Muscat: The National Office for Local Content held a meeting at the Secretariat General of the Tender Board today to introduce indicators of Local Content within the context of the institutional excellence concept. More than 300 participants representing 50 government departments took part in the meeting.

According to Oman News Agency, the meeting outlined three main objectives: to enhance the performance of local content application governance; to establish a comprehensive regulatory system to monitor adherence to local content policies; and to identify opportunities for improvement in a manner that contributes to the realization of the strategic goals of ‘supporting the national economy’ and ‘enhancing the role of small and medium enterprises (SMEs)’. The organizers reviewed the local content achievements that have been made so far and identified the mechanisms of applying indicators and methods, the mechanism of applying local content standards to government projects, purchases, and contracts, and the mechanism of measuring local content performance according to specific indicators based on institutional excellence.

The meeting enabled the participants to learn about the stages of local content development, from planning through follow-up and evaluation of performance. It also stressed the need to apply the ‘criteria of tender documents’ to bids for projects, purchases, and contracts, assessing competitors according to the local content plans they submit in their bids.

Participants were introduced to local content indicators covering three main areas: the ‘development project’, the ‘operational contract’, and the ‘government unit and its purchases’. Each area includes three main elements: developing employment opportunities for citizens, enhancing the use of local goods and services, and supporting small enterprises and employers.

These areas comprise 11 sub-indicators aimed at measuring government units’ performance in implementing local content policies and their efforts to enhance local content in purchases, contracts, and projects. The primary objective is to maximize the local return from government spending.