The Government Purchasing Operations Division is an administrative planning body in the Property, Procurement and Logistics Division of the Accountant General that delineates and implements government purchasing and logistic policy. The Authority specializes in and is responsible for formulating policy and strategy for the purchasing of goods and services in the government sector, for the implementation of consolidated purchases and for assisting government entities in operating and implementing their purchasing policy.
The main aims of the Purchasing Operations Division are:
- Optimizing the buying power of the government by drawing up consolidated tenders for all government departments. Consolidated tenders have the following advantages: optimizing the size advantage of the government and therefore saving on the purchasing budget, lowering the administrative costs resulting from individual department tenders and improving the management, supervision and control of the suppliers working with the government. Since its instigation, the Purchasing Operations Division has sought to expand the scope of the consolidated tenders in each area where it is economically beneficial to do so. This has led to a marked saving in the purchasing budget of all the government departments.
- Conferring an advanced purchasing and operating procedures doctrine on the purchasing and logistics realms in the government departments while implementing and constantly examining new models and methods. The Government Purchasing Operations Division strives to adopt the most advanced purchasing methods for the government departments such as dynamic, online electronic tenders on the internet. The Authority also devotes great effort in endowing the purchasing officers in the various government departments with the most advanced professional knowledge in the field. To this end, a diverse and advanced alignment of professional training has been built. This alignment will accompany the purchasing personnel throughout the various stages of their professional careers while adapting the contents to individual needs.
- Outlining a uniform government purchasing and logistics policy. The uniformity of policy enables the simplification of bureaucratic procedures and enhanced competition in the field of government purchasing.
- Establishing knowledge and information databases in the realm of government purchasing. The Purchasing Operations Division is striving to establish a data system for managing and documenting government purchasing procedures. This system will constitute a focus of information and knowledge for all those active in the field of purchasing. The system will assist tender operators in the preparation, publication and dissemination of the tenders and will enable suppliers to register as subscribers, to receive the information regarding publication of tenders and to submit their offer to the tender by electronic means. The system will store all the information relating to tenders, suppliers and performance estimates of suppliers in a central database which will be accessible to all interested and relevant parties in the government sector.
- Improving operational procedures with the government's suppliers. The Purchasing Operations Division strives to improve the operational interface between the government and the suppliers by maximum transparency of tender and contractual procedures, by increasing the accessibility to updated information regarding purchasing activities and by shortening and simplifying the bureaucracy involved in purchasing procedures.