Questions/Answers

Introduction & initiative: Etimad is the approved e-platform for the government financial services provided by the Ministry of Finance to various government entities and the private sector, in order to enable digital transformation, transparency and efficiency. The e-platform has 6 main services which are: Budget management, Procurement and bidding management, Contract and awarding management, payment management, employees’ financial rights management and revenue management. Etimad’s vision is creating the change in the financial dealings within the government and between the government entities and private sectors. Then sharing the success with those in need and spread that success to other nations. Etimad’s platform model is well documented through all its stages and phases and the documentation process will continue through its future phases along with updates, future changes, and learning points. Challenges & Objectives: -One of the major challenges of the Etimad e-platform is to make changes to the partnership between government and private sectors. Through Etimad’s validated and transparent procedures in all its systems, private sectors can now rest assure and make contracts and transactions with government entities with all confidence and their rights will be preserved. All government entities can also follow their projects and make payments through the system with no delay. This allow all the private sector to trust and therefore to participate more in government tenders and government procurement activities. The enduring trust between the two comes from Etimad’s projects tracking system that will ensure their success in following the specifications and delivering on time. - By establishing an e-platform that is one of its kind in the world that includes a several services such as budget management where all 450 government entities receive the yearly allocated budget and then publish the tenders with a full electronic cycle until the private sectors receive the payment without any use of papers. -Digitalizing and re-engineering the process to minimize the time and efforts. -Having all the 450 government entities and its branches on board to Etimad, and to eliminate all the paper-based process that are hard to be tracked or may get lost, as well as to have one unified system (Etimad). Moreover, ensuring the transparency was a major factor and to have a dashboard that shows every single spent Saudi riyal where, when and which government project for the yearly allocated budget in a live and updated data.

Etimad is the approved e-platform for the government financial services provided by the Ministry of Finance to various government entities and the private sector, in order to enable digital transformation, transparency and efficiency. Based on the category brief of "Promoting digital transformation in the public sector" We believe the Etimad platform is linked and highly related in that, Etimad is a unified digital services platform that allows government entities and private sector contractors to make full use of the Ministry of Finance's advanced procurement e-services, enhancing the speed of process, ensuring accuracy of data and increasing the ease of doing business, in a way that reflects the Ministry of Finance's values of transparency, commitment, partnership, and fulfillment.

Etimad as an e-platform takes into accounts all stakeholders including all government entities in partnership with private sectors to restructure the financial dealings between all parties through the Ministry of Finance. Etimad opens the opportunity for the private sector to communicate with each government entities they are dealing with in transparency through the portal. By utilizing Etimad e-services, all procedures undergo optimization phases which result in optimized electronic solutions that ultimately replace the hand-written papers and procedures that were commonplace. The goal of this modern vision will add to the Saudi government’s progress of adapting electronic services to the majority of its entities. The governments financial process, procurement activities, government tenders, and even government payroll services and all new contracts are now effortlessly approved from different government agencies through the Etimad portal. In addition, all payment claims requested by companies from the private sector are revised through the portal. These aspects of Etimad attend to the government and private sector’s needs, concerns and eliminate many of the hindrances they currently face. As a result, the private sector now has a higher chance of achieving projected goals and deadlines. More so, it is also contributing to Saudi Arabia 2030 vision of e-government transformation and rationalization of expenditure. Using the portal eliminates some of the daunting and unnecessary requirements to partake in government tenders for small and medium enterprises. This is achieved by providing straightforward procedures and simple requirements to encourage their participation as part of Saudi Arabia 2030 vision to help these enterprises achieve their desired goals and objectives. Moreover, the portal ensures that a specific percentage of government tenders are distributed to small and medium enterprises to secure their participation furthering their rate of success. Additionally, Etimad provides access to relevant and important information and knowledge that is beneficial for research centers and other entities. With the data enhancements provided by Etimad, governmental agencies are too seeing the benefit from the use of this portal. They have been able to collect and analyze the data to gain a clearer look at their progress and then plan for its future accordingly.

the digital transformation by automating all procedures and services that provided by the Ministry of Finance to government entities and the private sectors. Ministry of Finance takes into consideration the subject of sustainability into all its e-solutions including Etimad e-platform which is designed to be there for all upcoming generations ensuring that all projects are delivered, and all payments are made on time. It also makes sure that all government entities plan for their future spending and activities as well as manage their budget over the coming years. All that and more is accessible through an electronic portal that can be customized to include all the financial services and fulfill government entities needs. The portal has many development phases in the future to adapt to any opportunity or change that might occur in the coming years.

