Dubai Customs has been named 2020 Asia-Pacific PMO of the Year in the PMO Global Awards competition organized by PMO Global Alliance, a global community of professionals in project management, which has more than 10,000 members in over 100 countries. Dubai Customs outclassed a number of competitors including public organizations and private businesses from 20 nations around the world.

Winners were announced on July 23, 2020 according to four geographical regions: Asia-Pacific, Africa, Europe and Americas. The competition consisted of five rounds which took place from January 13 till July 8. In the sixth and final round the four regional winners and finalists, namely Dubai Customs from the UAE, Shoprite from South Africa, Itera Asa from Ukraine, and Banko Fikohsa from Honduras will compete to win the World Award category. The winner and holder of the prestigious 2020 World PMO of the Year title will be announced on October 29 at the official Awards Gala Ceremony in London.

As many as 420 PMO professionals took part in the evaluation process via five judging and reviewing committees. Six evaluation criteria are considered: (1) PMO’s Journey which evaluates the organization and analyses its strategy, consistency, adaptability, leadership, and the path that made its PMO become what it is today; (2) Client Service which evaluates the set of services/functions the organization provides to its clients and stakeholders, how appropriate they are for the presented scenario, and how that mix of services can address the organisation’s results expectations; (3) Best Practices which evaluates how the organisation is delivering its services/functions, the methods and techniques that are provided, their alignment with best practices, and how the organization continually improves its services; (4) Innovation that evaluates how the organization used innovation to deal with challenges encountered throughout its journey, and what innovations were delivered to the organisation, generating effective results; (5) Community evaluates how the organization actively works to create an engaged project management community within the organisation, evolving the organisational culture, and encouraging people to share experiences and lessons learned; (6) Value Generation which evaluates the benefits and results delivered by the PMO to its customers, stakeholders, and the organisation, and also evaluates how the organisational culture and maturity evolved.

Commenting on Dubai Customs’ winning this coveted global PMO award, Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, DP World Group Chairman & CEO and Chairman of PCFC, said: “This award recognizes Dubai Customs relentless efforts to always be ahead of the curve by developing world-class projects and smart services that add value to customers and stakeholders in terms of time and cost savings, in addition to increased return on investment for the organization.”

Ahmed Mahboob Musabih, Director of Dubai Customs, also expressed his pride at being named Asia-Pacific PMO of the Year and encouraged the team to get ready to compete strongly for the imminent World Award. He underlined that Dubai Customs’ extensive record of global awards and achievements reflects the organization’s sustained capitalization on research and innovation and implementation of best practices in all of its development projects.

On his part, Juma Al Ghaith, Executive Director of Customs Development Division, said the award is the fruit of Dubai Customs’ continued hard work since it established the PMO for its Reform and Development Program in 2007, with a view to materializing Dubai Customs’ vision to be the world’s leading customs administration supporting legitimate trade. The focus has been primarily on the adoption of innovative solutions and cutting-edge technologies like artificial intelligence and blockchain.

Youssef Al Awadi, Director of Project Delivery Department, pointed out that this global achievement promotes Dubai Customs towards achieving a new milestone in the hotly contested innovation and development race of project management worldwide. “The department carried out more than 125 projects during 2007-2019 with a value amounting to AED 350 million which helped accomplish Dubai Customs’ key objectives in society protection and facilitation of trade and passengers movement’, he noted.