Thursday 26 / December / 2024
Muscat: The Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology (MTCIT) has awarded a set of contracts to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) worth more than OMR 41 million in the transportation, communications and information technology sectors.
Turki bin Sulaiman Al Hasani, Director of the Tenders and Contracts Department at the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology, explained that the contracts concluded with small and medium enterprises in the transport sector are estimated at 40 million Omani riyals, with a total of 50 percent of the tenders that were awarded during the years (2022/2023).
He added that the cost of direct contracts concluded with small and medium-sized enterprises in the communications and information technology sector amounted to OMR 1,450,000, or 95 percent of the total tenders awarded to the sector during the first half of the current year 2023.
The Director of the Tenders and Contracts Department confirmed that the ministry, in cooperation with the Small and Medium Enterprises Authority(Riyada), provided job opportunities for small and medium enterprises as suppliers to the ministry or the main contractors in the fields of: port, road and bridge contracting, information technology services, box culverts, street cat eyes, supply and consulting in the field of Information technology, traffic lights, street lighting poles, iron barriers, concrete barriers, guiding regulations, road pigments and paints, and other related products in the field of building contracting, roads, bridges, and information technology services.
He added that the ministry, represented by the Tenders and Contracts Department, works to activate the local added value by monitoring the value of the works that are awarded to small and medium enterprises through contracts of high value in the transport, communications and information technology sectors. Measure the performance of its work in the assigned projects.
The Ministry has undertaken several initiatives to support small and medium enterprises and facilitate their access to their beneficiaries: a merit initiative to facilitate the use of technical products in government agencies and provide the necessary support for startups in order to facilitate the entry of their Omani technical products into the government market, as the initiative was launched in 2022, and during the first batch it passed the stage The evaluation consisted of 10 technical products, and during the first batch, 4 government agencies benefited from 4 products. A consulting program was also launched, which is concerned with providing the necessary consultations to technology companies in various fields through a specialized team in the field of emerging technology companies.
The Ministry launched the Business Development and Commercial Expansion initiative, which means searching for business opportunities and linking them with technical companies and opening areas for expansion by linking them with investors and participating in specialised events locally, regionally or globally. In addition, the Hackathon SAS 48 was launched, a competition to transform emerging technical ideas into realistic projects that contribute in solving problems and saving time, effort and money, and the Nomou programme, which is concerned with supporting emerging technology companies in the growth stage in order to provide them with the opportunity to expand, and work to solve the challenges that these companies face, and the program is currently in the process of being launched.
The Ministry launched the In-Country Value initiative for the communications and information technology sector, which aims to localize industries and services, Omanize jobs, and identify opportunities available in the market for small and medium-sized companies in the communications and information technology sector, in addition to the initiative to promote technical companies that provide advertising spaces in various platforms with the aim of expanding technical corporate customer base by reaching more active customers.
