Agreements to ease purchasing of more than 500 commercial items in six categories
DOF’s SSC has trained more than 100 employees from 15 government entities on how to use the platform
Dubai UAE
Sallam Sallam
The Support Services Centre (SSC), part of the Department of Finance for the Government of Dubai (DOF), announced today that it has signed 17 framework agreements in cooperation with government entities, as part of the Dubai Government’s joint procurement platform (Tasharok).
This new arrangement paves the way for all government entities, as well as those operating under the SSC’s umbrella, to shop online through the government resource planning software system, in order to ensure access to high-quality products at the best prices.
SSC’s director, Mubarak Ahmed Al Shamsi, said: “The framework agreements were prepared under the supervision of the Legal Affairs Department (LAD) of the Government of Dubai. They will contribute to the regularisation of the price and contractual terms at the government level.”
Al Shamsi praised the pivotal role played by the LAD to prepare the contracts.
“The framework agreements, made in cooperation with government entities and uploaded to the Tasharok platform, include six categories of procurement, and cover more than 500 commercial items,” explained SSC’s director. “We have provided training on the Tasharok platform to more than 100 employees from 15 entities and prepared a user guide detailing joint government procurements. In addition to that, we produced visual training material to make it easier for employees to work on the new platform.”
Al Shamsi affirmed that the Tasharok platform aims to make savings in financial resources while maintaining a balanced economic impact, taking into account the interests of entities as well as the small & medium organisations, to ensure procurement process in the shortest possible period and avoid any disruption of the internal operations of these entities.
An innovative idea
The idea of the Tasharok platform was created within the SSC ecosystem, and is based on the procurement programme of the government resource planning system. It was made available by Smart Dubai according to the instructions of the General Secretariat of The Executive Council that all entities must use the platform. All that was achieved without purchasing any system or programming solution, or seeking the help from any system integrator.
This has encouraged government innovation and achieved financial resources savings, according to Al Shamsi, who explained that the platform “is made available to all government agencies using the Government Resource Planning (GRP) system to benefit from the prices available therein.”
“The SSC grants the government entities the authority and provides them with the necessary training on how to log in, shop, benefit from the platform’s contents and achieve the desired goals,” he added.
Advanced features
“The new platform is easy to apply and use, and its integration in the procurement solution of the GRP system makes it user friendly,” said Tarek Hanna, Accounting & Reporting Section Manager at SSC, and Manager of the Joint Government Procurement Project (Tasharok). “Entities do not need to define terms of reference of purchase or demand, or change the course of internal work, whether in contracts and procurement divisions or in financial divisions.”
“All tenders, procurement procedures and selection of suppliers are made in accordance with the joint government procurement policy approved by The Executive Council of Dubai,” Hanna confirmed. “One of the main objectives of the project is to save time and money. Entities won’t need to inquire for quotations or tenders for the products available on the platform, as this is done in advance by both commercial and technical work teams set up by top entities.”
“All participating agencies’ requirements are collected, and tenders are made to obtain the best prices, in order for all to make savings, regardless of their size or nature of work,” he concluded.
