Roughly two years after Saudi Arabia blocked foreign companies without a regional headquarters in the kingdom from bidding for government contracts, it’s becoming more flexible. Exemptions went into effect at the end of last year that remove the requirement for a local HQ if the project is small enough (less than $267,000), technical enough, or an offer is cheap enough — an outsider bidding 25% under local competitors would qualify.
Government entities can apply for the exemption via a Ministry of Finance platform, Asharq Al-Awsat reported. The Saudi government said in January more than 700 international companies had set up their regional HQ in the country so far. But the rule has led to some backbending by multinational firms: Visa has split its Gulf headquarters into two territories, setting up head offices in both Dubai and Riyadh.