Saudi Arabia said to tender project management roles for ministries

Saudi Arabia is planning to tender the project management office (PMO) roles for the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Transport, MEED reported.

Tenders for the roles will be released after the National Project Management Office (NPMO) role is tendered this month, the report said.

The two ministries are said to be priorities for the Saudi government which has delayed spending on key projects like the Makkah Metro over the past two years.

At least seven firms have been invited to bid for the contract to provide consultancy services to the NPMO, which will oversee future capital expenditure projects in the kingdom. Bids are expected to be submitted by July 12 for the contract, which will initially be for a period of three years.

Saudi Arabia is increasingly turning to program management – a means of managing large and complex schemes – in order to curtail spending and reduce returns on projects, the agency reported.

As the country looks to cut spending under its Vision 2030 strategy, PMOs are set to play a key role in transforming the Saudi economy.

“The Kingdom’s agencies are currently undergoing a wave of reforms and transformation,” the Vision 2030 document said. “To manage this momentum and ensure all efforts are coordinated, we…established expert project management offices (PMOs) in the Council of Economic and Development Affairs and many other government agencies.”

Program management has also been used in the past for individual infrastructure developments and schemes, such as Jubail and Yanbu, the Riyadh Metro and the Waad al-Shamal mining project.