amended by Decree Law No. (18) of 2018 issued to regulate tenders and auctions within the State of Qatar, in addition to its executive regulations, noting that it is one of the laws that contributed significantly to moving forward Towards achieving Vision 2030 and its objectives.
The company, which specializes in auditing and consulting services, stated that the importance of laws issued by the state in general stems from the fact that it is a basic need to regulate behavior, relations and transactions between the various entities and individuals within the borders of the state in a binding manner. It is the set of legal rules prevailing in the country that show the extent of this country’s compatibility with international standards and its distance from them. The legal system in the state reflects its strategy and determines its economic, social and political programmes.
She explained that Law No. (24) of 2015, some of its provisions amended by Decree Law No. (18) of 2018 issued to regulate tenders and auctions within the State of Qatar, in addition to its executive regulations issued by Cabinet Resolution No. (16) of 2016, and some of its provisions amended by Cabinet Resolution No. (11) ) for the year 2022, is one of those laws that greatly contributed to moving forward towards achieving the vision of the State of Qatar 2030 and its goals.
BwC touched on the difference between bidding and bidding in the general essence, as the bidding is considered a procurement process by which the government agency presents its desire to obtain a service or establish a project with the required conditions and criteria, and then it evaluates the offers submitted by the parties interested in obtaining this offer. And choosing the offer with the lowest price that guarantees maintaining the required conditions and standards. As for the bidding, it is considered a sale process carried out by the government agency, and here we turn to two important questions.
What is the mechanism for determining what government agencies can put up for bidding?
Based on the executive regulations of the law, which stipulates that the administrative unit concerned with tenders and auctions affairs in the government agency, after the approval of the head of the agency, provides the Inspection and Valuation Committee at the Ministry of Finance with a list of items to be sold or leased, to determine the basic value. After obtaining the approval of the Ministry of Finance, the Tenders and Auctions Committee of the government entity is notified of the used bidding method before announcing the bidding.
Here we find that government agencies, if they fully comply with this law, can benefit from selling or leasing the various items in their possession that exceed their need, or items that are no longer used due to the obsolescence of these items, or even items that are not planned to be used in the short and medium term.
If the government agency owns a warehouse in which it stores the materials used in the field of work of this authority, then this authority must make a periodic inventory of this warehouse through its technical department to determine the materials to be sold, but is it only the stored materials that can be sold? Of course not, there are also other assets such as furniture, equipment and electronic devices that are subject to obsolescence and the need for renewal in accordance with information systems.
How does compliance with this law represent an opportunity for government agencies?
When fully complying with the law, the government agency can achieve the following:
Increasing revenues for the government agency and providing cash liquidity through the sale process.
Reducing the cost as storage costs are an additional financial burden for the tasks required for monitoring and auditing and providing the element of security and human elements to carry out these tasks.
In the event that it is not possible to complete the process of selling or renting the items, and as stipulated in Article No. (28) of the law, the government agency may, in this case, after the approval of the Minister of Finance, donate the items referred to to any party or destroy them.
And since the State of Qatar has agreed to accede to the international (Basel) Convention to control the transport of hazardous waste and its disposal across borders according to Decree No. (15) of 1996, we prefer the donation option by offering unsold materials to recycling plants inside the country for the benefits The many aspects of recycling and its positive impact on the environment, including:
Maintaining the cleanliness of the environment
Reduce the demand for raw materials
Conservation of natural resources
Preserving data by recycling papers and electronic storage devices
Therefore, adherence to the Tenders and Auctions Law is a golden opportunity for government agencies to contribute to achieving sustainable development.
