|The Finance Ministry has suspended 298 bid committees formed without its permission.
In order to carry out the bidding process for government contracts in a transparent and accountable manner, the Finance Ministry had instructed government offices to register the committees at the Bandara Portal to get the ministry's permission.
While the Ministry had published the now-suspended list of bid committees, it includes bid committees from several island councils as well bid committees established by the Prosecutor General's Office and Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital.
Once a bid committee is suspended it cannot continue to award government bids to parties.
Finance Minister Ibrahim Amir had previously instructed all government offices via a circular to ensure that all bid committees are registered at the Bandara Portal and have urged all to ensure that no political appointees or elected officials are included in the committees.
