The UAE Ministry of Finance has won the Procurement Excellence Award at the World Procurement Awards 2026 for strengthening the government procurement ecosystem and improving procurement efficiency across federal entities.
The awards are organized by Procurement Leaders, part of the World 50 Group, and recognize organizations adopting advanced procurement practices that deliver measurable operational and financial impact.
Mariam Mohammed Al Amiri, Assistant Undersecretary of the Government Financial Management Sector at the Ministry of Finance, said that the award reflects the maturity achieved by the government financial management ecosystem, particularly in managing procurement operations through effective institutional frameworks.
The achievement supports the continued development of government financial operations through solutions that improve data quality, accelerate decision-making, and strengthen operational efficiency, enabling government entities to manage resources and assets more effectively.
Al Amiri added that the Ministry’s achievements were made possible through continued leadership support and a strong institutional culture focused on teamwork, operational excellence, and serving the public interest.
The award was presented during an official ceremony in London, where Nadia Sultan Al Ali, Director of the Government Procurement Platform Department at the Ministry of Finance, accepted the award on behalf of the Ministry.
According to the Ministry, the digital procurement ecosystem has delivered significant improvements in government efficiency. More than 50 federal entities have been unified under a single AI-powered procurement system, contributing to a 75 percent reduction in procurement cycle times.
Processing times for catalog-listed items were reduced from more than 60 days to less than six minutes, while the platform generated savings exceeding 30 percent in federal spending. Total savings surpassed $27.2 million (AED100 million) during the first year of implementation.
The Ministry highlighted that the supplier satisfaction rates increased to 85 percent, while more than 17,000 suppliers joined the integrated digital procurement ecosystem.
Participation by small and medium-sized enterprises also increased from 22 percent to 47 percent, supported by the adoption of national content standards in procurement evaluations.
The platform further contributed to sustainability goals by eliminating the use of more than one million sheets of paper annually, supporting the UAE Vision 2031 and Net Zero 2050 strategies.
The Digital Procurement Platform is one of the Ministry of Finance’s key transformation initiatives and integrates e-sourcing systems, supplier management, sustainability assessments, procurement catalogs, and real-time analytics within a unified digital ecosystem.
The Ministry emphasized that the enhanced procurement ecosystem has improved transparency, simplified access to public procurement opportunities, and strengthened the quality and sustainability of government services.
The system enables federal entities to meet operational requirements more efficiently while supporting uninterrupted service delivery and improving government performance across vital sectors.
The Procurement Excellence Award recognizes procurement functions that adopt forward-looking approaches capable of delivering measurable value through advanced spending management practices.
The World Procurement Awards 2026 attracted participation from several leading international organizations and global brands, including American Airlines, NASA, Deutsche Telekom, China Mobile, Air Canada, and Tahakom.
The Ministry affirmed that the award aligns with broader government initiatives aimed at simplifying procedures and accelerating service delivery, including the Zero Government Bureaucracy program, which focuses on reducing unnecessary processes and improving service efficiency across government operations.
