Amman – On Thursday, the Government Tenders Department organized a workshop to discuss the most important proposed amendments to the draft instructions for classifying contractors and the instructions for classifying technical service providers, with the participation of the Head of the Jordanian Engineers Syndicate, Engineer Abdullah Ghosheh, the Head of the Jordanian Construction Contractors Syndicate, Fouad Al-Duwairi, and a number of engineers in the Ministry of Public Works and Housing, the Engineers Syndicate, the Construction Contractors Syndicate, and the private sector.

Director General of the Government Tenders Department, Engineer Mahmoud Hashem Khalifat, said that the meeting comes to discuss the proposed amendments to the instructions, which constitute a turning point in the government procurement reform system, indicating that the amendment proposal came out of concern for developing and upgrading the construction contracting sector, with the support of the American government, and in line with Government Procurement System No. (8) of 2022, the Construction Contractors Law, the Jordanian Engineers Association Law, and the Jordanian National Building Law.

He added that the amendments include introducing modern standards related to digital transformation, sustainability and green construction, developing new standards to evaluate the performance of contractors and technical service providers, raising the efficiency of contracting companies and improving their technical, administrative and financial ability to implement projects and maintain their institutional status.

Khalifat pointed out that amending the instructions is in line with the royal directives to improve the services provided and achieve the goals of the economic modernization vision, and contributes to achieving one of the department’s strategic goals, which is raising the efficiency of contractors and technical service providers, developing and organizing the Jordanian construction sector, and improving the transparency, efficiency and effectiveness of purchasing works and technical services.

He stated that one of the most prominent features of the amendment is creating a database that includes the results of performance evaluation according to clear and accurate criteria to highlight distinguished companies and give them preference when participating in future bids, in a way that enhances competition between companies and pushes them to improve their performance, which is reflected in raising the quality of contractual outputs and achieving the principle of value for money, pointing out that the results of the evaluation will be adopted as one of the criteria for raising or maintaining the company’s classification.

The legal advisor to the New Directions Consulting Company, Lawyer Khaldoun Younis, presented the most important proposed amendments to the instructions and the criteria for evaluating contractors’ performance, which include the quality of work completed, financial expenditures, project and contract management, occupational health and safety and protection, environmental considerations, communication, cooperation and compliance with regulations and laws, in addition to additional performance indicators for the contractor who presents distinctive ideas such as value engineering.