Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Prime Minister Omar Razzaz on Tuesday attended a ceremony to launch the Government Procurement Department (GPD), which came within the framework of the second economic package announced yesterday.

During the ceremony, GPD Director Nizar Muhaidat said that "under His Majesty King Abdullah's directives for real reform, the government adopted a package of reform measures that aim to institutionalize and unify measures to increase the efficiency of the government apparatus and raise the level of services provided to citizens."

He pointed out that among the measures was the approval of the procurement system No. 28 of 2019, which combined all the procurement systems in the Kingdom and merged the General Supplies Department with the Joint Procurement Department as part of the GPD.

He stressed that the department is a key pillar in the matrix of financial and administrative reforms, adding that it acquired the electronic procurement system to enhance transparency regarding government tenders and improve the efficiency of procurement processes.

Muhaidat pointed out that the new government procurement system is one of the measures stipulated in the 2018-2022 plan to spur economic growth, focusing mainly on financial and administrative reform, promote transparency and integrity and facilitate procedures and control spending.

He stated that the electronic procurement system deals with various stages of the purchasing process.

The system aims at creating a standard matrix of uniform supplies in the government sector by expanding the standardization of specifications for supplies of common use to include also supplies and medical devices, software and computer hardware, which promotes the principle of controlling spending, he added.

Muhaidat said the scope of the application of electronic public inventory management system was expanded to include all government entities and units, and the small, medium and large-sized companies in cooperation with the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

During the ceremony, the department honored the Korean Ambassador, the Director General of Korea International Cooperation Agency and a number of companies and pharmaceutical warehouses.