LMRA seeks technical support for Wage Protection System on AWS

TDT | Manama                                        

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com   

The Labour Market Authority is looking forward to hiring technical support services for its Wage Protection System that runs on the Amazon Cloud Computing Platform (AWS) in a serverless manner.

The Wage Protection System developed by LMRA documents and monitors wage payments by employers to their workers - both expatriate and Bahraini Nationals, in Bahrain. A tender launched says LMRA wants to enter into a partnership with a company approved by Amazon “to provide high-quality technical support services for the WPS system.”

Accordingly, the selected company, LMRA tender said, will be responsible for all support activities and tasks related to the system. The successful bidder should also “manage all outputs efficiently and effectively to ensure full support for the system in the computing environment and meet necessities of changes in the wage protection system, according to work requirements.”

The process allows LMRA to know the extent of the commitment of private sector enterprises to pay wages as agreed time. Through WPS, LMRA said it aims to protect workers’ rights by ensuring that they receive their agreed salaries on time, as stipulated in their agreements.

The system also provides Know Your Customer (KYC) data for financial institutions authorised by the Central Bank of Bahrain operating in Bahrain. For this, LMRA has entered into a contract with the Benefit Company to carry out the automatic clearing house. The benefit is thus responsible for providing salary information of workers paid to their bank accounts from accredited banks to the WPS system and providing “know your customer” data to financial institutions.

LMRA launched WPA as per Resolution (68) for the year 2019 Regarding the Wages Protection System and Resolution (1) of 2019 Regarding the Implementation of the Wages Protection Scheme. Resolution (2) for the year 2019 amended some Articles of Resolution (76) for 2008 Regarding Organizing Work Permits of Foreign Workers Other Than House Servants.

The system came into existence in three stages. Stage 1, kick-started on the 1st of May 2021, included employers with 500 employees or more. The stage included employers with 50 to 499 employees and began on the 1st of September 2021. The third and final stage was initiated on the 1st of January 2022 and includes employers having 1 to 49 employees.

LMRA gave employers a grace period of six-month at each stage.

How to apply?

Those interested and qualified should submit bids before the 8th of February 2023, with a BD2,500 bond having 180 days validity.

Tender documents are available for download from www. tenderboard.gov.bh.