RIYADH — The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development (MHRSD) began on Sunday, Dec. 1, implementing the third phase of approving the service of documenting the localization of operation and maintenance contracts in public entities to be an electronic service within the Qiwa platform. The decision will be applied to all the establishments, contracting with the government agencies, in which the state has at least 51 percent stake. The third phase will be applicable to establishments with less than 500 employees. The decision obligates the establishments, which have operation and maintenance contracts with the public entities to submit the contracts' data on the electronic platform Qiwa, through the service of localization of operation and maintenance contracts. The contracts include operation, maintenance, city cleaning, road operation and maintenance, catering, in addition to information technology operation and maintenance contracts. The service aims to follow up localizing the contracts of operation and maintenance in public entities and to check on the establishments' compliance with the targeted localization rates in those contracts. The electronic service will also support the ministry's efforts which aim to increase the participation opportunities for Saudi men and women in the labor market. It is noteworthy that the MHRSD issued a decision in July 2023 to adopt the service of documenting contracts for the Localization of Operation and Maintenance Initiative in public entities as an electronic service within the digital services provided by the Ministry on the Qiwa platform. The first phase of the decision began on December 1, 2023, targeting giant establishments employing 3,000 workers or more, while the second phase of the decision was launched on June 1,2024 and was applied to large establishments employing workers between 2,999 and 500. This decision is part of a package of ministry decisions aimed at developing the labor market and raising its efficiency.