After successfully launching Etimad, government services have drastically changed into a more advanced setting simply by transferring transactions from manual to electronic where they have now become fully documented and visible to more entities. Etimad e-platform has also helped government entities to better plan for future spending by displaying and updating budgets. Governments submit all their tenders through the portal and the results are a more organized and better decision-making process. Etimad has helped in saving and minimizing effort by developing and monitoring the operation electronically. Through this innovative portal, customers are now able monitor their requests for a more efficient and faster process. Payments are easily organized now through Etimad through the creation of stricter guidelines to follow in a timelier manner. Now, small and medium businesses will have a better chance in participating in big government projects and offer their services through Etimad’s portal. Etimad has assisted government entities in their decision-making process by helping them choose the perfect candidate by displaying their profile that includes their previous work and overall rating. Government entities will be able to access a tremendous current prices information database that will help them better evaluate their spending. Through Etimad gate, the relationship between government entities and the private sector will become more transparent and fair through mutual agreement and clear guidelines. • Community empowerment. Etimad plays an effective role in empowering the community through the services provided for them. Contractors have shown an increase in confidence when working with the government, knowing that they will be paid fairly and in a timely manner. Small and medium size business have grown and continue to grow bigger since they are now able to compete in the larger market where all are judged openly by their offers. There was a time when, due to unorganized payments from the government, companies had to eliminate a portion of their workforce when they were unable to meet and uphold their financial responsibilities. Now through the portal, companies receive payment in timely manner and it is also easier for them to recruit workers to work on the projects and compensate the employees. With Etimad, it is assured that every request is done properly by the guidelines, so the community can rest knowing that they are being treated fairly and receiving their rights. Once unable to be heard, the community now is granted a voice when they feel they are being wronged. Simply by transferring to an electronic setting, all matters are now transparent and subjected to strict laws. Moreover, converting the process electronically easily makes it more accessible for different community segments that at one time didn’t have the means to communicate and interact. For example, companies that are located far away from the government entities no longer have to commute just to submit an offer. Etimad also kept in mind the needs of those with disabilities by helping them to have a platform for easy communication and submission of documentation. The platform has completely changed the financial industry in Saudi, in terms of the following: - Single access to all Ministry of Finance services. - Documents procedures and regulate expenditures to minimize projects’ failure. - Save time, effort and increase control. - Increase transparency and thus reliability of tenders. - Support the government entities in future spending planning. Since the launch of the e-platform in Jan 2018, it has achieved several objectives which are: - More than 450 government entities are now using the platform. - More than 65K users in the Procurement and bidding management from the government entities. - More than 40K government tenders are available online to purchase until receiving the final payment online. - More than 29K issued POs and contracts

Etimad is giving all people from different genders the same opportunity and same criteria in order to participate in the governmental tenders. It assures the fairness where the contractor will be judged by his/her technical and financial proposal.

1- Private sector contractors in Saudi Arabia Etimad is helping The private sector entities in Saudi Arabia to growth by supporting them to get their rights. Etimad is doing that by making sure all contracts and payments schedules are following the plan which will protect the contractors and make sure they are getting their rights. 2- All governmental agencies / Ministry of Finance Etimad is supporting the ministry of finance and other governmental agencies thruhog supporting in the following items: • Standardize the procedure for filing financial claims and payment orders for all government entities • Increase the contribution of the small and medium private entities in the public sector • Reducing the number of failed projects • Increase transparency • View and operate the required payments and future payments and prepare for them 3- Regulators and decision makers Etimad is containing all governmental contracts and payments plans in one database which is making it able to produce qualitative and quantities e reports about the agencies finical performance

A- Key developments and steps: First, The team has reviewed public sector payment process and understand the need of each governmental entity as some of the steps are standardized where another is not . Second, The team has designed the process and propose it to all stakeholders inside/outside the ministry to make sure they covered all requirements in order to automate the whole process Third, Etimad started to develop its five services in house ( All requirements and developments has been specified and developed inside the ministry ) Fourth, Etimad has launched the services one by one and has developed plans to rollout the products and services. B- monitoring and evaluation activities: Etimad has opened a department that’s called ( business support ) which is including account managers who are responsible to communicate and deal with the whole targeted segment in order to provide them with the best customer Journey. Also, Etimad has opened a customer care department to receive all requests and problems that might face the customers and to care with the ticketing system. In addition to that, Etimad has conducted surveys and workshops with all governmental entities and with the contractors in order to evaluate the portal and its effectiveness C- Main milestones ( chronology ): • 12/2017 - ( Lunching Etimad as a concept that will be start to be implemented in 2018) • 01/ 2018 – ( Launching Contracts and purchases services ) • 06/ 2018 – ( Launching payment orders and budgeting services ) • 12/ 2018 – ( Stop all paper contracting process and transforming to digital contracts for all governmental entities ) • 06/ 2019 – ( Stop all paper transactions for the payment orders and digitalization the process to be done on Etimad without using papers ) • 12/ 2019 ( launch the new procurement law in Saudi Arabia through Etimad, Which will lead to new digital ways to purchase in government and will stop all paper transactions in purchases.

