Abu Dhabi’s Investment Office has issued new Public-private Partnership Procurement Regulations. They have also published a Partnership Projects Guidebook to support greater cooperation between the private and public sectors in the Emirate.
The framework is consistent with international best practices to support greater private sector investment in the procurement and delivery of public sector infrastructure assets and services across Abu Dhabi.
The new regulations have been issued in line with the Emirate’s 2019 Public-Private Partnership Law (Abu Dhabi Law No. 2/2019). They provide greater clarity to the private sector in terms of engaging with the Government during the procurement and development phase of any major PPP project.
The Regulations have been issued following an Abu Dhabi Government announcement earlier this year to procure approximately 10 billion AED worth of infrastructure partnership projects across various sectors, including education, transport and municipality. The announcement was made as part of Ghadan 21 which is aimed at driving the Emirate’s development by investing in business, innovation and people.
The Office’s Infrastructure Partnerships Unit will be responsible for implementing the Regulations. They will also work with Government departments to identify, develop and procure infrastructure partnership projects.
The Partnership Projects Guidebook, includes a practical and comprehensive overview of the processes and procedures for developing, procuring and managing partnership projects in Abu Dhabi to support public and private sector entities deliver projects transparently and in a timely and efficient way.
It is aimed at improving the ease of doing business with the public sector by providing developers, investors and financiers with a single, trusted source of information when assessing, bidding and executing projects. It covers procurement procedures, as well as best practice approaches to promote effective partnerships between Government and private sector stakeholders.
Earlier this year, the Office enabled its first partnership project under the new Partnership Projects framework. The Noor Abu Dhabi Street Lighting PPP project involved the design, supply, retrofitting, financing, operating and maintenance of approximately 43,000 luminaires with power-saving state-of-the-art sustainable LED-based technology. It is also expected to save enough energy to power 8,000 homes.