Abu Dhabi awards $288m in tenders to companies holding in-country value certificates

More than 320 tenders by 26 government entities were awarded in the first nine months of 2021

Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi. The UAE's ICV programme is being carried out across all federal entities. Victor Besa / The National

Government tenders worth Dh1.06 billion ($288.8m) were awarded to companies holding the Abu Dhabi Local Content programme's in-country value certificate in the first nine months of 2021 as part of efforts to boost the emirate's economy.

More than 320 deals were awarded to ICV certificate holders by the end of the third quarter in 2021 out of 583 government awards valued at Dh2.4bn, the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development, or Added, said on Wednesday, citing a report by its Industrial Development Bureau.

Tenders with local content value accounted for 41.5 per cent of the deals awarded to companies holding ICV certificates – equal to an injection of Dh415 million into the local economy to support small and medium enterprises.

The UAE's ICV programme, part of the Projects of the 50 initiative that was launched in September, is being carried out across all federal entities and at 12 national companies.

The government initiative is designed to stimulate demand for local products and services, encourage local manufacturers to diversify and attract foreign direct investment in the domestic industrial sector.

It aims to boost economic growth and support local industries by redirecting higher portions of public spending to the national economy.

The programme will create up to 120,000 jobs, localise supply chains, attract more investment and contribute an additional Dh51bn to Dh54bn to local GDP by 2031, Abdallah Al Shamsi, assistant undersecretary for the Industrial Growth Sector at the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology, said in November.

The programme aims to redirect Dh55bn worth of government spending on goods and services into the local economy by 2025, up from Dh39bn in 2020 when the unified ICV certification was created.

The awards in Abu Dhabi are in line with the government’s efforts to achieve the objective of stimulating local economies.

The ADLC programme, unveiled as part of the Ghadan 21 economic stimulus, had 26 government entities within the emirate participating at the end of the third quarter in 2021, up from 17 entities in the same period a year earlier.

“We continue our efforts to achieve ADLC’s objectives by engaging more entities in the programme, adding more benefits to certified companies and encouraging more companies to gain [the] ICV certificate and benefit from its opportunities,” said Rashed Al Blooshi, undersecretary of Added.

In terms of economic activities, the environment sector accounted for 39 per cent of tenders awarded while the services sector and construction accounted for 21 per cent and 19 per cent, respectively.

Supplies accounted for 10 per cent while the information and technology and the audit and consultancy services sectors accounted for 9 per cent and 2 per cent of awards, respectively, according to Added data.

Capital expenditure projects represented 27 per cent of the tenders awarded to ICV holding companies while operation expense projects accounted for the remaining 73 per cent.

“The positive indicators of ADLC shows government entities’ awareness of the important role played by this programme in the local economy, diversification, sustainable growth and government spending increase, especially in knowledge-based industries, and job creation for UAE nationals in the private sector as well as strengthening public-private sectors partnership to achieve development objectives of the emirate,” Mr Al Blooshi said.