Starting from November 2022, the digitized filing of business offers and the opening of bids as well as the digitization of the financial deposits required within the framework of Public procurement will become compulsory for contracts of 5 MDH (USD 0.5m) and more, while the bidders for contracts worth 2 MDH (USD 0.2m) and more will be obliged to apply via the digital platform created for this purpose. As of August 2023, this obligation will extend to all public contracts regardless of the amount.
This text is revolutionary insofar as the dematerialization of the entire public procurement procedure, including the filing and opening of bids, as well as the evaluation of bidders’ offers, by now passing it through a digital platform which will display the exchange of data and searchable files, will be systematically synonymous with more traceability, process transparency and equal opportunities, particularly for SMEs and VSEs who say they are poorly served by public procurement.
It is the culmination of several years of consultation and exchange around the reform of the procedures governing public procurement and more particularly the way in which public contracts are awarded. The program for the dematerialization of public procurement has been initiated in successive stages since 2007. The objective being to integrate digital technologies into the public procurement process, with a view to improving its efficiency, simplifying procedures and to increase their transparency. This system, which began with the establishment on 1 October 2007 of the national public procurement portal, was continued by the establishment of the public procurement database as well as the supplier database. The system also included the electronic submission of bids, the electronic reverse auction system, the electronic management system for group purchases and the integrated expenditure management system.
Moreover, the entire public procurement chain is affected by digitization. Thus, new services will be integrated involving other actors, in particular the bodies authorized to issue provisional and final guarantees, as well as the retention of guarantee and the pledge of contracts, always at the service of the company seeking access to financing. The dematerialization of the process of issuing provisional guarantees and related releases with all banks and authorized organizations is also concerned. The start will be for the amounts of public contracts not exceeding a defined threshold before gradually considering its generalization after a period of two years.
It must be said that the Executive pay particular interest to this structuring project which is intended to be one of the fundamental levers of the strategy of strengthening transparency and improving the business climate. An interest that stems from several dimensions including the financial dimension of public procurement or the requirements of national policies for the protection of the environment, monitoring of energy efficiency and aspiration for sustainable development to which public procurement could greatly contribute.
This article was originally published by La Vie Eco.