KUALA LUMPUR: The Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) is preparing to implement the National e-Tendering Initiative (NeTI) as the platform to process online job tenders under the Works Ministry.

The NeTI project, which will enable the automisation of all tender procurement processes right from the advertising stage to the tender assessment, has gone through five phases of fine-tuning and since 2003, has seen an expenditure of RM25 million.

CIDB e.Construct Services Sdn Bhd operations chief Ghazali Rahmat said with NeTI, there will not only be a reduction in the cost of government tender preparations but also in the cost of tender bids.

"Total savings in the government job tender processes through this system could come up to RM200 million from an average of 5,000 government tenders a year compared with the conventional tender methods," he said at the launch of the first NeTI Customer Service Centre here on Wednesday, Apr 20.

Ghazali said starting the NeTI customer service centre signified the commitment of CIDB towards implementing NeTI.

"CIDB is also planning to open 13 more NeTI counters at CIDB offices in each state to help smoothen the application of this system."

For now, the system will be used by Class A or Grade 7 contractors for government projects worth RM10 million and above to allow contractors of other classes to prepare towards using the system.

Under the plan, NeTI will be used by Class B contractors and below in five years.

For a start, the Works Ministry, Public Works Department and CIDB have been given the mandate to implement four pioneering projects to test fully online the capacity of the system. The testing started in March and will conclude in June.

Ghazali said efforts were also being taken at the local authority levels to apply the NeTI system, but the other ministries would need the prior approval of the Finance Ministry. — Bernama

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