19 January 2020
Saudi Arabia intends to enforce new rating rules for contractors to replace the old system which was found to be flawed, Okaz Arabic language daily said last week.

The Rating Agency at the Municipal and Rural Affairs Ministry is working on the new system that will cover large, medium and small contracting companies, the paper said, quoting informed sources in the Gulf Kingdom.

"The Agency is working on a new rating system for all types of contracting firms to tackle gaps in the existing rating mechanism," the report said.

The new system, which is based on proposals from concerned government departments and contractors, takes into consideration the financial, technical, management and executive capabilities of the contractors, it said.

"There will be real modifications to the existing rating mechanism, taking into account new rating techniques that have not been enforced in the Kingdom before."

The report quoted the sources as saying all local and foreign contractors in Saudi Arabia must seek rating when the new system is enforced, adding that rated firms will get priority in government projects.

More than 140,000 contracting firms, mainly small and medium sized, operate in oil giant Saudi Arabia but a handful of them have sought rating over the past year, according to the Saudi Contractors' Authority.

(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@refinitiv.com)

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