Bahrain's Labour Fund (LF) and national Tender Board have signed a memorandum of understanding concerning a new initiative aimed at training private sector employees in electronic tendering.

With the government keen to allow enterprises to develop independently of the state and for professionals to acquire skills relevant to modern global commerce, the deal was reached between LF chairman Dr Nizar Al Baharna and Dr Abdulhussain Mirza, the Bahraini minister for oil and gas affairs as well as chairman of the Tender Board.

According to Dr Al Baharna, the timing for such an initiative is "just right", as businesses, both within the oil and gas industry as well as in other sectors, increasingly move towards streamlining tendering processes, largely by carrying them out online.

"The e-tendering process will be used to conduct all government tenders and purchase transactions undertaken by the authorities subject to the provisions of the law regulating government tenders and purchases, which are overseen by the Tender Board," explained Dr. Mirza.

He added that around 2,000 tenders are processed annually by the Bahraini government, with 300 companies to take part in the first stage of the training programme over the coming year.