During the press conference held this evening in the presence of the Governor of SASO, Secretary General of the Award, His Excellency Dr. Saad bin Othman Al-Kasabi, and the Executive Director of the Award, Dr. Ahmed Babader, the General Secretariat of the King Abdulaziz Quality Award announced the winning national establishments in its fifth session.

The Secretary General of the Award stated that the main objective of such competition is to help our various establishments to commence excellence journey and maintain institutional maturity practices, so that all of our practices are compatible with the aspirations of our wise leadership represented in 2030 Vision to create an ambitious country, a prosperous economy, and vibrant society. He added “We are working to promote the culture of excellence and spread it in all sectors and fields in the Kingdom".

He clarified that the number of establishments that expressed their desire to apply for the award in its fifth session reached (145), (66) establishments completed the requirements of the desk evaluation in preparation for the final evaluation phase, indicating that (27) establishments won the award, including (11) government establishments, (14) private establishments, and two establishments from the non-profit sector, indicating that the award management was able, in effective cooperation with evaluation and arbitration teams and competing establishments, to bypass and overcome the outcomes of COVID-19 pandemic while ensuring the highest levels of neutrality and justice. In addition, this session witnessed the participation of female citizens as the first female participation in the award's evaluation work, in line with governmental efforts that aimed at promoting and empowering women.

The results announced by the Secretary General for the Award included that the National Information Center won in the category of agencies affiliated with the ministries at the Silver level according to the results of the National Index of Distinguished Enterprises, and the Agricultural Development Fund also won in the same category, at the Bronze Level.

In the institutions and authorities category, The General Organization for Social Insurance won the award at the Gold level, while the Saudi Food and Drug Authority and the Communications and Information Technology Commission came in the Silver level, while the Institute of Public Administration, the Supervision and Anti-Corruption Authority, and the Public Prosecution came at the Bronze level. 

The Secretary General of the King Abdulaziz Quality Award announced that King Faisal University and the Technical College of Madinah – for boys- came at Bronze level of award in the governmental higher education category, and the King Abdullah Medical City in the Holy Capital came at the Gold level in the category of government health facilities.

At the private sector level, The International Medical Center won the award and came at the Silver level for the private health facilities category, Riyadh Chamber came at the Silver level for service establishments category. The Mechanical Workshop Services Department - Saudi Aramco, the National Water Company, and the Computer Operations Department - Saudi Aramco also won the award and came at the Bronze level in the Large Service establishments category.  

In addition, Dr. Al Kasabi pointed out that Saudi Aramco Yanbu Refinery, Yanbu Aramco Sinopec Refining Company (YASREF) and Khurais Production Department - Saudi Aramco, won the award and came at the Gold level, whereas Hawiyah Gas Plant - Saudi Aramco, Saudi Aramco Total Refining and Petrochemical Company (SATORP), Obeikan Glass Company East and West Pipeline Management - Saudi Aramco came at the Bronze level in the large production establishments category.

Obeikan Commercial Printing (OCP) won the award, at the bronze level, for the medium production establishments category, Obeikan Printing Arts Center won the award, at the bronze level, for small productive establishments category. Abdul Kader Al Muhaidib Charitable Foundation, The Charity Society for Orphan Care in the Eastern Region (Benaa), won the award and came at the Bronze level, according to the results of the National Index of Distinguished Establishments.

Dr. Ahmed Babader, Executive Director of the Award stated that “During this session and due to COVID0-19 pandemic, we have launched an initiative to raise awareness in quality and institutional excellence. During such session, we have organized (25) meetings and 3 training courses, and the attendees number reached (4,525). These meetings and courses handled internal evaluation topics, explained all evaluation stages, the award's eight criteria, as well as interviews with winning establishments and evaluators reviewing best practices and their experiences during the evaluation.