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Times Kuwait reported that the government directive establishes the principle that entities posing risks to public services or state funds should not secure government contracts. The initiative follows discussions among relevant authorities and tasks officials with developing clear procedures to ensure consistent application across all bodies. This approach aims to create standardized processes for handling security concerns during procurement.
The Ministry of Commerce and Industry will coordinate with the ministries of Interior and Finance, the Fatwa and Legislation Department, Kuwait Municipality, the Central Agency for Public Tenders and the Public Authority for Manpower to develop the controls. According to the newspaper, the collaboration seeks to build a unified framework for identifying affected companies, verifying their status before awards and eliminating differences in implementation between agencies. The effort focuses on creating consistent criteria to guide decisions on exclusions.
The proposed mechanism will specify the nature of security observations that warrant barring a company, the circumstances under which restrictions apply and whether measures should extend to partners, managers, board members, beneficial owners and authorised signatories. Officials are working to define these parameters to support uniform enforcement while addressing potential threats to public resources. The framework is intended to provide clarity for all participating government entities.
Central Agency for Public Tenders figures show that 154 tenders valued at KD 1.07 billion were awarded during the first six months of 2026. Arab Times reported in January 2026 that the agency had blacklisted 11 companies from government tenders across sectors including engineering, contracting and food supplies for various regulatory violations. These steps reflect ongoing regulatory actions to uphold standards in public procurement.
A Kuwaiti parliamentary inquiry into major defense contracts, including a 2016 Airbus deal for Caracal helicopters, accused former officials of mismanagement that resulted in at least 349 million euros in wasted public funds, according to a report by The National in 2024. The investigation highlighted issues such as inflated pricing and concealed commissions in the transactions. Such cases have informed broader efforts to strengthen integrity checks in state contracting.
Kuwait’s public tenders law empowers the Central Agency for Public Tenders to impose penalties ranging from temporary suspensions to permanent exclusions for non-compliant companies. The new screening initiative builds on these provisions by introducing a multi-agency verification process focused on security and integrity flags. Development of detailed implementation procedures continues under the coordination of the designated ministry.
