Contractors and suppliers to oil and gas
The buyer's prequalification decides whether you bid and its safety rules decide how your crew works on its site, so the evidence has to be current in the office and at the gate.
Aramco publishes its own supplier requirements: e-Marketplace registration, the Supplier Code of Conduct, ERTQA for manufacturers, background investigation, the Construction Safety Manual and CWQAP. Buyers in the Aramco supply chain routinely add ISO 9001, and often ISO 14001 and 45001. Four ITF divisions keep that evidence current as one company, from the questionnaire to the camp.
A new questionnaire every bid
Many contractors keep their office in Khobar and their work in Jubail, Ras Al Khair or at SPARK. The office answers each buyer's prequalification questionnaire and rebuilds the pack every time, which is how an expired certificate ends up inside it. The site knows which technician's card or medical lapsed last week. A permit is closed at the end of the shift by somebody who was not there. The camp housing the crew is audited by the principal contractor, who asks for water and pest records by name. None of it is missing work. It is evidence that stopped being current between one bid and the next.
- Aramco's own published supplier list is shorter than most checklists in circulation claim
- A classification grade, issued through Balady, caps the project value you may bid for government work
- On a client's site its safety manual and permit system govern, and your system has to show how you work inside them
- Lifting equipment certificates filed in the office and asked for at the crane
- Worker consultation required by ISO 45001, and almost never provable
From the questionnaire to the camp
The evidence comes first, because every other piece of work reads from it.
Permit to work, taught on faulty permits
ITF Training runs a one-day permit to work course for issuers, area owners and supervisors, assessed on permits with deliberate faults in them. You hold permit templates for six activity types, an isolation verification checklist and a permit audit checklist.
Read moreITF FMThe camp your crew sleeps in
ITF FM runs the AC fleet, roof tanks, kitchens and washrooms in labour accommodation, with a monthly room inspection round. You hold an AC register, the tank record with laboratory results, a room inspection log with photographs and a monthly pack for the principal contractor's auditor.
Read moreITF DigitalAn evidence vault that stays current
ITF Digital builds the vault your prequalification packs are assembled from, matches each buyer's questionnaire against it and escalates before a card or medical expires. You hold the vault, a match report per submission, the qualification register and daily site reports.
Read moreITF ConsultPrequalification built on what is published
ITF Consult separates what Aramco publishes from what your buyer adds, and builds the evidence before you register. You hold a requirements matrix, a quality plan with its inspection test plan, an HSE plan with real method statements and a competence file.
Read moreWhat each buyer and authority publishes
| Requirement | What it means on site |
|---|---|
| Aramco supplier registration | Through Aramco's e-Marketplace on the SAP Ariba network, with the Supplier Code of Conduct acknowledged. Manufacturers of engineering commodities also meet ERTQA. |
| Service contractors | Aramco's background investigation guidelines, and its Construction Safety Manual: volume 1 CSAR and volume 2 WSSM. |
| Workforce qualification | CWQAP, with technicians evaluated by Aramco-authorised third-party institutes. |
| Management system certificates | ISO 9001 routinely, ISO 14001 and 45001 often, required by buyers in the chain through their own prequalification rather than published by Aramco as a rule. |
| Contractor classification | Issued by the Ministry of Municipalities and Housing through Balady, graded 1 to 5, capping the project value each grade may bid. Required for the government tenders the classification rules cover. |
| Environmental permits | Inside Jubail and Ras Al Khair, the Royal Commission's regulations, with a permit to construct and a permit to operate. The national route through NCEC elsewhere. |
| Local content | iktva, Aramco's in-Kingdom total value add programme, which Aramco aims to raise to 75 percent by 2030. |
Before the next questionnaire arrives
Does Aramco require ISO 9001?
Aramco's own supplier pages do not publish it as a rule. Buyers in the Aramco supply chain routinely require it, often as the first filter in prequalification, so in practice most suppliers need it. Your buyer's prequalification document gives the exact wording.
Who submits the prequalification pack?
Your QHSE manager. The pack is assembled from the vault against the buyer's index with the missing and expiring items listed, the QHSE manager fills the gaps and submits through the buyer's own portal, and a dated copy of what was sent is kept.
Our crews work under the client's permit system. What does our own system need?
A procedure that says whose permit system applies where, and records showing your people were briefed on it before they started. On the client's site the client's rules govern. Your system proves you knew that and trained for it.
What does a typical engagement look like?
A mechanical maintenance contractor with its office in Khobar has crews on two plant sites in Jubail, a camp housing them, and a new plant owner's questionnaire due in two weeks. ITF Digital matches the questionnaire against the evidence vault, lists the gaps with a certificate expiring next month at the top, and flags two technicians whose medicals lapse before the shutdown. ITF Consult closes the gaps the buyer's matrix names, and ITF Training runs permit to work for the supervisors before mobilisation. ITF FM readies the camp's AC fleet and starts the room round. The contractor ends up holding the vault, the match report, the requirements matrix, a qualification register and a room inspection log for the principal contractor's auditor.
Part of one system
Every division keeps records to the same standard, so the second one you need works the way the first one did.
Send the questionnaire on your desk
We read it against the evidence you hold today and show what is missing or expiring before the buyer does. That list is useful whichever division you start with.