Ministry of Finance has launched the Beelan Portal to be used to accept bid proposals for procurement activities done by government offices.
The online portal was launched at a special ceremony by Minister of Finance Ibrahim Ameer. Government offices are now required to propose bids over USD 324,000 through the online portal. The finance ministry stated the portal is a step towards transferring the government procurement activities to an electronic system.
Speaking at the launching ceremony, Finance Minister Ibrahim Ameer said the need to propose bids through one portal grew during the challenges faced by the government following the COVID-19 pandemic. The minister noted that the finance ministry received numerous requests from government offices to establish an online mechanism to propose bids and conduct procurement activities. He said the bid portal has been developed in order to provide optimum security throughout the length of the bid proposal period and will also allow bid proposals aimed at foreign parties. He added the aim is for agencies that provide funding to also use the portal for bid proposals.
Furthermore, the government has separated the entities that set procurement policies and offices that implement the policies, as part of the work to improve the procurement activities of the state. As such, the Procurement Policy Board was formed with the objective of setting the state procurement policies, monitoring compliance to Public Finance Regulations, and coordinating the actions to be taken in relation to procurement.
The finance ministry also aims to conduct training programmes to train and employ 1,200 procurement officers at various government offices in 2022.