-One of the major challenges of the Etimad e-platform is to make changes to the partnership between government and private sectors. Through Etimad’s validated and transparent procedures in all its systems, private sectors can now rest assure and make contracts and transactions with government entities with all confidence and their rights will be preserved. All government entities can also follow their projects and make payments through the system with no delay. This allow all the private sector to trust and therefore to participate more in government tenders and government procurement activities. The enduring trust between the two comes from Etimad’s projects tracking system that will ensure their success in following the specifications and delivering on time. - By establishing an e-platform that is one of its kind in the world that includes a several services such as budget management where all 450 government entities receive the yearly allocated budget and then publish the tenders with a full electronic cycle until the private sectors receive the payment without any use of papers. -Digitalizing and re-engineering the process to minimize the time and efforts. -Having all the 450 government entities and its branches on board to Etimad, and to eliminate all the paper-based process that are hard to be tracked or may get lost, as well as to have one unified system (Etimad). Also, ensuring the transparency was a major factor and to have a dashboard that shows every single spent Saudi riyal where, when and which government project for the yearly allocated budget in a live and updated data.

Etimad is a unique platform which is built to serve financial sector in Saudi Arabia and built to become a hub for all financial transactions between government sector and private sector. Etimad is not considered an ERP system that need to be implemented, it’s an in-house platform that is customized to serve Saudi’s budgeting and procurement ecosystem. The innovation is required in all Etimad services from budgeting exercise, to the paying step as it’s a unique platform

Etimad has been built to serve a specific need in order to automate the Financial process between Ministry of Finance and other governmental entities in Saudi Arabia ( irrelevant)

Etimad is a National initiative that is serving all public agencies and contractors in all cities in Saudi Arabia. Currently Etimad is only Implemented in Saudi Arabia

Being exposed to other countries and regions is one of the strategic objectives in the long-term strategy. Etimad can be implemented as a portal for procurement in any country and it can be customized as per the requirements that the client wants to include inside it.

Etimad has more than 100 employees dedicated divided into the following departments: • Business development : Responsible on the development of the business and the future services of Etimad • Products department: Responsible on the enhancing the products and managing product life cycle • business Analysis department: Responsible on receiving business requirements and analyze to have full business requirement document • Rollout: Rolling out the new services to the customers • Business support: Making sure all customer are using Etimad without any problem and provide the needed support in any area if the customer asked for it • IT Development: develop Etimad products and services • QA team : To make sure all delivers from IT team is tested and with high quality • Project management: Delivering the new versions and releases and run the project according to delivery life cycle • business intelligence: Reporting the updates on the data and create reports and analysis to decision makers • Security: Responsible to make Etimad in secure IT environment and away from Cyber attacks

Ministry of finance and the other governmental entities will use Etimad for all the Financial transactions in the future which will keep the transactions continue. Also Etimad is sustainable from the financial perspective because the government is allowing it to finance itself and there will be new products that will charge the other governmental entities, private sector, and banks.

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Internally: Etimad is initiating UAT test with each new version that ask all stakeholders and business departments to review the process before launch it Externally: • Etimad has Consulted different specialized companies to evaluate the services and process in order to assess the services that is provided by Etimad. In the following is example of companies has assessed Etimad services and its customer Journey; o Microsoft o Deloitte o Ernst & Young o Xocialive o StrategicGears • The Royal court in Saudi Arabia has pointed Yasser (E- Government program office ) to do full IT assessment for Etimad services and make sure Etimad is met the international standards and specifications

Workshops with all Governmental entities and stakeholders to test the portal and to suggest a better practice. Questioners with the Financial managers to understand the challenges. Training on jobs where the entities were doing their jobs in Etimad with MOF (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) teams and adding their comments and challenges.

Etimad as a service provider might not be able to understand the business cycle always or not matching the best practices in the world, the impact and result of these evaluations is improving the quality and increasing the efficiency to avoid producing system with a complicated customer journey or a product that has bugs inside it

Etimad has a clear governance, It has a steering committee ( that meets by weekly ) in order to take decisions and clarify the directions, The committee’s members are; •H.E Head of the steering committee (Reporting to the minister of Finance directly) •The deputy minister for Technology and development (initiative owner) •The deputy minister for budget (Main stakeholders) •The deputy minister for accounts (Main stakeholders) It has also an executive committee (that meets twice weekly) in order to execute the decisions and follow on the required task, The committee’s members are; •Technology and development representative (Responsible) •Budget representative (Main stakeholders) •Accounts representative (Main stakeholders) All roles and responsibilities under the committees are clear and all employees know their jobs descriptions and responsibilities

•Thiqah which is a semi government agency has partner with Ministry of Finance in order to come up with Etimad. Thiqah has supported MOF in defining business gaps, coming up with marketing strategies and execute those strategies. Thiqah has also worked as a key player in other development process and they are investing in Etimad as a partner who will share the success story with ministry of Finance.

• Benchmarking with other entities globally is a must as this will give an opportunity to the team to figure more creative Ideas • In such a big scale project like Etimad, all departments have to start building its capabilities from day one even if these departments will not start to operate from the beginning • Being flexible to explore more services is always giving chances to the business and initiatives to become bigger and better • Products that can provide data that could help decision makers to take decisions must have a department to care about business intelligence