Tuesday 07 / January / 2025
Muscat: The Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises Development (ASMED) today organised its first dialogue session for the year 2025 in Muscat.
The session dealt with ways of enhancing the growth of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) through “Isnad System” for government tenders, which is affiliated to the Secretariat General of the Tender Board.
The session focused on introducing “Isnad Platform”, along with related policies, regulations and incentives. It also considered means of promoting In-Country Value (ICV) and discussed proposals on launching a guide for SMEs to streamline their registration to Isnad Platform.
Halima Rashid Al Zar’ai, Chairperson of the Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises Development (ASMED), said, “The session addressed the challenges facing entrepreneurs in terms of measures to award contracts, tenders, procurements and Local Content regulations.” She pointed out that the session discussed scopes for increasing “direct awarding” to establishments that are holders of obtained a Riyada Business Cards.
Eng. Badr Salim Al Ma'amari, Secretary General of the Tender Board, explained that participants in the dialogue session elaborated on the topics of a work plan specialized on In-Country Value (ICV), scheduled to be organized during the current year.
“Isnad Platform”, an electronic platform for managing all government tenders and procurements, seeks to achieve high efficiency in terms of tender issuing, assessment and awarding in accordance with systematic and transparent practical principles that guarantee the right of tenderers to compete for these tenders.
