On February 27-28, CLDP organized a two-day inter-agency working group meeting in coordination with Bahrain's Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism (MOICT) to outline a road map to draft a new small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) procurement law in Manama, Bahrain.  The MOICT and US Embassy Manama, requested that CLDP review the draft law and provide comments once the draft is prepared by the working group. In drafting the law, the MOICT has considered incorporating many of the recommendations made by CLDP, including creating a small-business oversight body and technical assistance procurement center for SMEs to strengthen the government procurement system in Bahrain. While the anticipated roadmap includes a preliminary draft delivered by the MOICT and the inter-agency working group (which includes Bahrain's Parliament) by May 2018, CLDP expects to continue to provide technical assistance on SME procurement reform to help establish implementation mechanisms to address small-business set aside programs.  CLDP experts included OGC's Senior Attorney, John Guinan, and experts from the U.S. Small Business Administration's Office of Procurement Law.  CLDP efforts to reform public procurement laws in the Gulf will help standardized international best practices and level the playing field for US businesses overseas.