DUBAI // A new plan to make Dubai Municipality tenders assessment a fully online process will save more than 270,000 sheets of paper, the civic body says.
The municipality's e-Bid committee, which oversees more than 4,000 tender processes a year, can now operate entirely through an online application built by software company, Tejari.
"The municipality is the first government entity in the UAE to apply an electronic committee such as this," said Mohammed Abdul Karim Julfar, assistant director general of Dubai Municipality. "Our figures show that the committee used more than 270,000 sheet of paper in 2011 and this year's figures will surpass that. With this system, next year's figures will be zero."
The e-bid system also allows the 100 members of the municipal tenders assessment committee to conduct all their work online without having to arrange meetings with other committee members.
"The only time the committee will have to meet in person is when the head of committee feels that there are unresolved issues that need to be addressed," said Ibrahim Yaqoub, director of the Contracts and Purchasing department.
The system can also provide valuable statistics on how the committee is operating, he added. "This will help ensure fairness and transparency in our tender selections."
The new system was tested in October and has been in use since the start of December. Committee members have been very happy with how fast and easy the application is to use.
"This is making the process much more efficient to use. It's much better for us and there won't be any issues with lost paperwork," said Saeed Amiri, a committee member from the finance department.
Because the software is accessible on tablets and smart phones, the committee will also be able to significantly speed up the time it takes to process tenders.
malkhan@thenational.ae
