The Role of Blockchain Technology in Enhancing Transparency in Government Procurements in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Public procurement is one of the most legally significant spheres of state activity. It accounts for a substantial proportion of public expenditure and serves as a central mechanism through which governments deliver goods, services and infrastructure. Beyond its fiscal importance, procurement is also a governance tool, as it directly shapes public trust in state institutions and serves as a benchmark for accountability and integrity. In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, procurement reform has been elevated as a cornerstone of Vision 2030, the country’s national strategy for socioeconomic transformation. A well-functioning procurement system is considered essential to achieving transparency, accountability and efficiency in public resource management, thereby supporting both fiscal discipline and governance modernisation. Within this framework, the Government Tenders and Procurement Law (GTPL) provides the principal legal architecture for regulating tendering and contracting. Its objectives include securing value for public funds, promoting fair competition, ensuring equal opportunities for bidders and embedding transparency across all stages of the procurement cycle. Transparency, in particular, is the decisive principle: it is recognised internationally – through instruments such as the World Trade Organization Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA), the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Model Law on Public Procurement and the recommendations of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) – as the primary safeguard against corruption and the precondition for fair competition and accountability. Weaknesses in transparency create systemic vulnerabilities that can be exploited for corrupt practices, a challenge Saudi Arabia has sought to address through legislative reform and international cooperation. However, despite these advances, Saudi procurement processes continue to face practical and institutional challenges. Gaps in consistency, oversight and accessibility risk undermining fiscal stability and public trust. These concerns are especially acute given their implications for alignment with Vision 2030, which expressly prioritises procurement reform, digitalisation and integrity in public administration as foundations of sustainable development. Against this backdrop, the integration of blockchain technology has emerged as a potential mechanism for strengthening transparency in procurement. It is increasingly viewed as a tool that could mitigate entrenched risks and foster greater accountability. Yet, the technology also raises unresolved legal questions that require careful regulatory consideration. Therefore, this research examines the impact of blockchain technology on enhancing transparency within Saudi Arabia’s procurement framework by analysing the GTPL and related regulations and then identifying structural gaps and practical vulnerabilities and assessing how blockchain may be leveraged to address them. The paper further argues that Saudi Arabia’s digital maturity and reform trajectory position the Kingdom as a particularly significant case study for exploring how emerging technologies may be embedded into procurement law and governance. To the best of the researcher’s knowledge, no dedicated legal scholarship in Saudi Arabia has examined blockchain technology’s potential to enhance transparency within the framework of the GTPL. Although the principles of procurement transparency and integrity have been extensively addressed in the international literature and blockchain’s application to procurement has been analysed in other jurisdictions, Saudi legal research has not yet explored this intersection. Thus, the current study contributes to domestic legal discourse by situating blockchain within the Kingdom’s procurement framework while also adding to comparative scholarship by examining an under-researched jurisdiction and offering insights relevant to both national reform and the broader development of international procurement governance.