The Council of Government, meeting on Thursday under the chairmanship of the Head of Government, Aziz Akhannouch, adopted draft decree No. 2.22.431, relating to public procurement, taking into account the comments raised on this subject.
Presented by the Minister Delegate to the Minister of Economy and Finance, in charge of the Budget, Fouzi Lekjaa, this draft decree is part of the implementation of the recommendations of the Special Commission on the Development Model (CSMD), said Minister Delegate in charge of Relations with Parliament, government spokesperson, Mustapha Baitas, during a press briefing after the Council.
These include recommendations related to the consecration of the role of public procurement as a lever for economic development, the creation of added value, the strengthening of transparency and the improvement of the business climate, through a comprehensive reform of the decree regulating public procurement, said Baitas.
The said project, he argued, aims to achieve a set of objectives, in particular the adoption of a single reference system governing the award of public contracts on behalf of the State, public establishments, as well as local authorities. and legal persons governed by public law in accordance with the legislation and regulations in force, in order to guarantee a clearer vision for economic actors and to reinforce the principle of national preference, taking into account the Kingdom’s commitments in terms of partnership strategy and free trade agreements.
This project also aims to promote local added value by promoting local Moroccan products, strengthen compliance with Moroccan standards, promote the employment of local labor, involve national technical expertise and redefine the criteria for evaluation of bids in favor of the best bidder, he said, adding that this text also aims to promote new methods of awarding public contracts, such as competitive dialogue procedures, unsolicited calls for tenders and other mechanisms that can modernize the public procurement process.
The draft decree also aims to establish mechanisms to facilitate the access of very small, small and medium-sized enterprises, in particular innovative start-ups, auto-entrepreneurs, cooperatives and the federation of cooperatives to public procurement, to strengthen the integration economic, social, environmental and sustainable development dimensions in the field of public procurement, in addition to developing the means of dematerializing the procedure for awarding and managing public contracts, while strengthening the governance bodies, empowering the managers and increasing transparency, he added.