There has been a 30 percent increase in the number of tenders floated for various public projects in the country so far this year.
So, given the surge in the number of bids it is expected that by the year-end this percentage should go further up.
Tenders for projects valued at less than QR100m are still awarded to local bidders and only mega projects are given to foreign contractors. This is basically to help local contracting entities to gain expertise so they can widen their role in project handling and social and economic development.
But the private sector has urged the government to allow local players to participate in biddings for all projects, including those valued at more than QR100m.
On an average, some 1,000 tenders for various projects are announced every year and they include road, drainage and water works, supplies of machineries and equipment to government agencies and other government requirements.
Normally it takes about two months from floating a tender to receiving offers and evaluating them, say senior CTC officials.
They told a local Arabic daily in remarks that there is a specialist committee at the CTC which decides which bidder a project is to be eventually awarded.
Then, there is a committee specializing in public building projects and their maintenance. There is another panel which has expertise in road works and drainage projects and their tenders.
The CTC has recently acquired ISO certification 2000/9001 and the daily spoke to senior CTC officials on the sidelines of a function which was held to hand the certificate to CTC officials. The function was held at QP headquarters.
One of the key jobs of the CTC is to classify contractors into grades after assessing their capabilities, experience in handling public or other projects and their financial soundness.
