His Excellency the Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Housing, Mr. Majid bin Abdullah Al-Hogail, launched the second virtual International Contracting Conference and Exhibition, which is organized by the Saudi Contractors Authority and its activities extend over three days, during the period from: (September 26 – 28, 2021 AD). The conference aims to be a platform for the contracting sector to learn, learn, exchange experiences, and establish opportunities for mega projects through scientific lectures, research seminars, and global events with the presence of more than 32 local and international speakers. It is noteworthy that the conference’s activities and sessions, in which more than (28) entities participated, most notably: the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development, the General Authority for State Properties, the General Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises, the Etimad Platform, and the Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority, revolve around the topics: “Regulations, Legislation and Qualification of Facilities” and “Best Practices for Managing Facilities and Projects” in addition to the topic: “The Impact of Technology on the Contracting Sector” with a review of the most prominent international experiences in this regard. His Excellency also launched a package of services from the Saudi Contractors Authority, all of which aim to support and develop the contracting sector in the Kingdom. The most important of these services is the “Consulting Services”, which works to provide the necessary advice and guidance to individuals, medium and small companies, and project owners in the contracting sector through an integrated electronic platform that saves time and effort and provides the best experts in many administrative, technical, and construction fields, in addition to: “Contractor Evaluation Service”, which aims to enhance transparency and competitiveness in the contracting sector, by enabling project owners to evaluate the contractor’s performance, in addition to a third service targeting “Searching for Construction Supervisors”, which is the service launched by the Authority in order to facilitate communication between project owners and construction supervisors by enabling construction supervisors to display their experiences and skills on a unified platform that allows the project owner to search for and evaluate them, explaining that all of these services can be obtained through the Muqawil platform: (https://muqawil.org/)
A group of agreements and memoranda of understanding were also signed during the ceremony with several entities, including the General Organization for Technical and Vocational Training, which enables the building of Building bridges of cooperation between the two parties in the fields of training and development in accordance with the regulations and systems of technical training, and exchanging advisory services, research results, administrative and cognitive expertise between the two parties, in addition to signing a memorandum of understanding with the Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority, which aims to cooperate in identifying and addressing the challenges and obstacles facing contractors. A memorandum of understanding was also signed with the Saudi Electricity Company, which aims to encourage contractors wishing to implement Saudi Electricity Company projects and identify investment opportunities to participate in the company’s contracts and projects. In addition to signing a memorandum of understanding with the Saudi Center for Commercial Arbitration, in order to establish cooperation between the two parties in the fields of developing and improving the quality of drafting model dispute settlement terms and disseminating them to the contracting sector and providing the necessary technical support to the Authority and exchanging expertise between the two parties. The Authority also signed a memorandum of understanding with the National Institute for Industrial Training (NITI) for the purpose of providing technical and administrative advisory services to contractors and interested parties through the advisory services platform developed by the Authority, and activating joint cooperation between the two parties and adopting initiatives that contribute to addressing the challenges facing the contracting sector. In addition, the Authority has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Leading National Academy (LNA) aimed at cooperation, training and developing female cadres in various technical, technological and administrative professions, and preparing and providing training and educational programs and professional certificates for female workers and those wishing to work in the contracting sector. This is in addition to signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the National Training Center for Facilities and Hospitality Management (FHM) that will enhance cooperation between the two parties in the field of specialized administrative consulting in the field of facilities and hospitality management, and providing technical and administrative consulting services to contractors and those interested in the field of facilities and hospitality management through the consulting services platform. These efforts undertaken by the Saudi Contractors Authority come within the framework of its tireless pursuit to keep pace with the plans, programs and objectives of Vision 2030, which led to the growth of construction in the residential and non-residential sectors in the Kingdom, and contributed to increasing investment in the entertainment and tourism sectors, in addition to the increasing demand for urban expansion and residential development. As the construction sector is the second largest non-oil sector in the Kingdom and the contracting industry represents a fundamental pillar of this sector, the Authority sought to make the International Contracting Conference and Exhibition a comprehensive platform and an opportunity to communicate with industry leaders and decision-makers, and worked to hold this event to be the first event in the contracting sector in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
